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transitoryandnoneIranian,aswasthesomewhatdisparaginguse
oftheterm“Philhellenes”thattheParthiankingsdeliberatelyused
ontheircoinageasapoliticaldevicetoappeasetheGreeksintheir
empire,aboveallinMesopotamia(Neusner1963,40ff;Wolski1956-
1958,35-52;Schippmann,1986/updated2011,531-32).Itallstarted
withMithradatesI,severalyearsafterhisascendancetothethrone
inordertointroducethecultofhisroyalfatherandpredecessor
Phriapitius.Availablesourcesdonotoffergroundforthebeliefthat
theArsacidsweretheobjectofwidespreadandcompulsoryworship
(Muccioli2009,97-98;Dąbrowa2011,248,250).Thewholeidealost
colourastheyearswentby.
TheSasaniankings,inouropinion,wereneverdeified(Borbor,
2013).Pahlavi
bay
hasbeenvariouslyinterpretedas“god,”“divine,”
“majesty,”“lord”(MacKenzie[1986]2006,17;Daryaee2003,42).
Wepropose
baγ
whenusedasanountomean“god;lord;almighty,”
butasanadjectivetobedefinedas“omnipotent,”anallengulfing
wordwhichhasbeenandstilliscurrentinmanylanguagesimparting
thenotionofhavingverygreat/infiniteauthorityor/andpower,
onoccasionsinallusiontogod,butnotasgod—anomnipotent
ruler/sovereign.Theconceptofbeingthe“image”ofgodbythe
royaltyhasbeenwidespreadthroughouthistorywhichinthecase
underconsiderationmaybecorroboratedbytheconversationbetween
ThemistoclesandtheChiliarchintheAchaemenianperiod:“Nowyou
Hellenesaresaidtoadmirelibertyandequalityaboveallthings;but
inoureyes,amongmanyfaircustoms,thisisthefairestofall,
tohonourtheKing,andtopayobeisancetohimastheimageofthat
godwhoisthepreserverofallthings”(Plutarch,
Themistocles
,27.3).
Inthefollowingphrase:“(ANRm-a):
ptkr-yZN
H.
mzdysnbgy’rthštr
MLK’nMLK’’yr’nMNWctryMNyzd’n/pahikarēnmazdēsnbaγ
ardašīršāhānšāhērānkēčīhrazyazdān,
”whichisusuallytranslated
as:“ThisistheimageoftheMazda-worshipingMajesty,Ardaxšīr,king
ofkingsofĒrān,whoseorigin(is)fromthegods”(Back1978,281;
Daryaee2003,36).Howcouldthekingwhoadmitsbeing“Mazda-
worshiping”—andasaresultabelieverinAhōramazdā(oranyother
associatedgod)—alsoclaimdivinityforhimself?Consequently,
weproposethefollowingreading:“ThisisthesculptureoftheMazda-
worshipingalmighty/omnipotent,Ardaxšīr,kingofkingsofĒrān,who
(isan/isinthe)imageofthegods.”
