_Consolidation of the Parthian Kingdom. Death of Tiridates and accession
of Arsaces III. Attack on Media. War of Artabanus (Arsaces III.) with
Antiochus the Great. Period of inaction. Great development of Bactrian
power. Reigns of Priapatius (Arsaces IV.) and Phraates I. (Arsaces V.)_
Selbucus might perhaps not have accepted his defeat as final had he been
altogether free to choose whether he would continue the Parthian war
or no. The resources of his Empire were so vast, his command of men
and money so unbounded, that he could easily have replaced one army by
another, and so have prolonged the struggle. But renewed troubles had
broken out in the western portion of his dominions, where his brother,
Antiochus Hierax, was still in arms against his authority. Seleucus
felt it necessary to turn his attention to this quarter, and having
once retired from the Parthian contest, he never afterwards renewed it.
Tiridates was left unmolested, to act as he thought fit, and either to
attempt further conquests, or to devote himself to securing those which
he had effected. He chose the latter course, and during the remainder of
his reign--a space of above twenty years--he employed himself wholly in
strengthening and adorning his small kingdom. Having built a number
of forts in various strong positions, and placed garrisons in them, he
carefully selected a site for a new city, which he probably intended to
make his capital. The spot chosen combined the advantages of being
at once delightful and easily defensible. It was surrounded with
precipitous rocks, which enclosed a plain of extraordinary fertility.
Abundant wood and copious streams of water were in the neighborhood. The
soil was so rich that it scarcely required cultivation, and the woods
were so full of game as to afford endless amusement to hunters. To the
town which he built in this locality Tiridates gave the name of Dara, a
word which the Greeks and Romans elongated into Dareium. Unfortunately,
modern travellers have not yet succeeded in identifying the site,
which should, however, lie towards the East, perhaps in the vicinity of
Meshed.
We may presume that Tiridates, when he built this remarkable city,
intended to make it the seat of government. Hecatompylos, as a Greek
town, had the same disadvantages, which were considered in later times
to render Seleucia unfit for the residence of the Parthian Court and
monarch. Dara, like Ctesiphon, was to be wholly Parthian. Its strong
situation would render it easy of defence; its vicinity to forests
abounding in game would give it special charms in the eyes of persons
so much devoted, as the Parthian princes were, to the chase. But the
intention of Tiridates, if we have truly defined it, failed of taking
permanent effect. He may himself have fixed his abode at Dara, but his
successors did not inherit his predilections; and Hecatompylos remained,
after his reign, as before it, the head-quarters of the government, and
the recognized metropolis of Parthia Proper.
After passing in peace and prosperity the last twenty years of his
reign, Tiridates died in a good old age, leaving his crown to a son,
whose special name is a little uncertain, but who is called by most
moderns Artabanus I.
Artabanus, having ascended the Parthian throne about B.C. 214, and being
anxious to distinguish himself, took advantage of the war raging between
Antiochus III., the second son of Seleucus Callinicus, and Achseus, one
of his rebel satraps, to advance into Media, and to add to his dominions
the entire tract between Hyrcania and the Zagros mountains. Of the
manner in which he effected his conquests we have no account; but they
seem to have been the fruit of a single campaign, which must have
been conducted with great vigor and military skill. The Parthian prince
appears to have occupied Ecbatana, the ancient capital of the Median
Empire, and to have thence threatened the Mesopotamian countries. Upon
receiving intelligence of his invasion, Antiochus levied a vast army,
and set out towards the East, with a determination to subjugate all
the revolted provinces, and to recover the limits of the old Empire
of Nicator. Passing the Zagros chain, probably by way of Behistun and
Kermanshaw, he easily retook Ecbatana, which was an open town, and
undefended by the Parthians, and proceeded to prepare for a further
advance eastward. The route from Ecbatana to the Caspian Gates crosses,
of necessity, unless a considerable circuit be taken, some large tracts
of barren ground, inlets or bays of the Great Salt Desert of Iran.
Artabanus cherished the hope that here the difficulties of the way would
effectually bar his enemy’s progress, more especially as his troops were
so numerous, and as water was scanty throughout the whole region. The
streams which flow from Zagros towards the East are few and scanty; they
mostly fail in summer, which, even in Asia, is the campaigning season;
and those who cross the desert at this time must depend on the wells
wherewith the more western part of the region is supplied by means of
_kanats_ or underground conduits, which are sometimes carried many miles
from the foot of the mountains. The position of the wells, which were
few in number, was known only to the natives; and Artabanus hoped that
the Syrian monarch would be afraid to place the lives of his soldiers in
such doubtful keeping. When, however, he found that Antiochus was not
to be deterred by any fears of this kind, but was bent on crossing the
desert, he had recourse to the barbaric expedients of filling in, or
poisoning, the wells along the line of route-which the Syrian prince
was likely to follow. But these steps seem to have been taken too late.
