Pakoros I.

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Pakoros I (* around 63 BC; † 38 BC ) was a son of the Parthian king Orodes II (also Orod or Arad ) and crown prince of the Parthian kingdom. He died in 38 BC In the battle of Gindaros against the Romans .

The first attack on Syria

The shameful defeat of the Roman general and member of the First Triumvirate Marcus Licinius Crassus at Karrhai in 53 BC. BC had shown the Parthians that the Romans were not invincible. As early as 51 BC They undertook an attack on Syria under the command of Crown Prince Pakoros, who at that time was still a child, probably around twelve years old . In fact, the Parthian operations were directed by the general Osakes. However, as the Roman historian Cassius Dio reports, it became apparent that the Parthians were unable to siege a larger fortified city like Antioch . Your general Osakes was killed in a counterattack by the Roman general Gaius Cassius Longinus and the Parthian troops had to withdraw again with Pakoros.

Pakoros proclaimed king

The Roman consular Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus , who now took over the administration of Syria, succeeded in turning the Parthians against one another. He was able to make friends with the Parthian satrap Ornodapates, who harbored a grudge against King Orodes, and get him to proclaim the young Pakoros king and to undertake a campaign against Orodes with him. For a short time even coins with the image of Pakoros I were struck. Soon afterwards, however, father and son were reconciled again and the minting of coins ceased without Pakoros I ever really being king over the Parthian Empire.

The Parthian advance into Judea

The conflict with Parthia was also a constant concern of Roman politics. Gaius Iulius Caesar planned a campaign of revenge against the Parthians, but was murdered shortly before the departure for the Orient (44 BC). After the formation of the Second Triumvirate, Marcus Antonius was commissioned to carry out the Parthian campaign.

The Parthians, for their part, benefited from the advice and support of the Roman republican and defector Quintus Labienus , the son of Caesar's former confidante and later Titus Labienus , who had fallen away from him as early as 43 BC. BC by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus to Orodes, King of the Parthians, to ask Orodes for an alliance against Caesar's heirs in the west. After the Battle of Philippi , Quintus Labienus stayed with the Parthians and continued to incite King Orodes to war against their common enemies in the west.

In view of the civil war in Rome, the Parthians thought the moment was propitious. In the winter of 41/40, Parthian troops again invaded the Roman province of Syria under the leadership of the satrap Barzaphanes, who was accompanied by the young Crown Prince Pakoros. It was Lucius Decidius Saxa , v of the year 41st Was appointed governor of the province of Syria by Marcus Antonius, defeated by the Parthians between Apamea and Antioch. The Parthian army split up for further operations: Quintus Labienus, at the head of half of the Parthian army, turned to Asia Minor to snatch it from Antonius. Pakoros and Barzapharnes advanced further south.

Conquest of Jerusalem

The Parthians were often supported in their advance by the local minor princes. They valued Pakoros because of his justice and gentleness, as Cassius Dio reports "beyond measure, like the best of their earlier kings". In particular, they hoped to be able to free themselves from Roman rule with Parthian help. B. Lysanias, the son of Ptolemaeus Mennaei, prince of Chalkis in Lebanon , the Nabatean king Malichus and Antigonus , the son of the Jewish king Aristobulus II , who 49 BC Was murdered in Rome by partisans of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus . Antigonus promised Pakoros a thousand talents and five hundred women from noble families if he would place him on the Jewish throne in place of John Hyrcanus II and kill his Roman-friendly governor Herod and his relatives.

As the Jewish historian Flavius ​​Josephus reports, on this occasion the Parthians invaded Judea in order to conquer Antigonus, namely Pakoros from the coast, the Satrap Barzapharnes from the interior. Pakoros was turned away by the city of Tire , but was accepted by Sidon and Ptolemais . He then sent a band of horsemen to Judea to scout the country. The horsemen advanced as far as Jerusalem , which they conquered in a coup. However, the governor Herod (later known as King Herod the Great) and his brother Phasael managed to stop the attackers and, as a last resort , to defend the royal castle, in which John Hyrcanus II, supported by the Romans, was staying.

Now the Parthians offered negotiations. Hyrcanus and Phasael, led by Pakoros, moved as an embassy to the Parthian headquarters near the coast at Barzapharnes. Herod, distrusting the Parthians, preferred to stay in Jerusalem. His suspicions were confirmed: instead of negotiating, the Parthians imprisoned Hyrcanus and Phasael. Antigonus II, now with Parthian support, had become king of Judea, had his uncle Hyrcanus' ears cut off in order to make it impossible for him to exercise the office of high priest . The Parthians deported Hyrcanus to Mesopotamia . Phasael, Herod's brother, was about to be executed, but escaped the executioner by suicide.

Herod and his family were able to escape the attack of the Parthians and the Jewish troops of Antigonus by fleeing and to get to the safe fortress Masada . From there he hurried to Italy via Egypt . In Rome the Senate appointed him King of Judea. He immediately returned there and resumed the fight against Antigonus and the Parthians under Pakoros.

Defeat and death

The Roman general Publius Ventidius Bassus , who acted on behalf of Marcus Antonius, succeeded in defeating the Parthians in the autumn of 39 BC. To push back across the Euphrates .

Early 38 BC BC Pakoros wanted to invade Syria again after new troops were raised. Ventidius Bassus, who had to gather his troops from a wide area, succeeded in guiding Pakoros on lengthy detours through cleverly scattered misinformation about the Roman intentions, which gave him the time he needed to optimally deploy the Roman troops and prepare them for the Parthian attack.

At Gindaros , northeast of Antioch , it happened in 38 BC. To the decisive battle. Ventidius Bassus let the Parthian warriors move close to the Roman entrenchments and only then opened the powerful and concentrated counter-attack. He won the whole length and Pakoros also had to lose his life on the other side. With the death of Pakoros the fighting spirit of the Parthians was broken. Ventidius Bassus had Pakoros' corpse beheaded and sent his head as a trophy to all around the Syrian cities, in order to show all the fickle the strength of Rome.

The defeat at Gindaros, which was so devastating for the Parthians, deterred them from further incursions into the Roman Empire for the next few decades.

Pakoros' father Orodes II, overwhelmed by the mourning for Pakoros, as Cassius Dio reports, now chose his eldest, remaining son, Phraates IV, as his successor.

Remarks

  1. ^ Cassius Dio 40, 28-30.
  2. ^ Cassius Dio 48, 26.
  3. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates Iudaicae 14, 13, 3; Cassius Dio 48, 41, 5.
  4. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 14, 13, 5
  5. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 14, 13, 3.
  6. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 14, 13, 5-10.
  7. ^ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates Iudaicae 14, 14, 4.
  8. ^ Cassius Dio 48, 39-41.
  9. ^ Cassius Dio 48, 19.
  10. ^ Cassius Dio 49, 20.

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personal data
SURNAME Pakoros I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pacorus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Son of Orodes II.
DATE OF BIRTH around 63 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 38 BC Chr.
Place of death Gindaros