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Iran History

Arsacids (Parthians)

Phraates III

فرهاد سوم

Reign
70/69–58/57 BCE
Dynasty
Arsacids (Parthians)
Persian page
فارسی

Featured dossier

Phraates III: neutrality between Lucullus and Pompey, and the Euphrates border

Phraates III was king when Rome first reached the Parthian border with an army. In Lucullus’ war on Tigranes and Mithridates of Pontus he stayed neutral and talked to both sides. He asked Pompey to make the Euphrates the border of the two empires. Pompey even denied him the title “King of Kings”. In the end his sons Orodes and Mithridates killed him.

years of reign
~12
Pompey’s arbiters for the Armenian border
3

Map: between Rome and Armenia

69 BCE · Double dealing with Lucullus66 BCE · Into Armenia with the young Tigranes64 BCE · The Euphrates as the border of two empires?58 BCE · Murdered by his sons69 BCE
Routes are approximate editorial sketches, not exact tracks. Coastlines: Natural Earth (public domain).

Administration & economy69 BCE1 of 4

Double dealing with Lucullus

After the battle of Tigranocerta both Lucullus and Tigranes asked Phraates for help. Plutarch says Lucullus’ envoys found the Parthian king “double-minded”, secretly offering to join Tigranes in return for Mesopotamia. Lucullus thought of attacking Parthia, but his troops refused.

Certainty: ProbableIranica (Shahbazi) argues the neutrality was calculated and that it was Lucullus who planned an attack while negotiating. The Roman account makes the Parthian king the double-dealer.

Sources: Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough, 1864 · Cassius Dio, tr. E. Cary, 1914–1927 · A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1990, updated 2013

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 first game with Rome

Historical evidence

Phraates III was the first Parthian king to see a Roman army next door. Against Lucullus he kept both sides hoping; from Pompey he asked for the Euphrates border. Pompey treated him as a lesser ruler: he kept his son-in-law, took Gordyene and refused the title “King of Kings”.

Not long after this Phraates, king of Parthia, sent to Pompey, and demanded to have young Tigranes, as his son-in-law, given up to him, and that the river Euphrates should be the boundary of the empires. Pompey replied, that for Tigranes, he belonged more to his own natural father than his father-in-law, and for the boundaries, he would take care that they should be according to right and justice.

…the members of which discovered him to be a double-minded man, and to be dealing privately at the same time with Tigranes, offering to take part with him, upon condition Mesopotamia were delivered up to him.

A drachm of Phraates III, Ecbatana mint
A drachm of Phraates III, Ecbatana mint · Classical Numismatic Group, CC BY-SA 3.0
Philosophical interpretation

Shahbazi (Iranica) rejects the traditional view that the later wars were only the result of Crassus’ ambition: in his view the clash of Rome and Parthia was coming from these years on. Others see Phraates’ neutrality as a missed chance.

Modern cultural meaning

A clear, agreed border is the basis of peace and trade, between two empires or between two neighbours. Phraates asked for exactly that, and Pompey left it vague.

Sources: Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough · Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough · Cassius Dio, tr. E. Cary · A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica

Philosophical interpretation

Synthesis

Phraates III tried to keep Parthia out of the Roman–Armenian war and to get the Euphrates accepted as the border. He failed in the second aim and was killed by his sons; the brothers’ war after him opened the way for Crassus’ attack.

Bibliography

  1. Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough, Life of Lucullus, chs. 30–31 (1864). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/674
  2. Plutarch, tr. J. Dryden, rev. A. H. Clough, Life of Pompey, chs. 33, 36, 38–39 (1864). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/674
  3. 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).
  4. A. Sh. Shahbazi, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Carrhae (1990, updated 2013). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/carrhae-harran-town-in-mesopotamia-where-in-may-53-b/
  5. M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Orodes II (2021). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/orodes-ii/
  6. N. C. Debevoise, A Political History of Parthia (1938).
  7. K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/

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

Sinatruces, his fatherMithridates III, his sonOrodes II, his sonThe Arsacid dynasty