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Malayalam softcore pornography

2023-10-06T06:24:41Z

Alamin Sorker: Created page with 'Malayalam soft-porn was a genere of soft-porn movies that emerged in Kerala in the late 1980s. It disappeared with rapid changes in the industry in 2005.'

{{for|the article about mainstream Malayalam film industry|Malayalam cinema}}
{{Short description|Genre of softcore pornographic films produced in Kerala, India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
'''Malayalam softcore pornographic films''', also known as '''Mallu porn films''' was a popular genre of [[Softcore pornography|softcore porn movies]] produced in the [[South India|South Indian]] state of [[Kerala]]. They were marked as '''B-grade films''', which emerged parallel with the mainstream [[Malayalam cinema]] of Kerala in the 1980s. Regarded as the first successful Malayalam film with softcore nudity, ''[[Adipapam|Aadipapam]]'', which came out in 1988 is considered to have started the trend of softcore films in [[Malayalam]]. These films eventually became a parallel culture in [[Malayalam cinema]], during the Malayalam film-industry crisis.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ph.D |first=Asha Kasbekar |url=https://books.google.co.in/books?id=V6jOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA235&dq=malayalam+soft+porn&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiv1qHXzN-BAxXfk1YBHZAvCysQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=malayalam%20soft%20porn&f=false |title=Pop Culture India!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle |date=2006-01-24 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1-85109-641-1 |language=en |access-date=5 October 2023 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005191352/https://books.google.co.in/books?id=V6jOEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA235&dq=malayalam+soft+porn&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiv1qHXzN-BAxXfk1YBHZAvCysQ6AF6BAgNEAM#v=onepage&q=malayalam%20soft%20porn&f=false#v=onepage&q=malayalam%20soft%20porn&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

Despite facing a temporary decline in the 1990s, the popularity of the B-grade films became immense in Kerala after the release of [[Sex in film|erotic film]] ''[[Kinnara Thumbikal]]'' in 2000. It grossed ₹4 crore at the box office against a budget of ₹12 lakh and would go on to pioneer a new wave of low-budget softcore porn films in the state, with this period being termed the ''[[Shakeela|Shakeela Tharanagam]]'' (The wave of Shakeela). In 2001, more than 70% of the total films produced in [[Malayalam]] were of the soft porn variety. The decline of B-grade films started in 2003, mainly due to the rapid internet surge in India among many other reasons, which put an end to the genre's roughly 25-year existence in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Menon |first=Vishal |date=2020-05-16 |title=Shakeela, Superstardom And A Softporn Wave That Threatened The Survival Of Malayalam Cinema |url=https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/shakeela-superstardom-and-a-softporn-wave-that-threatened-the-survival-of-malayalam-cinema |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=www.filmcompanion.in |language=en |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928184232/https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/shakeela-superstardom-and-a-softporn-wave-that-threatened-the-survival-of-malayalam-cinema |url-status=live }}</ref>

There is a general consensus that the B-grade films were the backbone of Malayalam film industry during the worst period of it. But they were seen as vulgar and crude by many of the critics. They consider that these films brought a lot of ignominy and disgrace to the Malayalam film industry in the beginning of 2000. There was also a widespread protest against Shakeela films and isolated incidents of violence against the theaters showing them were reported at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=അവരെ നമ്മൾ കാണുന്നത് എങ്ങനെയാണ്! ഷക്കീലയും മലയാള സിനിമയും അന്നും ഇന്നും |url=https://malayalam.samayam.com/malayalam-cinema/celebrity-news/actress-shakeela-reference-malayalam-films/articleshow/77036358.cms |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=Samayam Malayalam |language=ml |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005191353/https://malayalam.samayam.com/malayalam-cinema/celebrity-news/actress-shakeela-reference-malayalam-films/articleshow/77036358.cms |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
===Roots and early years===
In the 1970s, Malayalam films that explore themes surrounding sexuality started emerging. The 1972 Malayalam film ''[[Punarjanmam]]'' (''Reincarnation'') is considered to be the first [[Erotic thriller|erotic psychic thriller]] in [[Cinema of India|Indian film history]]. The plot of the film involved a man who displayed unable to have sex with his partner because the wife seemed to him as his mother each time they attempted to consummate their relationship. In 1978, ''[[Avalude Ravukal]]'' was released, which is the first Malayalam film to get an A certification, classifying it as fit for adults only. It was highly successful and was dubbed in Tamil and Hindi. Avalude Ravugal was a bold attempt by [[I. V. Sasi|I. V Sasi]] about an adolescent sex worker, but it was unfairly dismissed as porn.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Babu |first=Subash |date=2017-10-27 |title=IV Sasi’s ‘Her Nights’ was a bold take on sex work that was unfairly dismissed as porn |url=https://scroll.in/reel/855475/iv-sasis-her-nights-was-a-bold-take-on-sex-work-that-was-unfairly-dismissed-as-porn |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=Scroll.in |language=en-US |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214093124/https://scroll.in/reel/855475/iv-sasis-her-nights-was-a-bold-take-on-sex-work-that-was-unfairly-dismissed-as-porn |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year came out [[Rathinirvedam (1978 film)|Rathinirvedham]], where the plot revolves around a teenager, who is sexually attracted to an older woman. It is considered as a landmark film in Malayalam cinema's history. At the same time, many film analysts also criticize that that the influx of Malayalam soft porn films during the next several years began after the release of Rathinirvedham.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-06-19 |title=Can 'Rathinirvedam' remake recreate waves? {{!}} Deccan Chronicle |url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/kochi/can-rathinirvedam-remake-recreate-waves-823 |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=web.archive.org |archive-date=19 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619004805/http://www.deccanchronicle.com/tabloid/kochi/can-rathinirvedam-remake-recreate-waves-823 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

===Rise and peak===
From the mid 1980s, the soft porn production gradually started to rise up. The increase in VCRs and TVs were also a reason behind this. In 1985, [[Crossbelt Mani]], a seasoned director, made the film ''[[Ottayan]]'' with a rape and revenge storyline, inserted sex scenes, and distributed it around Kerala's main theatres. The heroine's blouse was pulled off during a six-minute rape scene and the villain massaged her breasts. The film, which costed ₹10 lakh to make, made ₹12 lakh in two weeks until the censor board caught on and banned it. ''Dhoomam'' (1985) director Chandrasekharan Thampi originally planned to make it as a black-and-white art film, but it was shelved due to financial difficulties. Later, he inserted additional sex scenes, including one [[sexual intercourse]] scene, and released the movie through his own firm, but only in isolated towns and villages and without any publicity. Because of word-of-mouth promotion, it became popular Directors such as [[K. S. Gopalakrishnan|K.S. Gopalakrishnan]] then made films such as ''Pidikitapulli'' (1986) and ''[[Karinagam]]'' (1986) that featured several sex scenes and nudity, that were never shown to the censor board. The sex scenes were absent when the censor board confiscated a print of Pidikitapulli, but two weeks later the same film was playing in the crowded suburban [[Thiruvananthapuram|Trivandrum]] theatre, with the sex scenes reinserted.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mini |first=Darshana Sreedhar |date=2016 |title=The Spectral Duration of Malayalam Soft-porn: Disappearance, Desire, and Haunting |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974927616667971 |journal=BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=127–150 |doi=10.1177/0974927616667971 |issn=0974-9276 |access-date=22 September 2023 |archive-date=27 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227041329/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974927616667971 |url-status=live }}</ref> At that time, president of the Kerala film chamber and the producer of the mainstream Malayalam film ''[[Vartha]]'' (1986), ''K. V. Gangadharan'' quoted that "super-hit family dramas in the cities are flopping in rural areas because the average male cine-goer in these areas is lured by these soft-porn films with inserted sex scenes." Following the ban, producers and distributors of soft porn films relocated from cities to countryside. Students from Trivandrum made daily pilgrimages to [[Guruvayur Temple|Guruvayoor]] or [[Attingal]] to see soft-porn films. The Sree Krishna theatre in [[Guruvayur|Guruvayoor]] located about 100 yards from the main temple entrance, routinely showed soft-porn films. In 1986, roughly 14 of the 32-odd films released had sex or nude scenes that were shot separately and never shown to the censor board, but were afterwards inserted into the film for screening in rural areas. These nude reels, which was kept in discreet were known as ''Thund'' (Bits) and hence the popular term '''Bit/Piece padam''<nowiki/>' (Bit film) arised.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soft-porn boom hits commercial cinema in Kerala like a bolt from the blue |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/films/story/19860515-soft-porn-boom-hits-commercial-cinema-in-kerala-like-a-bolt-from-the-blue-800882-1986-05-14 |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=India Today |language=en |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005191353/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/society-and-the-arts/films/story/19860515-soft-porn-boom-hits-commercial-cinema-in-kerala-like-a-bolt-from-the-blue-800882-1986-05-14 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1988, ''[[Adipapam]]'', which is regarded as the first successful Malayalam film with softcore nudity was released. It was a big success at the box office grossing ₹2.5 crore against a budget of ₹7.5 lakh. The director of ''Adipapam'', [[P. Chandrakumar|Chandrakumar]] himself later went on to direct eight more softcore films and the heroine Abhilasha became the most sought B-grade actress of that time. Chandrakumar also made a quote that "Abhilasha's thighs and [[Mammootty]]'s face costs the same". The success of ''Adipapam'' inspired a series of similar productions in the next few years. The film ''[[Layanam]]'' (1989) starring [[Silk Smitha]] in the lead role got a lot of attention when it was released. It was also a big success at box office and 12 years after its release, it was remade in [[Hindi cinema|Hindi]] as ''Reshma Ki Jawani''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bhattacharya |first=Roshmila |date=2002-11-08 |title=SEX SELLS: Another chottisi prem kahani makes money |url=http://www.screenindia.com/old/fullstory.php?content_id=8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307115127/http://www.screenindia.com/old/fullstory.php?content_id=8 |archive-date=7 March 2009 |access-date=21 November 2017 |website=[[Screen (magazine)|Screen]]}}</ref> According to the noted film historian Rajakrishnan, the boom of soft porn films was fuelled by a lenient Madras Censor Board. When they were barred from censoring Malayalam films, they dried up".<ref>{{Cite web |title=rediff.com, Movies: Sleaze time, folks! |url=https://m.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jan/24mallu.htm |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=m.rediff.com |archive-date=11 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111113216/https://m.rediff.com/entertai/2001/jan/24mallu.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Temporary decline in the 1990s===
When the family friendly films along with group-gang [[Comedy film|comedy films]] started coming into Malayalam cinema in the 90s, it temporarily ended the trend of B-grade films that lasted from 1986-1992.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-05 |title=20 Extraordinary Malayalam Movies That Defined The 90s For Every Malayali |url=https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/90s-malayalam-movies/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=ScoopWhoop |language=en |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603104223/https://www.scoopwhoop.com/entertainment/90s-malayalam-movies/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===The wave of Shakeela===
{{see also|Shakeela|Reshma (B-grade actress)}}
The continued failure of comedy films and the theater strikes in Kerala, that started in the early 2000s, led to a comeback of B-grade films in Malayalam. By the [[millennium]], a majority of the Malayalam films were of soft porn genre. In March 2000, ''[[Kinnara Thumbikal|Kinnarathumbikal]]'', a low budget softcore porn film starring [[Shakeela]] was released. It was a major commercial success, grossing ₹4 crore at the box office against a budget of ₹12 lakhs. The film was dubbed in more than six Indian languages. Its success triggered a series of similar low budget softporn films being produced in Malayalam cinema.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Shakeela, the woman who inspired genres without ever doing porn |url=https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-shakeela-the-woman-who-inspired-genres-without-ever-doing-porn-2112421 |access-date=2023-10-04 |website=DNA India |language=en |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928010000/https://www.dnaindia.com/lifestyle/report-shakeela-the-woman-who-inspired-genres-without-ever-doing-porn-2112421 |url-status=live }}</ref> There was also a flooding of soft porn Malayalam films in the market starring Shakeela, which led to what was known as ''Shakeela tharangam'' (the wave of Shakeela). Around 57 of the total 89 films released in 2001 belonged to the soft-porn category and Shakeela featured in many of them.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pornography is big business in Malayalam film industry |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20020805-pornography-is-big-business-in-malayalam-film-industry-794685-2002-08-04 |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=India Today |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525015506/https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/20020805-pornography-is-big-business-in-malayalam-film-industry-794685-2002-08-04 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the Shakeela wave, many of her old films were dusted off and re-released, including [[Telugu cinema|Telugu]] and [[Tamil cinema|Tamil]] films. At one time, posters with Shakeela's half-naked body, a single name, and a large Adults only emblem were widespread in Kerala. According to film expert ''Darshana Sreedhar Mini'', during the Malayalam film industry crisis of the early 2000s, the success of Shakeela films became critical to the industry's survival because her presence insured revenues and, hence, the survival of film employees. Shakeela became well-known throughout the country as the [[Pan-Indian film|Pan Indian]] face of soft-porn. Also, many of her films were well-known outside of Kerala and were even dubbed into many languages including [[Hindi]]. With lower production costs and poorer quality than mainstream films, the Malayalam B-grade films dominated a significant portion of the market, with considerable production.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mini |first=Darshana Sreedhar |date=2019-04-01 |title=The Rise of Soft Porn in Malayalam Cinema and the Precarious Stardom of Shakeela |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article/5/2/49/109555/The-Rise-of-Soft-Porn-in-Malayalam-Cinema-and-the |journal=Feminist Media Histories |language=en |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=49–82 |doi=10.1525/fmh.2019.5.2.49 |access-date=5 October 2023 |archive-date=18 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200718220318/https://online.ucpress.edu/fmh/article/5/2/49/109555/The-Rise-of-Soft-Porn-in-Malayalam-Cinema-and-the |url-status=live }}</ref> Many theatres, which faced shutdown survived only because of the arrival and acceptance of such B-grade films and the market was flooded with many B-grade films. The actresses such as [[Reshma (B-grade actress)|Reshma]], Maria, Sindhu and Alphonsa, who all came along with or after Shakeela became the integral part of the industry. Shakeela's film ''Rakshasarajni'' (2001) even competed against [[Raavanaprabhu|Ravana Prabhu]] and [[Rakshasa Rajavu]], starring [[Mohanlal]] and [[Mammootty]] respectively, and became successful at box office.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kottoor |first=Asim |date=2017-11-16 |title=ഷക്കീല,രേഷ്മ,മറിയ: ഇവര്‍ ഇന്നെവിടെയാണ്? {{!}} Cinema, East Coast Special, General, International, Kerala, Latest News, National, NEWS , maria, reshma, shakkeela |url=https://www.eastcoastdaily.com/movie/2017/11/16/shakkeela-reshma-and-maria-investigation-report/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=East Coast Movies & Entertainments News |language=en-US |archive-date=22 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230922174806/https://www.eastcoastdaily.com/movie/2017/11/16/shakkeela-reshma-and-maria-investigation-report/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Decline and end===
The introduction of internet services and the mobile phones in India negatively affected the Malayalam softcore porn industry. The general perception of the viewers also started to change after 2003. The familiar body and usual antics of the actresses acting in B-grade films started to get dull for the audience. The directors of such films did not make efforts to bring new actresses into this field and make them successful. As a result, the production of such films slowly stopped. Because of the repetitive story backgrounds, the audience also started turning away from such films. With the availability of free videos and images on [[Digital media|online media]], buying [[Videocassette recorder|video cassettes]] for watching softcore porn also became less common habit.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-02-21 |title=ഷക്കീലയ്ക്കും മറിയയ്ക്കുമൊപ്പം തരംഗം സൃഷ്ടിച്ച രേഷ്മ ഇന്ന് എവിടെ ? സിനിമ ജീവിതം യഥാര്‍ഥ ജീവിതത്തിലേക്കും പകര്‍ത്തിയപ്പോള്‍ സംഭവിച്ചത്... |url=https://www.rashtradeepika.com/reshma-3/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=RashtraDeepika |language=en-US |archive-date=26 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230426110641/https://www.rashtradeepika.com/reshma-3/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The state censor board and the mainstream Malayalam film industry also took some measures to stop the production of low quality B-grade films. Between 2005 to 2007, the release of B-grade films were limited. Although some producers made a few feeble attempts to resurrect the sector between 2007 and 2010, none of these films were able to garner the required response and performed relatively poorly at the box office.<ref>{{Cite web |title=With the Advent of High-speed Internet, It’s Curtains for Adult Movies in Theatres |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2014/dec/06/With-the-Advent-of-High-speed-Internet-It%E2%80%99s-Curtains-for-Adult-Movies-in-Theatres-690923.html |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=The New Indian Express |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005191357/https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2014/dec/06/With-the-Advent-of-High-speed-Internet-It%E2%80%99s-Curtains-for-Adult-Movies-in-Theatres-690923.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Concept, characteristics and criticism ==
Malayalam soft porn films restructured and modified the functional framework of the hero and heroine. In the mainstream movies of India, the hero is normally the central to the plot. Reversing this premise, Malayalam soft porn films functioned using female starlets as the main attraction. The hero, and even the concept of the hero, are replaceable in these films. Most of the mainstream films of that time showed heroic [[masculinity]] and completely muted the agential role of women. In Malayalam B-grade films, on the other hand, male roles in the films were functionally supplementary. The heroine and her [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] are at the heart of the film and every other character is insignificant.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mannanur |first=Sunil |date=2019-11-04 |title=ബി ഗ്രേഡ്‌ സിനിമകളും ചില കാണാക്കാഴ്ചകളും– Part 2 {{!}} PravasiExpress |url=https://www.pravasiexpress.com/behind-b-grade-movies-detailed-study-part-2/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |language=en-US |archive-date=20 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320091920/https://www.pravasiexpress.com/behind-b-grade-movies-detailed-study-part-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Aside from physical preferences, the majority of the women in these films are stereotypically placed in situations where the heroines are shown to be at least 25 years old, on the verge of their prime, and in desperate need of sexual intimacy. The heroines underwent a significant shift in appearance in these films. They were dressed in skimpy shorts and tops that exposed a large section of their [[Midriff|midriffs]] as well as little but noticeable areas of their [[Cleavage (breasts)|cleavage]]. These films had a obsession with emphasising physical features of the women. In one of the most famous scenes from these movies, a spinning totem was placed on the heroine's [[navel]] and she moaned in pleasure as the totem's movement appeared to tickle and please her. The female body's midsection was the subject of another prominent obsession in these films. Malayalam and [[Tamil cinema|Tamil]] actress [[Revathi]] had criticised this concept of B-grade films. "Why are we so obsessed with women’s bodies anyway? When we talk about sexism, we keep talking about the same things. What we need is gender sensitization of everyone involved with the film industry… not just scriptwriters or directors or lyricists or actors… But everyone. Only then will we get change"; she said.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sarkar |first=Urbee |date=2018-10-05 |title=[VoxSpace Selects] The Sex Quotient : Women In The South Indian Soft Porn Industry |url=https://www.voxspace.in/2018/10/05/south-indian-soft-porn-industry/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=VoxSpace |language=en-US |archive-date=17 October 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181017050342/http://www.voxspace.in/2018/10/05/south-indian-soft-porn-industry/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Aftermath==
Even though the Malayalam film industry no more produce any softcore porn films, video clips and images from the old Malayalam B-grade films are still one of the main earner of [[Internet pornography|porn websites]] in India. Terms such as ''Mallu Aunty'' and ''Mallu Chechi'' are among the popular search terms in these websites.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mannanur |first=Sunil |date=2019-10-22 |title=ബി ഗ്രേഡ്‌ സിനിമകളും ചില കാണാക്കാഴ്ചകളും – Part 1 {{!}} PravasiExpress |url=https://www.pravasiexpress.com/behind-b-grade-movies-detailed-study-part-1/ |access-date=2023-10-05 |language=en-US |archive-date=25 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325040442/https://www.pravasiexpress.com/behind-b-grade-movies-detailed-study-part-1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Shakeela's character types are referenced in popular [[erotic comics]] that portray married female characters as the target of [[Sexual fantasy|sexual fantasies]], such as the controversial [[Savita Bhabhi]] and ''Velamma''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sreedhar Mini |first=Darshana |last2=Baishya |first2=Anirban K. |date=2020-01-02 |title=Transgressions in Toonland: Savita Bhabhi , Velamma and the Indian adult comic |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2019.1590228 |journal=Porn Studies |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=115–131 |doi=10.1080/23268743.2019.1590228 |issn=2326-8743 |access-date=5 October 2023 |archive-date=5 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231005191358/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23268743.2019.1590228?cookieSet=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2022, ''Yessma'', which is touted as the first ever Malayalam [[Over-the-top media service|OTT platform]] to exclusively stream adult content was launched.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yessma: Malayalam OTT platform for adult content goes live with Lakshmi Dheeptha’s Nancy |url=https://www.ottplay.com/news/yessma-malayalam-ott-platform-for-adult-content-goes-live-with-lakshmi-dheepthas-nancy/002ee9e93a902 |access-date=2023-10-06 |website=OTTPlay |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Film genres}}

[[Category:Malayalam cinema]]
[[Category:Movements in cinema]]
[[Category:Malayalam-language films]]
[[Category:Cinema of India]]
[[Category:Film industry in India]]
[[Category:Softcore pornography| ]]

Ravi Kumar Dhingra

2023-09-08T13:22:12Z

Alamin Sorker: Shared an engaging piece.

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| birth_name =
| allegiance = {{IND}}
| branch = {{navy|India}}
| serviceyears = 1992 – present
| rank = [[File:British Royal Navy (sleeves) OF-7.svg|20px]] [[File:12-Indian Navy-RADM.svg|20px]] [[Rear admiral (India)|Rear Admiral]]
| servicenumber =
| unit =
| commands = Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area [[INS Vajrabahu]] {{ship|INS|Gomati|F21}} {{ship|INS|Sindhughosh|S55}} {{ship|INS|Vagli|S42}}
| battles =
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}}
[[Rear admiral (India)|Rear Admiral]] '''Ravi Kumar Dhingra''', [[Vishisht Seva Medal|VSM]] (born 15 October 1964) is a serving Flag officer in the [[Indian Navy]]. He currently serves as the [[Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area]]. A submariner, he earlier served as the [[Commodore Commanding Submarines (West)]].

