In the meantime Gotarzes had enlisted the aid of the Dahae and the Hyrcanians and soon advanced to recover his kingdom. Vardanes abandoned the siege of Seleucia in 39 and moved his forces to the great Bactrian plain, far to the east; but preparations for the battle were suddenly interrupted when Gotarzes discovered that the nobles were planning to take the throne away from both his brother and himself. Drawn together by this common danger, the brothers agreed that Vardanes was to occupy the throne of Parthia and Gotarzes was to withdraw to Hyrcania. "Victory" coins were struck by the aristocratic party in Seleucia in the years 40/41—43/44 in celebration of their triumph over the popular party and the restoration of Vardanes to the throne.[1]
In the spring of 42 the sage Apollonius of Tyana passed through Babylonia on his way to India.[2] Vardanes had but two years and two months before recovered his throne;[3] Seleucia still apparently remained in revolt,[4] and Vardanes was established in Babylon. The account of Philostratus suggests that Vardanes' territory was limited in extent, for Apollonius passed into Parthia after leaving Nineveh,
- ↑ McDowell, Coins from Seleucia, pp. 225 f.
- ↑ Philostratus Vita Apoll. i. 19–40; cf. A. von Gutschmid, Kleine Schriften, III (Leipzig, 1892), 58 f.
- ↑ Philostratus Vita Apoll. i. 28; cf. also i. 21.
- ↑ Ibid. i. 21. Ctesiphon alone is mentioned. The reference to Babylon cannot in this case be assigned to Seleucia, although such details cannot be pressed too far in this source.
