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Sinatruces: the eighty-year-old king the Sakas put on the throne
Lucian says Sinatruces came back to Parthia at eighty with the help of the Sacaraucae Scythians, took the throne and reigned seven years. He founded the branch of the Arsacids scholars call “Sinatrucid”, to which Phraates III, Orodes II and Phraates IV belong. His ties to the eastern Sakas shaped Parthian politics for decades.
- age at his return (Lucian)
- 80
- years of reign (Lucian)
- 7
Map: the return from the east
Campaignc. 77–75 BCE1 of 3
Return with the Sacaraucae
Lucian (Octogenarians 15) says Sinatruces was restored to his country in his eightieth year by the Sacaraucae Scythians, took the kingship and held it seven years.
Certainty: ProbableLucian gives the figures in a list of long-lived men, and such lists exaggerate ages. Where exactly the Sacaraucae came from (western Bactria?) is debated.
Sources: Lucian, tr. A. M. Harmon, 1913 · M. J. Olbrycht, 1998 · M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2021
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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 Sakas, key to the Parthian throne
Olbrycht shows that Sinatruces owed his throne to the Sacaraucae and that his heirs kept up the eastern tribal ties: Iranica calls the Sacaraucae “the allies of Sinatruces and Phraates III”, who later backed Mithridates III. Another sign of the tie is the dagger with a four-lobed scabbard that became a royal emblem.
A king brought back by a foreign army stays in its debt. From now on Parthian politics was stretched between the western nobles and the eastern steppe allies.
When a government is set up with outside force, it becomes less answerable to its own people. The pattern recurs often in Iranian history.
Sources: M. J. Olbrycht · M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica · M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica · Lucian, tr. A. M. Harmon
Synthesis
In the sources Sinatruces is a single line: an old man who came back with the Sakas. But the line he founded produced the victor of Carrhae and the enemy of Antony.
Bibliography
- Lucian, tr. A. M. Harmon, Octogenarians (Macrobii) 15 (1913).
- Phlegon of Tralles (FGrH 257 F 12), Olympiads, fragment on the 177th Olympiad (2nd c. CE).
- M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Orodes II (2021). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/orodes-ii/
- M. J. Olbrycht, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Phraates IV (2021). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/phraates-iv/
- M. J. Olbrycht, Parthia et ulteriores gentes: Die politischen Beziehungen zwischen dem arsakidischen Iran und den Nomaden der eurasischen Steppen (1998).
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/
- 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.
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