Antiochus, advancing suddenly, caught some of the Parthian troops at
their barbarous work, and dispersed them without difficulty. He then
rapidly effected the transit, and, pressing forward, was soon in the
enemy’s country, where he occupied the chief city, Hecatompylos. Up
to this point the Parthian monarch had declined an engagement. No
information has come down to us as to his motives; but they may
be readily enough conjectured. To draw an enemy far away from his
resources, while retiring upon one’s own; to entangle a numerous host
among narrow passes and denies; to decline battle when he offers it,
and then to set upon him unawares, has always been the practice of weak
mountain races when attacked by a more numerous foe. It is often good
policy in such a case even to yield the capital without a blow, and
to retreat into a more difficult situation. The assailant must follow
whithersoever his foe retires, or quit the country, leaving him
unsubdued. Antiochus, aware of this necessity, and rendered confident of
success by the evacuation of a situation so strong, and so suitable for
the Parthian tactics as Hecatompylos, after giving his army a short
rest at the captured capital, set out in pursuit of Artabanus, who
had withdrawn his forces towards Hyrcania. To reach the rich Hyrcanian
valleys, he was forced to cross the main chain of the Elburz, which here
attains an elevation of 7000 or 8000 feet. The route which his army had
to follow was the channel of a winter-torrent, obstructed with stones
and trunks of trees, partly by nature, partly by the efforts of the
inhabitants. The long and difficult ascent was disputed by the enemy the
whole way, and something like a pitched battle was fought at the top;
but Antiochus persevered, and, though his army must have suffered
severely, descended into Hyrcanian and captured several of the towns.
Here our main authority, Polybius, suddenly deserts us, and we can give
no further account of the war beyond its general result--Artabanus and
the Parthians remained unsubdued after a struggle which seems to have
lasted some years; Artabanus himself displayed great valor; and at
length the Syrian monarch thought it best to conclude a peace with him,
in which he acknowledged the Parthian independence. It is probable that
he exacted in return a pledge that the Parthian monarch should lend him
his assistance in the expedition which he was bent on conducting against
Bactria; but there is no actual proof that the conditions of peace
contained this clause. We are left in doubt whether Artabanus stood
aloof in the war which Antiochus waged with Euthydemus of Bactria
immediately after the close of his Parthian campaigns, or whether he
lent his aid to the attempt made to crush his neighbor. Perhaps, on the
whole, it is most probable that, nominally, he was Antiochus’s ally in
the war, but that, practically, he gave him little help, having no wish
to see Syria aggrandized.
At any rate, whether Euthydemus had to meet the attack of Syria only, or
of Syria and Parthia in combination, the result was, that Bactria,
like Parthia, proved strong enough to maintain her ground, and that the
Syrian King, after a while, grew tired of the struggle, and consented to
terms of accommodation. The Bactrian monarchy, like the Parthian, came
out of the contest unscathed--indeed we may go further, and say that the
position of the two kingdoms was improved by the attacks made upon them.
If a prince possessing the personal qualities that distinguished the
third Antiochus, and justified the title of “Great” which he derived
from his oriental expedition--if such a prince, enjoying profound peace
at home, and directing the whole force of his empire against them, could
not succeed in reducing to subjection the revolted provinces of the
northeast, but, whatever military advantages he might gain, found
conquest impossible, and returned home, having acknowledged as
independent kings those whom he went out to chastise as rebellious
satraps, it was evident that the kingdoms might look upon themselves
as firmly established, or, at least, as secure from the danger of
re-absorption into the Syrian State. The repulse of Callinicus was a
probable indication of the fate of all future efforts on the part of
Syria to reduce Parthia; the conditions of peace granted by Antiochus to
both countries, after a series of military successes, constituted almost
a proof that the yoke of Syria would never be re-imposed on either the
Parthian or the Bactrian nation.
With the departure of Antiochus from the East, about B.C. 206, we enter
upon a period when Parthian history is, for a quarter of a century,
almost a blank. Nothing more is known of Arsaces III. after Antiochus
retired; and nothing at all is known of his successor, Priapatius,
beyond his name and the length of his reign, which lasted for fifteen
years (from about B.C. 196 to 181). The reigns of these princes coincide
with those of Euthydemus and his son, Demetrius, in Bactria; and perhaps
the most probable solution of the problem of Parthian inactivity at this
time is to be found in the great development of Bactrian power which
now took place, and the influence which the two neighboring kingdoms
naturally exercised upon each other. When Parthia was strong and
aggressive, Bactria was, for the most part, quiet; and when Bactria
shows signs of vigorous and active life, Parthia languishes and retires
into the shade.
