In 97 BC Mithridates subjugated the Armenian king Artavasdes-I (r.123-95 BC) and took the future king Tigranes II (r.95-55 BC) as hostage. A year later a Roman delegation led by Sulla (c.138-78 BC) met the Parthian ambassador Orobazus at the Euphrates River to agree to make the river the border between the two powers.
During the last years of Mithridates’ reign and following his death, a number of ‘kings’ were simultaneously struggling for power in the region, particularly Gotarzes-I (r. 91-81 BC) in the west and Orodes-I (r.90-77 BC) in the east. When Artavasdes died in 95 BC, Tigranes exchanged a significant portion of Armenian territory for his freedom and ascended the Armenian throne. He took advantage of the struggles between claimants to the Parthian throne to expand Armenian territory into Mesopotamia, and the small states in the north gave him their allegiance. With accession of Sinatruces-I (r.77-70 BC) and his son Phraates III (r.70-57 BC) and the capture of Tigranes’ capital Tigranocerta by Lucullus (c.118-c.57 BC) in 69 BC, northern Mesopotamia returned to Parthian rule.
In 66 BC Lucullus was replaced by Pompey (106-48 BC), who occupied the Parthian vassal states of Gordyene and Osroene. This act initiated a long-lived feud between Rome and Parthia. Phraates was murdered by his two sons, Mithridates III (r.57-54 BC) and Orodes II (r.54-38 BC). The two brothers then battled for the throne. Mithridates was defeated at Seleucia by Orodes’ general Surena (84-52 BC) and killed.
In 53 BC the Roman general Crassus (c.115-53 BC) invaded Parthia. He became separated from his Armenian allies and so had little useful cavalry. He was caught near Carrhae by an army of mounted archers under Surena, and the Roman legionaries were picked off piecemeal. Crassus was forced to surrender and was killed at an interview with Surena. After Surena’s victory, fearing him a threat to himself, Orodes had him executed.
In 51 BC Orodes’ son Pacorus-I (r.51-38 BC) launched an invasion of Syria but was driven out by Longinus (before 85-42 BC). In 40 BC Pacorus in alliance with the Roman rebel Labienus (died 39 BC) invaded Syria again. Many of the Roman troops in Syria defected to Labienus, and the combined armies defeated the forces of the Roman governor Decidius Saxa (d.40 BC). Saxa managed to reach Cilicia, but Labienus destroyed him and his force. Pacorus and Labienus occupied the whole of Palestine and Anatolia, with the exception of a few cities that held out, including Tyre. In Judah, Pacorus’ general Barzapharnes deposed Hyrcanus II (r.67*40 BC) and replaced him with his nephew Antigonus II (r.40-37 BC). In 39 BC a Roman army under Ventidius Bassus (cos. 43 BC) killed Labienus in a battle in the Taurus Mountains and recovered Anatolia. Pacorus returned to Syria but was killed in the Battle of Mount Gindarus in 38 BC.
In 36 BC Orodes’ son, Phraates IV (r.38*02 BC), defeated Marc Antony (c.83-30 BC), who lost the greater part of his army. In 20 BC the Euphrates was again set as the boundary between the two empires, and Phraates agreed to return the standards captured in the battles with Crassus and Antony. Tiridates II (r.29-27 BC), a pretender supported by Rome, forced Phraates to take refuge with his eastern neighbours, the Scythians, who then restored him to power. He later sent four sons to Rome for safety. He chose a son Phraates V (2-00-4) he had with an Italian woman Thea Musa, to be his successor and was murdered by him. The nobles disliked having a king with a foreign parent, and when he married his own mother they killed him and installed Orodes III (r.4-7) as the new ruler. One of the sons Vonones-I (r.7-12) came back from Rome and claimed the throne but to the Parthian nobles he seemed too Roman so they drove him out.
Artabanus III (r.12*38) came to power and when Artaxias III of Armenia (r.18-34) died in 34, Artabanus set his own son Arsaces-I (r.34-36) on the Armenian throne. Tiberius (77; r.14-37) sent Tiridates III (r.35-36), probably a grandson of Phraates IV, as rival to Artabanus; and ordered Vitellius the Elder (before 5-00-51) to restore the Roman authority in the east. Artabanus fled to Scythia and Tiridates had himself crowned at Ctesiphon. Arbanus soon organised an army and expelled Tiridates, but he was not strong enough for a war with Rome. He therefore concluded a treaty with Vitellius in 37 in which he accepted Roman supremacy in Armenia. Shortly afterwards another palace intrigue forced him from the throne but he regained it and died shortly afterwards.
