Phraates IV of Parthia
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Orodes II of Parthia
Orodes II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 57 to 38 BC. Orodes was a son of Phraates III, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his brother Mithridates...
, ruled the Parthian Empire
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
from 37–2 BC. He was appointed successor to the throne in 37 BC, after the death of his brother Pacorus I
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...
. He soon murdered his father and all his thirty brothers.
Phraates was attacked in 36 BC by the Roman general Mark Antony
Mark Antony
Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...
, who marched through Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
into Media Atropatene, and was defeated and lost the greater part of his army. Antony, believing himself betrayed by 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...
, king of Armenia, invaded his kingdom in 34 BC, took him prisoner, and concluded a treaty with another Artavasdes
Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene
Artavasdes I was a king of Media Atropatene. As an enemy of Artavasdes II of Armenia and his son Artaxias II, Artavasdes I was mentioned in diplomatic affairs of Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Mark Anthony.- Biography :...
, king of Media Atropatene.
But when the war with Octavian broke out, Antony could not maintain his conquests; Phraates recovered Media Atropatene and drove Artaxias
Artaxias II
Artaxias II was a king of Armenia, the eldest son of Artavasdes II. He ascended the throne when his father was taken prisoner and executed by Triumvir Mark Antony, and after his own skirmish with the Romans was forced to flee to Parthia...
, the son of Artavasdes, back into Armenia. But by his many cruelties Phraates had roused the indignation of his subjects, who raised Tiridates II
Tiridates II of Parthia
Tiridates II of Parthia was set up by the Parthians against Phraates IV in about 32 BC, but expelled when Phraates returned with the help of the Scythians...
to the throne in 32 BC. Phraates was restored by the Scythians, and Tiridates 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....
. The Romans hoped that Augustus would avenge the defeat of the Roman general 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...
on the Parthians, but he contented himself with a treaty, by which Phraates gave back the prisoners and the conquered eagles; the kingdom of Armenia also was recognized as a Roman dependency.
Soon afterwards Phraates, whose greatest enemies were his own family, sent five of his sons as hostages to Augustus, thus acknowledging his dependence on Rome (the hostages included Tiridates III
Tiridates III of Parthia
Tiridates III of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire briefly in 35–36. He was the grandson of Phraates IV. He was sent to Rome as a hostage and was educated there....
, whom the Romans later tried to install as a vassal king in AD 35
35
Year 35 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gallus and Nonianus...
). This plan he adopted on the advice of an Italian woman, a gift of Caesar, "Thea Muse
Musa of Parthia
Musa was Queen of Parthia c. 2 BC – AD 4. She is called as Thermusa by Josephus and is also known as Thea Urania . She was a concubine given by the Roman Emperor Augustus to King Phraates IV of Parthia...
" whom he made his favored wife; her son Phraates V
Phraates V of Parthia
Phraates V of Persia, known by the diminutive Phraataces , ruled the Iranian Parthian Empire from 2 BC to AD 4. He was the younger son of Phraates IV of Parthia and the Musa of Parthia", with whom he is associated on his coins. Under Phraates V a war threatened to break out with Rome about the...
, commonly called Phraataces (a diminutive form), he appointed successor. About 2 BC he was murdered by Musa and her son.