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216 him and Pacorus over some frontier question, for the Parthian claimed that neither had executed a certain agreement within thirty days and that the Romans had fortified enemy territory contrary to the oracle.

The last years of Pacorus appear to have been troubled. His coinage at the Seleucia-Ctesiphon mint contains lengthy gaps, including one of five years (88–93) and one of eight years (97–105). As early as 105/6 a rival king, perhaps Vologases II, made his appearance; and in 109/10 Osroes, the brother or brother-in-law of Pacorus, began to coin money. The struggle soon became one between Osroes and Vologases II, for with one exception the dated coinage of Pacorus ceases in 96/97.

In 97, during the reign of the emperor Ho, the protector-general Pan Ch'ao sent Kan Ying on a mission to Ta Ch'in (Syria). He reached Mesene, where sailors discouraged his crossing by telling him that the round trip took three months. Here is another indication of the growing importance of this region and of the southern route to Syria. Four years later, in 101, a king of Parthia named Man-ch'iu