See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Gotarzes I; Mithridates II; Sinatruces
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Orodes II
Orodes II (Urūd II) was a king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty who ruled from 58/57 to 38 BCE. He was the son of the Arsacid monarch Phraates III. Orodes II supported his brother Mithridates III when the latter seized the Arsacid throne by killing their father in 57 BCE. Soon, however, the alliance between the two brothers broke down. Orodes attacked and defeated Mithridates, who was captured and executed.
The rise of Orodes II to power corresponded with the gradual collapse of the republican system in Rome and the emergence of a triumvirate: Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. Crassus, who was appointed governor of Syria, intended to use his position in the east to invade the Parthian/Arsacid Empire. Dreaming of an easy and grand victory, Crassus raised an army in 55 BCE. In the spring of 54, the Roman general arrived in Syria and assumed the command of his army, estimated at 40,000 men. The bulk of the Roman army consisted of infantry. Orodes sent an envoy to Crassus in Syria to inquire about the reasons for the invasion. Crassus responded scornfully that he would explain the causes for his invasion after he had captured the Arsacid capital, Seleucia, on the Tigris. Hearing this response, the Parthian envoy pointed to the palm of his left hand and exclaimed, “Hair will grow here before you see Seleucia.” Orodes led the main Arsacid army to Media Atropatene (present-day Azerbaijan). He also ordered the young and talented general Surena to confront the invading Romans in Mesopotamia. Suren led his cavalry force of 10,000 men to northern Mesopotamia. In June 53 BCE in the Battle of Carrhae (ancient Harran near the present-day village of Altinbashak in southeastern Turkey on the country’s border with Syria), Suren scored an impressive victory, inflicting a humiliating defeat on Crassus and his Roman legions. Crassus and his son were killed, and a large number of Roman officers and soldiers were captured and executed. From a Roman force of 40,000 men, only 10,000 survived. The Roman battle standards were seized by Suren, and they were only returned to Rome after long negotiations during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. The defeat at Carrhae “went down in Roman annals as one of the great disasters of Roman history” (Colledge: 43). The Arsacids had demonstrated their military might. The Euphrates River was recognized as the frontier between the two powers. The defeat at Carrhae ended the first triumvirate and ultimately resulted in a confrontation between Caesar and Pompey.
Tetradrachm of the Arsacid/Parthian king of kings Orodes II. It was during the reign of Orodes II that a Parthian army of 10,000 mounted archers under the command of Surena (Suren) inflicted a humiliating defeat on a much larger invading Roman army led by Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in northern Mesopotamia (present-day southeastern Turkey). (Christopher Gardner/Yale University Gallery of Art)
The impressive victory of Suren frightened Orodes, who ordered the murder of his general. Building on the victory at Carrhae, Orodes II sent his son Pacorus to ravage Syria in 51 BCE. The Arsacid prince was not, however, allowed sufficient time to complete his mission. Suspicious of his son’s ambitions, Orodes called off the campaign and summoned him home in 50 BCE. In the ongoing conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey, Orodes established contact with the latter and offered his support. It is not surprising therefore that after defeating Pompey, Caesar planned a major campaign to punish the Arsacids for interfering in the internal affairs of Rome and lending support to his nemesis. Caesar was, however, assassinated in 44 BCE, and the campaign against Orodes did not materialize. As the civil war raged on among the Roman contenders, Orodes, who had reconciled with his son Pacorus, decided to take advantage of the prevailing chaos in Mesopotamia and resume his military campaign in Syria. Joined by the former Roman general Labienus, Pacorus led an Arsacid army to the conquest of Syria and parts of Asia Minor. The Jewish population in Palestine greeted the arrival of Parthian forces by offering them support. Soon, however, the fortunes of the war changed. First, Labienus was killed, and shortly afterward Pacorus also lost his life in an ambush in 39 or 38 BCE. According to Cassius Dio, after the death of Pacorus, Orodes “succumbed to age and to grief,” but before he died the Arsacid king “delivered the government to Phraates, the eldest of his remaining sons” (Cassius Dio: XLIX.23.3). After ascending the throne, the ruthless Phraates IV first killed his father, Orodes, and then all his 30 brothers (Justin: XLII.5.1).
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates III; Phraates III; Phraates IV; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1917.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Frye, Richard N. The Heritage of Persia. Cleveland and New York: World Publishing, 1963.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.
