Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/263

Rh (identified as Pacorus) sent gifts of lions and ostriches from Mesene, the latter perhaps brought there by traders from Arabia.

We have further evidence that Pacorus was not dead, however; for Decebalus, the famous Dacian opponent of Trajan, presented the Parthian with a slave named Callidromus, presumably a Greek, taken from the Romans by one of the Dacian leaders. The Greek remained for a number of years with Pacorus, and eventually came to possess a beautiful gem engraved with the figure of the Parthian ruler. Possibly some of the heavy Parthian cavalry had aided the Dacians, for the armored warriors on Trajan's column that are usually called Sarmatians might also be Parthians. Perhaps it was to this Pacorus that Martial referred in one of his poems as deliberating in Arsacia (Rhages). In 110 Pacorus sold the kingdom of Osroene to Abgarus VII, son of Izates, but the territory may have remained subject to Parthia in some manner. About the same time a ruler named Tiridates was deposed from the Armenian throne by Osroes, and Axidares, one of the two sons