in game would give it special charms in the eyes of persons
so much devoted, as the Parthian princes were, to the chase. But the
intention of Tiridates, if we have truly defined it, failed of taking
permanent effect. He may himself have fixed his abode at Dara, but his
successors did not inherit his predilections; and Hecatompylos remained,
after his reign, as before it, the head-quarters of the government, and
the recognized metropolis of Parthia Proper.

After passing in peace and prosperity the last twenty years of his
reign, Tiridates died in a good old age, leaving his crown to a son,
whose special name is a little uncertain, but who is called by most
moderns Artabanus I.

Artabanus, having ascended the Parthian throne about B.C. 214, and being
anxious to distinguish himself, took advantage of the war raging between
Antiochus III., the second son of Seleucus Callinicus, and Achseus, one
of his rebel satraps, to advance into Media, and to add to his dominions
the entire tract between Hyrcania and the Zagros mountains. Of the
manner in which he effected his conquests we have no account; but they
seem to have been the fruit of a single campaign, which must have
been conducted with great vigor and military skill. The Parthian prince
appears to have occupied Ecbatana, the ancient capital of the Median
Empire, and to have thence threatened the Mesopotamian countries. Upon
receiving intelligence of his invasion, Antiochus levied a vast army,
and set out towards the East, with a determination to subjugate all
the revolted provinces, and to recover the limits of the old Empire
of Nicator. Passing the Zagros chain, probably by way of Behistun and
Kermanshaw, he easily retook Ecbatana, which was an open town, and
undefended by the Parthians, and proceeded to prepare for a further
advance eastward. The route from Ecbatana to the Caspian Gates crosses,
of necessity, unless a considerable circuit be taken, some large tracts
of barren ground, inlets or bays of the Great Salt Desert of Iran.
Artabanus cherished the hope that here the difficulties of the way would
effectually bar his enemy's progress, more especially as his troops were
so numerous, and as water was scanty throughout the whole region. The
streams which flow from Zagros towards the East are few and scanty; they
mostly fail in summer, which, even in Asia, is the campaigning season;
and those who cross the desert at this time must depend on the wells
wherewith the mo