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The Parthians’ Failed Vassalage of Syria: The Shortsighted Western Policy of Phraates II and the Second Reign of Demetrius II (129–125 BCE)

Overtoom, Nikolaus Leo (2020) The Parthians’ Failed Vassalage of Syria: The Shortsighted Western Policy of Phraates II and the Second Reign of Demetrius II (129–125 BCE). ACTA ANTIQUA ACADEMIAE SCIENTIARUM HUNGARICAE, 60 (1-2). pp. 1-14. ISSN 0044-5975 (print); 1588-2543 (online)

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Abstract

By 128 BCE the Parthians had emerged temporarily as the de facto leading power throughout the Hellenistic Middle East. Their defeat of Demetrius II’s invasion of Mesopotamia in 138 BCE had furthered their heated rivalry with the Seleucids; however, their destruction of Antiochus VII’s invasion of Mesopotamia and Media in 129 BCE finally ended the threat of the Seleucids to their eastern lands. For the first time in their history, the Parthians considered expanding their hegemony over Armenia, Syria, and the regions along the Eastern Mediterranean coast, thus firmly establishing their unrivaled hegemony. Yet any hopes of immediately occupying these regions quickly vanished because of calamities and miscalculations in the early 120s BCE. Although nomadic incursions ravaged the Iranian plateau in the east throughout the 120s BCE, in the west Phraates II’s sudden release of Demetrius to contest the Seleucid throne in Syria before the death of Antiochus became a political debacle that hindered Parthian influence in the region. Despite the arguments of recent scholarship, Phraates’ decision to release Demetrius was shortsighted and haphazard, and Demetrius never served in Syria as a Parthian vassal. This article is a reevaluation of the western policy of the Parthians in the early 120s BCE and the actions of Demetrius during his second reign concerning the Parthians.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: MTA KFB támogatási szerződés alapján archiválva
Uncontrolled Keywords: Parthians, Arsacids, Seleucids, Syria, Phraates II, Demetrius II
Subjects: P Language and Literature / nyelvészet és irodalom > PA Classical philology / klasszika-filológia
SWORD Depositor: MTMT SWORD
Depositing User: MTMT SWORD
Date Deposited: 19 May 2022 13:52
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2023 09:35
URI: https://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/142946

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