Page:Lesser Eastern Churches.djvu/43

Rh and shifting frontier again to Mesopotamia. This is the Second Persian Empire, that of the Parthians. The Parthians were an Aryan race, followers of the old religion of Persia (Mazdæism), dwelling north-east of Persia proper, under the Caspian Sea and so towards the Himalaya. They are really another tribe of Persians; their monarchy represents practically a revival of that of Cyrus. Two brothers, Arsaces and Tiridates, were their chiefs in the third century These rose against the Seleucids; in  250 Arsaces became king of the Parthian state. They had many great rulers (notably Mithradates I, 175–138) who waged successful war against the Seleucids and then carried on the eternal contest of East and West against Rome. For already Rome has entered the arena. Since 200 she becomes more and more a factor in Eastern history. In 205 the Romans defeat Philip V of Macedonia; this marks their first appearance on the stage they are soon to fill. At first Rome is only concerned to prevent any Eastern kingdom from becoming too powerful a neighbour. Antiochos the Great of Syria (Antiochos III, 223–187) wanted to assert supremacy over Greece, and had interests in Egypt. Rome opposed him in both. In 191 he was beaten and driven out of Greece; in 190 Lucius Cornelius Scipio crossed over to Asia Minor and won the battle of Magnesia. Antiochos had to resign all his possessions in Asia Minor. They were at first given to a Roman ally, the King of Pergamon; but in 133 they became the Roman province "Asia." From now the Seleucid kingdom gradually goes to pieces and the Roman Empire takes its place. Antiochos IV's attempt to Hellenize all Syria (of which the Maccabeean revolt was an incident) was a bad failure. Then comes a long series of disputed successions to the throne and civil wars, in which Rome is more and more concerned. For a time ( 86-66) Syria became a dependency of Armenia (p. 385). But the ever-advancing Roman power defeated the Armenians, and so at last the inevitable happened: Pompey with his legions entered Syria, the last Seleucid king (Antiochos XIII) was deposed, and Syria became a Roman province ( 64). So we arrive at the state of things when Christianity appears in these lands. Rome faces the Parthian kingdom. Rome has taken up