==Naval career==
[[File:54th_Submarine_Day_commemorated_at_Western_Naval_Command_01.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Dhingra, as [[Commodore Commanding Submarines (West)|COMCOS (W)]], laying a wreath on 54th Submarine Day at the Submarine Memorial in Mumbai.]]
Dhingra graduated from the [[National Defence Academy (India)|National Defence Academy]], Khadakwasla and was commissioned into the [[Indian Navy]] on 1 January 1992. He joined the submarine arm in 1994 and is a specialist in Navigation and Direction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rear Admiral Ravi K Dhingra takes charge |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/rear-admiral-ravi-k-dhingra-takes-charge/articleshow/99801512.cms?from=mdr |website=The Times of India |access-date=8 September 2023 }}</ref> After his specialisation, he served as the Navigating Officer of the [[Vela-class submarine]] {{ship|INS|Vagir|S41}} and the [[Sindhughosh-class submarine]] {{ship|INS|Sindhushastra|S65}}.<ref name="IN website - FOTNA">{{cite web |title=Change of Command - Flag Officer Commanding TN and P Naval Area {{!}} Indian Navy |url=https://indiannavy.nic.in/content/change-command-flag-officer-commanding-tn-and-p-naval-area |website=indiannavy.nic.in |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

Dhingra attended the [[Defence Services Staff College]], [[Wellington Cantonment|Wellington]]. He has a Masters in Defence and Strategic Studies and an [[Master of Philosophy|M.Phil]] in Strategic Studies from the [[University of Mumbai]]. In his staff appointments, Dhingra has served as Staff Officer (Operations) and Commander Submarines at the [[submarine base]] [[INS Vajrabahu]].<ref name="SS">{{cite web |title=Rear Admiral Ravi Kumar Dhingra Assumes Charge as the Fotna |url=https://sainiksamachar.nic.in/press-realease-details/4866 |website=sainiksamachar.nic.in |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

Dhingra has commanded the [[Vela-class submarine]] {{ship|INS|Vagli|S42}}. He served as the [[executive officer]] of the [[Sindhughosh-class submarine]] {{ship|INS|Sindhuraj|S57}}. He subsequently commanded her sister-boat {{ship|INS|Sindhughosh|S55}}. Dhingra also commanded the [[Godavari-class frigate|Godavari-class]] [[guided missile frigate]] {{ship|INS|Gomati|F21}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Two Indian ships take part in UAE-India naval exercise |url=https://gulfnews.com/uae/two-indian-ships-take-part-in-uae-india-naval-exercise-1.2190342 |website=gulfnews.com |access-date=8 September 2023 |language=en }}</ref> During his command tenure, ''Gomati'' was adjudged the 'Most Spirited Ship' of the [[Western Fleet (India)|Western Fleet]] in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=https://twitter.com/indiannavy/status/979635095626633218 |url=https://twitter.com/indiannavy/status/979635095626633218 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |access-date=8 September 2023 |language=en}}</ref> For his command of ''Gomati'', he was awarded the [[Vishisht Seva Medal]] on 26 January 2019.<ref>{{cite web |title=Distinguished Service and Gallantry Award Winners on Republic Day 2019 |url=https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1561429 |website=pib.gov.in |access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref>

As a [[Commodore (India)|Commodore]], Dhingra was appointed [[Commodore Commanding Submarines (West)]] (COMCOS (W)). As COMCOS, he also dual-hatted as the [[Commanding Officer]] [[INS Vajrabahu]], and commanded the 10th submarine squadron and the 11th submarine squadron. He subsequently served as the Principal Director Submarine Operations at naval headquarters.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rear Admiral Ravi Kumar Dhingra takes over as Flag Officer Commanding TN & Puducherry Naval Area |url=https://navjeevanexpress.com/rear-admiral-ravi-kumar-dhingra-takes-over-as-flag-officer-commanding-tn-puducherry-naval-area/ |website=Navjeevan Express |access-date=8 September 2023 }}</ref>

===Flag rank===
Dhingra was promoted to flag rank and was appointed [[Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area]] (FOTNA). As FOTNA, he is responsible for the operations and administration of all units and establishments in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.<ref name="IN website - FOTNA" />

==Awards and decorations==
Dhingra was awarded the [[Vishisht Seva Medal]] in 2019 and the [[Chief of the Naval Staff (India)|Chief of the Naval Staff]] [[Awards_and_decorations_of_the_Indian_Armed_Forces#Commendation_Card|Commendation Card]] in 2004.<ref name="SS" />

{| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Vishisht_Seva_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND_Samanya_Seva_medal.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND_Operation_Vijay_medal.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND_Operation_Parakram_medal.svg|width=106}}
|-
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND_Sainya_Seva_Medal_Ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=75yearmedal.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND 50th Anniversary Independence medal.svg|width=106}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND_30_Years_Long_Service_Ribbon.svg|width=106}}
|-
|colspan=4|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND 20YearsServiceMedalRibbon.svg|width=106}} {{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=IND 9YearsServiceMedalRibbon.svg|width=106}}
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"
|-
|[[Vishisht Seva Medal]]
|[[Samanya Seva Medal]]
|[[Operation Vijay Medal]]
|[[Operation Parakram Medal]]
|-
|[[Sainya Seva Medal]]
|[[75th Independence Anniversary Medal (India)|75th Independence Anniversary Medal]]
|[[50th Independence Anniversary Medal]]
|[[Indian military decorations#Long service awards|30 Years Long Service Medal]]
|-
|
|[[Indian military decorations#Long service awards|20 Years Long Service Medal]]
|[[Indian military decorations#Long service awards|9 Years Long Service Medal]]
|
|}

==See also==
* [[Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area]]
* [[Commodore Commanding Submarines (West)]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before = [[S. Venkat Raman]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Flag Officer Commanding Tamil Nadu & Puducherry Naval Area]]|years=2023 – Present}}
{{s-inc}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhingra, Ravi Kumar}}
[[Category:Indian Navy admirals]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Defence Services Staff College alumni]]
[[Category:National Defence Academy (India) alumni]]
[[Category:Indian submarine commanders]]

Vidhāna

2023-09-07T13:12:40Z

Alamin Sorker: Vidhāna

'''''Vidhāna''''' is a genre of texts dealing with the use of Vedic [[mantra]]s outside of [[Vedic sacrifice]]s to attain various ends.{{sfn|Patton|2005|p=27–28}} Except for the [[Atharva Veda]],<ref>{{harvnb|Bhat|1998|p=16}}: "There is no corresponding work to the ''Atharvaveda''. The ''Kauśiksūtra'', which deals with magical and other practices in addition to Śrauta and Gṛhya ceremonies can be regarded as representing the Vidhāna text proper for this Veda."</ref> there is a Vidhāna text for each [[Veda]], namely the ''Ṛg Vidhāna'', the ''Yajur Vidhāna'', and the ''Sāma Vidhāna''.{{sfn|Patton|2005|p=27–28}} M. S. Bhat dates the composition of these texts to between 500 and 300 BCE, with the ''Ṛg Vidhāna'' being the oldest.{{sfn|Bhat|1998|p=19}}

== Ṛg Vidhāna ==
The oldest of Vidhāna texts, ''Ṛg Vidhāna'', composed in mixed [[Śloka]] and [[Triṣṭubh]] metres, is attributed to [[Śaunaka]]. The text, in the earlier, shorter recension, consists of four ''adhyāya''s, or chapters. A commentary on the text, entitled ''Ṛgvidhāna-pada-pañcikā'', by Mātṛsūnu, is extant.{{sfn|Bhat|1998|p=16–17}}

== Sāma Vidhāna ==
The ''Sāmavidhāna-brāhmaṇa'', or simply the ''Sāma Vidhāna'', is, despite its name, not properly a [[Brāhmaṇa]] text, but belongs to the Vidhāna literature. It consists of three ''prapāṭhaka''s and was commented upon by [[Sāyaṇa]].{{sfn|Bhat|1998|p=16–17}}

== Yajur Vidhāna ==
The ''Śuklayajurvidhānasūtra'' is ascribed to [[Kātyāyana]] and consists of seven ''adhyāya''s in the best preserved recension of the text; an earlier edition of the text was designated as ''Yajurvidhāna-śikṣa'' and was included among the ''[[shiksha|Śikṣa]]'' texts. A commentary entitled ''Yajurmañjari'' was written on the text by Mahārāja Mahībhuj, with the assistance of Kālanātha-bhaṭṭa.{{sfn|Bhat|1998|p=16–17}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Bhat |first=M. S. |title=Vedic Tantrism: A Study of Ṛg Vidhāna of Śaunaka with Text and Translation |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |year=1998 |orig-date=First published 1987 |isbn=8120801970}}
* {{cite book |last=Patton |first=Laurie |title=Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=0520240871}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |last=Kulkarini |first=Pradnya |title=The Vidhāna Texts: A Study |publisher=New Bharatiya Book Corporation |year=2004 |isbn=8187418877}}

[[Category:Hindu texts]]
[[Category:Vedas]]

Neriamangalam Bridge

2023-07-17T13:04:25Z

Alamin Sorker: Shared a valuable resource.

{{Short description|Bridge in the South Indian state of Kerala}}
{{Use dmy dates}}
{{Use Indian English}}
{{Infobox bridge
| bridge_name = Neriamangalam Bridge
| native_name = നേര്യമംഗലം പാലം
| native_name_lang = ml
| image =Neriamangalam bridge.PNG
| image_size =
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| carries = [[National Highway 85 (India)|NH 85]]
| crosses = [[Periyar river]]
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| width = 4.9 m
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The '''Neriamangalam Bridge''' is a bridge in the [[South India|South Indian]] state of [[Kerala]], that connects the [[Ernakulam district|Ernakulam]] and [[Idukki district|Idukki]] districts. Opened in 1935, it is the first Class A [[arch bridge]] in Asia. Popularly known as the gateway to the high ranges, it is located in [[Neriamangalam]] and presently a part of [[National Highway 85 (India)|NH 85]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=News8Plus |title=Asia's first Class A arch bridge Neriyamangalam Bridge turns 88 today - News8Plus-Realtime Updates On Breaking News & Headlines |url=https://news8plus.com/asias-first-class-a-arch-bridge-neriyamangalam-bridge-turns-88-today/ |access-date=2023-07-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==History==
The railway and ropeway built by the [[Presidencies and provinces of British India|British]] were destroyed in 1924 due to the [[great flood of 99]]. The road from [[Pooyamkutty]] to [[Mankulam, Idduki|Mankulam]] was also damaged, ceasing the trade relations of high range with [[Kochi]]. Subsequently, [[Sethu Lakshmi Bayi|Maharani Sethu Lakshmibai]] ordered the construction of a new road from [[Aluva]] to [[Munnar]] and a new bridge across [[Periyar River|Periyar]] to transport tea, aromatic crops and trees from the high range to Kochi. The new road was inaugurated in March 1931 by Maharani Sethulakshmi Bhai. The construction of the Neriamangalam bridge was started in 1924 and was opened on 2 March 1935 by [[Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma|Srichithira Tirunal Balaramavarma]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=അതിജീവിച്ചത് 2 മഹാപ്രളയങ്ങളെ! ഇന്ന് 86 വയസ്; ചരിത്രം പറയുന്ന നേര്യമംഗലം പാലം, വീഡിയോ കാണാം |url=https://malayalam.samayam.com/local-news/ernakulam/historic-neriamangalam-bridge-connects-ernakulam-and-idukki-turns-86-years-old/articleshow/81363701.cms |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=Samayam Malayalam |language=ml}}</ref> In view of the strong currents that may occur in [[Periyar River|Periyar]] during the [[Monsoon|rainy season]], the bridge is constructed in an arched shape to withstand the force of the water. The bridge has been instrumental in the growth of high range of Kerala since 1935. It also paved the way for migration of people from different parts of Kerala to high range. The bridge has been completed in five spans with a length of 214 meters and a width of 4.9 meters. The arches of the bridge are connected to the spans. It is made of surkhi and granite, which is a mixture of jaggery and lime. Since its inauguration, Neriamangalam bridge, has survived the great floods of 1961 and [[2018 Kerala floods|2018]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=ലേഖകൻ |first=മാധ്യമം |title=എറണാകുളം, ഇടുക്കി ജില്ലകളെ ബന്ധിപ്പിക്കുന്ന നേര്യമംഗലം പാലം 87 ലേക്ക് {{!}} Madhyamam |url=https://www.madhyamam.com/kerala/local-news/ernakulam/kothamangalam/neryamangalam-bridge-87-946409 |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=www.madhyamam.com |language=ml}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Marthanda Varma Bridge]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Transport in Kochi]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Kochi]]
[[Category:Bridges completed in 1935]]
[[Category:1935 establishments in India]]
[[Category:20th-century architecture in India]]
[[Category:Arch bridges]]
[[Category:Bridges in Kerala]]

Parthian Empire

2023-05-25T22:15:13Z

Alamin Sorker: Just completed a comprehensive guide.

{{Short description|Iranian empire (247 BC–224 AD)}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name =
|conventional_long_name = Parthian Empire
|common_name = Parthian Empire
|
|era = [[Classical antiquity]]
|government_type = [[Feudalism|Feudal]] [[monarchy]]<ref name="sheldon_2010_231">{{harvnb|Sheldon|2010|p=231}}</ref>
|
|year_start = 247 BC
|year_end = 224 AD
|
|p1 = Seleucid Empire
|border_p1 = no
|s1 = Sasanian Empire
|image_map = Map of the Parthian Empire under Mithridates II.svg
|image_map_caption = The Parthian Empire in 94 BC at its greatest extent, during the reign of [[Mithridates II of Parthia|Mithridates II]] ({{reign|124|91|era=BC}})
|image_flag =
|capital = [[Ctesiphon]],<ref name=IP>{{cite book|last=Fattah|first=Hala Mundhir|title=A Brief History of Iraq|year=2009|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]]|isbn=978-0-8160-5767-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofir0000fatt/page/46 46]|quote=One characteristic of the [[Parthia]]ns that the kings themselves maintained was their [[nomad]]ic urge. The kings built or occupied numerous cities as their capitals, the most important being [[Ctesiphon]] on the [[Tigris River]], which they built from the ancient town of [[Opis]].|url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofir0000fatt/page/46}}</ref> [[Ecbatana]], [[Hecatompylos]], [[Susa]], [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Mithradatkirt]], [[Asaak]], [[Rhages]]
|common_languages =
{{plainlist|
*[[Parthian language|Parthian]] (official, court, literature){{sfn|Skjærvø|2004|pp=348–366}}{{sfn|Canepa|2018|p=6}}
*[[Koine Greek|Greek]] (official)<ref name="Green 1992 45"/>
*[[Aramaic]] (''[[lingua franca]]'')<ref name="Green 1992 45">{{harvnb|Green|1992|p=45}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Chyet|first=Michael L.|author-link=Michael L. Chyet|editor1-last=Afsaruddin|editor1-first=Asma|editor2-last=Krotkoff|editor2-first=Georg|editor3-last=Zahniser|editor3-first=A. H. Mathias|editor1-link=Asma Afsaruddin|title=Humanism, Culture, and Language in the Near East: Studies in Honor of Georg Krotkoff|year=1997|publisher=[[Eisenbrauns]]|isbn=978-1-57506-020-0|page=284|quote=In the Middle Persian period (Parthian and [[Sasanian Empire]]s), [[Aramaic]] was the medium of everyday writing, and it provided [[Aramaic alphabet|scripts]] for writing [[Middle Persian]], [[Parthian language|Parthian]], [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]], and [[Khwarezmian language|Khwarezmian]].}}</ref>}}
|title_leader = [[List of Parthian kings|Monarch]]
|leader1 = [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces I]] (first)
|year_leader1 = 247–211 BC
|leader2 = [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabanus IV]] (last)
|year_leader2 = 208–224 AD
|stat_year1=1 AD<ref name="Turchin223">{{cite journal|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D|title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires|url=http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|journal=Journal of World-Systems Research|volume=12|issue=2|page=223|issn=1076-156X|last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|access-date=16 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917031715/http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|archive-date=17 September 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="Taagepera121">{{cite journal|title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D.|journal=Social Science History|volume=3|issue=3/4|page=121|doi=10.2307/1170959|last1=Taagepera|first1=Rein|jstor=1170959}}</ref>
|stat_area1=2800000
|
|legislature = [[History of democracy in classical Iran#Arsacids|Megisthanes]]
|
|religion = {{plainlist|
*[[Zoroastrianism]]<ref>{{harvnb|De Jong|2008|p=24|loc="It is impossible to doubt that the Parthians were Zoroastrians. The evidence from the Nisa ostraca and the Parthian parchment from Avroman suffice to prove this, by the use of the Zoroastrian calendar, which was restricted in use, as it had been previously, to communication with Iranians only, yielding to the Seleucid calendar whenever the Parthians dealt with non-Zoroastrians. There are indications, however, that the practice of Zoroastrianism had reserved a large place for the cult of divine images, either those of ancestors in the Fravashi cult, or of deities, and for the existence of sanctuaries dedicated to named deities other than Ahura Mazda, and including deities that are of a non-Avestan background. The Parthian god Sasan is a case in point, but better evidence comes from Armenia, where alongside Aramazd and Anahit, Mher and Vahagn, the West Semitic god Barshamin, and Babylonian Nane were worshipped, as well as the Anatolian Tork and the goddess Astghik of disputed origins."}}</ref>
*[[Babylonian religion]]<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=[https://archive.org/details/persiansintroduc00bros/page/n143 125]|loc="The Parthians and the peoples of the Parthian empire were [[polytheistic]]. Each ethnic group, each city, and each land or kingdom was able to adhere to its own gods, their respective cults and religious rituals. In [[Babylon]] the city-god [[Marduk]] continued to be the main deity alongside the goddesses [[Ishtar]] and [[Nanaya|Nanai]], while [[Hatra]]'s main god, the sun-god [[Shamash]], was revered alongside a multiplicity of other gods."}}</ref>}}
|currency = [[#Currency|Drachma]]
}}
{{History of Iran}}
The '''Parthian Empire''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|ɑr|θ|i|ən}}), also known as the '''Arsacid Empire''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɑr|s|ə|s|ɪ|d}}),<ref>From [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|Ἀρσάκης}} ''Arsakēs'', from [[Parthian language|Parthian]] {{lang|xpr|𐭀𐭓𐭔𐭊}} ''Aršak''.</ref> was a major [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] political and cultural power in [[ancient Iran]] from 247 BC to 224 AD.<ref>{{harvnb|Waters|1974|p=424}}.</ref> Its latter name comes from its founder, [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces I]],<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=84}}</ref> who led the [[Parni]] tribe in [[Parni conquest of Parthia|conquering]] the region of [[Parthia]]<ref>"roughly western [[Greater Khorasan|Khurasan]]" {{harvnb|Bickerman|1983|p=6}}.</ref> in [[Iran]]'s northeast, then a [[satrap]]y (province) under [[Andragoras (Seleucid satrap)|Andragoras]], who was rebelling against the [[Seleucid Empire]]. [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]] ({{reign|{{c.|171}}|132}} BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing [[Media (region)|Media]] and [[Mesopotamia]] from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the [[Euphrates]], in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day [[Afghanistan]] and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the [[Silk Road]] trade route between the [[Roman Empire]] in the [[Mediterranean Basin]] and the [[Han dynasty]] of [[Ancient China|China]], became a center of trade and commerce.

The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed [[Culture of Iran|Persian]], [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]], and regional cultures. For about the first half of its existence, the Arsacid court adopted elements of [[Culture of Greece|Greek culture]], though it eventually saw a gradual revival of [[Religion and culture in ancient Iran|Iranian traditions]]. The Arsacid rulers were titled the "[[King of Kings]]", as a claim to be the heirs to the [[Achaemenid Empire]]; indeed, they accepted many local kings as [[vassal]]s where the Achaemenids would have had centrally appointed, albeit largely [[Autonomy|autonomous]], [[satrap]]s. The court did appoint a small number of satraps, largely outside Iran, but these satrapies were smaller and less powerful than the Achaemenid potentates. With the expansion of Arsacid power, the seat of central government shifted from [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nisa]] to [[Ctesiphon]] along the [[Tigris]] (south of modern [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]]), although several other sites also served as capitals.

The earliest enemies of the Parthians were the [[Seleucid–Parthian wars|Seleucids]] in the west and the [[Scythians]] in the north. However, as Parthia expanded westward, they came into conflict with the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]], and eventually the late [[Roman Republic]]. Rome and Parthia competed with each other to establish the [[List of Armenian kings|kings of Armenia]] as their [[Client state|subordinate clients]]. The Parthians destroyed the army of [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]] at the [[Battle of Carrhae]] in 53 BC, and in 40–39 BC, Parthian forces captured the whole of the [[Levant]] except [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] from [[Ancient Rome|the Romans]]; [[Mark Antony]] led a Roman [[Antony's Parthian War|counterattack]]. Several Roman emperors invaded Mesopotamia in the [[Roman–Parthian Wars]] of the next few centuries, capturing the cities of [[Seleucia]] and Ctesiphon on multiple occasions but never being able to hold on to them. Frequent civil wars between Parthian contenders to the throne proved more dangerous to the Empire's stability than foreign invasion, and Parthian power evaporated when [[Ardashir I]], ruler of [[Istakhr]] in [[Persis]], revolted against the Arsacids and killed their last ruler, [[Artabanus IV of Parthia|Artabanus IV]], in 224 AD. Ardashir established the [[Sasanian Empire]], which ruled Iran and much of the Near East until the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]] of the 7th century AD, although the Arsacid dynasty lived on through branches of the family that ruled [[Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia|Armenia]], [[Arsacid dynasty of Iberia|Iberia]], and [[Arsacid Dynasty of Caucasian Albania|Albania]] in the Caucasus.

Native Parthian sources, written in [[Parthian language|Parthian]], [[Koine Greek|Greek]] and other languages, are scarce when compared to Sasanian and even earlier [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]] sources. Aside from scattered [[cuneiform]] tablets, fragmentary [[ostraca]], rock inscriptions, [[Ancient drachma|drachma]] coins, and the chance survival of some [[parchment]] documents, much of Parthian history is only known through external sources. These include mainly [[Greek historiography|Greek]] and [[Roman historiography|Roman histories]], but also [[Chinese historiography|Chinese histories]], prompted by the Han Chinese [[Han-Xiongnu War|desire to form alliances against the Xiongnu]].<ref>{{harvnb|Ball|2016|p=155}}</ref> [[Parthian art]]work is viewed by historians as a valid source for understanding aspects of society and culture that are otherwise absent in textual sources.

==History==

===Origins and establishment===
[[File:Coin of Arsaces I (1), Nisa mint.jpg|thumb|The silver [[Ancient drachma|drachma]] of [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces I]] ({{reign|{{circa|247}}|211 BC}}) with the Greek language inscription ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ "of Arsaces"|alt=Two sides of a silver coin. The one on the left bears the imprint of a man's head, while the one on the right a sitting individual.]]
{{further|Parni conquest of Parthia}}
Before [[Arsaces I of Parthia|Arsaces I]] founded the Arsacid Dynasty, he was chieftain of the [[Parni]], an ancient [[Central Asia]]n tribe of [[Iranian peoples]] and one of several [[nomad]]ic tribes within the confederation of the [[Dahae]].<ref>{{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=41}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=7}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=24–27}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=83–84}}</ref> The Parni most likely spoke an [[eastern Iranian language]], in contrast to the [[Western Iranian languages|northwestern Iranian language]] spoken at the time in [[Parthia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=24}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=84}}</ref> The latter was a northeastern province, first under the [[Achaemenid Empire]], and then the [[Seleucid Empire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=24–27}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=83–84}}</ref> After conquering the region, the Parni adopted [[Parthian language|Parthian]] as the official court language, speaking it alongside [[Middle Persian]], [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Akkadian language|Babylonian]], [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] and other languages in the multilingual territories they would conquer.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=7–8}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=83–84}}</ref>

Why the Arsacid court retroactively chose 247 BC as the first year of the Arsacid era is uncertain. [[Adrian David Hugh Bivar|A. D. H. Bivar]] concludes that this was the year the Seleucids lost control of Parthia to [[Andragoras (3rd century BC)|Andragoras]], the appointed [[satrap]] who rebelled against them. Hence, Arsaces I "backdated his [[regnal year]]s" to the moment when Seleucid control over Parthia ceased.<ref name="bivar_1983_28-29">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=28–29}}</ref> However, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis asserts that this was simply the year Arsaces was made chief of the Parni tribe.<ref name="curtis_2007_7">{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=7}}</ref> Homa Katouzian<ref name="katouzian 2009 41">{{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=41}}</ref> and Gene Ralph Garthwaite<ref name="garthwaite_2005_67">{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=67}}</ref> claim it was the year Arsaces conquered Parthia and expelled the Seleucid authorities, yet Curtis<ref name="curtis_2007_7"/> and Maria Brosius<ref name="brosius_2006_85">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=85}}</ref> state that Andragoras was not [[Parni conquest of Parthia|overthrown by the Arsacids]] until 238 BC.

