d been diminished, while their
prejudices were wantonly shocked. The Magi had ceased to be regarded as
of much account, and, if they still formed nominally a portion of the
king's council, can have had little influence on the conduct of affairs
by the government. Such a custom as that of burning the dead, which
seems to have been the rule in the later Parthian times, could never
have maintained its ground, if the opinion of the Magi, or their
coreligionists, had been considered of much account.

Encouraged by the dissensions prevailing in the Parthian royal house,
strong in the knowledge of his fellow-countrymen's discontent, and
perhaps thinking that the losses which Artabanus had sustained in his
three days' battle against the Romans under Macrinus had seriously
weakened his military strength, Artaxerxes, tributary king of Persia
under Parthia, about A.D. 220, or a little later, took up arms
against his master, and in a little time succeeded in establishing the
independence of Persia Proper, or the modern province of Fars. Artabanus
is said to have taken no steps at first to crush the rebellion, or to
re-establish his authority over his revolted vassal. Thus the Persian
monarch, finding himself unmolested, was free to enlarge his plans, and
having originally, as is probable, designed only the liberation of his
own people, began to contemplate conquests. Turning his arms eastwards
against Carmania (Kerman), he easily reduced that scantily-peopled tract
under his dominion, after which he made war towards the north, and added
to his kingdom some of the outlying regions of Media. Artabanus now at
length resolved to bestir himself, and collecting his forces, took
the field in person. Invading Persia Proper, he engaged in a desperate
struggle with his rival. Three great battles were fought between the
contending powers. In the last, which took place in the plain of
Hormuz, between Bebahan and Shuster, on the course of the Jerahi river,
Artabanus was, after a desperate conflict, completely defeated, and not
only defeated but slain (A.D. 226).

The victory of Hormuz did not, however, absolutely decide the contest,
or determine at once that the Parthian empire should fall, and the new
Persian kingdom succeed into its place. Artabanus had left sons; and
there were not wanting those among the feudatories of the empire, and
even among the neighboring potentates, who were well inclined to embrace
their cause. A certain Artavasdes