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34 passed the winter at Ecbatana (Hamadan), hastened to aid the nearest contingent, only to discover that Phraates had anticipated that movement. He was urged by his staff not to engage the superior enemy forces, who had but to fly to the neighboring hills to escape pursuit by the Seleucid cavalry. Spring was at hand and travel difficult, but a successor of Alexander the Great could not give ground before a foe whom he had defeated three times, and the Parthian attack was received on the spot. The Seleucid troops, in poor condition, were easily put to flight by the Parthians, and Antiochus died, abandoned by all his men; perhaps he was killed in the fighting, or he may have committed suicide. So complete was the Parthian victory that Antiochus' young son Seleucus and his niece, a daughter of Demetrius,. were among those captured. Athenaeus, commander of the Syrian forces, was among the first to flee. The number of the slain was placed at the absurdly large figure of three hundred thousand. The body of Antiochus was treated with all respect due a monarch and was sent