Plutarch. Lives. 2 vols. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2006.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Orodes III
King of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty who probably ruled from 4 to 6 CE. In 20 BCE, the then Arsacid monarch, Phraates IV, recognized Rome’s protectorate over Armenia and returned the legionary standards, which the Arsacids had captured from the Roman general Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE. In his attempt to convince Phraates IV to return the Roman standards, the Roman emperor Augustus sent a female slave named Musa as a gift to the Arsacid monarch. Soon Musa emerged as the queen of Phraates IV. She used her influence over her husband to convince him to send his four sons as hostages to Rome and designate their son, Phraates (the future Phraates V), as the successor to the throne. In 2 BCE, Musa poisoned Phraates IV and placed herself and her own son, Phraates V, as joint rulers on the Arsacid throne. The Arsacid senate, which opposed the enormous power and influence of Musa, forced the former concubine and her son to abandon the throne. In their place, the Arsacid prince Orodes ascended the throne. Our knowledge about Orodes III and his reign is scanty to the extreme. After his death, Orodes III was succeeded by Vonones, a son of Phraates IV who had lived as a hostage for many years in Rome.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Phraates IV; Phraates V; Vonones I; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Sellwood, David. Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia. London: Spink and Son, 1980.
Pacorus
An Arsacid (Parthian) prince and the oldest son of the Arsacid monarch Orodes II. In 53 BCE, the Parthian commander Suren inflicted a humiliating defeat on a Roman army under the command of the Roman general Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae (Harran in present-day southeastern T
urkey). Building on this impressive victory, Orodes II sent his son Pacorus to ravage Syria in 51 BCE. The Arsacid prince was not, however, allowed sufficient time to complete his mission. Suspicious of his son’s ambitions, Orodes called off the campaign and summoned his son home in 50 BCE. Orodes, who was fully aware of the civil war between the two Roman generals, Julius Caesar and Pompey, tried to prolong the conflict among the Romans by establishing contact with Pompey. As the civil war raged on among the Romans, Orodes, who had reconciled with his son Pacorus, decided to take advantage of the Roman civil war and resume his military campaign in Syria. Joined by the former Roman general Labienus, Pacorus led the Arsacid army in the conquest of Syria and parts of Asia Minor. The Jewish population in Palestine greeted the arrival of Parthian forces by offering them support. Soon, however, the fortunes of the war changed. First, Labienus was killed, and shortly afterward Pacorus also lost his life in an ambush in either 39 or 38 BCE. According to Cassius Dio, after the death of Pacorus, Orodes “succumbed to age and to grief,” but before he died, the Arsacid king “delivered the government to Phraates, the eldest of his remaining sons” (Cassius Dio: XLIX.23.3). Justin wrote that after ascending the throne, the ruthless Phraates (Phraates IV) first killed his father, Orodes II, and then all of his 30 brothers (Justin: XLII.5.1).
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Orodes II; Phraates IV; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1917.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Sellwood, David. Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia. London: Spink and Son, 1980.
Phraates I
Phraates I (Frahāta I) was a king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty who ruled from 176 to 171 BCE. He was the oldest son of the third Arsacid monarch, Priapatius, who ruled from 191 to 176 BCE (Justin: XLI.V). Phraates ascended the Arsacid throne at a time when the power and prestige of the Seleucid state, which had ruled Iran since 305 BCE, was declining rapidly. In 190 BCE the armies of Rome and its allies defeated the Seleucid monarch Antiochus III in the Battle of Magnesia in Asia Minor. Antiochus was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Apamea in 188 BCE. According to the terms of this treaty, Antiochus III renounced all his claims to territories north and west of the Taurus mountain range in southern Asia Minor. He also agreed to send to Rome a group of hostages, including his son, the future Antiochus IV, to pay a heavy war indemnity and to surrender his fleet and elephants. Recognizing the growing weakness of the Seleucid state, which was based in faraway in Syria (present-day southern Turkey), the Arsacid monarch Phraates I embarked on a campaign to break out of Parthia in northeastern Iran and expand his territorial possessions to the regions south of the Alborz mountain range. Phraates defeated the Mardi, a tribal group who inhabited the eastern region of the Alborz (Justin: XLI.V). He then settled the Mardi in Charax near Rhagae (south of modern-day Tehran) in eastern Media, thus expanding the boundaries of the Arsacid state from northeastern Iran to the lands west of the Caspian Gates. The newly conquered territory provided the Arsacid king with a territorial base from which to attack central and western Iran. Before he could continue his military campaigns, however, Phraates I died. Phraates I had several sons but designated his younger brother, Mithridates (Mithradata), as his successor.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates I; Priapatius; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Phraates II
