Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/373

Rh ARSACES. ppcct, .ind gave him his daughter Rhodogime in marriage ; but the marriage appears not to have been solemnized till the accession of his son Phraa- tes II. Mithridates died during the captivity of Demetrius, between B. c. 138 and 130. He is described as a just and upright prince, who did not give way to pride and luxury. He introduced among his people the best laws and usages, which he found among the nations he had conquered. (Justin, xli. 6; Oros. v. 4; Strab. xi. pp. 51G, 517, 5*24, &c.: Appian, Si/r. G7 ; Justin, xxxvi. 1, xxxviii. 9; Joseph. Aid. xiii. 9; 1 Maccah. c. 1 4 ; Diod. Exc. p. 597, ed. Wess.) The reverse of the annexed coin has the inscription BA2IAEfl2 MEFAAOT AP2AKOT *IAEAAHN02. AnsACKS VII., Phraates II., the son of the preceding, was att<vcked by Antiochus VII. (Sidetes), who defeated Phraates in three great bat- tles, but was at length conquered by him, and lost liis life in battle,'B. c. 128. [See p. 199,a.] Phraa- tes soon met with the same fate. The Scythians, who had been invited by Antiochus to assist him against Phraates, did not arrive till after the fall of the fonner ; but in the battle which followed, the Greeks whom Phraates had taken in the war against Antiochus, and whom he now kept in his service, deserted from him, and revenged the ill- treatment they had suffered, by the death of Phraa- tes and the destruction of his army. (Justin, xxxviii. 10, xlii. 1.) The reverse of the annexed coin has the inscription BA2IAEn2 MEFAAOT AP2AKOT 0EOnATOPO2 NIKAT0P02. Arsacks VIII., Artabanus II., the youngest brother of Arsaces VI., and the youngest son of Arsaces IV., and consequently the uncle of tlie preceding, fell in battle against the Thogarii or Tochari, apparently after a short reign. (Justin, xlii. 2.) Arsaces IX., Mithripates II., the son of the preceding, prosecuted many wars with success, and added many nations to the Parthian empire, whence he obtained the surname of Great. He dcfoated the Scythians in several battles, and also carried on war against Artavasdes, king of Armenia. It was in his reign tha* the Romans first had any oflicial communication with Pjirthia. Mithridates sent an ambassador, Orobazus, to Sulla, who had come into Asia B. c. 92, in order to restore Ariobar- zancs I. to Cappadocia, and requested alliance with the Romans, which seems to have been granted. (Justin, xlii. 2 ; Plut. Sulla, 5.) Justin (xlii. 4) ARSACES. 355 has confounded this king with Mithridates III., I. e. Arsiices XIII. Arsaces X., Mnascires? The successor of Arsaces IX. is not known. Vaillant conjectures that it was the Mnascires mentioned by Luciau (MiuTofj. 10"), who lived to the a^'e of ninety-six; but this is quite uncertain. Arsaces XI., Sanatroces, as he is called on coins. Phlegon calls him Sinatruces ; Appian, Sintricus ; and Lucian, Sinatrocles. He had lived as an exile among the Scythian people called Sacauraces, and was placed by them upon the throne of Parthia, when he was already eighty years of age. He reigned seven years, and died while Lucidlus was engaged in the war against Tigranes, about B. c. 70. (Lucian, Afocroi. 15; Phlegon, ap. PJiot. Cod. 97, p. 84, ed. Bekker ; Appian, Mithr. 104.) Arsaces XII., Phraates III., sumaraed @c6s (Phlegon, I. c), the son of the preceding. Mithridates of Poiitus and Tigranes applied to Phraates for assistance in their war against the Romans, although Phraates was at enmity with Tigranes, because he had deprived the Parthian empire of Nisibis and part of Mesopotamia. Among the fragments of Sallust {Hist. lib. iv.) we have a letter purporting to be written by Mithridates to Phraates on this occasion. Lucullus, as soon as he heard of this embass)--, also sent one to Phraates, who dismissed both with fjiir promises, but accord- ing to Dion Cassius, concluded an alliance with the Romans. He did not however send any assistance to the Romans, and eventually remained neutral. (Meranon, ap. Phot. Cod. 224, p. 239, ed. Bekker ; Dion Cass. xxxv. 1, 3, comp. 6; Appian, Mithr. 87; Plut. Lucull. 30.) When Pompey succeeded Lu- cullus in the command, b. c. 66, he renewed the alliance with Phraates, to whose court meantime the youngest son of Tigranes, also called Tigranes, had fled after the murder of his two brothers by their father. Phraates gave the young Tigranes his daughter in marriage, and was induced bj' his son- in-law to invade Armenia. He advanced as far as Artaxata, and then returned to Parthia, leaving his son-in-law to besiege the city. As soon .is he had left Armenia, Tigranes attacked his son and defeated him in battle. The young Tigranes then fled to his grandfather Mithridates, and afterwards to Pompey, when he found the former was unable to assist him. The young Tigi-anes conducted Pompey against his father, who suiTendered on his approach. Pompey then attempted to reconcile the father and the son, and promised the latter the sovereignty of Sophanene ; but as he shortly after offended Pompey, he was thrown into chains, and reserved for his triumph. When Phraates heai-d of this, he sent to the Roman general to demand the young man as his son-in-kvw, and to propose that the Euphrates should be the boundary between the Roman and Parthian dominions. But Pompey merely replied, that Tignmes was nearer to his father than his father-in-law, and that he would determine the boundary in accordance with what was just. (Dion Cass, xxx^n. 28, 34 — 36 ; Plut. Pomp. 33 ; Appian, Si/r. 104, 105.) M.atters now began to assume a threatening aspect between Phraates and Pompey, who had deeply injured the former by refusing to give him his usurd title of "king of kings." But although Phraates marched into Armenia, and sent ambassadors to Pompey to bring many charges against him, and Tigranes, the 2 A 2