Pacorus I of Parthia
Encyclopedia
Pacorus I of Parthia was the son of king Orodes II
Orodes II of Parthia
Orodes II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 57 to 38 BC. Orodes was a son of Phraates III, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his brother Mithridates...

 and queen Laodice
Laodice of Parthia
Laodice was a Princess from the Kingdom of Commagene who lived in the 1st century BC. She was of Greek and Armenian descent. Laodice was the first daughter born to King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene and Queen Isias Philostorgos of Commagene.Laodice married King Orodes II of Parthia. Through this...

 of the Parthian Empire
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

. It is possible that he was co-ruler with his father for at least part of his father's reign. His wife was an unnamed Armenian princess, who was the daughter of King Tigranes the Great
Tigranes the Great
Tigranes the Great was emperor of Armenia under whom the country became, for a short time, the strongest state east of the Roman Republic. He was a member of the Artaxiad Royal House...

 of Armenia and his wife, Queen Cleopatra of Pontus
Cleopatra of Pontus
Cleopatra of Pontus was a Pontian Princess, who was one of the daughters of King Mithridates VI of Pontus and Queen Laodice. Cleopatra is sometimes known as Cleopatra the Elder, to distinguish her from her sister of the same name and was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus...

.

Following the defeat of the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus was a Roman general and politician who commanded the right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of the Colline Gate, suppressed the slave revolt led by Spartacus, provided political and financial support to Julius Caesar and entered into the political alliance known as the...

 at the Battle of Carrhae
Battle of Carrhae
The Battle of Carrhae, fought in 53 BC near the town of Carrhae, was a major battle between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic. The Parthian Spahbod Surena decisively defeated a Roman invasion force led by Marcus Licinius Crassus...

 in 53 BC, Pacorus launched an invasion of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in 51 BC, briefly conquering the Roman territory before being driven out by Cassius
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...

.

Pacorus invaded Syria again in 40 BC in alliance with the Roman rebel Quintus Labienus
Quintus Labienus
Quintus Labienus , the son of Titus Labienus, was a Roman republican general, later in the service of Parthia.After Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 BC, Labienus took the side of Brutus and Cassius, the latter whom he served in the capacity of an ambassador to the Parthians...

. The Roman garrisons defected to Labienus and the combined armies defeated the forces of the Roman governor Decidius Saxa
Decidius Saxa
Lucius Decidius Saxa , sometimes mistaken as Decidus, was a Roman general in the 1st century BC.He was born in Spain, but perhaps of Italian origin. In 49 BC he fought as follower of Julius Caesar in Spain against an army of Pompey. In 44 BC he was tribune of the people and after the assassination...

, who lost most of his troops and several aquilae
Aquila (Roman)
The Aquila was the eagle standard of a Roman legion, carried by a special grade legionary known as an Aquilifer. One eagle standard was carried by each legion.-History:...

 as he retreated to Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...

. With the Imperial forces routed, Pacorus and Labienus occupied the whole of Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 and Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, with the exception of a few cities that held out, including Tyre. In Judea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...

, Pacorus deputy Barzapharnes
Barzapharnes
Barzapharnes was a Parthian general during the latter half of the 1st century BCE. In 40 BCE, Barzapharnes commanded a Parthian invasion of the Levant, commanded and aided by Pacorus, who allied himself with the Roman outlaw Quintus Labienus, and seized Syria...

 deposed king Hyrcanus II
Hyrcanus II
Hyrcanus II, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty, was the Jewish High Priest and King of Judea in the 1st century BC.-Accession:Hyrcanus was the eldest son of Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest, and Alexandra Salome...

 and appointed his nephew Antigonus
Antigonus
Antigonus, a Greek name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to:* Three Macedonian kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great in Asia:** Antigonus I Monophthalmus...

 king in his place.

In 39 BC, a Roman counterattack under Publius Ventidius Bassus
Publius Ventidius Bassus
Publius Ventidius Bassus, or in full, Publius Ventidius Publii filius Bassus, "Publius Ventidius, Publius's son, Bassus" was a Roman general and one of Julius Caesar's protégés...

 killed Labienus in a battle in the Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains
Taurus Mountains are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, dividing the Mediterranean coastal region of southern Turkey from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east...

 and recovered Anatolia. Pacorus returned to Syria in 38 BC but was killed in the Battle of Cyrrhestica
Cyrrhestica
Cyrrhestica is a district of Greater Syria which appears to have owed its name to the Macedonian occupation of the country. It lies between the plain of Antioch, and was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, and on the west by Amanus and Commagene; to the south, it extended as far as the desert...

.
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