On the death of Artaxias III (Zeno) of Armenia, Artabanus seized the opportunity thus occasioned to place his eldest son, known to us only as Arsaces, upon the throne.[1] To the aged Tiberius he wrote, claiming the treasure left by Vonones in Syria and Cilicia and threatening to add to his domain all the lands of the Achaemenidae and Seleucidae.[2]
Perhaps it was Artabanus III who brought the Mandaeans from "Madai" to the country of the Two Rivers.[3] The long reign of Artabanus suggests that he was both able and powerful and that he must have restored central authority over the nobles. His diplomatic success in Armenia perhaps caused him to attempt to bring them further under his control, until at last they took action. Two of the most prominent among them, Sinnaces and Abdus, the latter a eunuch, went secretly to Rome, where they reported that if a Parthian prince should appear on the frontier the country would rise to his support. Tiberius chose Phraates, last and youngest son of Phraates IV, now a man of years and a resident of Rome for nearly half a century. But Phraates died suddenly
- ↑ Tac. Ann. vi. 31. Cf. also Philostratus Vita Apoll. ii. 2.
- ↑ Tac. loc. cit.; Dio Cass, lviii. 26; Suet. Tiberius 66.
- ↑ E. S. Drower, The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran (Oxford, 1937), pp. 6 ff., suggests that Madai may have been a city in Media, the homeland of Artabanus, or may have been located farther east.
while Dura-Europus would follow the Syrian Seleucid era beginning October, 312 b.c., Susa would use the Babylonian one beginning April, 311 b.c. The Parthian era dates from April, 247 (not 248) b.c.
