Hyspaosines was an Iranian prince, and the founder of Characene, a kingdom situated in southern Mesopotamia. He was originally a Seleucidsatrap installed by king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but declared independence in 141 BC after collapse of Seleucid authority in Iran and Babylonia to the Parthians. Hyspaosines briefly occupied the Parthian city ofBabylon in 127 BC, where he is recorded in records as king. In 124 BC, however, he was forced to acknowledge Parthian suzerainty. He died in the same year, and was succeeded by his juvenile son Apodakos.
Name and background
Hyspaosines is a Hellenized name of Persian or Bactrian origin, possibly derived from the Old Iranianvispa-čanah. Hyspaosines' father, Sagdodonacus, seemingly had a Bactrian name and was presumably of Bactrian origin himself. He had served the local dynasts of Persis, who had been able to reign independently for three decades from Greek Seleucid authority, and even briefly seize the region of Characene. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes eventually managed to re-establish Greek authority over Persis and Characene, and appointed his general Noumenios as the governor of Characene.
Governorship
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. However, the city never lived up to its expectations, and was destroyed in the mid 3rd-century BC by floods. It was not until the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes that the city was rebuilt and renamed Antiochia. After the city was fully restored in 166/5 BC, Antiochus IV appointed Hyspaosines as governor of Antiochia and its surroundings. During this period Antiochia briefly flourished, until Antiochus IV's abrupt death in 163 BC, which weakened Seleucid authority throughout the empire. 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. Hyspaosines, although now a more or less independent ruler, remained a loyal subject of the Seleucids. Hyspaosines' keenness to remain as a Seleucid governor was possibly due to avoid interruption in the profitable trade between Antiochia and Seleucia.
Reign
The Seleucids had suffered heavy defeats by the Iranian Parthian Empire; in 148/7 BC, the Parthian king Mithridates I conquered Media and Atropatene, and by 141 BC, was in the possession of Babylonia. The events are recorded in the Babylonian Astronomical Diaries. The menace and proximity of the Parthians caused Hyspaosines to declare independence. In 127 BC, Hyspaosines took advantage of the abrupt death of the Parthian king Phraates II, and captured Babylon, which is attested in Babylonian records, where he is recorded as king. His rule over the city lasted briefly; at the start of November 127 BC, the Parthian general Timarchos recaptured it. Regardless, Hyspaosines' troops continued to plunder the Babylonian region as late as 126 BC. In 124 BC, however, Hyspaosines accepted Parthian suzerainty, and continued to rule Characene as a vassal. He corresponded with the Parthian general of Babylonia, informing him of the defeat of Elymais by the Parthian monarch Mithridates II. He also returned the wooden throne of Arsaces to the Parthians as a gift to the god Bel. The astronomical diaries report that the king became ill on the 3rd June 124 BC and died on the 11th June 124 BC at the age of 85,. His age is reported by Lucian, who provided a list of rulers who died in a very old age. The events after his death are hard to reconstruct. However, the astronomical diaries report that his wife Thalassia placed his young son on the throne. The son is not named, it was most likely Apodakos. The Parthian commander Sindates was placed as the governor of Characene.
