himself up as an independent ruler in Babylonia;[1] but, as we shall see, there is evidence which leads us to believe that Mithradates still retained control of Iran and northern Mesopotamia, a district always more closely united with the plateau and with Syria than with Babylonia.[2]
Shortly before his death Mithradates received as a prisoner the Seleucid king Demetrius III, nicknamed Eucaerus, brother of Philippus Epiphanes Philadelphus, the ruler of northern Syria, who had established his capital at Damascus. In 88 b.c. a war broke out between the two brothers. When Philip was besieged in Beroea (Aleppo), his ally Strato, dynast of Beroea, appealed for aid to a pro-Parthian Arab tyrant, Aziz,[3] probably the ruler of Emesa (Homs), and to the Parthian governor of northern Mesopotamia, Mithradates Sinaces. The response was immediate, and Demetrius found himself the besieger besieged; forced at length to surrender, he was taken to Mithra-
- ↑ The sole fact which these tablets provide is that Gotarzes was then recognized as king in Babylon; the inference regarding the extent of his territory remains uncertain.
- ↑ Gotarzes and his immediate successor, Orodes, are the only Parthian kings in all the numerous documents of the period mentioned by name rather than by their title Arsaces. The conclusion is obvious: the name was necessary to denote which Arsaces was meant, and we have here evidence of conflict between Mithradates and his former satrap of satraps. On the parallel usage of the coins cf. McDowell, Coins from Seleucia, p. 223.
- ↑ Mss., Ζίζον.