Artabanus was succeeded by his two sons, Vardanes-I (r.40*47) and Gotarzes II (r.40*51), each of whom ruled different parts of the empire. When Vardanes was killed in 47 Gotarzes seized all the empire. In 49 another of Phraates’ grandsons, Meherdates, summoned from Rome by the Parthian nobles, was defeated and taken prisoner by Gotarzes.
Gotarzes’ brother Vonones II (r.51) died after a few months and was succeeded by his son Vologases-I (r.51-78). In 53 Parthian troops swept into Armenia and Vologases’ son Tiridates-I (r.53, 56-59, 62-88) was installed on the Armenian throne. Rhadamistus (r.51-53, 53-55) departed hurriedly but was able to return a year later when disease and a vicious winter had forced the Parthians to leave Armenia. However, Tiridates, backed by Vologases, who had dealt with the rebel Sanabares (r.50-56), was soon back on the throne.
In 55 Nero (30; r.54-68) sent Corbulo (c.7-67) to Armenia and in 59 Tiridates was ousted. Vologases finally overcame a revolt in Hyrcania and after a Parthian victory over Paetus (c.20-72; cos. 61) it was agreed to install Tiridates as king of Armenia provided he went to Rome to be crowned by Nero (66). Vologases’ son Vardanes II (r.55-58) rebelled against his father and briefly ruled a part of the Parthian Empire.
Vologases’ other son Vologases II (r.78-80) seems to have been deposed by his uncle Pacorus II (r.80-105), who probably also removed his rival Artabanus IV (r.80-81). Pacorus’ brother Osroes-I for the whole of his reign (r.109-129) had to contend with the rival king Vologases III (r.105-147) based in the east of Parthia. Osroes invaded Armenia and placed first his nephew Axidares (r.110-113) and then his brother Parthamasiris (r.113-114) on the throne. This break in the agreement to consult on Armenia led to a war with Rome.
In 113 Trajan (63; r.98-117) marched on Armenia. In 114 Parthamasiris surrendered and was killed. Trajan then turned south into Parthia, taking the cities of Babylon, Seleucia and finally Ctesiphon in 116. He deposed Osroes and put his own puppet Parthamaspates (r.116-117) on the throne. In Mesopotamia Osroes’ brother Mithridates IV (r.129-140) and his son Sanatruces II (r.116) fought against the Romans, but Trajan marched southwards to the Persian Gulf and defeated them. Following the death of Trajan and a Roman withdrawal from the area, Osroes defeated Parthamaspates and reclaimed the Parthian throne. Hadrian (62; r.117-138) abandoned his predecessor’s conquests and Osroes was able to resume possession of his lost provinces.
Mithridates’ son Vologases IV (r.147-191) united the empire that had been split by his father and Vologases III. He also reconquered the kingdom of Characene which seems to have been independent since the invasion by Trajan. On the death of Antoninus Pius (84; r.138-161) the Parthians invaded Armenia and put Pacorus, an Arsacid, on the throne. In 163 the Romans deposed Pacorus and replaced him with their client Sohaemus. Lucius Verus (39; r.161-169) subjected Mesopotamia to a three-pronged attack. A victory at Dura Europos led to the capture of Seleucia and Babylon. In 164 Ctesiphon was captured, but in 165 a plague in Seleucia forced the Roman forces to withdraw. The Romans, however, retained many of their possessions in northern Mesopotamia.
Vologases’ son Vologases V (r.191-208) quickly put down Osroes II (r.190-191) who had set himself up as a rival king in Media. In 193 another Roman civil war emboldened Vologases to attempt to recapture Mesopotamia. In 198 Septimius Severus (65; r.193-211) captured Ctesiphon, Seleucia and Babylon. The Arab fortress at Hatra in northwest Mesopotamia, however, resisted several attempts to capture it.Vologases’ son Vologases VI (r.208-218) fought a sixteen-year war (from 213) with his brother Artabanus V (r.216-224) for the Parthian throne. Artabanus controlled the Media and the western part of Parthian Empire. In 216 Caracalla (29; r.211-217) entered Parthia and reached Arbela (=Arbil) in northern Iraq. In 217 Caracalla’s successor Macrinus (c.53; r.217-218) led a Roman force against Artabanus at Nisibis. After two days of fighting the battlefield was littered with bodies from both sides. Macrinus finally asked for peace.
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