Orodes II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

 from 57 to 38 BC. Orodes was a son of Phraates III

Phraates III of Parthia

King Phraates III of Parthia succeeded his father Sanatruces and ruled the Parthian Empire from 70 to 57 BC. He was called "the God" because of his coins, that were ideal for sailors because they were polished with gold dust, so that people from other countries considered their value higher than...

, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his brother Mithridates

Mithridates III of Parthia

King Mithridates III of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire c. 57–54 BC. With the assistance of his brother Orodes he murdered his father Phraates III. He was made king of Media and waged war against his brother, but was soon deposed on account of his cruelty. He took refuge with Aulus Gabinius, the...

. He married a Greek Princess from the Kingdom of Commagene

Kingdom of Commagene

The Kingdom of Commagene was an ancient kingdom of the Hellenistic Age.Little is known of the region of Commagene prior to the beginning of the 2nd century BC. However, it seems that, from what little evidence remains, Commagene formed part of a larger state that also included Sophene...

, called Laodice

Laodice of Parthia

Laodice was a Princess from the Kingdom of Commagene who lived in the 1st century BC. She was of Greek and Armenian descent. Laodice was the first daughter born to King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene and Queen Isias Philostorgos of Commagene.Laodice married King Orodes II of Parthia. Through this...

 who was a daughter of King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene

Antiochus I Theos of Commagene

Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellenos (Greek: о Αντίοχος Θεός Δίκαιος Επιφανής Φιλορωμαίος Φιλέλλην, meaning Antiochos, a just, eminent god, friend...

 and Queen Isias

Isias

Isias, surnamed Philostorgos or Philostorgus was a Princess of Cappadocia who lived in the 1st century BC. Through her marriage to King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, she became the Queen of Commagene. Very little is known on her. She was half Persian and half Greek...

 Philostorgos of Commagene.

His brother Mithridates was made king of Media

Medes

The MedesThe Medes...

, but soon afterwards he was expelled by Orodes and fled into Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. Thence he invaded the Parthian kingdom, but having reigned briefly in 55 BC was besieged by Surena

Surena

Surena or Suren may refer to either a noble family of Parthia also known as the House of Suren, or to a renowned 1st century BC General Surena who was a member of that family....

, general of Orodes, in Seleucia on the Tigris

Seleucia on the Tigris

Seleucia , also known as Seleucia on the Tigris, was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Ctesiphon, in present day Babil Governorate, Iraq.-Seleucid empire:Seleucia,...

, and after a prolonged resistance was captured and slain.

Meanwhile the Roman

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

 general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...

 had begun his attempt to conquer the east, but he was defeated and killed in 53 BC at the Battle of Carrhae

Battle of Carrhae

The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...

 by Surena, while Orodes himself invaded Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 and forced King Artavasdes

Artavasdes II of Armenia

King Artavasdes II ruled Armenia from 53 to 34 BC. He succeeded his father, Tigranes the Great. Artavasdes was an ally of Rome, but when Orodes II of Parthia invaded Armenia following his victory over the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, he was forced to...

, the son of Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great was emperor of Armenia under whom the country became, for a short time, the strongest state east of the Roman Republic. He was a member of the Artaxiad Royal House...

, to abandon the Romans. By the victory of Carrhae the countries east of the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 were secured to the Parthians. In the next year they invaded Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, but with little success, for Surena, whose achievements had made him too dangerous, was killed by Orodes, and Pacorus

Pacorus I of Parthia

Pacorus I of Parthia was the son of king Orodes II and queen Laodice of the Parthian Empire. It is possible that he was co-ruler with his father for at least part of his father's reign...

, the young son of the king was defeated by Cassius

Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...

 in 51 BC.

During the Roman Republican civil wars the Parthians sided first with Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

 and then with Brutus

Brutus

Brutus is the cognomen of the Roman gens Junia, a prominent family of the Roman Republic. The plural of Brutus is Bruti, and the vocative form is Brute, as immortalized in the quotation "Et tu, Brute?", from Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar....

 and Cassius, but took no action until 40 BC, when Pacorus, assisted by the Roman deserter Quintus Labienus

Quintus Labienus

Quintus Labienus , the son of Titus Labienus, was a Roman republican general, later in the service of Parthia.After Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, Labienus took the side of Brutus and Cassius, the latter whom he served in the capacity of an ambassador to the Parthians...

 conquered a great part of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 and Asia Minor

Asia Minor

Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...

, but was defeated and killed by Ventidius in 38 BC. Orodes, who was deeply afflicted by the death of his gallant son, appointed his son Phraates IV

Phraates IV of Parthia

King Phraates IV of Parthia, son of Orodes II, ruled the Parthian Empire from 37–2 BC. He was appointed successor to the throne in 37 BC, after the death of his brother Pacorus I...

 successor, but was soon afterwards killed by him. Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

 relates that Orodes understood Greek very well. After the death of Crassus the Bacchae

The Bacchae

The Bacchae is an ancient Greek tragedy by the Athenian playwright Euripides, during his final years in Macedon, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumously at the Theatre of Dionysus in 405 BC as part of a tetralogy that also included Iphigeneia at Aulis, and which...

of Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

 was presented at Artavasdes' court, with the head of Crassus himself allegedly being used as an accessory for a scene actually including a severed head, on the order of the king.