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{{good article}}{{Short description|Prince of the Parthian Empire (died 38 BC)}}{{for|the ruler of Persis|Pakor I}}

factoids

| predecessor = Orodes II| successor = Orodes IIArtavasdes II of Armenia>Artavasdes IIArsacid dynasty of Parthia>Arsacid dynasty| father = Orodes II| mother =| issue =| birth_date =| birth_place =| death_date = 38 BC| death_place = Cyrrhestica| place of burial = | religion = Zoroastrianism}}Pacorus I (also spelled Pakoros I; ; died 38 BC) was a Parthian prince, who was the son and heir of Orodes II ({{reign|57|37|era=BC}}). The numismatist David Sellwood deduced that Pacorus ruled in {{circa|39 BC}}. It is uncertain whether Pacorus ruled alongside his father, or ruled independently. His wife was an unnamed Armenian princess, who was a sister of the Artaxiad king of Armenia, Artavasdes II ({{reign|55|34|era=BC}}).Following the Parthian victory against the Romans at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, the Parthians attempted to capture Roman-held territories in Western Asia, with Pacorus acting as one of the leading commanders. Although they were initially successful, they were repelled by the Romans. Pacorus himself was defeated and killed at the Battle of Mount Gindarus by the forces of the Publius Ventidius Bassus. His death spurred a succession crisis in which Orodes II, deeply afflicted by the death of his favourite son, relinquished the throne to his other son Phraates IV ({{reign|37|2|era=BC}}) as his new heir.

Name

The name is the Latin form of the Greek Pakoros (), itself a variant of the Middle Iranian Pakur, derived from Old Iranian bag-puhr (’son of a god’).{{sfn|Rapp|2014|p=334}}{{sfn|Marciak|2017|p=224}} The Armenian and Georgian Rapp|2014|p=334}}

Biography

After Syria was occupied by Pacorus’s army, Labienus split from the main Parthian force to invade Anatolia while Pacorus and his commander Barzapharnes invaded the Roman Levant. They subdued all settlements along the Mediterranean coast as far south as Ptolemais (modern Acre, Israel), with the exception of Tyre.{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=57}} In Judea, the pro-Roman Jewish forces of high priest Hyrcanus II, Phasael, and Herod were defeated by the Parthians and their Jewish ally Antigonus II Mattathias (r. 40–37 BC); the latter was made king of Judea while Herod fled to his fort at Masada.Despite these successes, the Parthians were soon driven out of the Levant by a Roman counteroffensive. Publius Ventidius Bassus, an officer under Mark Antony, defeated and then executed Labienus at the Battle of the Cilician Gates (in modern Mersin Province, Turkey) in 39 BC.{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|pp=57–58}}; {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|pp=239, 245}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|p=80}} Shortly afterward, a Parthian force in Syria led by general Pharnapates was defeated by Ventidius at the Battle of Amanus Pass. As a result, Pacorus temporarily withdrew from Syria. When he returned in the spring of 38 BC, he faced Ventidius at the Battle of Mount Gindarus, northeast of Antioch. Pacorus was killed during the battle, and his forces retreated across the Euphrates. His death spurred a succession crisis in which Orodes II, deeply afflicted by the death of his favourite son, relinquished the throne to his other son Phraates IV ({{reign|37|2|era=BC}}) as his new heir.{{harvnb|Bivar|1983|p=58}}; {{harvnb|Brosius|2006|p=96}}; {{harvnb|Kennedy|1996|pp=80–81}}; see also {{harvnb|Strugnell|2006|pp=239, 245–246}}The numismatist David Sellwood deduced that Pacorus ruled in {{circa|39 BC}}. It is uncertain whether Pacorus ruled alongside his father, or ruled independently.{{sfn|Ellerbrock|2021|p=43}}

In literature

The medieval Muslim writer al-Tha’alibi (died 1038) reported that Pacorus (whom he referred to as AfqÅ«r Shāh) recovered the Derafsh-e Kaviani, and made campaigns into Roman territory to avenge Alexander the Great’s conquest of Persia.{{sfn|Yarshater|1983|p=475}}

References

{{reflist|2}}

Sources

• {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Bivar|first=A.D.H.|authorlink=David Bivar|chapter=The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids|pages=21–99}}
• {{citation|last=Brosius|first=Maria|title=The Persians: An Introduction|year=2006|publisher=Routledge|location=London & New York|url=https://archive.org/details/ThePersians/page/n3/mode/2up?view=theater|isbn=978-0-415-32089-4}}
• JOURNAL, Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Religious Iconography on Ancient Iranian Coins, Proceedings of the British Academy, 2007, 133, 413{{ndash, 434 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6186849 |url-access=registration |publisher=The British Academy |location=London |issn=0068-1202}}
• BOOK, Ellerbrock, Uwe,books.google.com/books?id=pFEXEAAAQBAJ, The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire, Routledge, 2021, 978-0367481902, Oxford,
• {{citation|last=Garthwaite|first=Gene Ralph|title=The Persians|year=2005|publisher=Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.|location=Oxford & Carlton|isbn=978-1-55786-860-2}}
• {{citation|last=Kennedy|first=David |author-link=David L. Kennedy |editor-given1=David L. |editor-surname1=Kennedy |editor-given2=David |editor-surname2=Braund |chapter=Parthia and Rome: eastern perspectives|pages=67–90|title=The Roman Army in the East|year=1996|location=Ann Arbor|publisher=Cushing Malloy Inc., Journal of Roman Archaeology: Supplementary Series Number Eighteen|isbn=978-1-887829-18-2}}
• BOOK, Marciak, MichaÅ‚, MichaÅ‚ Marciak, Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West, 2017, Brill, Leiden, 978-9004350700,books.google.com/books?id=hwEtDwAAQBAJ,
• {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-online/orodes-ii-COM_336463|title=Orodes II|first=Marek|last=Olbrycht|year=2021}}
• BOOK, Rapp, Stephen H., The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature, 2014, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., Burlington, Vermont, 978-1472425522,books.google.com/books?id=T8VIBQAAQBAJ&q=Pacorus,
• {{Citation |doi=10.1556/AAnt.46.2006.3.3 |last=Strugnell |first=Emma |year=2006 |title=Ventidius’ Parthian War: Rome’s Forgotten Eastern Triumph |journal=Acta Antiqua |volume=46 |issue= 3|pages=239–252 }}
• {{citation|last=Syme |first=Ronald |author-link=Ronald Syme |title=The Roman Revolution |year=1939 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=https://archive.org/details/romanrevolution0000syme_t1k4/page/n5/mode/2up |oclc=1035928651 |url-access=registration}}
• {{Cambridge History of Iran|volume=3a|last=Yarshater|first=Ehsan|authorlink=Ehsan Yarshater|chapter=Iranian National History|pages=359–481}}

Further reading

• BOOK, Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia, 2011, Cambridge University Press, Shayegan, M. Rahim, 978-0521766418,books.google.com/books?id=f_gcyC8l80MC&q=false, none,

{{Parthian kings}}