The Bactrian Kingdom, founded (as we have seen) a little before the
Parthian, sought from the first its aggrandizement in the East rather
than in the West. The Empire of Alexander had included all the countries
between the Caspian Sea and the Sutlej; and these tracts, which
constitute the modern Khorasan, Afghanistan, and Punjaub, had all been
to a certain extent Hellenized by means of Greek settlements and Greek
government. But Alexander was no sooner dead than a tendency displayed
itself in these regions, and particularly in the more eastern ones,
towards a relapse into barbarism, or, if this expression be too strong,
at any rate towards a rejection of Hellenism. During the early wars
of the “Successors” the natives of the Punjaub generally seized the
opportunity to revolt; the governors placed over the various districts
by Alexander were murdered; and the tribes everywhere declared
themselves free. Among the leaders of the revolt was a certain
Chandragupta (or Sandracottus), who contrived to turn the circumstances
of the time to his own special advantage, and built up a considerable
kingdom in the far East out of the fragments which had detached
themselves from what was still called the Macedonian Empire. When
Seleucus Nicator, about B.C. 305, conducted an expedition across the
Indus, he found this monarch established in the tract between the Indus
and the Ganges, ruling over extensive dominions and at the head of
a vast force. It is uncertain whether the two rivals engaged in
hostilities or no. At any rate, a peace was soon made; and Seleucus, in
return for five hundred elephants, ceded to Sandracottus certain lands
on the west bank of the Indus, which had hitherto been regarded as
Macedonian. These probably consisted of the low grounds between the
Indus and the foot of the mountains--the districts of Peshawur, Bunnoo,
Murwut, Shikarpoor, and Kurrachee--which are now in British occupation.
Thus Hellenism in these parts receded more and more, the Sanskritic
Indians recovering by degrees the power and independence of which they
had been deprived by Alexander.
This state of things could not have been pleasing to the Greek princes
of Bactria, who must have felt that the reaction towards barbarism in
these parts tended to isolate them, and that there was a danger of their
being crushed between the Parthians on the one hand and the perpetually
advancing Indians on the other. When Antiochus the Great, after
concluding his treaty with Euthydemus, marched eastward, the Bactrian
monarch probably indulged in hopes that the Indians would receive a
check, and that the Greek frontier would be again carried to the Indus,
if not to the Sutlej. But, if so, he was disappointed. Antiochus,
instead of making war upon the Indians, contented himself with renewing
the old alliance of the Seleucidae with the Maurja princes, and
obtaining a number of elephants from Sophagesenus, the grandson of
Sandracottus. It is even possible that he went further, and made
cessions of territory in return for this last gift, which brought the
Indian frontier still nearer than before to that of Bactria, At any
rate, the result of the Indian expedition of Antiochus seems to have
been unsatisfactory to Euthydemus, who shortly afterwards commenced what
are called “Indian Wars” on his south-eastern frontier, employing in
them chiefly the arms of his son, Demetrius. During the latter years
of Euthydemus and the earlier ones of Demetrius, the Bactrian rule was
rapidly extended over the greater portion of the modern Afghanistan; nor
did it even stop there. The arms of Demetrius were carried across the
Indus into the Punjaub region; and the city of Euthymedeia upon the
Hydaspes remained to later times an evidence of the extent of his
conquests. From B.C. 206 to about B.C. 185 was the most flourishing
period of the Bactrian monarchy, which expanded during that space from a
small kingdom into a considerable empire.
The power and successes of the Bactrian princes at this time account
sufficiently for the fact that the contemporary Parthian monarchs stood
upon their guard, and undertook no great expeditions. Arsaces III., who
continued on the throne for about ten or twelve years after his peace
with Antiochus, and Priapatius, or Arsaces IV., his son, who succeeded
him, and had a reign of fifteen years, were content, as already
observed, to watch over their own State, husbanding its resources, and
living at peace with all their neighbors. It was not till Phraates I.
(Arsaces V.), the son of Priapatius, had mounted the throne, B.C. 181,
that this policy was departed from, and Parthia, which had remained
tranquil for a quarter of a century, once more aroused herself, and
assumed an attitude of aggression.
The quarter to which Phraates I. directed his arms was the country of
the Mardians, a poor but warlike people, who appear to have occupied
a portion of the Elburz range, probably that immediately south of
Mazanderan and Asterabad. The reduction of these fierce mountaineers
is likely to have occupied him for some years, since their country was
exceedingly strong and difficult. Though the Mardi were (nominally, at
any rate) subjects of the Seleucidae, we do not hear of any assistance
being rendered them, or, indeed, of any remonstrance being made against
the unprovoked aggression of the Parthian monarch. The reign of Phraates
I. in Parthia coincides with that of Seleucus IV. (Philopator) in Syria;
and we may account for the inactivity of this prince, in part by
his personal character, which was weak and pacific, in part by the
exhaustion of Syria at the time, in consequence of his father’s great
war with Rome (B.C. 197-190), and of the heavy contribution which
was imposed upon him at the close of it. Syria may scarcely have yet
recovered sufficient strength to enter upon a new struggle, especially
one with a distant and powerful enemy. The material interests of the
Empire may also have seemed to be but little touched by the war, since
the Mardi were too poor to furnish much tribute; and it is possible, if
not even probable, that their subjection to Syria had long been rather
formal than real. Seleucus therefore allowed the Mardians to be reduced,
conceiving, probably, that their transfer to the dominion of the
Arsacidse neither increased the Parthian power nor diminished his own.
