Page:Political History of Parthia.pdf/309

Rh then seized him. Without its leader Osroene rapidly submitted to Roman authority, and it was henceforth controlled without a king. The king of Armenia was engaged in a quarrel with his sons; and, when they too had been summoned before Caracalla on the pretense of peacemaking, they were treated in the same fashion as Abgarus. But the Armenians, instead of yielding, had recourse to arms.

About 213, contemporary with the Roman difficulties with Osroene and Armenia, arose a dispute between Vologases and his brother Artabanus (V). Apparently Artabanus, who controlled Media and struck his coins at Ecbatana, was making a bid for Mesopotamia also. Caracalla claimed to have engendered these disputes in the hope that they would weaken the Parthian power.

In his winter quarters at Nicomedia (İzmit) Caracalla assembled troops and built two large engines so constructed that they could be taken apart and stowed away in ships for transport to Syria. The following legions, either as a whole or in part, probably fought in the ensuing campaign: the I and II