On  the  death  of  Phraates  II.,  his  uncle,  Artabanus,  was
placed  upon  the  throne.  The  Syrian  wars  now  entirely  ceased,
no  effort  being  made  by  the  Seleucidie,  after  the  death  of  Si*
detes,  to  recover  their  Eastern  provinces.  But  the  place  of  this
enemy  was  taken  by  one  more  formidable.  The  Turanian  races
of  the  tract  beyond  the  Oxus  had  been  long  increasing  in
power.  Their  incursions  across  the  river,  in  some  of  which
they  reached  Hyrcania  and  Parthia  Proper,  were  constaiU.
We  have  seen  that  Phraates  II.,  alarmed  at  the  attack  of
Sidetes,  called  them  in  to  his  aid,  and  afterwards  lost  his  life
in  a  war  with  them.  The  same  fate  befell  his  successor.  In
an  engagement  with  a  Turanian  tribe  called  Tochari,  he  re-
ceived a  wound  in  his  arm,  from  the  effects  of  which  he  died,
about  B.C.  124.
Artabanus  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  Mithridates  II.,  who
is  known  as  Arsaces  IX.  He  was  a  warlike  and  powerful
prince,  whose  achievements  procured  him  the  epithet  of  "  the
Great."  He  effectually  quelled  the  spirit  of  the  northern
nomads,  whom  he  defeated  in  several  engagements ;  and,  in
a  long  series  of  wars,  he  extended  the  Parthian  power  in  many
directions.  At  length  he  engaged  in  a  contest  with  the  Ar-
menian king,  Ortoadistes  (Artavasdes  ?),  who  was  compelled
to  a  disadvantageous  peace,  for  his  observance  of  which  he
gave  hostages,  among  them  Tigranes,  a  prince  of  the  blood
royal.  Tigranes  induced  the  Parthian  monarch  to  aid  him
in  gaining  the  Armenian  throne,  by  undertaking  to  cede  to
him  a  part  of  Armenia;  and  this  cession  took  place  about
B.C.  96.  But  here  the  successes  of  Mithridates  came  to  an  end.