But the nation which submits to be robbed of a province, however
unproductive and valueless, must look to having the process repeated
at intervals, until it bestirs itself and offers resistance. There is
reason to believe that Phraates had no sooner conquered the Mardians
than he cast his eyes on an adjacent district, and resolved to add it to
his territories. This was the tract lying immediately to the West of the
Caspian Gates, which was always reckoned to Media, forming, however,
a distinct district, know as Media Rhagiana. It was a region of much
natural fertility, being watered by numerous streams from the Elburz
range, and possessing a soil of remarkable productiveness. Its breadth
was not great, since it consisted of a mere strip between the mountains
and the Salt Desert which occupies the whole centre of the Iranic
tableland; but it extended in length at least a hundred and fifty miles,
from the Caspian Gates to the vicinity of Kasvin. Its capital city, from
a remote antiquity, was Rbages, situated near the eastern extremity
of the strip, probably at the spot now called Kaleh Erij, about
twenty-three miles from the “Gates.” On this region it is clear that
Phraates cast a covetous eye. How much of it he actually occupied is
doubtful; but it is at least certain that he effected a lodgment in its
eastern extremity, which must have put the whole region in jeopardy.
Nature has set a remarkable barrier between the more eastern and the
more western portions of Occidental Asia, about midway in the tract
which lies due south of the Caspian Sea. The Elburz range in this part
is one of so tremendous a character, and northward abuts so closely
on the Caspian, that all communication between the east and the west
necessarily passes to the south of it. In this quarter the Great Desert
offering an insuperable obstacle to transit, the line of communication
has to cling to the flanks of the mountain chain, the narrow strip
between the mountains and the desert--rarely ten miles in width--being
alone traversable. But about long. 52° 20’ this strip itself fails. A
rocky spur runs due south from the Elburz into the desert for a distance
of some twenty or thirty miles, breaking the line of communication, and
seeming at first sight to obstruct it completely. This, however, is not
the case absolutely. The spur itself is penetrable by two passes, one
where it joins the Elburz, which is the more difficult of the two, and
another, further to the south, which is easier. The latter now known
as the Girduni Sudurrah pass, constitutes the famous “Pylae Caspiae.”
Through this pass alone can armies proceed from Armenia, Media, and
Persia eastward, or from Turkestan, Khorasan, and Afghanistan into the
more western parts of Asia. The position is therefore one of primary
importance. It was to guard it that Rhages was built so near the eastern
end of its territory. So long as it remained in the possession of Syria,
Parthian aggression was checked. Rhagiana, the rest of Media, and the
other provinces were safe, or nearly so. On the other hand, the loss of
it to Parthia laid the eastern provinces open to her, and was at once
almost equivalent to the loss of all Rhagiana, which had no other
natural protection. Now we find that Phraates surmounted the “Gates,”
and effected a lodgment in the plain country beyond them. He removed a
portion of the conquered Mardians from their mountain homes to the city
of Charax, which was on the western side of the Gates, probably on the
site now occupied by the ruins known as Uewanikif. Their location in
this strong post was a menace to the neighboring town of Rhages, which
can scarcely have maintained itself long against an enemy encamped at
its doors. We are not informed, however, of any results which followed
on the occupation of Charax during the lifetime of Phraates. His reign
lasted only seven years--from B.C. 181 to B.C. 174--and it is thus
probable that he died before there was time for his second important
conquest to have any further consequences.
Phraates had sufficient warning of his coming decease to make
preparations with respect to a successor. Though he had several sons,
some of whom were (we must suppose) of sufficient age to have ascended
the throne, he left his crown to his brother, Mithridates. He felt,
probably, that the State required the direction of a firm hand, that war
might at any time break out with either Syria or Bactria; while, if
the career of conquest on which he had made Parthia enter were to be
pursued, he could trust his brother better than any of his sons to
conduct aggressive expeditions with combined vigor and prudence. We
shall see, as the history proceeds, how Mithridates justified his
choice. Phraates would also appear to have borne his brother especial
affection, since he takes the name of “Philadelphus” (brother-loving)
upon his coins. It must have been a satisfaction to him that he was able
by his last act at once to consult for the good of his country, and to
gratify a sentiment on which it is evident that he prided himself.