It is unclear who immediately succeeded Arsaces I. Bivar<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=29–31}}</ref> and Katouzian<ref name="katouzian 2009 41"/> affirm that it was his brother [[Tiridates I of Parthia]], who in turn was succeeded by his son [[Arsaces II of Parthia]] in 211 BC. Yet Curtis<ref name="curtis_2007_8">{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=8}}</ref> and Brosius<ref name="brosius_2006_86">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=86}}</ref> state that Arsaces II was the immediate successor of Arsaces I, with Curtis claiming the succession took place in 211 BC, and Brosius in 217 BC. Bivar insists that 138 BC, the last regnal year of Mithridates I, is "the first precisely established regnal date of Parthian history."<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=36}}</ref> Due to these and other discrepancies, Bivar outlines [[List of Parthian kings|two distinct royal chronologies]] accepted by historians.<ref name="bivar_1983_98-99">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=98–99}}</ref> A fictitious claim was later made from the 2nd-century BC onwards by the Parthians, which represented them as descendants of the Achaemenid king of kings, [[Artaxerxes II of Persia]] ({{reign|404|358 BC}}).{{sfn|Daryaee|2012|p=179}}

[[File:Rome-Seleucia-Parthia 200bc.jpg|thumb|left|300px|[[Parthia]], shaded yellow, alongside the [[Seleucid Empire]] (blue) and the [[Roman Republic]] (purple) around 200 BC|alt=A map centered on the Mediterranean and Middle East showing the extent of the Roman Republic (Purple), Selucid Empire (Blue), and Parthia (Yellow) around 200 BC.]]
For a time, Arsaces consolidated his position in Parthia and [[Hyrcania]] by taking advantage of the invasion of Seleucid territory in the west by [[Ptolemy III Euergetes]] (''r''. 246–222 BC) of [[History of Ptolemaic Egypt|Egypt]]. This conflict with Ptolemy, the [[Syrian Wars#Third Syrian War (246-241 BC)|Third Syrian War]] (246–241 BC), also allowed [[Diodotus I]] to rebel and form the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]] in Central Asia.<ref name="brosius_2006_85"/> The latter's successor, [[Diodotus II]], formed an alliance with Arsaces against the Seleucids, but Arsaces was temporarily driven from Parthia by the forces of [[Seleucus II Callinicus]] ({{reign|246|225 BC}}).<ref name="brosius_2006_85-86">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=85–86}}</ref> After spending some time in exile among the nomadic [[Apasiacae]] tribe, Arsaces led a counterattack and recaptured Parthia. Seleucus II's successor, [[Antiochus III the Great]] ({{reign|222|187 BC}}), was unable to immediately retaliate because his troops were engaged in putting down the rebellion of [[Molon]] in [[Media (region)|Media]].<ref name="brosius_2006_85-86"/>

Antiochus III launched a massive campaign to retake Parthia and Bactria in 210 or 209 BC. Despite some [[Battle of Mount Labus|victories]] he was unsuccessful, but did negotiate a peace settlement with Arsaces II. The latter was granted the title of king ([[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: ''[[basileus]]'') in return for his submission to Antiochus III as his superior.<ref name="bivar_1983_29 brosius_2006_86 kennedy_1996_74">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=29}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=86}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=74}}</ref> The Seleucids were unable to further intervene in Parthian affairs following increasing encroachment by the [[Roman Republic]] and the Seleucid [[Battle of Magnesia|defeat at Magnesia]] in 190 BC.<ref name="bivar_1983_29 brosius_2006_86 kennedy_1996_74"/> [[Priapatius]] ({{reign|{{circa|191}}|176 BC}}) succeeded Arsaces II, and [[Phraates I]] ({{reign|{{circa| 176}}|171 BC}}) eventually ascended the Parthian throne. Phraates I ruled Parthia without further Seleucid interference.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=29–31}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=86}}</ref>

===Expansion and consolidation===
{{main|Seleucid–Parthian wars}}
[[File:MithridatesIParthiaCoinHistoryofIran.jpg|thumb|[[Ancient drachma|Drachma]] of [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]], showing him wearing a beard and a royal [[diadem]] on his head. Reverse side: [[Heracles]]/[[Verethragna]], holding a club in his left hand and a cup in his right hand; Greek inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the Great King Arsaces the [[Philhellene]]"|alt=Two sides of a coin. The side on the left showing the head of a bearded man, while the right a standing individual.]]
[[File:Persia Exhibition - Getty Museum Los Angeles.jpg|thumb|Royal Parthian objects at the Persia exhibition, Getty Museum]]
Phraates I is recorded as expanding Parthia's control past the [[Gates of Alexander]] and occupied [[Apamea Ragiana]]. The locations of these are unknown.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=31}}</ref> Yet the greatest expansion of Parthian power and territory took place during the reign of his brother and successor [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]] (r. c. 171–132 BC),<ref name="brosius_2006_86"/> whom Katouzian compares to [[Cyrus the Great]] (d. 530 BC), founder of the Achaemenid Empire.<ref name="katouzian 2009 41"/>

Relations between Parthia and Greco-Bactria deteriorated after the death of Diodotus II, when Mithridates' forces captured two [[Eparchy|eparchies]] of the latter kingdom, then under [[Eucratides I]] (''r''. c. 170–145 BC).<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=33}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=86}}</ref> Turning his sights on the Seleucid realm, Mithridates invaded Media and occupied [[Ecbatana]] in 148 or 147 BC; the region had been destabilized by a recent Seleucid suppression of a rebellion there led by [[Timarchus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=10–11}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=33}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=76}}</ref> This victory was followed by the Parthian conquest of [[Babylonia]] in [[Mesopotamia]], where Mithridates had coins minted at [[Seleucia]] in 141 BC and held an official [[investiture]] ceremony.<ref name="curtis_2007_10-11 brosius_2006_86-87 Bivar_1983_34 Garthwaite_2005_76">{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=10–11}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=86–87}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=34}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=76}};</ref> While Mithridates retired to Hyrcania, his forces subdued the kingdoms of [[Elymais]] and [[Characene]] and occupied [[Susa]].<ref name="curtis_2007_10-11 brosius_2006_86-87 Bivar_1983_34 Garthwaite_2005_76"/> By this time, Parthian authority extended as far east as the [[Indus River]].<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=35}}</ref>

Whereas [[Hecatompylos]] had served as the first Parthian capital, Mithridates established royal residences at Seleucia, Ecbatana, [[Ctesiphon]] and his newly founded city, Mithradatkert ([[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nisa]]), where the tombs of the Arsacid kings were built and maintained.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=103, 110–113}}</ref> Ecbatana became the main summertime residence for the Arsacid royalty.<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=73}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=77}}</ref> Ctesiphon may not have become the official capital until the reign of [[Gotarzes I]] (''r''. c. 90–80 BC).<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=77}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=38–39}}</ref> It became the site of the royal [[coronation]] ceremony and the representational city of the Arsacids, according to Brosius.<ref name="brosius_2006_103"/>

The Seleucids were unable to retaliate immediately as general [[Diodotus Tryphon]] led a rebellion at the capital [[Antioch]] in 142 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=34}}</ref> However, by 140 BC [[Demetrius II Nicator]] was able to launch a counter-invasion against the Parthians in Mesopotamia. Despite early successes, the Seleucids were defeated and Demetrius himself was captured by Parthian forces and taken to Hyrcania. There Mithridates treated his captive with great hospitality; he even married his daughter [[Rhodogune of Parthia]] to Demetrius.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=89}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=35}}; {{harvnb|Shayegan|2007|pp=83–103}}</ref>

[[Antiochus VII Sidetes]] (''r''. 138–129 BC), a brother of Demetrius, assumed the Seleucid throne and married the latter's wife [[Cleopatra Thea]]. After defeating Diodotus Tryphon, Antiochus initiated a campaign in 130 BC to retake Mesopotamia, now under the rule of [[Phraates II]] (''r''. c. 132–127 BC). The Parthian general Indates was defeated along the [[Great Zab]], followed by a local uprising where the Parthian governor of Babylonia was killed. Antiochus conquered Babylonia and occupied Susa, where he minted coins.<ref name="bivar_1983_36-37 curtis_2007_11">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=36–37}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Shayegan|2011|pp=121–150}}</ref> After advancing his army into Media, the Parthians pushed for peace, which Antiochus refused to accept unless the Arsacids relinquished all lands to him except Parthia proper, paid heavy tribute, and released Demetrius from captivity. Arsaces released Demetrius and sent him to [[History of Syria|Syria]], but refused the other demands.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=76–77}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=36–37}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=11}}</ref> By spring 129 BC, the Medes were in open revolt against Antiochus, whose army had exhausted the resources of the countryside during winter. While attempting to put down the revolts, the main Parthian force swept into the region and killed Antiochus at the [[Battle of Ecbatana]] in 129 BC. His body was sent back to Syria in a silver coffin; his son Seleucus was made a Parthian hostage<ref>{{harvnb|Shayegan|2011|pp=145–150}}</ref> and a daughter joined Phraates' [[harem]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=37–38}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=77}}; see also {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=90}} and {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|pp=41–42}}</ref>

[[File:Coin of Mithridates II of Parthia (obverse and reverse), Ray mint.jpg|thumb|Drachma of [[Mithridates II of Parthia|Mithridates II]] (''r''. c. 124–91 BC). Reverse side: seated archer carrying a bow; inscription reading "of the [[King of Kings]] Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Philhellene."]]
While the Parthians regained the territories lost in the west, another threat arose in the east. In 177–176 BC the nomadic confederation of the [[Xiongnu]] dislodged the nomadic [[Yuezhi]] from their homelands in what is now [[Gansu]] province in [[Northwest China]];<ref>{{harvnb|Torday|1997|pp=80–81}}</ref> the Yuezhi then migrated west into Bactria and displaced the [[Saka]] (Scythian) tribes. The Saka were forced to move further west, where they invaded the Parthian Empire's northeastern borders.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=76}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=36–37}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=89, 91}}</ref> Mithridates was thus forced to retire to Hyrcania after his conquest of Mesopotamia.<ref name="brosius_2006_89">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=89}}</ref>

Some of the Saka were enlisted in Phraates' forces against Antiochus. However, they arrived too late to engage in the conflict. When Phraates refused to pay their wages, the Saka revolted, which he tried to put down with the aid of former Seleucid soldiers, yet they too abandoned Phraates and joined sides with the Saka.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=38}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=77}}</ref> Phraates II marched against this combined force, but he was killed in battle.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=38–39}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=77}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=11}}; {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=42}}</ref> The Roman historian [[Justin (historian)|Justin]] reports that his successor [[Artabanus I of Parthia|Artabanus I]] (''r''. c. 128–124 BC) shared a similar fate fighting nomads in the east. He claims Artabanus was killed by the Tokhari (identified as the Yuezhi), although Bivar believes Justin conflated them with the Saka.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=38–39}}</ref> [[Mithridates II of Parthia|Mithridates II]] (r. c. 124–91 BC) later recovered the lands lost to the Saka in [[Sakastan]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=40–41}}; {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=42}}</ref>

[[File:Silk from Mawangdui 2.jpg|thumb|left|[[Han dynasty]] Chinese [[silk]] from [[Mawangdui]], 2nd century BC, silk from [[History of China|China]] was perhaps the most lucrative luxury item the Parthians traded at the western end of the [[Silk Road]].<ref name="garthwaite_2005_78">{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=78}}</ref>]]
Following the Seleucid withdrawal from Mesopotamia, the Parthian governor of Babylonia, Himerus, was ordered by the Arsacid court to conquer Characene, then ruled by [[Hyspaosines]] from [[Charax Spasinu]]. When this failed, Hyspaosines invaded Babylonia in 127 BC and occupied Seleucia. Yet by 122 BC, Mithridates II forced Hyspaosines out of Babylonia and made the kings of Characene [[vassal]]s under Parthian [[suzerainty]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=40}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=11–12}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=90}}</ref> After Mithridates extended Parthian control further west, occupying [[Dura-Europos]] in 113 BC, he became embroiled in a conflict with the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=11–12}}</ref> His forces defeated and deposed [[Artavasdes I of Armenia]] in 97 BC, taking his son Tigranes hostage, who would later become [[Tigranes the Great|Tigranes II "the Great" of Armenia]] (''r''. c. 95–55 BC).<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=91–92}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=40–41}}</ref>

The [[Indo-Parthian Kingdom]], located in modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan made an alliance with the Parthian Empire in the 1st century BC.<ref name="bivar_2007_26">{{harvnb|Bivar|2007|p=26}}</ref> Bivar claims that these two states considered each other political equals.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=41}}</ref> After the Greek philosopher [[Apollonius of Tyana]] visited the court of [[Vardanes I]] (''r''. c. 40–47 AD) in 42 AD, Vardanes provided him with the protection of a caravan as he traveled to Indo-Parthia. When Apollonius reached Indo-Parthia's capital [[Taxila]], his caravan leader read Vardanes' official letter, perhaps written in Parthian, to an Indian official who treated Apollonius with great hospitality.<ref name="bivar_2007_26"/>

Following the [[Foreign relations of Imperial China|diplomatic venture]] of [[Zhang Qian]] into Central Asia during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (''r''. 141–87 BC), the [[Han Dynasty|Han Empire]] of China sent a delegation to Mithridates II's court in 121 BC. The Han embassy [[Economy of the Han Dynasty#Foreign trade and tributary exchange|opened official trade relations]] with Parthia via the [[Silk Road]] yet did not achieve a desired military alliance against the confederation of the Xiongnu.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=90–91}}; {{harvnb|Watson|1983|pp=540–542}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=77–78}}</ref> The Parthian Empire was enriched by taxing the Eurasian caravan trade in [[History of silk|silk]], the most highly priced luxury good [[Roman commerce|imported by the Romans]].<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=78}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=122–123}}</ref> Pearls were also a highly valued import from China, while the Chinese purchased Parthian spices, perfumes, and fruits.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=123–125}}</ref> Exotic animals were also given as gifts from the Arsacid to Han courts; in 87 AD [[Pacorus II of Parthia]] sent lions and Persian gazelles to [[Emperor Zhang of Han]] (''r''. 75–88 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|2007|pp=100–101}}</ref> Besides silk, Parthian goods purchased by Roman merchants included [[History of metallurgy in the Indian subcontinent|iron from India]], [[Spice trade|spices]], and fine leather.<ref>{{harvnb|Kurz|1983|p=560}}</ref> Caravans traveling through the Parthian Empire brought West Asian and sometimes [[Roman glass|Roman luxury glasswares]] to China.<ref>{{harvnb|Ebrey|1999|p=70}}; for an archaeological survey of Roman glasswares in ancient Chinese burials, see {{harvnb|An|2002|pp=79–84}}</ref> The merchants of [[Sogdia]], speaking an [[Sogdian language|Eastern Iranian language]], served as the primary middlemen of this vital silk trade between [[China–Iran relations#Han-Parthian era|Parthia and Han China]].<ref>{{harvnb|Howard|2012|p=133}}</ref>

===Rome and Armenia===
{{main|Roman–Persian relations|Roman–Parthian Wars}}
[[File:Parthian Iran Museum.jpg|thumb|{{center|[[Statue, National Museum of Iran 2401|Bronze statue of a Parthian nobleman]] from the sanctuary at Shami in [[Elymais]] (modern-day [[Khūzestān Province]], [[Iran]], along the Persian Gulf), now located at the [[National Museum of Iran]]. Dated 50 BC-150 AD, Parthian School.}}]]
The Yuezhi [[Kushan Empire]] in northern India largely guaranteed the security of Parthia's eastern border.<ref name="brosius_2006_92">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=92}}</ref> Thus, from the mid-1st century BC onwards, the Arsacid court focused on securing the western border, primarily against Rome.<ref name="brosius_2006_92"/> A year following Mithridates II's subjugation of Armenia, [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]], the Roman [[proconsul]] of [[Cilicia]], convened with the Parthian diplomat [[Orobazus]] at the [[Euphrates]] river. The two agreed that the river would serve as the border between Parthia and Rome, although several historians have argued that Sulla only had authority to communicate these terms back to Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=73–78}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=91}}; {{harvnb|Sheldon|2010|pp=12–16}}</ref>

Despite this agreement, in 93 or 92 BC Parthia fought a war in Syria against the tribal leader [[Laodice of the Sameans|Laodice]] and her Seleucid ally [[Antiochus X Eusebes]] (''r''. 95–92? BC), killing the latter.<ref name="kennedy_1996_77–78">{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=77–78}}</ref> When one of the last Seleucid monarchs, [[Demetrius III Eucaerus]], attempted to besiege Beroea (modern [[Aleppo]]), Parthia sent military aid to the inhabitants and Demetrius was defeated.<ref name="kennedy_1996_77–78"/>

Following the rule of Mithridates II, his son [[Gotarzes I]] succeeded him.<ref>{{harvnb|Assar|2006|p=62}}; {{harvnb|Shayegan|2011|p=225}}; {{harvnb|Rezakhani|2013|p=770}}</ref> He reigned during a period coined in scholarship as the "[[Parthian Dark Age]]," due to the lack of clear information on the events of this period in the empire, except a series of, apparently overlapping, reigns.{{sfn|Shayegan|2011|pp=188–189}}{{sfn|Sellwood|1976|p=2}} It is only with the beginning of the reign of [[Orodes II]] in {{circa|57 BC}}, that the line of Parthian rulers can again be reliably traced.{{sfn|Sellwood|1976|p=2}} This system of split monarchy weakened Parthia, allowing Tigranes II of Armenia to annex Parthian territory in western Mesopotamia. This land would not be restored to Parthia until the reign of [[Sinatruces of Parthia|Sinatruces]] (''r''. c. 78–69 BC).<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=91–92}}</ref>

Following the outbreak of the [[Third Mithridatic War]], [[Mithridates VI of Pontus]] (''r''. 119–63 BC), an ally of Tigranes II of Armenia, requested aid from Parthia against Rome, but Sinatruces refused help.<ref name="bivar_1983_44-45">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=44–45}}</ref> When the Roman commander [[Lucullus]] marched against the Armenian capital [[Tigranocerta]] in 69 BC, Mithridates VI and Tigranes II requested the aid of [[Phraates III]] (''r''. c. 71–58). Phraates did not send aid to either, and after the [[Battle of Tigranocerta|fall of Tigranocerta]] he reaffirmed with Lucullus the Euphrates as the boundary between Parthia and Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=45–46}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=94}}</ref>

Tigranes the Younger, son of Tigranes II of Armenia, failed to usurp the Armenian throne from his father. He fled to Phraates III and convinced him to march against Armenia's new capital at [[Artashat (ancient city)|Artaxarta]]. When this siege failed, Tigranes the Younger once again fled, this time to the Roman commander [[Pompey]]. He promised Pompey that he would act as a guide through Armenia, but, when Tigranes II submitted to Rome as a [[Client state|client king]], Tigranes the Younger was brought to Rome as a hostage.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=46–47}}</ref> Phraates demanded Pompey return Tigranes the Younger to him, but Pompey refused. In retaliation, Phraates launched an invasion into [[Corduene]] (southeastern Turkey) where, according to two conflicting Roman accounts, the Roman consul [[Lucius Afranius (consul)|Lucius Afranius]] forced the Parthians out by either military or diplomatic means.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=47}}; [[Cassius Dio]] writes that Lucius Afranius reoccupied the region without confronting the Parthian army, whereas [[Plutarch]] asserts that Afranius drove him out by military means.</ref>

Phraates III was assassinated by his sons [[Orodes II of Parthia]] and [[Mithridates IV of Parthia]], after which Orodes turned on Mithridates, forcing him to flee from Media to [[Syria (Roman province)|Roman Syria]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=48–49}}; see also {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|pp=42–43}}</ref> [[Aulus Gabinius]], the Roman proconsul of Syria, marched in support of Mithridates to the Euphrates, but had to turn back to aid [[Ptolemy XII Auletes]] (''r''. 80–58; 55–51 BC) against a rebellion in Egypt.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=48–49}}; also, {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=94–95}} mentions this in passing.</ref> Despite losing his Roman support, Mithridates managed to conquer Babylonia, and minted coins at Seleucia until 54 BC. In that year, Orodes' general, known only as [[Surena]] after his noble family's clan name, recaptured Seleucia, and Mithridates was executed.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=49}}</ref>

[[File:Head of Marcus Licinius Crassus, middle of 1st century BC, from Italy, Moi, Auguste, Empereur de Rome exhibition, Grand Palais, Paris - 14649017884.jpg|thumb|left|upright|A Roman marble head of the triumvir [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]], who was [[Battle of Carrhae|defeated at Carrhae]] by [[Surena]]]]

[[Marcus Licinius Crassus]], one of the [[First Triumvirate|triumvirs]], who was now proconsul of Syria, invaded Parthia in 53 BC in belated support of Mithridates.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=49–50}}; {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|pp=42–43}}</ref> As his army [[Battle of Carrhae|marched to Carrhae]] (modern [[Harran]], southeastern Turkey), Orodes II invaded Armenia, cutting off support from Rome's ally [[Artavasdes II of Armenia]] (''r''. 53–34 BC). Orodes persuaded Artavasdes to a marriage alliance between the crown prince [[Pacorus I of Parthia]] (d. 38 BC) and Artavasdes' sister.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=79}}; see also {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=94–95}} and {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=12–13}}</ref>

Surena, with an army entirely on horseback, rode to meet Crassus.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=52–55}}</ref> Surena's 1,000 [[cataphract]]s (armed with lances) and 9,000 [[horse archer]]s were outnumbered roughly four to one by Crassus' army, comprising seven [[Roman legion]]s and auxiliaries including mounted [[Gaul]]s and light infantry.<ref name="bivar_1983_52">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=52}}</ref> Using a baggage train of about 1,000 camels, the Parthian army provided the horse archers with a constant supply of arrows.<ref name="bivar_1983_52"/> The horse archers employed the "[[Parthian shot]]" tactic: feigning retreat to draw enemy out, then turning and shooting at them when exposed. This tactic, executed with heavy [[composite bow]]s on the flat plain, devastated Crassus' infantry.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=52–55}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=94–95}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=78–79}}</ref>

With some 20,000 Romans dead, approximately 10,000 captured, and roughly another 10,000 escaping west, Crassus fled into the Armenian countryside.<ref>{{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|pp=42–43}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=79}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=52–55}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}</ref> At the head of his army, Surena approached Crassus, offering a [[parley]], which Crassus accepted. However, he was killed when one of his junior officers, suspecting a trap, attempted to stop him from riding into Surena's camp.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=52–55}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}</ref> Crassus' defeat at Carrhae was one of the worst military defeats of Roman history.<ref name="kennedy_1996_78"/> Parthia's victory cemented its reputation as a formidable if not equal power with Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=55–56}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}</ref> With his camp followers, war captives, and precious Roman booty, Surena traveled some 700 km (430 mi) back to Seleucia where his victory was celebrated. However, fearing his ambitions even for the Arsacid throne, Orodes had Surena executed shortly thereafter.<ref name="kennedy_1996_78">{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=78}}</ref>

[[Image:Antony with Octavian aureus.jpg|thumb|Roman [[aureus|aurei]] bearing the portraits of [[Mark Antony]] (left) and [[Octavian]] (right), issued in 41 BC to celebrate the establishment of the [[Second Triumvirate]] by Octavian, Antony and [[Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)|Marcus Lepidus]] in 43 BC]]
Emboldened by the victory over Crassus, the Parthians attempted to capture Roman-held territories in [[Western Asia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=80}} asserts that permanent occupation was the obvious goal of the Parthians, especially after the cities of Roman Syria and even the Roman garrisons submitted to the Parthians and joined their cause.</ref> [[Crown prince]] Pacorus I and his commander Osaces raided Syria as far as Antioch in 51 BC, but were repulsed by [[Gaius Cassius Longinus]], who ambushed and killed Osaces.<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=78–79}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=56}}</ref> The Arsacids sided with Pompey in [[Caesar's Civil War|the civil war against Julius Caesar]] and even sent troops to support the anti-Caesarian forces at the [[Battle of Philippi]] in 42 BC.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=56–57}}; {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|p=243}}</ref>

[[Quintus Labienus]], a general loyal to Cassius and [[Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger|Brutus]], sided with Parthia against the [[Second Triumvirate]] in 40 BC; the following year he invaded Syria alongside Pacorus I.<ref name="bivar_1983_57 strugnell_2006_244 kennedy_1996_80">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=57}}; {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|p=244}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=80}}</ref> The triumvir [[Mark Antony]] was unable to lead the Roman defense against Parthia due to his departure to Italy, where he amassed his forces to confront his rival [[Octavian]] and eventually conducted negotiations with him at Brundisium.<ref>{{harvnb|Syme|2002|pp=214–217}}</ref>

After Syria was occupied by Pacorus' army, Labienus split from the main Parthian force to invade [[Anatolia]] while Pacorus and his commander [[Barzapharnes]] invaded the Roman [[Levant]].<ref name="bivar_1983_57 strugnell_2006_244 kennedy_1996_80"/> They subdued all settlements along the Mediterranean coast as far south as Ptolemais (modern [[Acre, Israel]]), with the lone exception of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]].<ref name="bivar_1983_57">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=57}}</ref> In [[Judea]], the pro-Roman Jewish forces of high priest [[Hyrcanus II]], [[Phasael]], and [[Herod the Great|Herod]] were defeated by the Parthians and their Jewish ally [[Antigonus II Mattathias]] (r. 40–37 BC); the latter was made king of Judea while Herod fled to his fort at [[Masada]].<ref name="bivar_1983_57 strugnell_2006_244 kennedy_1996_80"/>

Despite these successes, the Parthians were soon driven out of the Levant by a Roman counteroffensive. [[Publius Ventidius Bassus]], an officer under Mark Antony, defeated and then executed Labienus at the [[Battle of the Cilician Gates]] (in modern [[Mersin Province]], Turkey) in 39 BC.<ref name="bivar_1983_57-58 strugnell_2006_239, 245 brosius_2006_96 kennedy 1996_80">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=57–58}}; {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|pp=239, 245}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=80}}</ref> Shortly afterward, a Parthian force in Syria led by general Pharnapates was defeated by Ventidius at the [[Battle of Amanus Pass]].<ref name="bivar_1983_57-58 strugnell_2006_239, 245 brosius_2006_96 kennedy 1996_80"/>

As a result, Pacorus I temporarily withdrew from Syria. When he returned in the spring of 38 BC, he faced Ventidius at the [[Battle of Mount Gindarus]], northeast of Antioch. Pacorus was killed during the battle, and his forces retreated across the Euphrates. His death spurred a succession crisis in which Orodes II chose [[Phraates IV]] (''r''. c. 38–2 BC) as his new heir.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=58}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=80–81}}; see also {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|pp=239, 245–246}}</ref>

[[File:Drachm of Phraates IV, Mithradatkart mint.jpg|thumb|Drachma of [[Phraates IV]] (''r''. c. 38–2 BC). Inscription reading ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΦΙΛΕΛΛΗΝΟΣ "of the [[King of Kings]] Arsaces the Renowned/Manifest Benefactor Philhellene"]]
Upon assuming the throne, Phraates IV eliminated rival claimants by killing and exiling his own brothers.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=79}}</ref> One of them, Monaeses, fled to Antony and persuaded him to [[Antony's Parthian War|invade Parthia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=58–59}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=81}}</ref> Antony defeated Parthia's Judaean ally Antigonus in 37 BC, installing Herod as a client king in his place.

The following year, when Antony marched to [[Erzurum|Theodosiopolis]], Artavasdes II of Armenia once again switched alliances by sending Antony additional troops. Antony invaded Media [[Atropatene]] (modern [[Iranian Azerbaijan]]), then ruled by Parthia's ally [[Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene]], with the intention of seizing the capital Praaspa, the location of which is now unknown. However, Phraates IV ambushed Antony's rear detachment, destroying a giant [[battering ram]] meant for the siege of Praaspa; after this, Artavasdes II abandoned Antony's forces.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=58–59}}</ref>

The Parthians pursued and harassed Antony's army as it fled to Armenia. Eventually, the greatly weakened force reached Syria.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=60–63}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}; see also {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=81}} for analysis on Rome's shift of attention away from Syria to the Upper Euphrates, starting with Antony.</ref> Antony lured Artavasdes II into a trap with the promise of a marriage alliance. He was taken captive in 34 BC, paraded in Antony's mock [[Roman triumph]] in [[Alexandria]], Egypt,<ref>{{harvnb|Roller|2010|p=99}}</ref> and eventually executed by [[Cleopatra VII]] of the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]].<ref>{{harvnb|Burstein|2004|p=31}}</ref><ref name="bivar_1983_64-65">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=64–65}}</ref>

Antony attempted to strike an alliance with Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene, whose relations with Phraates IV had recently soured. This was abandoned when Antony and his forces withdrew from Armenia in 33 BC; they escaped a Parthian invasion while Antony's rival Octavian attacked his forces to the west.<ref name="bivar_1983_64-65"/> After the defeat and suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC,<ref>{{harvnb|Roller|2010|pp=145–151}}</ref> Parthian ally [[Artaxias II]] reassumed the throne of Armenia.

