the
kings and the upper classes, seems to be implied by the use of the Greek
letters and language in the legends upon coins and in inscriptions.
Other languages were also to some extent cultivated. The later kings
almost invariably placed a Semitic legend upon their coins; and there is
one instance of a Parthian prince adopting an Aryan legend of the
type known as Bactrian. Josephus, moreover, regarded the Parthians as
familiar with Hebrew, or Syro-Chaldaic, and wrote his history of
the Jewish War in his own native tongue, before he put out his Greek
version, for the benefit especially of the Parthians, among whom he
declares that he had many readers.

Though the Parthians had, so far as we can tell, no native literature,
yet writing was familiar to them, and was widely used in matters of
business. Not only were negotiations carried on with foreign powers
by means of despatches, but the affairs of the empire generally were
conducted by writing. A custom-house system was established along the
frontier, and all commodities liable to duty that entered the country
were registered in a book at the time of entry by the custom-house
officer. In the great cities where the Court passed a portion of the
year, account was kept of the arrival of strangers, whose names and
descriptions were placed upon record by the keepers of the gates. The
orders of the Crown were signified in writing to the satraps; and they
doubtless corresponded with the Court in the same way. In the earlier
times the writing material commonly used was linen; but shortly before
the time of Pliny, the Parthians began to make paper from the papyrus,
which grew in the neighborhood of Babylon, though they still employed in
preference the old material.

There was a considerable trade between Parthia and Rome, carried on
by means of a class of merchants. Parthia imported from Rome various
metals, and numerous manufactured articles of a high class. Her
principal exports were textile fabrics and spices. The textile fabrics
seem to have been produced chiefly in Babylonia, and to have consisted
of silks, carpets, and coverlets. The silks were largely used by the
Roman ladies. The coverlets, which were patterned with various colors,
fetched enormous prices, and were regarded as fit adornments of the
Imperial palace. Among the spices exported, the most celebrated wore
bdellium, and the _juncus odoratus_ or odoriferous bulrush.

The Parthians had many liberal usages whi