Parthians looked like which modern people?

The Persians depicted on Persepolis portray clear Assyrian architectural influence while the Parthian busts portray Hellenic influence.

   That's why Encyclpædia Britannica articles refer to the Parthian era of Iranian history as "philo-Hellenic" in nature.  The Parthians even used Greek as the official language of their court and maintained many of the cultural traditions of their former Hellenistic overlords such as the gymnasium and theatrical plays.

Persian profile; bent nose, wide nostrils, curled hair, stylized eyes and brows! Actually the curly hair (really whorls!) might well be a well styled helment, and the beard also fake, and part of the head gear?
Note we are unable to see the top of the head, which might well give us a better idea! Cyrus, you probably did this on purpose? chuckle You will also notice that the ring, that appears to be an "ear ring", is in reality a ring for a chin strap! The ears are covered!
I really would expect to see a fan like top piece upon the top of the head, much like those worn by the Sea People and found chisled into stone at Medinet Habu!

All in all, I would identify this person, if he was representative of the people to a great degree, as a person from the Levant and East.

Parthian soldier; Here the nose and forhead are in an almost straight line from forehead to tip of the nose. The hair found on the beard is straight, but you will notice that most of his cheek and cheekbone is covered by the helment straps, etc. All you need to do to make this side view look more like the Pars (Persian) one is to engrave it with whorls! I wish that the forepart of the helment, was still in place, for it seems to me it might well look much like the famous "Phyrigian Cap!", or "Liberty Cap", signifing a "Freed man!"
His racial or ethnic background might well be more noticeable from the three quarter view! I would have no problem describing him as Danish or some other Germanic or Gothic or Scandanavian background!

The Parthian princess looks much like any made up nine to twelve year old girl! But she looks especially Western to my eye.

The bust of the older man, seems to personify almost an idealized vision of a Roman statesman, etc.

The last bust, shows us what again might well be a fake head covering, IE, a wig, and a very stylized beard! But, his facial features, which we can only see frontally, do not seem much different from those seen of the Frankish knights or kings!

Edited by opuslola - 12-Nov-2009 at 13:26

Dear Cyrus, perhaps the words used by you above really described the "Ashkenazi?", and variant spellings? You do know that in the Hebrew and Christian Bible, the KIng of Persia, who met with the Jewish exiles, did proclaim that they were "brothers in faith" or words to that effect! IE, he, Cyrus, I think?, knew that they all professed faith in the same God! Maybe the so called Indo European language, was processed towards the West, via the spoken language rather than the Religious or Royal tounge?

Also your question (Parthians looked like which modern people?) is almost impossible to answer. Modern Iranians are so mixed that you have to go to the periphery to find tracks of old races. I strongly recommend this interview with Dr. Maziyar Ashrafian who has done the only serious research on race in Iran:

rtsp://rmv8.bbc.net.uk/persian/2003/070828_mehmanehafte.ra?BBC-UID=f48adf4e7046f881565da42291370bdfff95b545a01042 c162880034e4fdb204_n&SSO2-UID=

Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri Parthians shouldn't necessarily look like just modern Iranian peoples, in all probability they entered the Iranian plateau from the north east of the country, so I think their descendants can be found among Turkmens of Iran, -> http://www.turkmens.com/Photoes/IranTurkmens/175.jpg

Cyrus, I think you have posted this photo and a few others at another thread, but if you were to bring this photo to Mississippi USA, no one would bother to wonder the heritage of these children, they would automatically think that they were from England, Scotland, Germany, Holland, etc.!

IE, they would look like typical White Southerners! Who, came mostly from the above backgrounds.

There would be no thought that they were from N. Iran, or Iraq, etc.!

Cyrus, and others, the following site is a cemetary listing of persons buried in just one cemetary in a typical Mississippi setting. If you know anything about names, just look at the typical cemetary names found here;
http://teafor2.com/Murphy_WinstonCoMS.htm




Edited by opuslola - 20-Nov-2009 at 14:17

I have two issues with some comments on this threat by Cyrus Shahmiri:

No, as mentioned above, Central Asia back then was dominated by Iranian peoples. The Turkic tribes would not penetrate that deep until the Sassanian period, and then not into the Middle East until Islamic times.

There is no possible way that the Parthians could have been ethnic Turks, they didnt even look Turkic. The Parthian Turkic theory was discredit a long time ago.

I think you might be reading some outdated books. There are some things in history that we are not completely sure on, or there may be doubt about, or there may not be conclusive evidence for, but this isnt one of them.


Edited by TheGreatSimba - 23-Nov-2009 at 15:44

TheGreatSimba, I don't know what you want to say, I'm myself an Iranian and believe that Parthians were certainly an Iranian people but their descendants should be searched among the people of modern Turkmenistan and the northeastern part of Iran where we know ancient Parthians came from, if these people already speak a Turkic language, then it can't be said that they can't be descendants of ancient Parthians, don't you think so? The city of Ashkanians is Ashkabad, the capital city of Turkmenistan.

Edited by Cyrus Shahmiri - 24-Nov-2009 at 07:32