===Peace with Rome, court intrigue and contact with Chinese generals===
{{further|Pax Romana}}
Following the defeat and deaths of Antony and [[Reign of Cleopatra VII|Cleopatra]] of [[Ptolemaic Egypt]] after the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC, Octavian consolidated his political power and in 27 BC was named [[Augustus]] by the [[Roman Senate]], becoming the first [[Roman emperor]].<ref>{{harvnb|Roller|2010|pp=138–151}}; {{harvnb|Bringmann|2007|pp=304–307}}</ref> Around this time, [[Tiridates II of Parthia]] briefly overthrew Phraates IV, who was able to quickly reestablish his rule with the aid of Scythian nomads.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=65–66}}</ref> Tiridates fled to the Romans, taking one of Phraates' sons with him. In negotiations conducted in 20 BC, Phraates arranged for the release of his kidnapped son. In return, the Romans received the lost [[Aquila (Roman)|legionary standards]] taken at Carrhae in 53 BC, as well as any surviving prisoners of war.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=80}}; see also {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|pp=251–252}}</ref> The Parthians viewed this exchange as a small price to pay to regain the prince.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=66–67}}</ref> Augustus hailed the return of the standards as a political victory over Parthia; this propaganda was celebrated in the minting of new coins, the [[Forum of Augustus|building of a new temple]] to house the standards, and even in fine art such as the [[breastplate]] scene on his statue [[Augustus of Prima Porta]].<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=96–97; 136–137}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=66–67}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=12–13}}</ref>

[[File:Augustus Prima Porta (detail).PNG|thumb|left|A close-up view of the [[breastplate]] on the statue of [[Augustus of Prima Porta]], showing a Parthian man returning to [[Augustus]] the [[Aquila (Roman)|legionary standards]] lost by [[Marcus Licinius Crassus]] at [[Battle of Carrhae|Carrhae]]]]
Along with the prince, Augustus also gave Phraates IV an Italian slave-girl, who later became Queen [[Musa of Parthia]]. To ensure that her child Phraataces would inherit the throne without incident, Musa convinced Phraates IV to give his other sons to Augustus as hostages. Again, Augustus used this as propaganda depicting the submission of Parthia to Rome, listing it as a great accomplishment in his ''[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=67}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=96–99}}</ref> When Phraataces took the throne as [[Phraates V]] (''r''. c. 2 BC – 4 AD), Musa ruled alongside him, and according to [[Josephus]], married him. The Parthian nobility, disapproving of the notion of a king with non-Arsacid blood, forced the pair into exile in Roman territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=68}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=97–99}}; see also {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=80}}</ref> Phraates' successor [[Orodes III of Parthia]] lasted just two years on the throne, and was followed by [[Vonones I]], who had adopted many Roman mannerisms during time in Rome. The Parthian nobility, angered by Vonones' sympathies for the Romans, backed a rival claimant, [[Artabanus II of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 10–38 AD), who eventually defeated Vonones and drove him into exile in Roman Syria.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=68–69}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=97–99}}</ref>

During the reign of Artabanus II, two Jewish commoners and brothers, [[Anilai and Asinai]] from [[Nehardea]] (near modern [[Fallujah]], Iraq),<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=69–71}}</ref> led a revolt against the Parthian governor of Babylonia. After defeating the latter, the two were granted the right to govern the region by Artabanus II, who feared further rebellion elsewhere.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=71}}</ref> Anilai's Parthian wife poisoned Asinai out of fear he would attack Anilai over his marriage to a [[gentile]]. Following this, Anilai became embroiled in an armed conflict with a son-in-law of Artabanus, who eventually defeated him.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=71–72}}</ref> With the Jewish regime removed, the native Babylonians began to harass the [[Iraqi Jews|local Jewish community]], forcing them to emigrate to Seleucia. When that city rebelled against Parthian rule in 35–36 AD, the Jews were expelled again, this time by the local [[Greeks]] and [[Aramaeans]]. The exiled Jews fled to Ctesiphon, Nehardea, and [[Nisibis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=72–73}}</ref>

[[File:Augustus Denarius 19 BC 2230399.jpg|thumb|right|A [[denarius]] struck in 19 BC during the reign of [[Augustus]], with the goddess [[Feronia (mythology)|Feronia]] depicted on the obverse, and on the reverse a Parthian man kneeling in submission while offering the Roman [[Aquila (Roman)|military standards]] taken at the [[Battle of Carrhae]]<ref>See {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=137–138}} for more information on Roman coins depicting Parthians returning the lost military standards to Rome.</ref>]]
Although at peace with Parthia, Rome still interfered in its affairs. The Roman emperor [[Tiberius]] (r. 14–37 AD) became involved in a plot by [[Pharasmanes I of Iberia]] to place his brother [[Mithridates of Armenia|Mithridates]] on the throne of Armenia by assassinating the Parthian ally King Arsaces of Armenia.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=73}}</ref> Artabanus II tried and failed to restore Parthian control of Armenia, prompting an aristocratic revolt that forced him to flee to [[Scythia]]. The Romans released a hostage prince, [[Tiridates III of Parthia]], to rule the region as an ally of Rome. Shortly before his death, Artabanus managed to force Tiridates from the throne using troops from Hyrcania.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=73–74}}</ref> After Artabanus' death in 38 AD, a long civil war ensued between the rightful successor [[Vardanes I]] and his brother [[Gotarzes II of Parthia|Gotarzes II]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=75–76}}</ref> After Vardanes was assassinated during a hunting expedition, the Parthian nobility appealed to Roman emperor [[Claudius]] (''r''. 41–54 AD) in 49 AD to release the hostage prince [[Meherdates]] to challenge Gotarzes. This backfired when Meherdates was betrayed by the governor of [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]] and [[Izates bar Monobaz]] of [[Adiabene]]; he was captured and sent to Gotarzes, where he was allowed to live after having his ears mutilated, an act that disqualified him from inheriting the throne.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=76–78}}</ref>

In 97 AD, the Chinese general [[Ban Chao]], the [[Protectorate of the Western Regions|Protector-General of the Western Regions]], sent his emissary [[Gan Ying]] on a diplomatic mission to reach the Roman Empire. Gan visited the court of [[Pacorus II]] at Hecatompylos before departing towards Rome.<ref name="watson_1983_543-544">{{harvnb|Watson|1983|pp=543–544}}</ref> He traveled as far west as the [[Persian Gulf]], where Parthian authorities convinced him that an arduous sea voyage around the [[Arabian Peninsula]] was the only means to reach Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Watson|1983|pp=543–544}}; {{harvnb|Yü|1986|pp=460–461}}; {{harvnb|de Crespigny|2007|pp=239–240}}; see also {{harvnb|Wang|2007|p=101}}</ref> Discouraged by this, Gan Ying returned to the Han court and provided [[Emperor He of Han]] (''r''. 88–105 AD) with a detailed report on the Roman Empire based on oral accounts of his Parthian hosts.<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|2002|pp=46–47}}; {{harvnb|Morton|Lewis|2005|p=59}}</ref> William Watson speculates that the Parthians would have been relieved at the failed efforts by the Han Empire to open diplomatic relations with Rome, especially after Ban Chao's [[Han–Xiongnu War|military victories]] against the [[Xiongnu]] in [[Tarim Basin|eastern Central Asia]].<ref name="watson_1983_543-544"/> However, Chinese records maintain that a [[Daqin|Roman embassy]], perhaps only a group of [[Roman commerce|Roman merchants]], [[Sino-Roman relations|arrived at the Han capital]] [[Luoyang]] by way of [[Jiaozhi]] (northern [[Vietnam]]) in 166 AD, during the reigns of [[Marcus Aurelius]] (''r''. 161–180 AD) and [[Emperor Huan of Han]] (''r''. 146–168 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Yü|1986|pp=460–461}}; {{harvnb|de Crespigny|2007|p=600}}</ref> Although it could be coincidental, [[Antonine]] Roman golden [[medal]]lions dated to the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and his predecessor [[Antoninus Pius]] have been discovered at [[Oc Eo]], Vietnam (among other Roman artefacts in the [[Mekong Delta]]), a site that is one of the suggested locations for the port city of "[[Cattigara]]" along the ''[[Magnus Sinus]]'' (i.e. [[Gulf of Thailand]] and [[South China Sea]]) in [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Young|2001|p=29}}; {{harvnb|Mawer|2013|p=38}}; {{harvnb|Ball|2016|p=153}}</ref>

===Continuation of Roman hostilities and Parthian decline===
{{main|Roman–Parthian War of 58–63|Trajan's Parthian campaign|Roman–Parthian War of 161–166|Parthian war of Caracalla}}
{{further|Roman Armenia}}
[[File:Roman-Parthian War 58-60.svg|thumb|300px|Map of the troop movements during the first two years of the [[Roman–Parthian War of 58–63]] AD over the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]], detailing the Roman offensive into [[Armenia]] and capture of the country by [[Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo]]]]
[[File:King cornucopia Louvre Sb7302.jpg|thumb|Parthian king making an offering to god [[Herakles]]-[[Verethragna]]. [[Masdjid-e Suleiman]], [[Iran]]. 2nd–3rd century AD. Louvre Museum Sb 7302.<ref>{{cite web |title=Louvre Museum Sb 7302 |url=https://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/bas-relief}}</ref>]]
After the [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberian king]] Pharasmanes I had his son [[Rhadamistus]] (''r''. 51–55 AD) invade Armenia to depose the Roman client king Mithridates, [[Vologases I of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 51–77 AD) planned to invade and place his brother, the later [[Tiridates I of Armenia]], on the throne.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=79}}</ref> Rhadamistus was eventually driven from power, and, beginning with the reign of Tiridates, Parthia would retain firm control over Armenia—with brief interruptions—through the [[Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=79–81}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=81}}</ref> Even after the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Arsacid line lived on through the Armenian kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=82}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=79–81}}</ref> However, not only did the Arsacid line continue through the Armenians, it as well continued through the [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] kings with the [[Arsacid dynasty of Iberia]], and for many centuries afterwards in [[Caucasian Albania]] through the [[Arsacid Dynasty of Caucasian Albania]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bausani|1971|p=41}}</ref>

When [[Vardanes II of Parthia]] rebelled against his father Vologases I in 55 AD, Vologases withdrew his forces from Armenia. Rome quickly attempted to fill the political vacuum left behind.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=81}}</ref> In the [[Roman–Parthian War of 58–63]] AD, the commander [[Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo]] achieved some military successes against the Parthians while installing [[Tigranes VI of Armenia]] as a Roman client.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=81–85}}</ref> However, Corbulo's successor [[Lucius Caesennius Paetus]] was soundly defeated by Parthian forces and fled Armenia.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=83–85}}</ref> Following a peace treaty, Tiridates I traveled to [[Naples]] and Rome in 63 AD. At both sites the Roman emperor [[Nero]] (''r''. 54–68 AD) ceremoniously crowned him king of Armenia by placing the royal [[diadem]] on his head.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=99–100}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=85}}</ref>

A long period of peace between Parthia and Rome ensued, with only the invasion of [[Alans]] into Parthia's eastern territories around 72 AD mentioned by Roman historians.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=86}}</ref> Whereas Augustus and Nero had chosen a cautious military policy when confronting Parthia, later Roman emperors invaded and attempted to conquer the eastern [[Fertile Crescent]], the heart of the Parthian Empire along the [[Tigris River|Tigris]] and [[Euphrates]]. The heightened aggression can be explained in part by Rome's military reforms.<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=67, 87–88}}</ref> To match Parthia's strength in missile troops and mounted warriors, the Romans at first used foreign allies (especially [[Nabataeans]]), but later established a permanent ''[[auxilia]]'' force to complement their heavy legionary infantry.<ref name="kennedy_1996_87">{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=87}}</ref> The Romans eventually maintained regiments of horse archers (''[[sagittarii]]'') and even mail-armored [[cataphract]]s in their eastern provinces.<ref>{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=87–88}}; see also {{harvnb|Kurz|1983|pp=561–562}}</ref> Yet the Romans had no discernible [[grand strategy]] in dealing with Parthia and gained very little territory from these invasions.<ref>{{harvnb|Sheldon|2010|pp=231–232}}</ref> The primary motivations for war were the advancement of the personal glory and political position of the emperor, as well as defending Roman honor against perceived slights such as Parthian interference in the affairs of Rome's client states.<ref>{{harvnb|Sheldon|2010|pp=9–10, 231–235}}</ref>

[[File:Parthian King Vologases at Behistun.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Vologases's relief|Rock relief]] of Parthian king at [[Mount Behistun|Behistun]], most likely [[Vologases III]] (''r''. c. 110–147 AD){{sfn|Olbrycht|2016|p=96}}]]
Hostilities between Rome and Parthia were renewed when [[Osroes I of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 109–128 AD) deposed the Armenian king [[Sanatruk]] and replaced him with [[Axidares of Armenia|Axidares]], son of Pacorus II, without consulting Rome.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=86–87}}</ref> The Roman emperor [[Trajan]] (''r''. 98–117 AD) had the next Parthian nominee for the throne, Parthamasiris, killed in 114 AD, instead making Armenia a Roman province.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=88}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|p=117}}</ref> His forces, led by [[Lusius Quietus]], also captured Nisibis; its occupation was essential to securing all the major routes across the northern Mesopotamian plain.<ref>{{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|pp=117–118}}; see also {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=90–91}}</ref> The following year, Trajan invaded Mesopotamia and met little resistance from only [[Meharaspes]] of Adiabene, since Osroes was engaged in a civil war to the east with [[Vologases III of Parthia]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=88–89}}</ref> Trajan spent the winter of 115–116 at Antioch, but resumed his campaign in the spring. Marching down the Euphrates, he captured Dura-Europos, the capital Ctesiphon<ref>{{cite book|author=Dr. Aaron Ralby|title=Atlas of Military History|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb|chapter-url-access=registration|year=2013|publisher=Parragon|isbn=978-1-4723-0963-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/atlasofworldmili0000ralb/page/239 239]|chapter=Emperor Trajan, 98–117: Greatest Extent of Rome}}</ref> and Seleucia, and even subjugated Characene, where he watched ships depart to India from the [[Persian Gulf]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=88–90}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=81}}; {{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|p=120}}; see also {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=44}}</ref>

In the last months of 116 AD, Trajan captured the Persian city of Susa. When [[Sanatruces II of Parthia]] gathered forces in eastern Parthia to challenge the Romans, his cousin [[Parthamaspates of Parthia]] betrayed and killed him: Trajan crowned him the new king of Parthia.<ref name="bivar_1983_90-91">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=90–91}}</ref> Never again would the Roman Empire advance so far to the east. On Trajan's return north, the Babylonian settlements revolted against the Roman garrisons.<ref>{{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|p=120}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=90–91}}</ref> Trajan was forced to retreat from Mesopotamia in 117 AD, overseeing a failed siege of [[Hatra]] during his withdrawal.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=91}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=81}}</ref> His retreat was—in his intentions—temporary, because he wanted to renew the attack on Parthia in 118 AD and "make the subjection of the Parthians a reality,"<ref>{{harvnb|Mommsen|2004|p=69}}</ref> but Trajan died suddenly in August 117 AD. During his campaign, Trajan was granted the title ''Parthicus'' by the Senate and coins were minted proclaiming the conquest of Parthia.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=90–91}}; see also {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=137}} and {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}</ref> However, only the 4th-century AD historians [[Eutropius (historian)|Eutropius]] and [[Festus (historian)|Festus]] allege that he attempted to establish a [[Mesopotamia (Roman province)|Roman province]] in lower Mesopotamia.<ref>{{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|pp=120–124}}</ref>

[[File:ParthianInChains.jpg|thumb|A Parthian (right) wearing a [[Phrygian cap]], depicted as a prisoner of war in chains held by a Roman (left); [[Arch of Septimius Severus]], Rome, 203 AD]]
Trajan's successor [[Hadrian]] (''r''. 117–138 AD) reaffirmed the [[Roman-Parthian Wars|Roman-Parthian]] border at the Euphrates, choosing not to invade Mesopotamia due to Rome's now limited military resources.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=100}}; see also {{harvnb|Lightfoot|1990|p=115}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=81}}; and {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=91}}</ref> Parthamaspates fled after the Parthians revolted against him, yet the Romans made him king of [[Osroene]]. Osroes I died during his conflict with Vologases III, the latter succeeded by [[Vologases IV of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 147–191 AD) who ushered in a period of peace and stability.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=92–93}}</ref> However, the [[Roman–Parthian War of 161–166]] AD began when Vologases invaded Armenia and Syria, retaking Edessa. Roman emperor [[Marcus Aurelius]] (''r''. 161–180 AD) had co-ruler [[Lucius Verus]] (''r''. 161–169 AD) guard Syria while [[Marcus Statius Priscus]] invaded Armenia in 163 AD, followed by the invasion of Mesopotamia by [[Avidius Cassius]] in 164 AD.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=93}}</ref> The Romans captured and burnt Seleucia and Ctesiphon to the ground, yet they were forced to retreat once the Roman soldiers contracted a [[Antonine Plague|deadly disease]] (possibly [[smallpox]]) that soon ravaged the Roman world.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=100}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=93–94}}</ref> Although they withdrew, from this point forward the city of Dura-Europos remained in Roman hands.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=93–94}}</ref> When Roman emperor [[Septimius Severus]] (''r''. 193–211 AD) invaded Mesopotamia in 197 AD during the reign of [[Vologases V of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 191–208 AD), the Romans once again marched down the Euphrates and captured Seleucia and Ctesiphon. After assuming the title ''Parthicus Maximus'', he retreated in late 198 AD, failing as Trajan once did to capture Hatra during a siege.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=100}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=13}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=94}}; {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=44}}</ref>

Around 212 AD, soon after [[Vologases VI of Parthia]] (''r''. c. 208–222 AD) took the throne, his brother [[Artabanus IV of Parthia]] (d. 224 AD) rebelled against him and gained control over a greater part of the empire.<ref name="bivar_1983_94-95">{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=94–95}}</ref> Meanwhile, the Roman emperor [[Caracalla]] (''r''. 211–217 AD) deposed the kings of Osroene and Armenia to make them Roman provinces once more. He marched into Mesopotamia under the pretext of marrying one of Artabanus' daughters, but—because the marriage was not allowed—made war on Parthia and conquered [[Arbil]] east of the [[Tigris]] river.<ref name="bivar_1983_94-95"/> Caracalla was assassinated the next year on the road to Carrhae by his soldiers.<ref name="bivar_1983_94-95"/> At the [[Battle of Nisibis (217)|Battle of Nisibis]], the Parthians were able to defeat the Romans, but both sides suffered heavy losses.<ref>Herodian, IV.15.5</ref> After this debacle, the Parthians made a settlement with [[Macrinus]] (''r''. 217–218) where the Romans paid Parthia over two-hundred million ''[[Denarius|denarii]]'' with additional gifts.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=100–101}}; see also {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=44}}, who mentions this in passing</ref>

The Parthian Empire, weakened by internal strife and wars with Rome, was soon to be followed by the [[Sasanian Empire]]. Indeed, shortly afterward, [[Ardashir I]], the local Iranian ruler of Persis (modern [[Fars Province]], Iran) from [[Istakhr]] began subjugating the surrounding territories in defiance of Arsacid rule.<ref name="brosius_2006_101 bivar_1983_95-96 curtis_2007_14 katouzian_2009_44">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=101}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=95–96}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=14}}; see also {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=44}}</ref> He confronted Artabanus IV at the [[Battle of Hormozdgān]] on 28 April 224 AD, perhaps at a site near [[Isfahan]], defeating him and establishing the Sasanian Empire.<ref name="brosius_2006_101 bivar_1983_95-96 curtis_2007_14 katouzian_2009_44"/> There is evidence, however, that suggests Vologases VI continued to mint coins at Seleucia as late as 228 AD.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=95–96}}</ref>

The Sassanians would not only assume Parthia's legacy as Rome's Persian nemesis, but they would also attempt to restore the boundaries of the Achaemenid Empire by [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|briefly conquering]] the Levant, Anatolia, and Egypt from the [[Eastern Roman Empire]] during the reign of [[Khosrau II]] (''r''. 590–628 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Frye|1983|pp=173–174}}</ref> However, they would lose these territories to [[Heraclius]]—the last Roman emperor before the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]]. Nevertheless, for a period of more than 400 years, they succeeded the Parthian realm as Rome's principal rival.<ref>Norman A. Stillman ''The Jews of Arab Lands'' pp 22 Jewish Publication Society, 1979 {{ISBN|0-8276-1155-2}}</ref><ref>International Congress of Byzantine Studies ''Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21–26 August 2006, Volumes 1–3'' pp 29. Ashgate Pub Co, 30 sep. 2006 {{ISBN|0-7546-5740-X}}</ref>

===Native and external sources===
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = Parthian gold jewelry items found at a burial site in [[Nineveh]] (near modern [[Mosul]], [[Iraq]]) in the [[British Museum]]| footer_align = left | image1 = Parthian gold funerary objects by Nickmard Khoey.jpg | width1 = 126 | caption1 = | image2 = Parthian jewelry from Nineveh by Nickmard Khoey.jpg | width2 = 174 | caption2 = }}

Local and foreign written accounts, as well as non-textual artifacts, have been used to reconstruct Parthian history.<ref name="widengren_1983_1261-1262">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|pp=1261–1262}}</ref> Although the Parthian court maintained records, the Parthians had no formal study of [[history]]; the earliest [[Universal history (genre)|universal history]] of Iran, the ''[[Khwaday-Namag]]'', was not compiled until the reign of the last Sasanian ruler [[Yazdegerd III]] (r. 632–651 AD).<ref>{{harvnb|Yarshater|1983|p=359}}</ref> Indigenous [[Primary source|sources]] on Parthian history remain scarce, with fewer of them available than for any other period of Iranian history.<ref name="widengren_1983_1261">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1261}}</ref> Most contemporary written records on Parthia contain Greek as well as Parthian and Aramaic inscriptions.<ref name="garthwaite_2005_75-76">{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=75–76}}</ref> The Parthian language was written in a distinct script derived from the [[Aramaic alphabet#Achaemenid Empire (The First Persian Empire)|Imperial Aramaic chancellery script]] of the Achaemenids, and later developed into the [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi writing system]].<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|pp=1151–1152}}</ref>

[[File:Samartian-Persian necklace and amulet.png|thumb|A Sarmatian-Parthian gold necklace and amulet, 2nd century AD. Located in Tamoikin Art Fund]]
The most valuable indigenous sources for reconstructing an accurate chronology of Arsacid rulers are the metal [[Ancient drachma|drachma]] coins issued by each ruler.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=67}}; {{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1262}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=79–80}}</ref> These represent a "transition from non-textual to textual remains," according to historian [[Geo Widengren]].<ref name="widengren_1983_1262">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1262}}</ref> Other Parthian sources used for reconstructing chronology include [[cuneiform]] astronomical tablets and colophons discovered in Babylonia.<ref name="widengren_1983_1265">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1265}}</ref> Indigenous textual sources also include stone [[inscription]]s, [[parchment]] and [[papyri]] documents, and pottery [[ostraca]].<ref name="widengren_1983_1262"/> For example, at the early Parthian capital of Mithradatkert/Nisa in Turkmenistan, large caches of pottery ostraca have been found yielding information on the sale and storage of items like wine.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=75–76}}; {{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1263}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=118–119}}</ref> Along with parchment documents found at sites like Dura-Europos, these also provide valuable information on Parthian governmental administration, covering issues such as taxation, military titles, and provincial organization.<ref>{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1263}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=118–119}}</ref>
[[File:Golden Necklace - Parthian Empire 2nd AD.JPG|thumb|left|Parthian golden necklace, 2nd century AD, Iran, [[Reza Abbasi Museum]]]]
[[File:Iran-bastan-32.jpg|thumb|left|A Parthian ceramic [[oil lamp]], [[Khūzestān Province]], Iran, [[National Museum of Iran]]]]

The [[Greek historiography|Greek]] and [[Roman historiography|Latin histories]], which represent the majority of materials covering Parthian history, are not considered entirely reliable since they were written from the perspective of rivals and wartime enemies.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=67, 75}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=22}}</ref> These external sources generally concern major military and political events, and often ignore social and cultural aspects of Parthian history.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=75}}; {{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=80–81}}</ref> The Romans usually depicted the Parthians as fierce warriors but also as a culturally refined people; recipes for Parthian dishes in the cookbook ''[[Apicius]]'' exemplifies their admiration for Parthian cuisine.<ref>{{harvnb|Kurz|1983|p=564}}; see also {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=138}} for further analysis: "Curiously, at the same time as the Parthian was depicted as uncivilised, he was also 'orientalised' in traditional fashion, being described as luxury-loving, leading an effeminate lifestyle, and demonstrating excessive sexuality."</ref> [[Apollodorus of Artemita]] and [[Arrian]] wrote histories focusing on Parthia, which are now lost and survive only as quoted extracts in other histories.<ref>{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|pp=1261, 1264}}</ref> [[Isidore of Charax]], who lived during the reign of Augustus, provides an account of Parthian territories, perhaps from a Parthian government survey.<ref name="widengren_1983_1264">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1264}}</ref> To a lesser extent, people and events of Parthian history were also included in the histories of [[Justin (historian)|Justin]], [[Strabo]], [[Diodorus Siculus]], [[Plutarch]], [[Cassius Dio]], [[Appian]], [[Josephus]], [[Pliny the Elder]], and [[Herodian]].<ref>{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|pp=1265–1266}}</ref>

