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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bart9349, post: 903490, member: 5682&quot;]Thank you both for your very thoughtful replies. :thumb: </p><p><br /></p><p>I defer to Doug&#039;s opinion on this matter since he has thought and written about Parthian coins since last century.</p><p><br /></p><p>I will add two other possiblities.</p><p><br /></p><p>First, the Parthian Empire supplanted the Seleucid Empire in that region. The Hellenization or transmission of Greek culture (language, culture, religion, etc.) in that region by both the Ptolemeic and Seleucid Empires is frequently underappreciated. (Most people are surprised to learn that the New Testament was written in Greek, for example, and not Hebrew or Aramaic.)</p><p><br /></p><p>It is not surprising that coins would reflect this background of Hellenized culture. Parthian coins show increasingly illegible Greek writing, for example. Roman coins minted in Alexandria, Egypt have Greek legends and frequently show Greek deities on the reverese.</p><p><br /></p><p>It would not be surprising that Parthian coins would incorporate Tyche, the Greek deity, into their pantheon of gods.</p><p><br /></p><p>A second possibility is the fundamental structure of the Parthian Empire. Unlike the later Sassanian Empire, the Parthian Empire was decentralized. In fact, it also consisted of several semi-autonomous kingdom states. I&#039;ve read that these kingdoms minted currency somewhat different from the coinage of the main Imperial mints.</p><p><br /></p><p>These other coins would reflect the underlying regional cultures, which in many cases was an Hellenized one. (Below is a picture of Tyche seen on the above coin).</p><p><br /></p><p>Thank you again for your thought provoking responses.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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