then governor of Syria, to a conference and turned over to him his sons[1] Seraspadanes, Phraates, Rhodaspes, and Vonones, as well as two of their wives and four of their sons. Throughout their residence at Rome these princes were treated with all respect due their rank,[2] and one of them, Phraates, built a temple at Nemi, dedicated perhaps to the goddess Isis.[3]
"Who fears the Parthian … while Augustus lives?" boldly sang Horace[4] about this time, but others of his poems both earlier and later betray a lively interest in the East not unmixed with that emotion.[5] In Parthia itself the surrender of the standards aroused further animosity against Phraates and provided additional fuel for the discontent already present. Josephus mentions a Parthian king named Mithradates who was in power sometime between 12 and 9 b.c. and who must represent some opposition of which all other record is lost.[6]
- ↑ Mon. Ancyr. vi (32). Seraspadanes and Rhodaspes are mentioned in an inscription found in Rome, CIL, VI, No. 1799 = Dessau 842. See also Strabo vi. 4. 2 and xvi. 1. 28; Tac. Ann. ii. 1 f.; Vell. Pat. ii. 94.4; Justin xlii. 5. 12; Josephus Ant. xviii. 42; Suet. Augustus 21.3 and 43.4; Eutrop. Brev. vii. 9; Orosius vi. 21. 29.
- ↑ They are generally spoken of as hostages (see the references in the preceding note); but this word, like "tribute," was regularly abused by ancient writers.
- ↑ CIL, XIV, No. 2216; Gardthausen, "Die Parther," p. 844.
- ↑ Od. iv. 5. 25.
- ↑ Horace Carmen saec. 53 ff.; Epist. ii. 1. 112 and 256; Od. iv. 14. 42 and 15. 23.
- ↑ Josephus Ant. xvi. 253; Wroth, Parthia, p. xxxviii; Gutschmid, Geschichte Irans, p. 116.