Parthian history can also be reconstructed via the [[Twenty-Four Histories|Chinese historical records]] of events.<ref name="widengren_1983_1265, 1267">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|pp=1265, 1267}}</ref> In contrast to Greek and Roman histories, the early Chinese histories maintained a more neutral view when describing Parthia,<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=80}}; {{harvnb|Posch|1998|p=363}}</ref> although the habit of Chinese chroniclers to copy material for their accounts from older works (of undetermined origin) makes it difficult to establish a chronological order of events.<ref>{{harvnb|Posch|1998|p=358}}</ref> The Chinese called Parthia ''[[:zh:安息|Ānxī]]'' (Chinese: [[wikt:安|安]] [[wikt:息|息]], [[Old Chinese phonology|Old Chinese pronunciation]]: '''ansjək''), perhaps after the Greek name for the Parthian city [[Merv|Antiochia in Margiana]] (Greek: Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ).<ref>{{harvnb|Watson|1983|pp=541–542}}</ref> However, this could also have been a transliteration of "Arsaces", after the dynasty's eponymous founder.<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|2007|p=90}}</ref> The works and historical authors include the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian|Shiji]]'' (also known as the ''Records of the Grand Historian'') by [[Sima Qian]], the ''[[Book of Han|Han shu]]'' (Book of Han) by [[Ban Biao]], [[Ban Gu]], and [[Ban Zhao]], and the ''[[Book of Later Han|Hou Han shu]]'' (Book of Later Han) by [[Fan Ye (historian)|Fan Ye]].<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|2007|p=88}}</ref> They provide information on the nomadic migrations leading up to the early [[Saka]] invasion of Parthia and valuable political and geographical information.<ref name="widengren_1983_1265, 1267"/> For example, the ''Shiji'' (ch. 123) describes diplomatic exchanges, exotic gifts given by Mithridates II to the [[Han Dynasty|Han court]], types of agricultural crops grown in Parthia, production of wine using grapes, itinerant merchants, and the size and location of Parthian territory.<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|2007|pp=89–90}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=90–91, 122}}</ref> The ''Shiji'' also mentions that the Parthians kept records by "writing horizontally on strips of leather," that is, parchment.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=118}}; see also {{harvnb|Wang|2007|p=90}} for a similar translation</ref>

==Government and administration==

===Central authority and semi-autonomous kings===
{{main|List of Parthian kings}}
[[File:650521.jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Kamnaskires III]], king of [[Elymais]] (modern [[Khūzestān Province]]), and his wife Queen [[Anzaze]], 1st century BC]]
Compared with the earlier Achaemenid Empire, the Parthian government was notably [[Decentralization|decentralized]].<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=67–68}}</ref> An indigenous historical source reveals that territories overseen by the central government were organized in a similar manner to the Seleucid Empire. They both had a threefold division for their provincial hierarchies: the Parthian [[marzbān]], xšatrap, and dizpat, similar to the Seleucid [[satrapy]], [[eparchy]], and hyparchy.<ref name="widengren_1983_1263">{{harvnb|Widengren|1983|p=1263}}</ref> The Parthian Empire also contained several subordinate semi-autonomous kingdoms, including the states of [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Caucasian Iberia]], [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Armenia]], [[Atropatene]], [[Gordyene]], [[Adiabene]], [[Edessa, Mesopotamia|Edessa]], [[Hatra]], [[Mesene]], [[Elymais]], and [[Kings of Persis|Persis]].<ref name="lukonin_1983_701">{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=701}}</ref> The state rulers governed their own territories and minted their own coinage distinct from the royal coinage produced at the imperial mints.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=701}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=19–21}}</ref> This was not unlike the earlier Achaemenid Empire, which also had some city-states, and even distant satrapies who were semi-independent but "recognised the supremacy of the king, paid tribute and provided military support", according to Brosius.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=113–114}}</ref> However, the satraps of Parthian times governed smaller territories, and perhaps had less prestige and influence than their Achaemenid predecessors.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=115–116}}</ref> During the Seleucid period, the trend of local ruling dynasties with semi-autonomous rule, and sometimes outright rebellious rule, became commonplace, a fact reflected in the later Parthian style of governance.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=114–115}}</ref>

===Nobility===
{{further|Seven Great Houses of Iran|List of rulers of Parthian sub-kingdoms}}
[[File:YoungManWithParthianCostume.jpg|thumb|upright|A statue of a young Palmyran in fine Parthian trousers, from a funerary [[stele]] at [[Palmyra]], early 3rd century AD]]

The King of Kings headed the Parthian government. He maintained [[polygamous]] relations, and was usually succeeded by his first-born son.<ref name="brosius_2006_103-104">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=103–104}}</ref> Like the Ptolemies of Egypt, there is also record of Arsacid kings marrying their nieces and perhaps even half-sisters; [[Musa of Parthia|Queen Musa]] is said by [[Josephus]] to have married her own son, though this would be an extreme and isolated case.<ref name="brosius_2006_103-104"/> Brosius provides an extract from a letter written in Greek by King Artabanus II in 21 AD, which addresses the governor (titled "[[archon]]") and citizens of the city of [[Susa]]. Specific government offices of Preferred Friend, Bodyguard and Treasurer are mentioned and the document also proves that "while there were local jurisdictions and proceedings to appointment to high office, the king could intervene on behalf of an individual, review a case and amend the local ruling if he considered it appropriate."<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=119}}</ref>

The hereditary titles of the hierarchic nobility recorded during the reign of the first Sasanian monarch Ardashir I most likely reflect the titles already in use during the Parthian era.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|pp=699–700}}</ref> There were three distinct tiers of nobility, the highest being the regional kings directly below the King of Kings, the second being those related to the King of Kings only through marriage, and the lowest order being heads of local clans and small territories.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|pp=700–704}}</ref>

By the 1st century AD, the Parthian nobility had assumed great power and influence in the succession and deposition of Arsacid kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=99–100, 104}}</ref> Some of the nobility functioned as court advisers to the king, as well as holy priests.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=104–105, 117–118}}</ref> [[Strabo]], in his ''[[Geographica]]'', preserved a claim by the Greek philosopher and historian [[Poseidonius]] that the Council of Parthia consisted of noble kinsmen and [[magi]], two groups from which "the kings were appointed."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0198:book=11:chapter=9:section=3|title=Strabo, Geography, Book 11, chapter 9, section 3|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2017-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221063316/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D11%3Achapter%3D9%3Asection%3D3|archive-date=2016-12-21|url-status=live}}</ref> Of the great noble Parthian families listed at the beginning of the Sassanian period, only two are explicitly mentioned in earlier Parthian documents: the [[House of Suren]] and the [[House of Karen]].<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|pp=704–705}}</ref> The historian [[Plutarch]] noted that members of the Suren family, the first among the nobility, were given the privilege of crowning each new Arsacid King of Kings during their coronations.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=704}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=104}}</ref>

===Military===
{{further|Parthian army}}
The Parthian Empire had no [[standing army]], yet were able to quickly recruit troops in the event of local crises.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=116, 122}}; {{harvnb|Sheldon|2010|pp=231–232}}</ref> There was a permanent armed guard attached to the person of the king, comprising nobles, [[serf]]s and [[mercenaries]], but this royal retinue was small.<ref name="kennedy_1996_84">{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=84}}</ref> Garrisons were also permanently maintained at border forts; Parthian inscriptions reveal some of the military titles granted to the commanders of these locations.<ref name="kennedy_1996_84"/> Military forces could also be used in diplomatic gestures. For example, when Chinese envoys visited Parthia in the late 2nd century BC, the ''[[Shiji]]'' maintains that 20,000 horsemen were sent to the eastern borders to serve as escorts for the embassy, although this figure is perhaps an exaggeration.<ref>{{harvnb|Wang|2007|pp=99–100}}</ref>
{{multiple image
| image1 = ParthianHorseman.jpg
| caption1 = Parthian [[horse archer]], now on display at the [[Palazzo Madama, Turin]]
| image2 = ParthianCataphract.JPG
| caption2 = Parthian [[cataphract]] fighting a lion
| image3 = Zahhak castle stucco 2.JPG
| caption3 = Relief of an infantryman, from [[Zahhak Castle]], Iran
| total_width = 500
| footer = The combination of horse archers and cataphracts formed an effective backbone for the Parthian military
}}

The main striking force of the Parthian army was its [[cataphract]]s, heavy cavalry with man and horse decked in [[Mail (armour)|mailed armor]].<ref name="brosius_2006_120 garthwaite_2005_78">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=120}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=78}}</ref> The cataphracts were equipped with a lance for charging into enemy lines, but were not equipped with bows and arrows which were restricted to horse archers.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=120}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=84}}</ref> Due to the cost of their equipment and armor, cataphracts were recruited from among the aristocratic class who, in return for their services, demanded a measure of autonomy at the local level from the Arsacid kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=116–118}}; see also {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=78}} and {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=84}}</ref> The light cavalry was recruited from among the commoner class and acted as [[horse archer]]s; they wore a simple tunic and trousers into battle.<ref name="brosius_2006_120 garthwaite_2005_78"/> They used [[composite bow]]s and were able to shoot at enemies while riding and facing away from them; this technique, known as the [[Parthian shot]], was a highly effective tactic.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=120}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=78}}; {{harvnb|Kurz|1983|p=561}}</ref> It appears that most of the Parthian army was cavalry, for tactical and strategic reasons. The light cavalry is thought to have carried a sword into battle as well, while cataphracts likely were also armed with short swords or knives.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1986|pp=489–499}} The Parthians also made use of the [[camel]] in armed combat.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1986|pp=489–499}}
The heavy and light cavalry of Parthia proved to be a decisive factor in the [[Battle of Carrhae]] where a Parthian force defeated a much larger Roman army under Crassus.
Light infantry units, composed of [[Conscription|levied commoners]] and mercenaries, were used to disperse enemy troops after cavalry charges.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=122}}</ref>

The Parthians do not appear to have ever used [[Chariot|war chariots]] in battle. However, royal Parthian women accompanied the king on military campaigns and were known to have ridden on chariots and wagons.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1986|pp=489–499}} Similarly, the Parthians appeared to have used [[war elephant]]s infrequently. There is one mention, by [[Tacitus]] and [[Cassius Dio]], of the use of one war elephant by [[Vologases I]] during the [[Roman–Parthian War of 58–63]].<ref name=Daryaee>{{cite journal |last1=Daryaee |first1=Touraj |title="From Terror to Tactical Usage: Elephants in the Partho-Sasanian Period," The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and Expansion, eds. V. Sarkhosh Curtis et. al., Oxford, 2016, pp. 36-41. |journal=The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires |year=2016 |page=36 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvh1dkb6.7 |url=https://www.academia.edu/27081447 |language=en}}</ref>

The size of the Parthian army is unknown, as is the size of the empire's overall population. However, archaeological excavations in former Parthian urban centers reveal settlements which could have sustained large populations and hence a great resource in manpower.<ref name="kennedy_1996_83">{{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=83}}</ref> Dense population centers in regions like Babylonia were no doubt attractive to the Romans, whose armies could afford to live off the land.<ref name="kennedy_1996_83"/> The largest army raised by the Parthians appears to have been 50,000.{{sfn|Shahbazi|1986|pp=489–499}}

===Currency===
{{further|Parthian coinage}}
Usually made of silver,<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=9, 11–12, 16}}</ref> the [[Ancient drachma|Greek drachma]] coin, including the [[tetradrachm]], was the standard currency used throughout the Parthian Empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=7–25}}; {{harvnb|Sellwood|1983|pp=279–298}}</ref> The Arsacids maintained [[Mint (coin)|royal mints]] at the cities of Hecatompylos, Seleucia, and Ecbatana.<ref name="brosius_2006_103">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=103}}</ref> They most likely operated a mint at Mithridatkert/Nisa as well.<ref name="curtis_2007_8"/> From the empire's inception until its collapse, drachmas produced throughout the Parthian period rarely weighed less than 3.5 g or more than 4.2 g.<ref>{{harvnb|Sellwood|1983|p=280}}</ref> The first Parthian tetradrachms, weighing in principle around 16 g with some variation, appear after Mithridates I conquered Mesopotamia and were minted exclusively at Seleucia.<ref>{{harvnb|Sellwood|1983|p=282}}</ref>

==Society and culture==

===Hellenism and the Iranian revival===

[[File:Drachma Mithradates II.jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Mithridates II of Parthia]]. The clothing is Parthian, while the style is Hellenistic (sitting on an [[omphalos]]). The Greek inscription reads "King Arsaces, the [[philhellene]]"]]

Although [[Culture of Greece|Greek culture]] of the Seleucids was widely adopted by peoples of the [[Near East]] during the [[Hellenistic period]], the Parthian era witnessed an [[Culture of Iran|Iranian cultural revival]] in religion, the arts, and even clothing fashions.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=14–15}}; see also {{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=45}}</ref> Conscious of both the Hellenistic and Persian cultural roots of their kingship, the Arsacid rulers styled themselves after the Persian King of Kings and affirmed that they were also ''[[Philhellenism|philhellenes]]'' ("friends of the Greeks").<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=85}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|pp=14–15}}</ref> The word "philhellene" was inscribed on Parthian coins until the reign of Artabanus II.<ref name="curtis_2007_11">{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=11}}</ref> The discontinuation of this phrase signified the revival of Iranian culture in Parthia.<ref name="curtis_2007_16">{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=16}}</ref> Vologases I was the first Arsacid ruler to have the [[Pahlavi script|Parthian script]] and [[Parthian language|language]] appear on his minted coins alongside the now almost illegible Greek.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=80–81}}; see also {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=21}} and {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1030}}</ref> However, the use of Greek-alphabet legends on Parthian coins remained until the collapse of the empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1030}}</ref>

[[File:ParthianWaterSpoutWithFaceOfIranianMan1-2ndCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|A ceramic Parthian water spout in the shape of a man's head, dated 1st or 2nd century AD]]
Greek cultural influence did not disappear from the Parthian Empire, however, and there is evidence that the Arsacids enjoyed [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek theatre]]. When the head of Crassus was brought to Orodes II, he, alongside Armenian king Artavasdes II, were busy watching a performance of ''[[The Bacchae]]'' by the playwright [[Euripides]] (c. 480–406 BC). The producer of the play decided to use Crassus' actual severed head in place of the [[Theatrical property|stage-prop]] head of [[Pentheus]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=56}}</ref>

On his coins, Arsaces I is depicted in apparel similar to Achaemenid satraps. According to A. Shahbazi, Arsaces "deliberately diverges from Seleucid coins to emphasize his nationalistic and royal aspirations, and he calls himself Kārny/Karny (Greek: Autocrator), a title already borne by Achaemenid supreme generals, such as Cyrus the Younger."<ref name=shahbazi525/> In line with Achaemenid traditions, rock-relief images of Arsacid rulers were carved at [[Mount Behistun]], where [[Darius I of Persia]] (r. 522–486 BC) made [[Behistun Inscription|royal inscriptions]].<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=85}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=128–129}}</ref> Moreover, the Arsacids claimed familial descent from [[Artaxerxes II of Persia]] (''r''. 404–358 BC) as a means to bolster their legitimacy in ruling over former Achaemenid territories, i.e. as being "legitimate successors of glorious kings" of ancient Iran.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=697}}</ref> [[Artabanus II]] named one of his sons Darius and laid claim to [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]]' heritage.<ref name=shahbazi525>{{harvnb|Shahbazi|1987|p=525}}</ref> The Arsacid kings chose typical Zoroastrian names for themselves and some from the "[[Kayanian dynasty|heroic background]]" of the [[Avesta]], according to V.G. Lukonin.<ref>{{harvnb|Lukonin|1983|p=687}}; {{harvnb|Shahbazi|1987|p=525}}</ref> The Parthians also adopted the use of the [[Babylonian calendar]] with names from the Achaemenid [[Iranian calendar]], replacing the [[Ancient Macedonian calendar|Macedonian calendar]] of the Seleucids.<ref>{{harvnb|Duchesne-Guillemin|1983|pp=867–868}}</ref>

===Religion===
[[File:ParthianVotiveReliefIranKhuzestan2ndCenturyCE.jpg|thumb|Parthian votive relief from Khūzestān Province, Iran, 2nd century AD]]
The Parthian Empire, being culturally and politically heterogeneous, had a variety of religious systems and beliefs, the most widespread being those dedicated to [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Persian mythology|Iranian]] cults.<ref name="katouzian_2009_45">{{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=45}}</ref> Aside from a minority of [[Judaism|Jews]]<ref>{{harvnb|Neusner|1983|pp=909–923}}</ref> and early [[Christianity|Christians]],<ref>{{harvnb|Asmussen|1983|pp=924–928}}</ref> most Parthians were [[polytheistic]].<ref name="brosius_2006_125">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=125}}</ref> Greek and Iranian deities were often blended together as one. For example, [[Zeus]] was often equated with [[Ahura Mazda]], [[Hades]] with [[Angra Mainyu]], [[Aphrodite]] and [[Hera]] with [[Anahita]], [[Apollo]] with [[Mithra]], and [[Hermes]] with [[Shamash]].<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=68, 83–84}}; {{harvnb|Colpe|1983|p=823}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=125}}</ref> Aside from the main gods and goddesses, each ethnic group and city had their own designated deities.<ref name="brosius_2006_125"/> As with Seleucid rulers,<ref>{{harvnb|Duchesne-Guillemin|1983|pp=872–873}}</ref> Parthian art indicates that the Arsacid kings viewed themselves as gods; this [[Imperial cult|cult of the ruler]] was perhaps the most widespread.<ref>{{harvnb|Colpe|1983|p=844}}</ref>

The extent of Arsacid patronage of [[Zoroastrianism]] is debated in modern scholarship.<ref>{{harvnb|Katouzian|2009|p=45}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=102–103}}</ref> The followers of [[Zoroaster]] would have found the bloody sacrifices of some Parthian-era Iranian cults to be unacceptable.<ref name="katouzian_2009_45"/> However, there is evidence that Vologases I encouraged the presence of Zoroastrian [[magi]] priests at court and sponsored the compilation of sacred Zoroastrian texts which later formed the [[Avesta]].<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=85–86}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|pp=80–81}}; {{harvnb|Duchesne-Guillemin|1983|p=867}}</ref> The Sasanian court would later adopt Zoroastrianism as the official state religion of the empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=67}}; {{harvnb|Asmussen|1983|pp=928, 933–934}}</ref>

Although [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] (216–276 AD), the founding prophet of [[Manichaeism]], did not proclaim his first religious revelation until 228/229 AD, Bivar asserts that his new faith contained "elements of [[Mandaeism|Mandaean]] belief, Iranian cosmogony, and even echoes of Christianity ... [it] may be regarded as a typical reflection of the mixed religious doctrines of the late Arsacid period, which the Zoroastrian orthodoxy of the Sasanians was soon to sweep away."<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=97}}</ref>

There is scant archaeological evidence for the spread of [[Buddhism]] from the [[Kushan Empire]] into Iran proper.<ref>{{harvnb|Emmerick|1983|p=957}}</ref> However, it is known from Chinese sources that [[An Shigao]] (fl. 2nd century AD), a Parthian nobleman and Buddhist monk, traveled to [[Luoyang]] in Han China as a [[Silk Road transmission of Buddhism|Buddhist missionary]] and translated several [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist canons]] into [[Chinese language|Chinese]].<ref>{{harvnb|Demiéville|1986|p=823}}; {{harvnb|Zhang|2002|p=75}}</ref>

===Art and architecture===
{{further|Parthian art}}

[[File:Hatra (17).jpg|thumb|A [[barrel vault]]ed ''[[iwan]]'' at the entrance at the ancient site of [[Hatra]], modern-day [[Iraq]], built c. 50 AD]]
[[File:Uruk Temple of Charyos (2).jpg|thumb|The Parthian Temple of Charyios in [[Uruk]].]]
Parthian art can be divided into three geo-historical phases: the art of Parthia proper; the art of the [[Iranian plateau]]; and the art of Parthian Mesopotamia.<ref name="brosius_2006_127">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=127}}</ref> The first genuine Parthian art, found at Mithridatkert/Nisa, combined elements of Greek and Iranian art in line with Achaemenid and Seleucid traditions.<ref name="brosius_2006_127"/> In the second phase, Parthian art found inspiration in [[Achaemenid art#Art and architecture|Achaemenid art]], as exemplified by the investiture relief of Mithridates II at Mount Behistun.<ref name="brosius_2006_128"/> The third phase occurred gradually after the Parthian conquest of Mesopotamia.<ref name="brosius_2006_128"/>

Common [[Motif (visual arts)|motifs]] of the Parthian period include scenes of royal hunting expeditions and the [[investiture]] of Arsacid kings.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=127}}; see also {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|pp=1041–1043}}</ref> Use of these motifs extended to include portrayals of local rulers.<ref name="brosius_2006_127"/> Common art mediums were rock-reliefs, [[fresco]]s, and even [[graffiti]].<ref name="brosius_2006_127"/> Geometric and stylized plant patterns were also used on [[stucco]] and [[plaster]] walls.<ref name="brosius_2006_128"/> The common motif of the Sasanian period showing two horsemen engaged in combat with lances first appeared in the Parthian reliefs at Mount Behistun.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=129, 132}}</ref>

In [[portrait]]ure the Parthians favored and emphasized frontality, meaning the person depicted by painting, sculpture, or raised-relief on coins faced the viewer directly instead of showing his or her profile.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=127}}; {{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=84}}; {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|pp=1049–1050}}</ref> Although frontality in portraiture was already an old artistic technique by the Parthian period, [[Daniel Schlumberger]] explains the innovation of Parthian frontality:<ref name="schlumberger_1983_1051"/>

<blockquote>'Parthian frontality', as we are now accustomed to call it, deeply differs both from ancient Near Eastern and from Greek frontality, though it is, no doubt, an offspring of the latter. For both in Oriental art and in Greek art, frontality was an exceptional treatment: in Oriental art it was a treatment strictly reserved for a small number of traditional characters of cult and myth; in Greek art it was an option resorted to only for definite reasons, when demanded by the subject, and, on the whole, seldom made use of. With Parthian art, on the contrary, frontality becomes the normal treatment of the figure. For the Parthians frontality is really nothing but the habit of showing, in relief and in painting, all figures full-face, even at the expense (as it seems to us moderns) of clearness and intelligibility. So systematic is this use that it amounts to a complete banishment ''de facto'' of the side-view and of all intermediate attitudes. This singular state of things seems to have become established in the course of the 1st century A.D.<ref name="schlumberger_1983_1051">{{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1051}}</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Mordecai and Esther.jpg|left|thumb|330px|A wall mural depicting a scene from the [[Book of Esther]] at the [[Dura-Europos synagogue]], dated 245 AD, which Curtis<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=18}}</ref> and Schlumberger<ref>{{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|pp=1052–1053}}</ref> describe as a fine example of 'Parthian frontality']]
Parthian art, with its distinct use of frontality in portraiture, was lost and abandoned with the profound cultural and political changes brought by the Sasanian Empire.<ref>{{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1053}}</ref> However, even after the Roman occupation of Dura-Europos in 165 AD, the use of Parthian frontality in portraiture continued to flourish there. This is exemplified by the early 3rd-century AD wall murals of the [[Dura-Europos synagogue]], a temple in the same city dedicated to Palmyrene gods, and the local [[Mithraeum]].<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=18}}; {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|pp=1052–1053}}</ref>

Parthian architecture adopted elements of [[Iranian architecture|Achaemenid]] and [[Architecture of ancient Greece|Greek architecture]], but remained distinct from the two. The style is first attested at Mithridatkert/Nisa.<ref name="brosius_2006_111-112">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=111–112}}</ref> The Round Hall of Nisa is similar to Hellenistic palaces, but different in that it forms a circle and [[Vault (architecture)|vault]] inside a square space.<ref name="brosius_2006_111-112"/> However, the artwork of Nisa, including marble statues and the carved scenes on ivory [[rhyton]] vessels, is unquestionably influenced by Greek art.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=111–112, 127–128}}; {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|pp=1037–1041}}</ref>

A signature feature of Parthian architecture was the ''[[iwan]]'', an audience hall supported by arches or [[barrel vault]]s and open on one side.<ref name="garthwaite_2005_84 brosius_2006_128 schlumberger_1983_1049">{{harvnb|Garthwaite|2005|p=84}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=128}}; {{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1049}}</ref> Use of the barrel vault replaced the Hellenic use of columns to support roofs.<ref name="brosius_2006_128">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=128}}</ref> Although the ''iwan'' was known during the Achaemenid period and earlier in smaller and subterranean structures, it was the Parthians who first built them on a monumental scale.<ref name="garthwaite_2005_84 brosius_2006_128 schlumberger_1983_1049"/> The earliest Parthian ''iwans'' are found at Seleucia, built in the early 1st century AD.<ref name="brosius_2006_128"/> Monumental ''iwans'' are also commonly found in the ancient temples of Hatra and perhaps modeled on the Parthian style.<ref name="brosius_2006_134-135">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=134–135}}</ref> The largest Parthian ''iwans'' at that site have a span of 15 m (50 ft).<ref>{{harvnb|Schlumberger|1983|p=1049}}</ref>

