384 
SHAPOUR. 
Arsaces, which still favoured the national pride of a great part of 
their people, and which was connected so long and so gloriously with 
the general history of the empire. 
All the details of these sculptures confirm their history, but it is 
scarcely necessary to do more than allude to them. The lion held by a 
chain in one of the scenes at Shapour , may be emblematical of a con¬ 
quered nation; or perhaps the literal historical representation of a 
real auxiliary in the warfare, of the Parthians :* 
u Et validos Parthi prae se misere liones, 
“ Cum ductoribus armatis, soevisque magistris.” 
Brissonius however adds to this quotation the question, “ Sed 
44 quis veritatem a poeta ut ab historico exigit?”-j- Notwithstanding 
however the incredulity thus implied, and the ridicule of Lucian, 
who describes the Parthians as using dragons for the same purpose ;% 
it is possible that this sculpture may be admitted as evidence of 
the fact. 
The dress of the royal characters may be similarly illustrated; the 
turreted tiara of Artabanus, is perhaps the -mv^yuTov described 
by Strabo§; the tiara of Artaxerxes, which extends over the 
cheeks, is thus mentioned by Juvenal,|| and thus represented in the 
medals of Vaielant and De Sacy. The exuberant hair of Sapor 
is likewise an historical fact: it was indeed the costume of the house 
of Arsaces as well as of Sapor. This might be learnt from their 
coins* but it is more familiar from the allusion of Vespasian, when he 
* Lucretius, lib. v. These references are taken from Brissonius, u De Regio 
“ Persarum Apparatu.” Edit. Lederlini, 1710. 
+ Brissonius, p. 732. 
| Lucian, in Brissonius. 
^ Strabo, lib. xv. 
(I Juvenal, Sat. vi. 