Phraates II (Frahāta II) was a king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty who ruled from 139/138 to 128 BCE. He was the son of the Arsacid monarch Mithridates I, who ruled from 171 to 139/138 BCE. The nascent empire that Phraates inherited from his father was threatened by enemies in the east as well as the west. Toward the end of Mithridates’s reign, the eastern borders of the Arsacid Empire had been breached by an Indo-European people known as Yüeh-chih (Yuezhi) in Chinese and Tochari by Roman and Greek writers. The Yüeh-chih were pushed out of Central Asia and forced to seek new pastureland for their animals. In 130 BCE, while Phraates II was quelling the threat posed by the invading nomadic groups in the east, the Seleucid king Antiochus VII Sidetes (r. 138–129 BCE) attacked and seized Babylonia, defeating Arsacid armies in three separate military encounters. With winter arriving, Antiochus divided his army and scattered its units in several cities in western Iran. The high-handed and oppressive attitude of these army units, who demanded food and supplies, caused the populace to revolt against Antiochus VII (Justin: XXXVIII.10). Wishing “to feel out” his enemy, Phraates II sent an envoy to negotiate a peace agreement (Diodorus Siculus: XXXIV/XXXV.14.15). Antiochus responded that he was willing to consider a peace treaty if the Arsacid monarch would release his brother Demetrius from captivity, withdraw from the provinces he had seized, and pay tribute to the Seleucid king as his overlord (Diodorus Siculus: XXXIV/XXXV.14.15). Phraates rejected these demands. He also placed an army in the field. Against the advice of his officials who pleaded with him to avoid a hasty foray, Antiochus VII marched against the much larger Arsacid force. When the two armies joined battle, Phraates II defeated Antiochus, who was killed on the battlefield (Diodorus Siculus: XXXIV/XXXV.15.16). Though victorious against a formidable adversary, Phraates II organized a magnificent funeral for the fallen Seleucid monarch and sent his body to Syria in a silver casket. He also married the daughter of Demetrius II who had accompanied Antiochus VII to Iran (Justin: XXXVIII.10). The victory of Phraates II over Antiochus VII put an end to Seleucid rule in Iran. After his impressive victory over the Seleucids, Phraates II intended to advance to Syria. He was diverted to the east, however, by the renewed threat posed by nomadic groups who had breached the northeastern frontiers of his empire. In 128 BCE, accompanied by Greek prisoners whom he had captured in his battle against Antiochus, Phraates attacked the invaders from Central Asia. As the battle was joined, the Greek prisoners of war, who were supposedly fighting for Phraates, defected to the enemy, causing chaos among the Parthian forces (Justin: XLII.1). In the midst of the confusion and mayhem that followed, Phraates II was killed on the battlefield. He was succeeded by his uncle Artabanus I (Justin: XLII.2.1).
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Artabanus I; Mithridates I; K&Q, Seleucid: Antiochus VII Sidetes; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Scythians; Primary Documents: Document 23
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1928.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Diodorus Siculus. Translated by Francis R. Walton. London: William Heinemann, 1967.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Sellwood, David. Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia. London: Spink and Son, 1980.
Phraates III
An Arsacid (Parthian) king who ruled from 71/70 to 58/57 BCE. Phraates III (Frahāta III) was the son of the Arsacid monarch Sinatruces. During Phraates III’s reign, the Romans expanded their territorial possessions in Asia Minor as they defeated and chased their nemesis, Mithridates of Pontus, who sought refuge with his son-in-law, Tigranes I, the ruler of Armenia. When Tigranes I requested support from Phraates III to defend his kingdom against the Roman general Lucullus, the Arsacid monarch refused to help. Instead, Phraates reached an agreement with Pompey, who secured the support of the Arsacid monarch by pledges of friendship and territorial concessions. Phraates used his pact with Pompey to consolidate his rule in Mesopotamia. Initially, Pompey did not oppose Arsacid control over Mesopotamia east of the Euphrates. He soon changed his position, however, and formed an alliance with King Tigranes of Armenia, who was promised Gordyene, which was already held by the Parthians. When Parthian forces were pushed out of Gordyene, Phraates protested, reminding the Romans that the Euphrates constituted the western boundary of his empire. Ignoring Phraates’s repeated objections, Pompey’s forces crossed the Euphrates and raided Parthian-held positions as far east as the Tigris. The conflict was finally resolved when Phraates and Tigranes reached an agreement over their boundary dispute with assistance and support from Pompey. Phraates III was assassinated by his sons, Mithridates III and Orodes I. Mithridates was initially supported by his younger brother, Orodes. Orodes, however, revolted against Mithridates III, overthrowing his older brother, who was based in Media in western Iran. When Mithridates seized Seleucia and Babylon, Orodes attacked his brother. Mithridates was captured and executed.
The Persian Empire Page 37