===Clothing and apparel===
[[File:Sarbaz Nysa.jpg|thumb|150px|A sculpted head (broken off from a larger statue) of a Parthian soldier wearing a [[Hellenistic armies|Hellenistic-style helmet]], from the Parthian royal residence and necropolis of [[Nisa, Turkmenistan]], 2nd century BC]]

The typical [[Parthian dress|Parthian riding outfit]] is exemplified by [[Statue, National Museum of Iran 2401|the famous bronze statue]] of a Parthian nobleman found at Shami, Elymais. Standing 1.9 m (6 ft), the figure wears a V-shaped jacket, a V-shaped [[tunic]] fastened in place with a belt, loose-fitting and many-folded trousers held by garters, and a diadem or band over his coiffed, bobbed hair.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=132–134}}</ref> His outfit is commonly seen in relief images of Parthian coins by the mid-1st century BC.<ref name="curtis_2007_16"/>

Examples of clothing in Parthian inspired sculptures have been found in excavations at Hatra, in northwestern Iraq. Statues erected there feature the typical Parthian shirt (''qamis''), combined with trousers and made with fine, ornamented materials.<ref>{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=91–92}}</ref> The aristocratic elite of Hatra adopted the bobbed hairstyles, headdresses, and belted tunics worn by the nobility belonging to the central Arsacid court.<ref name="brosius_2006_134-135"/> The trouser-suit was even worn by the Arsacid kings, as shown on the reverse images of coins.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=15}}</ref> The Parthian trouser-suit was also adopted in [[Palmyra]], Syria, along with the use of Parthian frontality in art.<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=17}}</ref>

Parthian sculptures depict wealthy women wearing long-sleeved robes over a dress, with necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and headdresses bedecked in jewelry.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=108, 134–135}}</ref> Their many-folded dresses were fastened by a [[brooch]] at one shoulder.<ref name="brosius_2006_134-135"/> Their headdresses also featured a veil which was draped backwards.<ref name="brosius_2006_134-135"/>

As seen in Parthian coinage, the headdresses worn by the Parthian kings changed over time. The earliest Arsacid coins show rulers wearing the soft cap with cheek flaps, known as the [[bashlyk]] (Greek: ''kyrbasia'').<ref name="brosius_2006_101">{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=101}}</ref> This may have derived from an Achaemenid-era satrapal headdress and the [[pointy hat]]s depicted in the Achaemenid reliefs at Behistun and [[Persepolis]].<ref>{{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=8}}; see also {{harvnb|Sellwood|1983|pp=279–280}} for comparison with Achaemenid satrapal headdresses</ref> The earliest coins of Mithridates I show him wearing the soft cap, yet coins from the latter part of his reign show him for the first time wearing the royal Hellenistic diadem.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=101–102}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=9}}</ref> Mithridates II was the first to be shown wearing the Parthian [[tiara]], embroidered with pearls and jewels, a headdress commonly worn in the late Parthian period and by Sasanian monarchs.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|pp=101–102}}; {{harvnb|Curtis|2007|p=15}}</ref>

===Language===
As culturally and religiously tolerant as the Parthians were, they adopted [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] as their [[official language]], while [[Old Aramaic language|Aramaic]] remained the ''[[lingua franca]]'' in the empire.<ref name="Green 1992 45"/> The native [[Parthian language]], [[Middle Persian]], and [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] were also used.{{sfn|Skjærvø|2004|pp=348–366}}{{sfn|Canepa|2018|p=6}}

===Literature and music===
[[File:Parthian lute player.jpg|thumb|Parthian long-necked lute, c. 3 BC – 3 AD]]
{{further|Parthian music}}
It is known that during the Parthian period the court [[minstrel]] (''gōsān'') recited poetic [[oral literature]] accompanied by music. However, their stories, composed in verse form, were not written down until the subsequent Sassanian period.<ref>{{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=106}}</ref> In fact, there is no known Parthian-language literature that survives in original form; all of the surviving texts were written down in the following centuries.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|p=1151}}</ref> It is believed that such stories as the romantic tale ''[[Vis and Rāmin]]'' and [[Epic poetry|epic cycle]] of the [[Kayanian dynasty]] were part of the corpus of oral literature from Parthian times, although compiled much later.<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|pp=1158–1159}}</ref> Although literature of the Parthian language was not committed to written form, there is evidence that the Arsacids acknowledged and respected written [[Ancient Greek literature|Greek literature]].<ref>{{harvnb|Boyce|1983|pp=1154–1155}}; see also {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=74}}</ref>

===Women in the Parthian Empire===

There are very few written and archeological sources about the position of women in the Parthian Empire, and the fragmentary information that does exist is only about royal women, whose position shows many similarities to their [[women in the Achaemenid Empire|predecessors in the Achaemenid Empire]] and their [[Women in the Sasanian Empire|successors in the Sasanian Empire]].<ref name="Maria Brosius"/>

The Parthian kings were polygamous and had several wives with the title "queen" (referred to with the Babylonian spelling šarratu or the Greek basilisse), as well as concubines.<ref name="Maria Brosius">Maria Brosius, "WOMEN i. In Pre-Islamic Persia", Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2021, available at WOMEN i. In Pre-Islamic Persia (accessed on 26 January 2021). Originally Published: January 1, 2000. Last Updated: March 15, 2010. Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, New York, 1996- https://iranicaonline.org/articles/women-i {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201103225101/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/women-i }}</ref> It is known that kings often married their sisters, but it is unknown if they were the kings' full sisters or half sisters.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/> According to Roman sources, Parthian kings had [[harem]]s full of female slaves and [[hetaira]]s secluded from contact with men, and royal women were not allowed to participate in the royal banquets.<ref>Lerouge, Ch. 2007. L’image des Parthes dans le monde gréco-romain. Stuttgart.</ref> Whether the royal women lived in seclusion from men is unknown, as no evidence of that has been found, but it is known that women at least participated in the royal banquets as entertainers, as women are shown in archeological images entertaining at such occasions with music and dance.<ref>Kaim, B. 2016. "Women, Dance and the Hunt: Splendour and Pleasures of Court Life in Arsacid and Early Sasanian Art." In V. S. Curtis, E. J. Pendleton, M. Alram and T. Daryaee (eds.), The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and Expansion, Oxford, 90–105</ref>

It is assumed that royal Parthian women could own and manage their own property, land and manufactures, as could their predecessors in the Achaemenid and Seleucid Empire and their successors in the Sasanian Empire. It is fully attested that royal women, as well as noblewomen, accompanied their husbands in battle with their own entourage.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/> This was the reason why female members of the royal family could sometimes be taken captive by enemies and had to be ransomed, such as the famous occasion when the daughter of King Osroes was held captive by emperor Trajan from the occupation of Ctesiphon in 116 until 129, but also the reason why kings sometimes killed the women of his company after a defeat to prevent them from being taken prisoners.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/>

Royal women appear to have been less included in royal representation.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/> Artwork depicts royal women dressed similarly to those of the Achaemenid period: in long-sleeved, many-folded dresses tied by a belt, with a tiara or a veil hanging down their back.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/> While their names and titles did appear in official documents, Parthian women were rarely depicted in art. Only two royal women were ever depicted on Parthian coins: queen [[Musa of Parthia]] and queen [[Anzaze]] of Elymais.<ref name="Maria Brosius"/> Only two women are known to have ruled the Parthian Empire, one as monarch and one as regent. Musa of Parthia is the only woman confirmed to have ruled as [[queen regnant]] of the Parthian Empire, while [[Rinnu]], mother of underage king [[Phraates II]], is the only other woman believed to have been a ruler, in her case as a [[queen regent]] instead of a queen regnant.<ref>N. C. Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia, Chicago, 1938.</ref><ref>J. Oelsner, "Recht im hellenistischen Babylon," in Legal Documents of the Hellenistic World, ed. M. J. Geller and H. Maehler, London, 1995, pp. 106–148.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Pahla]]
* [[Parthians]]
* [[Assyria (Roman province)]]
* [[Baghdad Battery]]
* [[Battle of Nisibis (217)]]
* [[Romans in Persia]]
* [[History of Iran]]
* [[Inscription of Parthian imperial power]]
* [[List of Zoroastrian states and dynasties]]
* [[Augustus' Eastern policy]]
{{clear}}

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References or sources==
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
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* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Duchesne-Guillemin|first=J.|chapter=Zoroastrian religion|pages=866–908}}.
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* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Emmerick|first=R.E.|chapter=Buddhism Among Iranian Peoples|pages=949–964}}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Frye|first=R.N.|chapter=The Political History of Iran Under the Sasanians|pages=116–180}}
* {{citation|last=Garthwaite|first=Gene Ralph|title=The Persians|year=2005|publisher=Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.|location=Oxford & Carlton|isbn=978-1-55786-860-2}}.
* {{citation|last=Green|first=Tamara M.|title=The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran|year=1992|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-09513-7}}.
* {{citation|last=Howard|first=Michael C.|title=Transnationalism in Ancient and Medieval Societies: the Role of Cross Border Trade and Travel|year=2012|publisher=McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson}}.
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* {{citation|last=Kennedy|first=David |author-link=David L. Kennedy |editor-given1=David L. |editor-surname1=Kennedy |editor-given2=David |editor-surname2=Braund |chapter=Parthia and Rome: eastern perspectives|pages=67–90|title=The Roman Army in the East|year=1996|location=Ann Arbor|publisher=Cushing Malloy Inc., Journal of Roman Archaeology: Supplementary Series Number Eighteen|isbn=978-1-887829-18-2}}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Kurz|first=Otto|chapter=Cultural Relations Between Parthia and Rome|pages=559–567}}
* {{Citation |doi=10.2307/300283 |last=Lightfoot |first=C.S. |year=1990 |title=Trajan's Parthian War and the Fourth-Century Perspective |journal=The Journal of Roman Studies |volume=80 |pages=115–126|jstor=300283 |s2cid=162863957 }}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Lukonin|first=V.G.|chapter=Political, Social and Administrative Institutions: Taxes and Trade|pages=681–746}}.
* {{citation|last=Mawer|first=Granville Allen|chapter=The Riddle of Cattigara|pages=38–39|title=Mapping Our World: Terra Incognita to Australia|year=2013|publisher=National Library of Australia|location=Canberra|editor-given1=Robert|editor-surname1=Nichols|editor-given2=Martin|editor-surname2=Woods|isbn=978-0-642-27809-8}}.
* {{citation|last=Mommsen|first=Theodor|author-link=Theodor Mommsen|title=The Provinces of the Roman Empire: From Caesar to Diocletian|year=2004 |orig-year=original publication 1909 by Ares Publishers, Inc.|volume=2|publisher=Gorgias Press|location=Piscataway (New Jersey)|isbn=978-1-59333-026-2}}.
* {{citation|last1=Morton|first1=William S.|last2=Lewis|first2=Charlton M.|title=China: Its History and Culture|year=2005|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|isbn=978-0-07-141279-7}}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Neusner|first=J.|chapter=Jews in Iran|pages=909–923}}.
* {{cite journal |last=Olbrycht|first=Marek Jan| title=The Sacral Kingship of the early Arsacids. I. Fire Cult and Kingly Glory|journal=Anabasis |volume=7 |pages=91–106 |url=https://www.academia.edu/33754166|url-access=registration}}.
* {{citation|last=Posch|first=Walter|chapter=Chinesische Quellen zu den Parthern|pages=355–364|title=Das Partherreich und seine Zeugnisse|editor-last=Weisehöfer|editor-first=Josef|series=Historia: Zeitschrift für alte Geschichte, vol. 122|location=Stuttgart|publisher=Franz Steiner|year=1998|language=de}}.
* {{cite book |last1=Rezakhani |first1=Khodadad |author-link1=Khodadad Rezakhani|editor-last=Potts|editor-first=Daniel T.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199733309 |chapter=Arsacid, Elymaean, and Persid Coinage}}.
* {{Citation|last=Roller |first=Duane W. |title=Cleopatra: a biography|year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-536553-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZo6DwAAQBAJ |postscript=.}}
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Schlumberger|first=Daniel|chapter=Parthian Art|pages=1027–1054}}
* {{cite journal |last=Sellwood|first=David |year=1976 |title=The Drachms of the Parthian "Dark Age" |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=1 |issue= 1|pages=2–25 |doi= 10.1017/S0035869X00132988|jstor=25203669 |s2cid=161619682 }}{{Registration required}}
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Sellwood|first=David|chapter=Parthian Coins|pages=279–298}}
* {{Citation |last=Shahbazi|first=Shahpur A.|year=1987|title=Arsacids. I. Origin|journal=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=2|page=255}}.
* {{Citation |last=Shayegan|first=Rahim M.|year=2007|title=On Demetrius II Nicator's Arsacid Captivity and Second Rule|journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute|volume=17|pages=83–103}}.
* {{Citation |last=Shayegan|first=Rahim M.|title=Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia |year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-76641-8}}.
* {{citation|last=Sheldon|first=Rose Mary|title=Rome's Wars in Parthia: Blood in the Sand|year=2010|publisher=Valentine Mitchell|location=London & Portland|isbn=978-0-85303-981-5}}.
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica | volume=13 | fascicle=4 | title = Iran vi. Iranian languages and scripts | last = Skjærvø | first = Prods Oktor | authorlink = Prods Oktor Skjaervo | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-vi2-documentation | pages = 348–366 }}
* {{Citation |doi=10.1556/AAnt.46.2006.3.3 |last=Strugnell |first=Emma |year=2006 |title=Ventidius' Parthian War: Rome's Forgotten Eastern Triumph |journal=Acta Antiqua |volume=46 |issue= 3|pages=239–252 }}.
* {{citation|last=Syme |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Syme |title=The Roman Revolution |year=2002 |orig-year=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-280320-7 }}.
* {{citation|last=Torday|first=Laszlo|title=Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History|year=1997|publisher=The Durham Academic Press|location=Durham|isbn=978-1-900838-03-0}}.
* {{citation|last=Wang|first=Tao|chapter=Parthia in China: a Re-examination of the Historical Records|pages=87–104|title=The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran|volume=2|year=2007|publisher=I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum|location=London & New York|editor-last=Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart|isbn=978-1-84511-406-0}}.
* {{citation|last=Waters|first=Kenneth H.|chapter=The Reign of Trajan, part VII: Trajanic Wars and Frontiers. The Danube and the East|pages=415–427|title=Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt. Principat. II.2|year=1974|editor-last=Temporini|editor-first=Hildegard|location=Berlin|publisher=Walter de Gruyter}}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Watson|first=William|chapter=Iran and China|pages=537–558}}
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3b|last=Widengren|first=Geo|chapter=Sources of Parthian and Sasanian History|pages=1261–1283}}
* {{citation|last=Wood|first=Frances|title=The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia|year=2002|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|location=Berkeley and Los Angeles|isbn=978-0-520-24340-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/silkroadtwothous0000wood}}.
* {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Yarshater|first=Ehsan|chapter=Iranian National History|pages=359–480}}
* {{citation|last=Yü|first=Ying-shih|chapter=Han Foreign Relations|pages=377–462|title=Cambridge History of China: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220|volume=1|year=1986|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|editor-last=Twitchett, Denis and Michael Loewe|isbn=978-0-521-24327-8}}.
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* {{cite book | title = The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History | year = 2012 | publisher = Oxford University Press | last = Daryaee | first = Touraj | author-link = Touraj Daryaee | pages = 1–432 | isbn = 978-0-19-987575-7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=K-poAgAAQBAJ | access-date = 2019-02-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190101051501/https://books.google.dk/books?id=K-poAgAAQBAJ&pg | archive-date = 2019-01-01 | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite encyclopedia | title = Army i. Pre-Islamic Iran | last = Shahbazi | first = A. Shapur | author-link = Alireza Shapour Shahbazi | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/army-i | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 5 | pages = 489–499 | year = 1986 }}.

{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |last=Ellerbrock |first=Uwe |year=2021 |title=The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |location=Abingdon-on-Thames |isbn=978-1-000-35848-3 }}
* {{citation|last=Neusner|first=J.|title=Parthian Political Ideology|journal=Iranica Antiqua|volume=3|year=1963|pages=40–59 |ref=none}}
* {{citation|last=Schippmann|first=Klaus|chapter=Arsacid ii. The Arsacid dynasty|pages=526–535|title=Encyclopaedia Iranica|volume=2|year=1987|location=New York|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|title-link=Encyclopædia Iranica |ref=none}}
{{refend}}

==External links==
* Various articles from Iran Chamber Society ([http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthians.php Parthian Empire], [http://www.iranchamber.com/art/articles/art_of_parthians.php The Art of Parthians], [http://www.iranchamber.com/history/parthians/parthian_army.php Parthian Army])
* [http://www.parthia.com/ Parthia.com] (a website featuring the history, geography, coins, arts and culture of ancient Parthia, including a bibliographic list of scholarly sources)

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Mojibake

2022-03-01T01:56:37Z

Alamin Sorker: Article initiated.

{{Short description|Garbled text as a result of incorrect character encodings}}
{{More citations needed}}
[[File:Mojibakevector.png|thumb|500px|The [[UTF-8]]-encoded ]]
[[File:Mojibakevector2.png|thumb|500px|The [[UTF-8]]-encoded]]
{{special characters}}
'''Mojibake''' ({{lang-ja|文字化け}}; {{IPA-ja|mod͡ʑibake|IPA}}, "character transformation") is the garbled text that is the result of text being decoded using an unintended [[character encoding]].<ref name="ieee">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1109/MSPEC.2012.6221090|title = Will unicode soon be the universal code? [The Data]|journal = IEEE Spectrum|volume = 49|issue = 7|pages = 60|year = 2012|last1 = King|first1 = Ritchie}}</ref> The result is a systematic replacement of symbols with completely unrelated ones, often from a different [[writing system]].

This display may include the generic [[Specials (Unicode block)#Replacement character|replacement character]] ("�") in places where the [[binary code|binary]] representation is considered invalid. A replacement can also involve multiple consecutive symbols, as viewed in one encoding, when the same binary code constitutes one symbol in the other encoding. This is either because of differing constant length encoding (as in Asian 16-bit encodings vs European 8-bit encodings), or the use of variable length encodings (notably [[UTF-8]] and [[UTF-16]]).

Failed rendering of glyphs due to either missing fonts or missing glyphs in a font is a different issue that is not to be confused with mojibake. Symptoms of this failed rendering include blocks with the [[code point]] displayed in [[hexadecimal]] or using the generic replacement character. Importantly, these replacements are ''valid'' and are the result of correct error handling by the software.

==Causes==
To correctly reproduce the original text that was encoded, the correspondence between the encoded data and the notion of its encoding must be preserved (i.e. the source and target encoding standards must be the same). As mojibake is the instance of non-compliance between these, it can be achieved by manipulating the data itself, or just relabelling it.

Mojibake is often seen with text data that have been tagged with a wrong encoding; it may not even be tagged at all, but moved between computers with different default encodings. A major source of trouble are [[communication protocol]]s that rely on settings on each computer rather than sending or storing [[metadata]] together with the data.

The differing default settings between computers are in part due to differing deployments of [[Unicode]] among [[operating system]] families, and partly the legacy encodings' specializations for different [[writing system]]s of human languages. Whereas [[Linux distribution]]s mostly switched to [[UTF-8]] in 2004,<ref>{{cite web |last1=WINDISCHMANN |first1=Stephan |title=curl -v linux.ars (Internationalization) |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2004/03/linux-20040331/ |website=Ars Technica |access-date=5 October 2018 |language=en-us }}</ref> [[Microsoft Windows]] generally uses UTF-16, and sometimes uses 8-bit code pages for text files in different languages.

For some [[writing system]]s, such as [[Japanese script|Japanese]], several encodings have historically been employed, causing users to see mojibake relatively often. As an example, the word ''mojibake'' itself ("文字化け") stored as [[EUC-JP]] might be incorrectly displayed as "ﾊｸｻ�ｽ､ｱ", "ﾊｸｻ嵂ｽ､ｱ" ([[Windows-31J|MS-932]]), or "ﾊｸｻ郾ｽ､ｱ" if interpreted as Shift-JIS, or as "Ê¸»ú²½¤±" in software that assumes text to be in the [[Windows-1252]] or [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]] encodings, usually labelled ''Western'' or ''Western European''. This is further exacerbated if other locales are involved: the same text stored as [[UTF-8]] appears as "譁�蟄怜喧縺�" if interpreted as Shift-JIS, as "æ–‡å—åŒ–ã‘" if interpreted as Western, or (for example) as "鏂囧瓧鍖栥亼" if interpreted as being in a [[GBK (character encoding)|GBK]] (Mainland China) locale.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; margin: auto;"
|+ Mojibake example
! Original text
| colspan="6"|文
| colspan="6"|字
| colspan="6"|化
| colspan="6"|け
|-
! Raw bytes of EUC-JP encoding
| colspan="3" | CA || colspan="3" | B8 || colspan="3" | BB || colspan="3" | FA || colspan="3" | B2 || colspan="3" | BD || colspan="3" | A4 || colspan="3" | B1
|-
! EUC-JP bytes interpreted as Shift-JIS
| colspan="3" | ﾊ || colspan="3" | ｸ || colspan="3" | ｻ || colspan="6" | 郾 || colspan="3" | ｽ || colspan="3" | ､ || colspan="3" | ｱ
|-
! EUC-JP bytes interpreted as GBK
| colspan="6" | 矢 || colspan="6" | 机 || colspan="6" | 步 || colspan="6" | け
|-
! EUC-JP bytes interpreted as Windows-1252
| colspan="3" | Ê || colspan="3" | ¸ || colspan="3" | » || colspan="3" | ú || colspan="3" | ² || colspan="3" | ½ || colspan="3" | ¤ || colspan="3" | ±
|-
! Raw bytes of UTF-8 encoding
| colspan="2" | E6 || colspan="2" | 96 || colspan="2" | 87 || colspan="2" | E5 || colspan="2" | AD || colspan="2" | 97 || colspan="2" | E5 || colspan="2" | 8C || colspan="2" | 96 || colspan="2" | E3 || colspan="2" | 81 || colspan="2" | 91
|-
! UTF-8 bytes interpreted as Shift-JIS
| colspan="4" | 譁 || colspan="2" | � || colspan="4" | 蟄 || colspan="4" | 怜 || colspan="4" | 喧 || colspan="4" | 縺 || colspan="2" | �
|-
! UTF-8 bytes interpreted as GBK
| colspan="4" | 鏂 || colspan="4" | 囧 || colspan="4" | 瓧 || colspan="4" | 鍖 || colspan="4" | 栥 || colspan="4" | 亼
|-
! UTF-8 bytes interpreted as Windows-1252
| colspan="2" | æ || colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | ‡ || colspan="2" | å || colspan="2" title="U+00AD: SOFT HYPHEN (alias SHY)" style="font-size:75%;padding:0pt" | {{border|SHY|style=dashed|color=black}} || colspan="2" | — || colspan="2" | å || colspan="2" | Œ || colspan="2" | – || colspan="2" | ã || colspan="2" title="U+0081: Control (alias HIGH OCTET PRESET) (alias HOP)" style="font-size:75%;padding:0pt" | {{border|HOP|style=dashed|color=black}} || colspan="2" | ‘
|}

===Underspecification===
If the encoding is not specified, it is up to the software to decide it by other means. Depending on the type of software, the typical solution is either configuration or [[charset detection]] heuristics. Both are prone to mis-prediction.

The encoding of [[text file]]s is affected by [[Locale (computer software)|locale]] setting, which depends on the user's language, brand of [[operating system]], and many other conditions. Therefore, the assumed encoding is systematically wrong for files that come from a computer with a different setting, or even from a differently [[software localisation|localized]] software within the same system. For Unicode, one solution is to use a [[byte order mark]], but for [[source code]] and other machine readable text, many parsers don't tolerate this. Another is storing the encoding as metadata in the file system. File systems that support [[extended file attributes]] can store this as <code>user.charset</code>.<ref>{{cite web|title=Guidelines for extended attributes|url=http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/CommonExtendedAttributes|access-date=2015-02-15}}</ref> This also requires support in software that wants to take advantage of it, but does not disturb other software.

While a few encodings are easy to detect, such as UTF-8, there are many that are hard to distinguish (see [[charset detection]]). A [[web browser]] may not be able to distinguish a page coded in [[EUC-JP]] and another in [[Shift-JIS]] if the encoding is not assigned explicitly using [[HTTP headers]] sent along with the documents, or using the [[HTML]] document's [[meta tag]]s that are used to substitute for missing HTTP headers if the server cannot be configured to send the proper HTTP headers; see [[character encodings in HTML]].

===Mis-specification===
Mojibake also occurs when the encoding is incorrectly specified. This often happens between encodings that are similar. For example, the [[Eudora (e-mail client)|Eudora]] email client for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] was known to send emails labelled as [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]] that were in reality [[Windows-1252]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2001-m07/0355.html|title=Unicode mailinglist on the Eudora email client|access-date=2014-11-01}}</ref> Windows-1252 contains extra printable characters in the [[C1 control codes|C1]] range (the most frequently seen being curved [[quotation marks]] and extra [[dash]]es), that were not displayed properly in software complying with the ISO standard; this especially affected software running under other operating systems such as [[Unix]].

====User oversight====
Of the encodings still in common use, many originated from taking [[ASCII]] and appending atop it; as a result, these encodings are partially compatible with each other. Examples of this include Windows-1252 and ISO 8859-1. People thus may mistake the expanded encoding set they are using with plain ASCII.

