III. Attack on Media. War of Artabanus (Arsaces III.) with
Antiochus the Great. Period of inaction. Great development of Bactrian
power. Reigns of Priapatius (Arsaces IV.) and Phraates I. (Arsaces V.)_

Selbucus might perhaps not have accepted his defeat as final had he been
altogether free to choose whether he would continue the Parthian war
or no. The resources of his Empire were so vast, his command of men
and money so unbounded, that he could easily have replaced one army by
another, and so have prolonged the struggle. But renewed troubles had
broken out in the western portion of his dominions, where his brother,
Antiochus Hierax, was still in arms against his authority. Seleucus
felt it necessary to turn his attention to this quarter, and having
once retired from the Parthian contest, he never afterwards renewed it.
Tiridates was left unmolested, to act as he thought fit, and either to
attempt further conquests, or to devote himself to securing those which
he had effected. He chose the latter course, and during the remainder of
his reign--a space of above twenty years--he employed himself wholly in
strengthening and adorning his small kingdom. Having built a number
of forts in various strong positions, and placed garrisons in them, he
carefully selected a site for a new city, which he probably intended to
make his capital. The spot chosen combined the advantages of being
at once delightful and easily defensible. It was surrounded with
precipitous rocks, which enclosed a plain of extraordinary fertility.
Abundant wood and copious streams of water were in the neighborhood. The
soil was so rich that it scarcely required cultivation, and the woods
were so full of game as to afford endless amusement to hunters. To the
town which he built in this locality Tiridates gave the name of Dara, a
word which the Greeks and Romans elongated into Dareium. Unfortunately,
modern travellers have not yet succeeded in identifying the site,
which should, however, lie towards the East, perhaps in the vicinity of
Meshed.

We may presume that Tiridates, when he built this remarkable city,
intended to make it the seat of government. Hecatompylos, as a Greek
town, had the same disadvantages, which were considered in later times
to render Seleucia unfit for the residence of the Parthian Court and
monarch. Dara, like Ctesiphon, was to be wholly Parthian. Its strong
situation would render it easy of defence; its vicinity to forests
abounding