Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/103

Rh meant not the Indian Jhelum but some other stream, the Porali, or possibly even the Median Hydaspes of Vergil, then Parthian conquests in India must remain in doubt. Orosius was influenced by the post-Augustan literary tradition, in which the gem-bearing Hydaspes figured prominently.

If the identification of Turiva with Traxiana in the upper Ochus River valley be accepted, then the reign of Mithradates I brought the Parthians into a position where contact with the advancing Sacae was inevitable. In 130 Phraates II engaged the services of a body of Saca mercenaries (see pp. 35 f.), and shortly thereafter the flood of invaders must have reached the eastern provinces. The remnants of the Bactrian kingdom were swept away by these hordes,