===Overspecification===
When there are layers of protocols, each trying to specify the encoding based on different information, the least certain information may be misleading to the recipient.
For example, consider a [[web server]] serving a static HTML file over HTTP. The character set may be communicated to the client in any number of 3 ways:
* in the HTTP header. This information can be based on server configuration (for instance, when serving a file off disk) or controlled by the application running on the server (for dynamic websites).
* in the file, as an [[Meta element|HTML meta tag]] (<code>http-equiv</code> or <code>charset</code>) or the <code>encoding</code> attribute of an [[XML]] declaration. This is the encoding that the author meant to save the particular file in.
* in the file, as a [[byte order mark]]. This is the encoding that the author's editor actually saved it in. Unless an accidental encoding conversion has happened (by opening it in one encoding and saving it in another), this will be correct. It is, however, only available in [[Unicode]] encodings such as UTF-8 or UTF-16.

===Lack of hardware or software support===
Much older hardware is typically designed to support only one character set and the character set typically cannot be altered. The character table contained within the display firmware will be localized to have characters for the country the device is to be sold in, and typically the table differs from country to country. As such, these systems will potentially display mojibake when loading text generated on a system from a different country. Likewise, many early operating systems do not support multiple encoding formats and thus will end up displaying mojibake if made to display non-standard text—early versions of [[Microsoft Windows]] and [[Palm OS]] for example, are localized on a per-country basis and will only support encoding standards relevant to the country the localized version will be sold in, and will display mojibake if a file containing a text in a different encoding format from the version that the OS is designed to support is opened.

==Resolutions==
Applications using [[UTF-8]] as a default encoding may achieve a greater degree of interoperability because of its widespread use and backward compatibility with [[US-ASCII]]. UTF-8 also has the ability to be directly recognised by a simple algorithm, so that well written software should be able to avoid mixing UTF-8 up with other encodings.

The difficulty of resolving an instance of mojibake varies depending on the application within which it occurs and the causes of it. Two of the most common applications in which mojibake may occur are [[web browser]]s and [[word processor]]s. Modern browsers and word processors often support a wide array of character encodings. Browsers often allow a user to change their [[Browser engine|rendering engine's]] encoding setting on the fly, while word processors allow the user to select the appropriate encoding when opening a file. It may take some [[trial and error]] for users to find the correct encoding.

The problem gets more complicated when it occurs in an application that normally does not support a wide range of character encoding, such as in a non-Unicode computer game. In this case, the user must change the operating system's encoding settings to match that of the game. However, changing the system-wide encoding settings can also cause Mojibake in pre-existing applications. In [[Windows XP]] or later, a user also has the option to use [[Microsoft AppLocale]], an application that allows the changing of per-application locale settings. Even so, changing the operating system encoding settings is not possible on earlier operating systems such as [[Windows 98]]; to resolve this issue on earlier operating systems, a user would have to use third party font rendering applications.

==Problems in different writing systems==
===English===
Mojibake in English texts generally occurs in punctuation, such as [[em dash]]es (—), [[en dash]]es (–), and [[curly quote]]s (“,”,‘,’), but rarely in character text, since most encodings agree with [[ASCII]] on the encoding of the [[English alphabet]]. For example, the [[pound sign]] "£" will appear as "[[Â#In_encoding_mismatches|Â£]]" if it was encoded by the sender as [[UTF-8]] but interpreted by the recipient as one of the Western European encodings ([[CP1252]] or [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]]). If iterated using CP1252, this can lead to "Ã‚Â£", "Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£", "ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£", "ÃƒÆ’Ã†â€™ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã…Â¡ÃƒÆ’Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£", and so on.

Similarily, the [[right single quotation mark]] (’), when encoded in UTF-8 and decoded using Windows-1252, becomes "â€™", "Ã¢â‚¬â„¢", "ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢", and so on.

Some computers did, in older eras, have vendor-specific encodings which caused mismatch also for English text.
[[Commodore International|Commodore]] brand [[8-bit]] computers used [[PETSCII]] encoding, particularly notable for inverting the upper and lower case compared to standard [[ASCII]]. PETSCII printers worked fine on other computers of the era, but inverted the case of all letters. IBM [[Mainframe computer|mainframe]]s use the [[EBCDIC]] encoding which does not match ASCII at all.

===Other Western European languages===
The alphabets of the [[North Germanic languages]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[French language|French]], [[German language|German]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] are all extensions of the [[Latin alphabet]]. The additional characters are typically the ones that become corrupted, making texts only mildly unreadable with mojibake:
*[[å]], [[ä]], [[ö]] in [[Finnish language|Finnish]] and [[Swedish language|Swedish]]
*à, ç, è, é, ï, í, ò, ó, ú, ü in [[Catalan language|Catalan]]
*[[æ]], [[ø]], å in [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] and [[Danish language|Danish]]
*á, é, ó, [[IJ (digraph)|ĳ]], è, ë, ï in [[Dutch language|Dutch]]
*ä, ö, [[ü]], and [[ß]] in [[German language|German]]
*á, [[ð]], [[í]], [[ó]], [[ú]], [[ý]], æ, ø in [[Faroese language|Faroese]]
*á, ð, [[é]], í, ó, ú, ý, [[þ]], æ, ö in [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]
*à, â, ç, è, é, ë, ê, ï, î, ô, ù, û, ü, ÿ, æ, œ in [[French language|French]]
*à, è, é, ì, ò, ù in [[Italian language|Italian]]
*á, é, í, [[ñ]], ó, ú, ü, [[Inverted question and exclamation marks|¡, ¿]] in [[Spanish language|Spanish]]
*à, á, â, ã, ç, é, ê, í, ó, ô, õ, ú in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] ([[Diaeresis (diacritic)#Non-silent vowels|ü]] no longer used)
*á, é, í, ó, ú in [[Irish language|Irish]]
*à, è, ì, ò, ù in [[Scottish Gaelic]]
*[[Pound sign|£]] in [[British English]]
… and their uppercase counterparts, if applicable.

These are languages for which the [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]] character set (also known as ''Latin 1'' or ''Western'') has been in use. However, ISO 8859-1 has been obsoleted by two competing standards, the backward compatible [[Windows-1252]], and the slightly altered [[ISO 8859-15|ISO 8859-15]]. Both add the [[Euro sign]] € and the French œ, but otherwise any confusion of these three character sets does not create mojibake in these languages. Furthermore, it is always safe to interpret ISO 8859-1 as Windows-1252, and fairly safe to interpret it as ISO 8859-15, in particular with respect to the Euro sign, which replaces the rarely used [[Currency sign (typography)|currency sign]] (¤). However, with the advent of [[UTF-8]], mojibake has become more common in certain scenarios, e.g. exchange of text files between [[UNIX]] and [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] computers, due to UTF-8's incompatibility with Latin-1 and Windows-1252. But UTF-8 has the ability to be directly recognised by a simple algorithm, so that well written software should be able to avoid mixing UTF-8 up with other encodings, so this was most common when many had software not supporting UTF-8. Most of these languages were supported by MS-DOS default CP437 and other machine default encodings, except ASCII, so problems when buying an operating system version were less common. Windows and MS-DOS are not compatible, however.

In Swedish, Norwegian, Danish and German, vowels are rarely repeated, and it is usually obvious when one character gets corrupted, e.g. the second letter in the Swedish word ''{{lang|sv|kärlek}}'' ("love") when it is encoded in UTF-8 but decoded in Western, producing "kÃ⁠¤rlek", or ''für'' in German, which becomes "fÃ¼r". This way, even though the reader has to guess what the original letter is, almost all texts remain legible. Finnish, on the other hand, frequently uses repeating vowels in words like ''{{lang|fi|hääyö}}'' ("wedding night") which can make corrupted text very hard to read (e.g. ''{{lang|fi|hääyö}}'' appears as "hÃ⁠¤Ã⁠¤yÃ⁠¶"). Icelandic has ten possibly confounding characters, and Faroese has eight, making many words almost completely unintelligible when corrupted (e.g. Icelandic ''{{lang|is|þjóðlöð}}'', "outstanding hospitality", appears as "Ã¾jÃ³Ã°lÃ¶Ã°").

In German, ''{{lang|de|Buchstabensalat}}'' ("letter salad") is a common term for this phenomenon, in Spanish, ''{{lang|es|deformación}}'' (literally "deformation") is used, and in Portuguese, ''{{lang|pt|desformatação}}'' (literally "deformatting") is used.

Some users transliterate their writing when using a computer, either by omitting the problematic diacritics, or by using digraph replacements (å → aa, ä/æ → ae, ö/ø → oe, ü → ue etc.). Thus, an author might write "ueber" instead of "über", which is standard practice in German when [[umlaut (diacritic)|umlaut]]s are not available. The latter practice seems to be better tolerated in the German language sphere than in the [[Nordic countries]]. For example, in Norwegian, digraphs are associated with archaic Danish, and may be used jokingly. However, digraphs are useful in communication with other parts of the world. As an example, the Norwegian football player [[Ole Gunnar Solskjær]] had his last name spelled "SOLSKJAER" on his uniform when he played for [[Manchester United]].

An artifact of [[UTF-8]] misinterpreted as [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]], "{{lang|no|Ring meg nå}}" being rendered as "Ring meg nÃ¥", was seen in 2014 in an SMS scam targeting Norway.<ref>{{cite web|title=sms-scam|url=http://tv2.no/2014/06/18/nyheter/5718240|access-date=June 19, 2014}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+
|-
! Swedish example !! Source encoding !! Target encoding !! Result {{red|(Characters in red are incorrect.)}}
|-
| rowspan="6" | [[:sv:Smörgås|Smörgås]] ([[open sandwich]])
|-
| [[Code page 437|MS-DOS 437]] || rowspan="2" | [[ISO 8859-1|ISO 8859-1]] || Sm{{red|"}}rg{{red|†}}s
|-
| rowspan="3" | UTF-8 || Sm{{red|Ã¶}}rg{{red|Ã¥}}s
|-
| IBM/CP037 (EBCDIC) || {{red|ë_C¶ÊÅCvË}}
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Mac Roman]] || Sm{{red|√∂}}rg{{red|√•}}s
|-
| ISO 8859-1 || Sm{{red|ˆ}}rg{{red|Â}}s
|}

===Central and Eastern European===
Users of [[Central Europe|Central]] and [[Eastern Europe]]an languages can also be affected. Because most computers were not connected to any network during the mid- to late-1980s, there were different character encodings for every language with [[diacritic]]al characters (see [[ISO/IEC 8859]] and [[KOI-8]]), often also varying by operating system.

====Hungarian====
In [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], the phenomenon is referred to as ''betűszemét'', meaning "letter garbage". Hungarian has been particularly susceptible as it contains the accented letters á, é, í, ó, ú, ö, ü (all present in the Latin-1 character set), plus the two characters [[ő]] and [[ű]] which are not in Latin-1. These two characters can be correctly encoded in Latin-2, Windows-1250, and Unicode. However, before Unicode became common in e-mail clients, e-mails containing Hungarian text often had the letters ő and ű corrupted, sometimes to the point of unrecognizability. It is common to respond to a corrupted e-mail with the nonsense phrase [[w:hu:Árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép|"Árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép"]] (literally "Flood-resistant mirror-drilling machine") which contains all accented characters used in Hungarian.

=====Examples=====
{| class="wikitable" width="90%" style="text-align: center;"
! Hungarian example !! Source encoding !! Target encoding !! width="250px" | Result !! Occurrence
|-
| rowspan="13" | ÁRVÍZTŰRŐ TÜKÖRFÚRÓGÉP árvíztűrő tükörfúrógép
|-
! [[UTF-8]] [[Quoted-printable]] || rowspan="2" | [[ASCII|7-bit ASCII]]
| {{red|<nowiki>=C3=81</nowiki>}}RV{{red|<nowiki>=C3=8D</nowiki>}}ZT{{red|<nowiki>=C5=B0</nowiki>}}R{{red|<nowiki>=C5=90</nowiki>}} T{{red|<nowiki>=C3=9C</nowiki>}}K{{red|<nowiki>=C3=96</nowiki>}}RF{{red|<nowiki>=C3=9A</nowiki>}}R{{red|<nowiki>=C3=93</nowiki>}}G{{red|<nowiki>=C3=89</nowiki>}}P {{red|<nowiki>=C3=A1</nowiki>}}rv{{red|<nowiki>=C3=AD</nowiki>}}zt{{red|<nowiki>=C5=B1</nowiki>}}r{{red|<nowiki>=C5=91</nowiki>}} t{{red|<nowiki>=C3=BC</nowiki>}}k{{red|<nowiki>=C3=B6</nowiki>}}rf{{red|<nowiki>=C3=BA</nowiki>}}r{{red|<nowiki>=C3=B3</nowiki>}}g{{red|<nowiki>=C3=A9</nowiki>}}p
| rowspan="2" | Mainly caused by incorrectly configured mail servers but may occur in [[SMS]] messages on some cell phones as well.
|-
! [[ISO 8859-2]] [[Quoted-printable]]
| {{red|<nowiki>=C1</nowiki>}}RV{{red|<nowiki>=CD</nowiki>}}ZT{{red|<nowiki>=DB</nowiki>}}R{{red|<nowiki>=D5</nowiki>}} T{{red|<nowiki>=DC</nowiki>}}K{{red|<nowiki>=D6</nowiki>}}RF{{red|<nowiki>=DA</nowiki>}}R{{red|<nowiki>=D3</nowiki>}}G{{red|<nowiki>=C9</nowiki>}}P {{red|<nowiki>=E1</nowiki>}}rv{{red|<nowiki>=ED</nowiki>}}zt{{red|<nowiki>=FB</nowiki>}}r{{red|<nowiki>=F5</nowiki>}} t{{red|<nowiki>=FC</nowiki>}}k{{red|<nowiki>=F6</nowiki>}}rf{{red|<nowiki>=FA</nowiki>}}r{{red|<nowiki>=F3</nowiki>}}g{{red|<nowiki>=E9</nowiki>}}p
|-
! [[CWI-2]] !! rowspan="2" | [[CP 437]]
| {{red|Å}}RV{{red|ì}}ZT{{red|ÿ}}R{{red|º}} TÜKÖRF{{red|ù}}R{{red|ò}}GÉP árvízt{{red|û}}r{{red|ô}} tükörfúrógép
| The [[CWI-2]] encoding was designed so that Hungarian text remains fairly well-readable even if the device on the receiving end uses one of the default encodings ([[CP 437]] or [[CP 850]]). This encoding was used very heavily between the early 1980s and early 1990s, but nowadays it is completely deprecated.
|-
! rowspan="4" | [[CP 852]]
| {{red|╡}}RV{{red|╓}}ZT{{red|δ}}R{{red|è}} TÜKÖRF{{red|Θ}}R{{red|α}}GÉP árvízt{{red|√}}r{{red|ï}} tükörfúrógép
| rowspan="2" | This was very common in the days of [[DOS]], as the text was often encoded using [[code page 852]] ("Central European"), but the software on the receiving end often did not support CP 852 and instead tried to display text using [[CP 437]] or [[CP 850]]. Lowercase letters are mainly correct, except for ű and ő. Ü/ü and Ö/ö are correct because CP 437 and CP 850 were made compatible with German. Although this is rare nowadays, it can still be seen in places such as on printed prescriptions and cheques.
|-
! [[CP 850]]
| ÁRVÍZT{{red|Ù}}R{{red|è}} TÜKÖRFÚRÓGÉP árvízt{{red|¹}}r{{red|ï}} tükörfúrógép
|-
! [[Windows-1250]]
| {{red|µ}}RV{{red|Ö}}ZT{{red|ë}}R{{red|Š}} T{{red|š}}K{{red|™}}RF{{red|é}}R{{red|ŕ}}G{{red|}}P {{red| }}rv{{red|ˇ}}ztűr{{red|‹}} t{{red|}}k{{red|"}}rf{{red|Ł}}r{{red|˘}}g{{red|‚}}p
| Both encodings are Central European, but the text is encoded with the DOS encoding and decoded with the Windows encoding. The use of ű is correct.
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Mac Roman]]
| {{red|µ}}RV{{red|÷}}ZT{{red|Î}}R{{red|ä}} T{{red|ö}}K{{red|ô}}RF{{red|È}}R{{red|‡}}G{{red|ê}}P {{red|†}}rv{{red|°}}zt{{red|˚}}r{{red|ã}} t{{red|Å}}k{{red|î}}rf{{red|£}}r{{red|¢}}g{{red|Ç}}p
| rowspan="2" | Also common in the days of DOS, this could be seen when Apple computers tried to display Hungarian text sent using DOS or Windows machines, as they would often default to Apple's own encoding.
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Windows-1250]]
| {{red|¡}}RV{{red|Õ}}ZT{{red|€}}R{{red|’}} T{{red|‹}}K{{red|÷}}RF{{red|⁄}}R{{red|”}}G{{red|…}}P {{red|·}}rv{{red|Ì}}zt{{red|˚}}r{{red|ı}} t{{red|¸}}k{{red|ˆ}}rf{{red|˙}}r{{red|Û}}g{{red|È}}p
|-
! [[CP 852]]
| {{red|┴}}RV{{red|═}}ZT{{red|█}}R{{red|Ň}} T{{red|▄}}K{{red|Í}}RF{{red|┌}}R{{red|Ë}}G{{red|╔}}P {{red|ß}}rv{{red|Ý}}ztűr{{red|§}} t{{red|Ř}}k{{red|÷}}rf{{red|˙}}r{{red|ˇ}}g{{red|Ú}}p
| Both encodings are Central European, but the text is encoded with the Windows encoding and decoded with the DOS encoding. The use of ű is correct.
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Windows-1252]]
| ÁRVÍZT{{red|Û}}R{{red|Õ}} TÜKÖRFÚRÓGÉP árvízt{{red|û}}r{{red|õ}} tükörfúrógép
| The default Western European Windows encoding is used instead of the Central-European one. Only ő-Ő (õ-Õ) and ű-Ű (û-Û) are wrong, and the text is completely readable. This is the most common error nowadays; due to ignorance, it occurs often on webpages or even in printed media.
|- id=HungarianUTF8
! rowspan="2" | [[UTF-8]]
| {{red|Ã}}RV{{red|Ã}}ZT{{red|Å°}}R{{red|Å}} T{{red|Ãœ}}K{{red|Ã–}}RF{{red|Ãš}}R{{red|Ã"}}G{{red|Ã‰}}P {{red|Ã¡}}rv{{red|Ã}}zt{{red|Å±}}r{{red|Å‘}} t{{red|Ã¼}}k{{red|Ã¶}}rf{{red|Ãº}}r{{red|Ã³}}g{{red|Ã©}}p
| rowspan="2" | Mainly caused by web services or webmail clients that are configured incorrectly or not tested for international usage (as the problem remains concealed for English texts). In this case the actual (often generated) content is in [[UTF-8]], but some older software may default to localized encodings if UTF-8 is not explicitly specified in the HTML headers.
|-
! [[Mac Roman]]
| {{red|√Å}}RV{{red|√ç}}ZT{{red|≈∞}}R{{red|≈ê}} T{{red|√ú}}K{{red|√ñ}}RF{{red|√ö}}R{{red|√ì}}G{{red|√â}}P {{red|√°}}rv{{red|√≠}}zt{{red|≈±}}r{{red|≈ë}} t{{red|√º}}k{{red|√∂}}rf{{red|√∫}}r{{red|√≥}}g{{red|√©}}p
|}

====Polish====
Prior to the creation of [[ISO 8859-2]] in 1987, users of various computing platforms used their own [[Polish code pages|character encodings]] such as [[AmigaPL]] on Amiga, Atari Club on Atari ST and Masovia, IBM [[CP852]], [[Mazovia encoding|Mazovia]] and [[Windows-1250|Windows CP1250]] on IBM PCs. Polish companies selling early [[DOS]] computers created their own mutually-incompatible ways to encode Polish characters and simply reprogrammed the [[EPROM]]s of the video cards (typically [[Color Graphics Adapter|CGA]], [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]], or [[Hercules Graphics Card|Hercules]]) to provide [[hardware code page]]s with the needed glyphs for Polish—arbitrarily located without reference to where other computer sellers had placed them.

The situation began to improve when, after pressure from academic and user groups, [[ISO 8859-2]] succeeded as the "Internet standard" with limited support of the dominant vendors' software (today largely replaced by Unicode). With the numerous problems caused by the variety of encodings, even today some users tend to refer to Polish diacritical characters as {{Lang|pl|krzaczki}} ({{IPA|[ˈkʂät͜ʂ.ki]}}, lit. "little shrubs").

====Russian and other Cyrillic alphabets {{anchor|Russian and other Cyrillic-based scripts}}====
Mojibake is colloquially called {{Lang|ru-Latn|krakozyabry}} ({{Lang|ru|кракозя́бры|italic=unset}} {{IPA-ru|krɐkɐˈzʲæbrɪ̈}}, literally "garbage characters") in [[Russian language|Russian]], which was and remains complicated by several systems for encoding [[Cyrillic]].<ref>p. 141, ''Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang'', Jonathon Keats, Globe Pequot, 2007, {{ISBN|1-59921-039-8}}.</ref> The [[Soviet Union]] and early [[Russian Federation]] developed [[KOI character encodings|KOI encodings]] ({{Lang|ru-Latn|Kod Obmena Informatsiey|italic=unset}}, {{Lang|ru|Код Обмена Информацией|italic=unset}}, which translates to "Code for Information Exchange"). This began with Cyrillic-only 7-bit [[KOI7]], based on [[ASCII]] but with Latin and some other characters replaced with Cyrillic letters. Then came 8-bit [[KOI8]] encoding that is an [[extended ASCII|ASCII extension]] which encodes Cyrillic letters only with high-bit set octets corresponding to 7-bit codes from KOI7. It is for this reason that KOI8 text, even Russian, remains partially readable after stripping the eighth bit, which was considered as a major advantage in the age of [[8BITMIME]]-unaware email systems. For example, words "{{Lang|ru|Школа русского языка|italic=unset}}" {{Lang|ru-Latn|shkola russkogo yazyka}}, encoded in KOI8 and then passed through the high bit stripping process, end up rendered as "[KOLA RUSSKOGO qZYKA". Eventually KOI8 gained different flavors for Russian and Bulgarian ([[KOI8-R]]), Ukrainian ([[KOI8-U]]), [[Belarusian alphabet|Belarusian]] (KOI8-RU) and even [[Tajik Cyrillic alphabet|Tajik]] (KOI8-T).

Meanwhile, in the West, [[Code page 866]] supported [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] and [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]] as well as Russian/[[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] in [[MS-DOS]]. For [[Microsoft Windows]], [[Windows-1251|Code Page 1251]] added support for [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|Serbian]] and [[Cyrillic alphabet variants#Slavic languages|other Slavic variants of Cyrillic]].

Most recently, the [[Cyrillic (Unicode block)|Unicode]] encoding includes [[code point]]s for practically all the characters of all the world's languages, including all Cyrillic characters.

Before Unicode, it was necessary to match text encoding with a font using the same encoding system. Failure to do this produced unreadable [[gibberish]] whose specific appearance varied depending on the exact combination of text encoding and font encoding. For example, attempting to view non-Unicode Cyrillic text using a font that is limited to the Latin alphabet, or using the default ("Western") encoding, typically results in text that consists almost entirely of vowels with diacritical marks (e.g. KOI8 "{{Lang|ru|Библиотека|italic=unset}}" ({{Lang|ru-Latn|biblioteka}}, library) becomes "âÉÂÌÉÏÔÅËÁ", while "Школа русского языка" becomes "ûËÏÌÁ ÒÕÓÓËÏÇÏ ÑÚÙËÁ"). Using code page 1251 to view text in KOI8 or vice versa results in garbled text that consists mostly of capital letters (KOI8 and codepage 1251 share the same ASCII region, but KOI8 has uppercase letters in the region where codepage 1251 has lowercase, and vice versa). In general, Cyrillic gibberish is symptomatic of using the wrong Cyrillic font. During the early years of the Russian sector of the World Wide Web, both KOI8 and codepage 1251 were common. As of 2023, some websites still use code page 1251 and KOI8 encodings, even though most use Unicode. (An estimated 1.7% of all web pages worldwide – all languages included – are encoded in codepage 1251.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/en-windows1251/all/all|title=Usage of Windows-1251 for websites}}</ref>) Though the HTML standard includes the ability to specify the encoding for any given web page in its source,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.w3schools.com/TAGs/att_meta_charset.asp|title=Declaring character encodings in HTML}}</ref> this is sometimes neglected, forcing the user to switch encodings in the browser manually.

