Of Iranian descent,^[1] Hyspaosines' name is a Hellenized^[2] name of Persian^[2] or Bactrian origin,^[3] possibly derived from the Old Iranian vispa-čanah ("who appreciates all [things]").^[4] Hyspaosines' father, Sagdodonacus, seemingly had a Bactrian name and was presumably of Bactrian origin himself.^[4] He had served the local dynasts (frataraka) of Persis, who had been able to reign independently for three decades from Greek Seleucid authority, and even briefly seize the region of Characene.^[5] The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175 – 164 BC) eventually managed to re-establish Greek authority over Persis and Characene,^[5] and appointed his general Noumenios as the governor of Characene.^[6]

The capital of Characene, Alexandria, was originally founded by the Macedonian ruler Alexander the Great, with the intention of using the town as a leading commercial port for his eastern capital of Babylon.^[2] However, the city never lived up to its expectations, and was destroyed in the mid 3rd-century BC by floods.^[2] It was not until the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes that the city was rebuilt and renamed Antiochia.^[2] After the city was fully restored in 166/5 BC, Antiochus IV appointed Hyspaosines as governor (eparch) of Antiochia and its surroundings.^[2]

During this period Antiochia briefly flourished, until Antiochus IV's premature death by disease in 163 BC, which weakened Seleucid authority throughout the empire.^[2] With the weakening of the Seleucids, many political entities within the empire declared independence, such as the neighbouring region of Characene, Elymais, which was situated in most of the present-day province of Khuzestan in southern Iran.^[2] Hyspaosines, although now a more or less independent ruler, remained a loyal subject of the Seleucids.^[2] Hyspaosines' keenness to remain as a Seleucid governor was possibly due to avoid interruption in the profitable trade between Antiochia and Seleucia.^[2]

The Seleucids had suffered heavy defeats by the Iranian Parthian Empire; in 148/7 BC, the Parthian king Mithridates I (r. 171–132 BC) conquered Media and Atropatene, and by 141 BC, was in the possession of Babylonia.^[7] The events are recorded in the Babylonian astronomical Diaries.^[8] The menace and proximity of the Parthians caused Hyspaosines to declare independence.^[2] In 127 BC, Mithridates I's son and successor Phraates II met an abrupt death during his war with the nomads in the east.^[9][10] Hyspaosines took advantage of the situation by seizing Babylon, which is attested in Babylonian records, where he is recorded as king (šarru).^[11] His rule over the city lasted briefly; at the start of November 127 BC, the Parthian general Timarchus recaptured it.^[12]

Regardless, Hyspaosines' troops continued to plunder the Babylonian region as late as 126 BC.^[12] In 124 BC, however, Hyspaosines accepted Parthian suzerainty, and continued to rule Characene as a vassal.^[13] He corresponded with the Parthian general of Babylonia, informing him of the defeat of Elymais by the Parthian monarch Mithridates II (r. 124–91 BC).^[14] He also returned the wooden throne of Arsaces to the Parthians as a gift to the god Bel.^[14] The astronomical diaries report that the king became ill on 3 June 124 BC and died on 11 June 124 BC^[15] at the age of 85.^[16] His age is reported by 2nd century Roman historian Lucian, who provided a list of rulers who died in a very old age.^[17]

He was succeeded by his and queen Thalassia's juvenile son Apodakos.^[6] The Parthian commander Sindates was placed as the governor of Characene.^[6]

Ancient works edit

• Pliny the Elder Natural History, VI 139
• Lucian, Macrobii.
• Astronomical Diaries (now in the British Museum and in a private collection. Following cuneiform texts refer to Hyspaosinesː British Museum nos 33461, 3386, 55070, 45699, 34274, 45708, 45693, 45853, 33024). They are published in Abraham Sachs, Hermann Hunger: Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts from Babylon, III, Diaries from 164 BC. to 61 B.C. Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7001-2578-X, pp. 216-282. The tablet in the private collection is published by T. G. Pinchesː Babylonian and Oriental Record, Vol. IV, London 1890, 131-141 online.

Modern works edit

• Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
• Brosius, Maria (2006), The Persians: An Introduction, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-32089-4
• Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007), "The Iranian Revival in the Parthian Period", in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart (ed.), The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran, vol. 2, London & New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum, pp. 7–25, ISBN 978-1-84511-406-0
• Dąbrowa, Edward (2012). "The Arsacid Empire". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Iranian History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-987575-7.
• Erskine, Andrew; Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd; Wallace, Shane (2017). The Hellenistic Court: Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra. The Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 978-1910589625.
• Eilers, Wilhelm (1983). "Iran and Mesopotamia". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 481–505. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
• Garthwaite, Gene Ralph (2005), The Persians, Oxford & Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 978-1-55786-860-2.
• Galier, P.L.; P. Lombard, K.M. al-Sindi (2002): Greek Inscriptions from Bahrain, In: Arabian archaeology and epigraphy, 13, pp. 223-26 the Inscription from Bahrain (pdf)
• Hansman, John (1991). "Characene and Charax". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume V/4: C̆es̆tīya–Chinese-Iranian relations VIII. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 363–365. ISBN 978-0-939214-71-6.
• Schuol, Monika (2000), Die Charakene: ein mesopotamisches Königreich in hellenistisch-parthischer Zeit, Stuttgart: . Steiner, ISBN 3-515-07709-X.
• Shayegan, M. Rahim (2011). Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521766418.
• Strootman, Rolf (2017). "Imperial Persianism: Seleukids, Arsakids and Fratarakā". In Strootman, Rolf; Versluys, Miguel John (eds.). Persianism in Antiquity. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 177–201. ISBN 978-3515113823.

• Bosworth, C. E. (1985). "ʿArab i. Arabs and Iran in the pre-Islamic period". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume II/2: Anthropology–ʿArab Moḥammad. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 201–203. ISBN 978-0-71009-102-4.
• Hansman, John F. (1998). "Elymais". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume VIII/4: Elam VI–English IV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 373–376. ISBN 978-1-56859-053-0.
• Schippmann, K. (1986). "Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume II/5: Armenia and Iran IV–Art in Iran I. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 525–536. ISBN 978-0-71009-105-5.