Euphrates, had not come with the others to pay his respects to Trajan. The expedition started to move against him; but as soon as he heard that troops were advancing, Sporaces fled, and his chief city, Batnae, was taken.[1]
With the exception of the campaign of Osroes against Manisarus, mentioned above, there is no record of Parthian military movements. What opposition they offered to the Roman advance was apparently made through such faithful vassals as Mebarsapes. Where were the Parthians, and why did they remain inactive? Numismatic evidence provides an answer. The coins struck at the Seleucia-Ctesiphon mint from 105/6 onward show that a constant struggle was in progress between Vologases II and Osroes, with first one and then the other in possession of the mint (cf. p. 216). Pacorus may have been still alive and have been a third factor in the contest.[2] With
- ↑ Arrian Parthica frs. 54-56; Dio Cass. lxviii. 23. 2; Eutrop. Brev. viii. 3; Ruf. Fest. 20.
- ↑ McDowell, Coins from Seleucia, pp. 230 f., largely on a numismatic basis, places the centers of control of the various contenders as follows: Pacorus, northern Mesopotamia; Osroes, Elymais; and Vologases II, northern Iran. But Osroes is mentioned in Adiabene by Mšiḥa Zkha, p. 5 (tr. into French on p. 80), and in northern Mesopotamia by Dio Cass. lxviii. 22. 1; the supposed mention of Osroes in Susa is without foundation (see p. 233, n. 98). References to this king in the "Scriptores," in Mšiḥa Zkha, in Pausanias, and in Dio Cassius certainly imply that the Romans recognized him as the chief contender for the Parthian throne. On Pacorus cf. below, n. 97.