In [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], mojibake is often called {{Lang|bg-Latn|majmunica}} ({{Lang|bg|маймуница|italic=unset}}), meaning "monkey's [alphabet]". In [[Serbian language|Serbian]], it is called {{Lang|sr-Latn|đubre}} ({{Lang|sr|ђубре}}), meaning "[[waste|trash]]". Unlike the former USSR, South Slavs never used something like KOI8, and Code Page 1251 was the dominant Cyrillic encoding there before Unicode. Therefore, these languages experienced fewer encoding incompatibility troubles than Russian. In the 1980s, Bulgarian computers used their own [[MIK Code page|MIK encoding]], which is superficially similar to (although incompatible with) CP866.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Example
|-
! Original text !! Source encoding!! Target encoding !! Result
|-
| rowspan="12" style="text-align: center;" | {{Lang|ru|Кракозябры|italic=unset}}
|-
| Windows-1251 || KOI8-R || йПЮЙНГЪАПШ
|-
| rowspan="2" | KOI8-R || [[Windows-1251]] || лТБЛПЪСВТЩ
|-
| rowspan="4" | Windows-1252 || ëÒÁËÏÚÑÂÒÙ
|-
| [[Code page 855|MS-DOS 855]] || Çá ÆÖóÞ¢áñ
|-
| Windows-1251 || Êðàêîçÿáðû
|-
| rowspan="6" | UTF-8 || ÐšÑ€Ð°ÐºÐ¾Ð·ÑÐ±Ñ€Ñ‹
|-
| KOI8-R || п я─п╟п╨п╬п╥я▐п╠я─я▀ ''(The second character is a [[non-breaking space]])''
|-
| MS-DOS 855 || лџЛђл░л║лЙлиЛЈл▒ЛђЛІ
|-
| Windows-1251 || РљСЂР°РєРѕР·СЏР±СЂС‹
|-
| Mac Roman || –ö—Ä–∞–∫–æ–∑—è–±—Ä—ã
|-
| [[Mac Cyrillic]] || –Ъ—А–∞–Ї–Њ–Ј—П–±—А—Л
|}

====Yugoslav languages====
[[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Bosnian language|Bosnian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]] (the seceding varieties of [[Serbo-Croatian]] language) and [[Slovene language|Slovenian]] add to the basic Latin alphabet the letters š, đ, č, ć, ž, and their capital counterparts Š, Đ, Č, Ć, Ž (only č/Č, š/Š and ž/Ž in Slovenian; officially, although others are used when needed, mostly in foreign names, as well). All of these letters are defined in [[ISO/IEC 8859-2|Latin-2]] and [[Windows-1250]], while only some (š, Š, ž, Ž, Đ) exist in the usual OS-default [[Windows-1252]], and are there because of some other languages.

Although Mojibake can occur with any of these characters, the letters that are not included in Windows-1252 are much more prone to errors. Thus, even nowadays, "šđčćž ŠĐČĆŽ" is often displayed as "šðèæž ŠÐÈÆŽ", although ð, È, and Æ are never used in Slavic languages.

When confined to basic ASCII (most user names, for example), common replacements are: š→s, đ→dj, č→c, ć→c, ž→z (capital forms analogously, with Đ→Dj or Đ→DJ depending on word case). All of these replacements introduce ambiguities, so reconstructing the original from such a form is usually done manually if required.

The [[Windows-1252]] encoding is important because the English versions of the Windows operating system are most widespread, not localized ones.{{citation needed}} The reasons for this include a relatively small and fragmented market, increasing the price of high quality localization, a high degree of software piracy (in turn caused by high price of software compared to income), which discourages localization efforts, and people preferring English versions of Windows and other software.{{citation needed}}

The drive to [[Differences between standard Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian|differentiate]] Croatian from Serbian, Bosnian from Croatian and Serbian, and now even [[Montenegrin alphabet|Montenegrin]] from the other three creates many problems. There are many different localizations, using different standards and of different quality. There are no common translations for the vast amount of computer terminology originating in English. In the end, people use English loanwords ("kompjuter" for "computer", "kompajlirati" for "compile," etc.), and if they are unaccustomed to the translated terms may not understand what some option in a menu is supposed to do based on the translated phrase. Therefore, people who understand English, as well as those who are accustomed to English terminology (who are most, because English terminology is also mostly taught in schools because of these problems) regularly choose the original English versions of non-specialist software.

When Cyrillic script is used (for [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and partially [[Serbian language|Serbian]]), the problem is similar to [[#Russian and other Cyrillic-based scripts|other Cyrillic-based scripts]].

Newer versions of English Windows allow the [[Windows code page|code page]] to be changed (older versions require special English versions with this support), but this setting can be and often was incorrectly set. For example, Windows 98 and Windows Me can be set to most non-right-to-left [[SBCS|single-byte]] code pages including 1250, but only at install time.

===Caucasian languages===
The writing systems of certain [[languages of the Caucasus]] region, including the scripts of [[Georgian language|Georgian]] and [[Armenian language|Armenian]], may produce mojibake. This problem is particularly acute in the case of [[ArmSCII]] or ARMSCII, a set of obsolete character encodings for the Armenian alphabet which have been superseded by Unicode standards. ArmSCII is not widely used because of a lack of support in the computer industry. For example, [[Microsoft Windows]] does not support it.

===Asian encodings===
Another type of mojibake occurs when text encoded in a single-byte encoding is erroneously parsed in a multi-byte encoding, such as one of the encodings for [[East Asian languages]]. With this kind of mojibake more than one (typically two) characters are corrupted at once. For example, if the Swedish word {{Lang|sv|kärlek}} is encoded in Windows-1252 but decoded using GBK, it will appear as "k鋜lek", where "{{Lang|sv|är|italic=unset}}" is parsed as "鋜". Compared to the above mojibake, this is harder to read, since letters unrelated to the problematic å, ä or ö are missing, and is especially problematic for short words starting with å, ä or ö (e.g. "än" becomes "鋘"). Since two letters are combined, the mojibake also seems more random (over 50 variants compared to the normal three, not counting the rarer capitals). In some rare cases, an entire text string which happens to include a pattern of particular word lengths, such as the sentence "[[Bush hid the facts]]", may be misinterpreted.

====Vietnamese====
{{Main|Vietnamese language and computers}}
In [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], the phenomenon is called ''chữ ma'' ([[History of writing in Vietnam#Terminology|Hán–Nôm]]: 𡨸魔, "ghost characters") or ''loạn mã'' (from Chinese 乱码, ''luànmǎ''). It can occur when a computer tries to decode text encoded in UTF-8 as [[Windows-1258]], TCVN3 or VNI. In Vietnam, ''chữ ma'' was commonly seen on computers that ran pre-Vista versions of Windows or cheap mobile phones.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+
|-
! Example !! Source encoding !! Target encoding !! Result
|-
| rowspan="5" | '''Trăm năm trong cõi người ta''' '''𤾓𢆥𥪞𡎝𠊛些''' (''[[Truyện Kiều]]'', [[Nguyễn Du]])
|-
| rowspan="4" | UTF-8
| Windows-1258
| Tr{{Red|Äƒ}}m n{{Red|Äƒ}}m trong c{{Red|Ãµ}}i ng{{Red|Æ°á»}}i ta {{Red|đ¤¾“đ¢†¥đ¥ªđ¡đ ›äº›}}
|-
| TCVN3
| Tr{{Red|¨}}m n{{Red|¨}}m trong c{{Red|â}}i ng{{Red|ê}}i ta {{Red|�¤¾��¢��¥¥ª��¡��¾ä��}}
|-
| VNI (Windows)
| Tr{{Red|aê}}m n{{Red|aê}}m trong c{{Red|oõ}}i ng{{Red|öôø}}i ta {{Red|��}}
|-
| Mac Roman
| Tr{{Red|ƒÉ}}m n{{Red|ƒÉ}}m trong c{{Red|√µ}}i ng{{Red|∆∞·ªù}}i ta {{Red|§æì¢Ü••™û°éù†äõ‰∫õ}}
|}

====Japanese====
{{Main|Japanese language and computers}}
In [[Japan]], mojibake is especially problematic as there are many different Japanese text encodings. Alongside Unicode encodings (UTF-8 and UTF-16), there are other standard encodings, such as [[Shift-JIS]] (Windows machines) and [[EUC-JP]] (UNIX systems). Even to this day, mojibake is often encountered by both Japanese and non-Japanese people when attempting to run software written for the Japanese market.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+
|-
! Original text !! Source encoding !! Target encoding !! Result
|-
| rowspan="10" | このメールは皆様へのメッセージです。
|-
| rowspan="7" | UTF-8
|-
| [[UTF-7]] || ��̃��(�q��Y�_�C�G�b�g)
|-
| EUC-JP || ��＜�若��罕��吾��＜��祉�若�吾�с��
|-
| Shift-JIS || 縺薙�繝｡繝ｼ繝ｫ縺ｯ逧�ｧ倥∈縺ｮ繝｡繝�そ繝ｼ繧ｸ縺ｧ縺吶�
|-
| Mac Roman || „Åì„ÅÆ„É°„Éº„É´„ÅØÁöÜÊßò„Å∏„ÅÆ„É°„ÉÉ„Çª„Éº„Ç∏„Åß„Åô„ÄÇ
|-
| ISO 8859-6 || كك�ك�ك�ك�ك�هن�ك�ك�ك�كك؛ك�ك�ك�كك
|-
| rowspan="3" | Windows-1252 || ã“ã®ãƒ¡ãƒ¼ãƒ«ã¯çš†æ§˜ã¸ã®ãƒ¡ãƒƒã‚»ãƒ¼ã‚¸ã§ã™ã€‚
|-
| EUC-JP || ¤³¤Î¥á¡¼¥ë¤Ï³§ÍÍ¤Ø¤Î¥á¥Ã¥»¡¼¥¸¤Ç¤¹¡£
|-
| Shift-JIS || ‚±‚Ìƒ[ƒ‹‚ÍŠF—l‚Ö‚ÌƒƒbƒZ[ƒW‚Å‚·B
|}

====Chinese====
In [[Chinese language|Chinese]], the same phenomenon is called ''Luàn mǎ'' ([[Pinyin]], [[Simplified Chinese]] {{lang|zh-Hans|乱码}}, [[Traditional Chinese]] {{lang|zh-Hant|亂碼}}, meaning 'chaotic code'), and can occur when computerised text is encoded in one [[Chinese character encoding]] but is displayed using the wrong encoding. When this occurs, it is often possible to fix the issue by switching the character encoding without loss of data. The situation is complicated because of the existence of several Chinese character encoding systems in use, the most common ones being: [[Unicode]], [[Big5]], and [[Guobiao code|Guobiao]] (with several backward compatible versions), and the possibility of Chinese characters being encoded using Japanese encoding.

It is relatively easy to identify the original encoding when ''luànmǎ'' occurs in Guobiao encodings:
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! Original text !! Source encoding !! Target encoding !! Result !! Note
|-
| 三國志曹操傳
| Big5
| rowspan="3" | GB
| {{red|�}}T瓣в变巨肚
| Garbled characters with almost no hint of original meaning. The red character is not a valid codepoint in {{nobreak|GB 2312}}.
|-
| 文字化けテスト
| Shift-JIS
| 暥帤壔偗僥僗僩
| Kana is displayed as characters with the 亻 ({{zh|c=單人旁|p=dānrénpáng|links=no}}) radical, while kanji are other characters. Many of the substitute characters are extremely uncommon in modern Chinese. Somewhat easy to identify due to the presence of multiple consecutive 亻 characters.
|-
| 디제이맥스 테크니카
| EUC-KR
| 叼力捞钙胶抛农聪墨
| Random [[Simplified Chinese characters|simplified characters]] which in most cases make no sense. Probably the easiest to identify because of spaces between every several characters.
|}

An additional problem in Chinese occurs when rare or antiquated characters, many of which are still used in personal or place names, do not exist in some encodings. Examples of this are:

* The [[Big5]] encoding's lack of the "煊" (''xuān'') in the name of [[Taiwan]]ese politician [[Wang Chien-shien]] ({{zh|t=王建煊|p=Wáng Jiànxuān|links=no}}), the "堃" (''kūn'') in the name of [[Yu Shyi-kun]] ({{zh|t=游錫堃|s=游锡堃|p=Yóu Xíkūn|links=no}}), and the "喆" (''zhé'') in the name of singer [[David Tao]] ({{zh|t=陶喆|p=Táo Zhé|links=no}}),
* [[GB 2312]]'s lack of the "镕" (''róng'') in ex-PRC Premier [[Zhu Rongji]] ({{zh|c=朱镕基|p=Zhū Róngjī|links=no}}), and
* [[GBK (character encoding)|GBK]]'s lack of the [[copyright symbol|copyright symbol "©"]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.microsoft.com/typography/unicode/936.txt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021001194325/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/unicode/936.txt |title=PRC GBK (XGB) |website=[[Microsoft]] |archive-date=2002-10-01 |url-status=dead}} Conversion map between [[Code page 936 (Microsoft Windows)|Code page 936]] and Unicode. Need manually selecting [[GB 18030]] or GBK in browser to view it correctly.</ref>

Newspapers have dealt with missing characters in various ways, including using image editing software to synthesize them by combining other radicals and characters; using a picture of the personalities (in the case of people's names), or simply substituting homophones in the hope that readers would be able to make the correct inference.

====Indic text====
A similar effect can occur in [[Brahmic scripts|Brahmic or Indic scripts]] of [[South Asia]], used in such [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indo-Aryan or Indic languages]] as [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] (Hindi-Urdu), [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]], [[Marathi language|Marathi]], and others, even if the character set employed is properly recognized by the application. This is because, in many Indic scripts, the rules by which individual letter symbols combine to create symbols for syllables may not be properly understood by a computer missing the appropriate software, even if the glyphs for the individual letter forms are available.

One example of this is the old [[Wikipedia logo]], which attempts to show the character analogous to "wi" (the first syllable of "Wikipedia") on each of many puzzle pieces. The puzzle piece meant to bear the [[Devanagari]] character for "wi" instead used to display the "wa" character followed by an unpaired "i" [[diacritic|modifier]] vowel, easily recognizable as mojibake generated by a computer not configured to display Indic text.<ref name="NYTimes">{{Cite news|title=Some Errors Defy Fixes: A Typo in Wikipedia's Logo Fractures the Sanskrit|last=Cohen|first=Noam|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/25/technology/25wikipedia.html?_r=2&oref=slogin|access-date=July 17, 2009|work=The New York Times}}</ref> The logo as redesigned {{as of|2010|05|lc=y|url=http://en.bharatpedia.org/wiki/Logo_of_Wikipedia#Current_logo}} has fixed these errors.

The idea of Plain Text requires the operating system to provide a font to display Unicode codes. This font is different from OS to OS for Singhala and it makes orthographically incorrect glyphs for some letters (syllables) across all operating systems. For instance, the 'reph', the short form for 'r' is a diacritic that normally goes on top of a plain letter. However, it is wrong to go on top of some letters like 'ya' or 'la' in specific contexts. For Sanskritic words or names inherited by modern languages, such as कार्य, IAST: ''kārya'', or आर्या, IAST: ''āryā'', it is apt to put it on top of these letters. By contrast, for similar sounds in modern languages which result from their specific rules, it is not put on top, such as the word करणाऱ्या, IAST: ''karaṇāryā'', a stem form of the common word करणारा/री, IAST: ''karaṇārā/rī'', in the [[Marathi language]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Marathi Typing {{!}} English to Marathi {{!}} Online Marathi Typing |url=https://marathi.indiatyping.com/ |access-date=2022-08-02 |website=marathi.indiatyping.com}}</ref> But it happens in most operating systems. This appears to be a fault of internal programming of the fonts. In Mac OS and iOS, the muurdhaja l (dark l) and 'u' combination and its long form both yield wrong shapes.{{citation needed}}

Some Indic and Indic-derived scripts, most notably [[Lao script|Lao]], were not officially supported by [[Windows XP]] until the release of [[Windows Vista|Vista]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms776260(VS.85).aspx |title=Content Moved (Windows) |publisher=Msdn.microsoft.com |access-date=2014-02-05}}</ref> However, various sites have made free-to-download fonts.

====Burmese====
Due to Western sanctions<ref name="japantimes">{{Cite web| title = Unicode in, Zawgyi out: Modernity finally catches up in Myanmar's digital world | work = The Japan Times| date = 27 September 2019 | access-date = 24 December 2019| url = https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/09/27/business/tech/unicode-in-zawgyi-out-myanmar/| quote = Oct. 1 is “U-Day", when Myanmar officially will adopt the new system.... Microsoft and Apple helped other countries standardize years ago, but Western sanctions meant Myanmar lost out.}}</ref> and the late arrival of Burmese language support in computers,<ref name="griffin">{{Cite web| title = Battle of the fonts| last = Hotchkiss| first = Griffin| work = Frontier Myanmar| date = March 23, 2016 | access-date = 24 December 2019| url = https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/features/battle-of-the-fonts| quote = With the release of Windows XP service pack 2, complex scripts were supported, which made it possible for Windows to render a Unicode-compliant Burmese font such as Myanmar1 (released in 2005). ... Myazedi, BIT, and later Zawgyi, circumscribed the rendering problem by adding extra code points that were reserved for Myanmar’s ethnic languages. Not only does the re-mapping prevent future ethnic language support, it also results in a typing system that can be confusing and inefficient, even for experienced users. ... Huawei and Samsung, the two most popular smartphone brands in Myanmar, are motivated only by capturing the largest market share, which means they support Zawgyi out of the box.}}</ref><ref name="sin" /> much of the early Burmese localization was homegrown without international cooperation. The prevailing means of Burmese support is via the [[Zawgyi font]], a font that was created as a [[Unicode font]] but was in fact only partially Unicode compliant.<ref name="sin">{{Cite web| title = Unified under one font system as Myanmar prepares to migrate from Zawgyi to Unicode| first = Thant| last = Sin| work = Rising Voices| date = 7 September 2019| access-date = 24 December 2019| url = https://rising.globalvoices.org/blog/2019/09/06/unified-under-one-font-system-as-myanmar-prepares-to-migrate-from-zawgyi-to-unicode/| quote = Standard Myanmar Unicode fonts were never mainstreamed unlike the private and partially Unicode compliant Zawgyi font. ... Unicode will improve natural language processing}}</ref> In the Zawgyi font, some [[codepoint]]s for Burmese script were implemented as specified in [[Unicode]], but others were not.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://code.google.com/p/zawgyi/wiki/WhyUnicode|title=Why Unicode is Needed|work=Google Code: Zawgyi Project|access-date=31 October 2013}}</ref> The Unicode Consortium refers to this as ''ad hoc font encodings''.<ref name="unicode_faq">{{Cite web| title = Myanmar Scripts and Languages| work = Frequently Asked Questions| publisher = Unicode Consortium| access-date = 24 December 2019| url = https://www.unicode.org/faq/myanmar.html| quote = "UTF-8" technically does not apply to ad hoc font encodings such as Zawgyi.}}</ref> With the advent of mobile phones, mobile vendors such as Samsung and Huawei simply replaced the Unicode compliant system fonts with Zawgyi versions.<ref name="griffin"/>

Due to these ''ad hoc'' encodings, communications between users of Zawgyi and Unicode would render as garbled text. To get around this issue, content producers would make posts in both Zawgyi and Unicode.<ref name="fb_eng">{{Cite web| title = Integrating autoconversion: Facebook's path from Zawgyi to Unicode - Facebook Engineering| first1 = Nick| last1 = LaGrow| first2 = Miri| last2 = Pruzan| work = Facebook Engineering| publisher = Facebook | date = September 26, 2019| access-date = 25 December 2019| url = https://engineering.fb.com/android/unicode-font-converter/| quote = It makes communication on digital platforms difficult, as content written in Unicode appears garbled to Zawgyi users and vice versa. ... In order to better reach their audiences, content producers in Myanmar often post in both Zawgyi and Unicode in a single post, not to mention English or other languages. }}</ref> Myanmar government designated 1 October 2019 as "U-Day" to officially switch to Unicode.<ref name="japantimes" /> The full transition was estimated to take two years.<ref name="mmti_Myan">{{Cite web| title = Myanmar switch to Unicode to take two years: app developer| author = Saw Yi Nanda | work = The Myanmar Times| date = 21 November 2019| access-date = 24 December 2019| url = https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-switch-unicode-take-two-years-app-developer.html}}</ref>

===African languages===
In certain [[writing systems of Africa]], unencoded text is unreadable. Texts that may produce mojibake include those from the [[Horn of Africa]] such as the [[Ge'ez script]] in [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]], used for [[Amharic]], [[Tigre language|Tigre]], and other languages, and the [[Somali language]], which employs the [[Osmanya alphabet]]. In [[Southern Africa]], the [[Mwangwego alphabet]] is used to write languages of [[Malawi]] and the [[Mandombe alphabet]] was created for the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], but these are not generally supported. Various other writing systems native to [[West Africa]] present similar problems, such as the [[N'Ko alphabet]], used for [[Manding languages]] in [[Guinea]], and the [[Vai syllabary]], used in [[Liberia]].

===Arabic===
Another affected language is [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (see [[#Examples|below]]), in which text becomes completely unreadable when the encodings do not match.

====Examples====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- class="hintergrundfarbe6"
! Arabic example !! Browser rendering || Source encoding !! Target encoding !! Result
|-
| rowspan="16" | [[File:Arabic example.svg|140px|link=|alt=]] ([[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]])
|-
| rowspan="15" | {{Lang|ar|الإعلان العالمى لحقوق الإنسان}}
|-
! rowspan="11" | [[UTF-8]] || [[KOI8-R]]
| ь╖ы└ь╔ь╧ы└ь╖ы├ ь╖ы└ь╧ь╖ы└ы┘ы┴ ы└ь╜ы┌ы┬ы┌ ь╖ы└ь╔ы├ьЁь╖ы├
|-
! [[Windows-1250]]
| Ř§Ů„ŘĄŘąŮ„Ř§Ů† Ř§Ů„ŘąŘ§Ů„Ů…Ů‰ Ů„ŘŮ‚ŮŮ‚ Ř§Ů„ŘĄŮ†ŘłŘ§Ů†
|-
! [[Windows-1251]]
| Ш§Щ„ШҐШ№Щ„Ш§Щ† Ш§Щ„Ш№Ш§Щ„Щ…Щ‰ Щ„ШЩ‚Щ€Щ‚ Ш§Щ„ШҐЩ†ШіШ§Щ†
|-
! [[Windows-1252]]
| Ø§Ù„Ø¥Ø¹Ù„Ø§Ù† Ø§Ù„Ø¹Ø§Ù„Ù…Ù‰ Ù„ØÙ‚ÙˆÙ‚ Ø§Ù„Ø¥Ù†Ø³Ø§Ù†
|-
! [[Windows-1256]]
| ط§ظ„ط¥ط¹ظ„ط§ظ† ط§ظ„ط¹ط§ظ„ظ…ظ‰ ظ„طظ‚ظˆظ‚ ط§ظ„ط¥ظ†ط³ط§ظ†
|-
! [[ISO 8859-5]]
| иЇй�иЅиЙй�иЇй� иЇй�иЙиЇй�й�й� й�ий�й�й� иЇй�иЅй�иГиЇй�
|-
! [[ISO 8859-6]]
| ظ�عظ�ظ�عظ�ع ظ�عظ�ظ�ععع عظععع ظ�عظ�عظ�ظ�ع
|-
! [[CP 852]]
| ěž┘äěąě╣┘äěž┘ć ěž┘äě╣ěž┘ä┘ů┘ë ┘äěş┘é┘ł┘é ěž┘äěą┘ćě│ěž┘ć
|-
! [[CP 866]]
| ╪з┘Д╪е╪╣┘Д╪з┘Ж ╪з┘Д╪╣╪з┘Д┘Е┘Й ┘Д╪н┘В┘И┘В ╪з┘Д╪е┘Ж╪│╪з┘Ж
|-
! [[Mac Arabic]]
| ظ'عÑظ٪ظ٩عÑظ'عÜ ظ'عÑظ٩ظ'عÑعÖعâ عÑظ-عÇعàعÇ ظ'عÑظ٪عÜظ٣ظ'عÜ
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[Mac Roman]]
| ÿßŸÑÿ•ÿπŸÑÿßŸÜ ÿßŸÑÿπÿßŸÑŸÖŸâ ŸÑÿ≠ŸÇŸàŸÇ ÿßŸÑÿ•ŸÜÿ≥ÿßŸÜ
|-
! [[Mac Arabic]]
| «‰≈Ÿ‰«Ê†«‰Ÿ«‰ÂÈ†‰Õ‚Ë‚†«‰≈Ê”«Ê
|-
! rowspan="2" | [[Windows-1256]]
| «·≈⁄·«‰ «·⁄«·„Ï ·ÕﬁÊﬁ «·≈‰”«‰
|-
! [[Windows-1252]]
| ÇáÅÚáÇä ÇáÚÇáãì áÍÞæÞ ÇáÅäÓÇä
|}
The examples in this article do not have UTF-8 as browser setting, because UTF-8 is easily recognisable, so if a browser supports UTF-8 it should recognise it automatically, and not try to interpret something else as UTF-8.

==See also==
* [[Code point]]
* [[Replacement character]]
* [[Substitute character]]
* [[Newline]] – The conventions for representing the line break differ between Windows and Unix systems. Though most software supports both conventions (which is trivial), software that must preserve or display the difference (e.g. [[version control system]]s and [[data comparison]] tools) can get substantially more difficult to use if not adhering to one convention.
* [[Byte order mark]] – The most [[in-band]] way to store the encoding together with the data – prepend it. This is by intention invisible to humans using compliant software, but will by design be perceived as "garbage characters" to incompliant software (including many [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreters]]).
* [[Character encodings in HTML|HTML entities]] – An encoding of special characters in HTML, mostly optional, but required for certain characters to [[Escape sequence|escape]] interpretation as markup. While failure to apply this transformation is a vulnerability (see [[cross-site scripting]]), applying it too many times results in garbling of these characters. For example, the quotation mark <code>"</code> becomes <code>&quot;</code>, <code>&amp;quot;</code>, <code>&amp;amp;quot;</code> and so on.
* [[Bush hid the facts]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Wiktionary inline}}

{{Character encoding}}

[[Category:Character encoding]]
[[Category:Computer errors]]
[[Category:Nonsense]]