پرش به محتوا
Iran History

Arsacids (Parthians)

Mithridates III

مهرداد سوم

Reign
58/57–55 BCE
Dynasty
Arsacids (Parthians)
Persian page
فارسی

Featured dossier

Mithridates III: the brother who fled to Rome

Mithridates III, with his brother Orodes, killed their father Phraates III and became king. Justin says the Parthian “senate” expelled him for cruelty. He went to Gabinius, the Roman governor of Syria, then took Seleucia and Babylon. Surena retook Seleucia and Orodes starved Babylon into surrender. Mithridates gave himself up to his brother and was killed before his eyes.

years of reign
~2

Map: the brothers’ war

58 BCE · King after the parricide57 BCE · Expelled by the “senate”; refuge with Gabinius55 BCE · Seleucia and Babylon; Surena’s assault55 BCE · Surrender at Babylon and death58 BCE
Routes are approximate editorial sketches, not exact tracks. Coastlines: Natural Earth (public domain).

BattleCampaignBuildingAdministration & economyReligionArrow keys, Home/End and Space work.

Three separate layers

Each section has three layers: “Historical evidence” is only what the sources say; “Philosophical interpretation” is our reading by the standard of property and liberty; “Modern cultural meaning”. Quotations come only from published translations, with references.

Historical evidencePhilosophical interpretationModern cultural meaning

Dossier · 1

The brothers’ war and Rome’s hand

Historical evidence

Mithridates was the first Parthian prince to ask Rome for help in taking the throne. Gabinius came and went, but Iranica says this interference led to open hostility between Rome and Parthia.

Mithridates king of the Parthians, after his war with Armenia, was banished from his kingdom for his cruelty by the Parthian senate. His brother Orodes, who took possession of the vacant throne, besieged Babylon, whither Mithridates had fled, for some time, and reduced the people, under the influence of famine, to surrender. Mithridates, from confidence in his relationship to Orodes, voluntarily put himself into his hands; but Orodes, contemplating him rather as an enemy than a brother, ordered him to be put to death before his face.

A drachm attributed to Mithridates III, Rhagae mint. Iranica notes that some coins (S40) are disputed between him and Orodes II
A drachm attributed to Mithridates III, Rhagae mint. Iranica notes that some coins (S40) are disputed between him and Orodes II · Classical Numismatic Group, CC BY-SA 3.0
Philosophical interpretation

His number is disputed too: in Assar’s chronology another Mithridates ruled in 87–80 BCE, so this king is “Mithridates IV”. Olbrycht calls him Mithridates III, and this site keeps the traditional numbering.

Modern cultural meaning

A prince who asks foreigners for help to gain power turns his country into someone else’s playing field. Orodes’ victory had its price too: Surena, the hero of this war, was killed a few years later.

Sources: Justin, tr. J. S. Watson · M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica · A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica · G. F. Assar · Cassius Dio, tr. E. Cary

Philosophical interpretation

Synthesis

In two years Mithridates III killed his father, lost the throne, asked Rome for help and was killed by his brother. The brothers’ war made Surena famous and left Orodes ready to face Crassus.

Bibliography

  1. Justin, tr. J. S. Watson, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, books 38–42 (books 40–44 online) (1853). https://www.attalus.org/translate/justin7.htmlA Roman digest of the lost history of Pompeius Trogus (1st century BCE); the most continuous account of the early Parthians, but Roman in outlook and full of “Scythian” clichés.
  2. Cassius Dio, tr. E. Cary, Roman History 36.1–3, 37.5–7, 39.56, 40.12–30, 48.24–41, 49.19–33, 54.8, 55.10 (1914–1927).
  3. Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough, Life of Crassus, chs. 16–33 (1864). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/674The fullest account of Carrhae; per Iranica (Shahbazi) it rests on an unknown eyewitness, probably a Hellenised Mesopotamian.
  4. M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Orodes II (2021). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/orodes-ii/
  5. A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Carrhae (1990, updated 2013). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/carrhae-harran-town-in-mesopotamia-where-in-may-53-b/
  6. G. F. Assar, A Revised Parthian Chronology of the Period 165–91 BC, Electrum 11, pp. 87–158 (2006). A new dating from coins and Babylonian tablets; e.g. it puts Mithridates I at 165–132 BCE.
  7. D. Sellwood, An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia, 2nd ed. (1980). The standard numbering of Parthian coins (“S”); some of its attributions have since been revised.

All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; licence and author were checked on each file page.

Phraates III, his fatherOrodes II, his brotherThe Arsacid dynasty