Roman – Parthian War of 161 – 166 The Roman – Parthian War of 161 – 166 ( also called the Parthian War of Lucius Verus ) was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and upper Mesopotamia . It concluded in 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon , the Parthian capital . Origins to Lucius ' dispatch , 161 – 62 . On his deathbed in the spring of 161 , Emperor Antoninus Pius had spoken of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him . One of those kings , Vologases IV of Parthia , made his move in late summer or early autumn 161 . Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia ( then a Roman client state ) , expelled its king and installed his own — Pacorus , an Arsacid like himself . At the time of the invasion , the governor of Syria was L . Attidius Cornelianus . Attidius had been retained as governor even though his term ended in 161 , presumably to avoid giving the Parthians the chance to wrong - foot his replacement . The governor of Cappadocia , the front - line in all Armenian conflicts , was Marcus Sedatius Severianus , a Gaul with much experience in military matters . But living in the east had a deleterious effect on his character . The confidence man Alexander of Abonutichus , a prophet who carried a snake named Glycon around with him , had enraptured Severianus , as he had many others . Father - in - law to the respected senator P . Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus , then - proconsul of Asia , Abonutichus was friends with many members of the east Roman elite . Alexander convinced Severianus that he could defeat the Parthians easily , and win glory for himself . Severianus led a legion ( perhaps the IX " Hispana " ) into Armenia , but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegia , a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers , high up past the headwaters of the Euphrates . Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes , but soon realized the futility of his campaign , and committed suicide . His legion was massacred . The campaign had only lasted three days . There was threat of war on other frontiers as well — in Britain , and in Raetia and Upper Germany , where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the " limes " . Marcus Aurelius , who had become emperor on Pius ' death on 7 March 161 , was unprepared . Pius seems to have given him no military experience ; the biographer writes that Marcus spent the whole of Pius ' twenty - three - year reign at the emperor ' s side — and not in the provinces , where most previous emperors had spent their early careers . Marcus made the necessary appointments : Marcus Statius Priscus , the governor of Britain , was sent to replace Severianus as governor of Cappadocia , and was in turn replaced by Sextus Calpurnius Agricola . More bad news arrived : Attidius Cornelianus ' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians , and retreated in disarray . Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier . P . Julius Geminius Marcianus , an African senator commanding X " Gemina " at Vindobona ( Vienna ) , left for Cappadocia with vexillation s from the Danubian legions . Three full legions were also sent east : I " Minervia " from Bonn in Upper Germany , II " Adiutrix " from Aquincum , and V " Macedonica " from Troesmis . The northern frontiers were strategically weakened ; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible . Attidius Cornelianus himself was replaced by M . Annius Libo , Marcus ' first cousin . He was young — his first consulship was in 161 , so he was probably in his early thirties — and , as a mere patrician , lacked military experience . Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one . Marcus took a four - day public holiday at Alsium , a resort town on the Etruria n coast . He was too anxious to relax . Writing to his former tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto , he declared that he would not speak about his holiday . Fronto replied ironically : " What ? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games , joking and complete leisure for four whole days ? " He encouraged Marcus to rest , calling on the example of his predecessors ( Pius had enjoyed exercise in the " palaestra " , fishing , and comedy ) , going so far as to write up a fable about the gods ' division of the day between morning and evening — Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of leisure . Marcus could not take Fronto ' s advice . " I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off , " he wrote back . Marcus put on Fronto ' s voice to chastise himself : " ' Much good has my advice done you ' , you will say ! " He had rested , and would rest often , but " — this devotion to duty ! Who knows better than you how demanding it is ! " Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material , including Cicero ' s " pro lege Manilia " , in which the orator had argued in favor of Pompey taking supreme command in the Mithridatic War . It was an apt reference ( Pompey ' s war had taken him to Armenia ) , and may have had some impact on the decision to send Lucius to the eastern front . " You will find in it many chapters aptly suited to your present counsels , concerning the choice of army commanders , the interests of allies , the protection of provinces , the discipline of the soldiers , the qualifications required for commanders in the field and elsewhere [ . . . ] " To settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war , Fronto wrote Marcus a long and considered letter , full of historical references . In modern editions of Fronto ' s works , it is labeled " De bello Parthico " ( " On the Parthian War " ) . There had been reverses in Rome ' s past , Fronto writes , at Allia , at Caudium , at Cannae , at Numantia , Cirta , and Carrhae ; under Trajan , Hadrian , and Pius ; but , in the end , Romans had always prevailed over their enemies : " always and everywhere [ Mars ] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs " . Lucius ' dispatch and journey east , 162 – 63 ? Over the winter of 161 – 62 , as more bad news arrived — a rebellion was brewing in Syria — it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person . He was stronger and healthier than Marcus , the argument went , more suited to military activity . Lucius ' biographer suggests ulterior motives : to restrain Lucius ' debaucheries , to make him thrifty , to reform his morals by the terror of war , to realize that he was an emperor . Whatever the case , the senate gave its assent , and Lucius left . Marcus would remain in Rome ; the city " demanded the presence of an emperor " . Furius Victorinus , one of the two praetorian prefect s , was sent with Lucius , as were a pair of senators , M . Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus and M . Iallius Bassus , and part of the Praetorian Guard . Victorinus had previously served as procurator of Galatia , giving him some experience with eastern affairs . Moreover , he was far more qualified than his praetorian partner , Cornelius Repentinus , who was said to owe his office to the influence of Pius ' mistress Galeria Lysistrate . Repentius had the rank of a senator , but no real access to senatorial circles — his was merely a decorative title . Since a prefect had to accompany the Guard , Victorinus was the clear choice . Laelianus had been governor of both Pannonias and governor of Syria in 153 ; hence he had first - hand knowledge of the eastern army and military strategy on the frontiers . He was made " comes Augustorum " ( " companion of the emperors " ) for his service . Laelianus was , in the words of Fronto , " a serious man and an old - fashioned disciplinarian " . Bassus had been governor of Lower Moesia , and was also made " comes " . Lucius selected his favorite freedmen , including Geminus , Agaclytus , Coedes , Eclectus , and Nicomedes , who gave up his duties as " praefectus vehiculorum " to run the commissariat of the expeditionary force . The fleet of Misenum was charged with transporting the emperor and general communications and transport . Lucius left in the summer of 162 to take a ship from Brundisium ; Marcus followed him as far as Capua . Lucius feasted himself in the country houses along his route , and hunted at Apulia . He fell ill at Canosa , probably afflicted with a mild stroke , and took to bed . Marcus made prayers to the gods for his safety in front of the senate , and hurried south to see him . Fronto was upset at the news , but was reassured when Lucius sent him a letter describing his treatment and recovery . In his reply , Fronto urged his pupil to moderate his desires , and recommended a few days of quiet bedrest . Lucius was better after three days ' fasting and a bloodletting . It was probably only a mild stroke . Verus continued eastward via Corinth and Athens , accompanied by musicians and singers as if in a royal progress . At Athens he stayed with Herodes Atticus , and joined the Eleusinian Mysteries . During sacrifice , a falling star was observed in the sky , shooting west to east . He stopped in Ephesus , where he is attested at the estate of the local aristocrat Vedius Antoninus , and made an unexpected stopover at Erythrae , where an elegiac poem in the voice of the local sibyl alludes to his visit . The journey continued by ship through the Aegean and the southern coasts of Asia Minor , lingering in the famed pleasure resorts of Pamphylia and Cilicia , before arriving in Antioch . It is not known how long Verus ' journey east took ; he might not have arrived in Antioch until after 162 . Statius Priscus , meanwhile , must have already arrived in Cappadocia ; he would earn fame in 163 for successful generalship . Luxury , dissolution , and logistics at Antioch , 162 ? – 65 . Lucius spent most of the campaign in Antioch , though he wintered at Laodicea and summered at Daphne , a resort just outside Antioch . He took up a mistress named Panthea , from Smyrna . The biographer calls her a " low - born girl - friend " , but she is probably closer to Lucian ' s " woman of perfect beauty " , more beautiful than any of Phidias and Praxiteles ' statues . Polite , caring , humble , she sang to the lyre perfectly and spoke clear Ionic Greek , spiced with Attic wit . Panthea read Lucian ' s first draft , and criticized him for flattery . He had compared her to a goddess , which frightened her — she did not want to become the next Cassiopeia . She had power , too . She made Lucius shave his beard for her . The Syrians mocked him for this , as they did for much else . Critics declaimed Lucius ' luxurious lifestyle . He had taken to gambling , they said ; he would " dice the whole night through " . He enjoyed the company of actors . He made a special request for dispatches from Rome , to keep him updated on how his chariot teams were doing . He brought a golden statue of the Greens ' horse Volucer around with him , as a token of his team spirit . Fronto defended his pupil against some of these claims : the Roman people needed Lucius ' bread and circuses to keep them in check . This , at least , is how the biographer has it . The whole section of the " vita " dealing with Lucius ' debaucheries ( " HA Verus " 4 . 4 – 6 . 6 ) is an insertion into a narrative otherwise entirely cribbed from an earlier source . Some few passages seem genuine ; others take and elaborate something from the original . The rest is by the biographer himself , relying on nothing better than his own imagination . Lucius faced quite a task . Fronto described the scene in terms recalling Corbulo ' s arrival one hundred years before . The Syrian army had turned soft during the east ' s long peace . They spent more time at the city ' s open - air bars than in their quarters . Under Lucius , training was stepped up . Pontius Laelianus ordered that their saddles be stripped of their padding . Gambling and drinking were sternly policed . Fronto wrote that Lucius was on foot at the head of his army as often as on horseback . He personally inspected soldiers in the field and at camp , including the sick bay . Lucius sent Fronto few messages at the beginning of the war . He sent Fronto a letter apologizing for his silence . He would not detail plans that could change within a day , he wrote . Moreover , there was little thus far to show for his work : " not even yet has anything been accomplished such as to make me wish to invite you to share in the joy " . Lucius did not want Fronto to suffer the anxieties that had kept him up day and night . One reason for Lucius ' reticence may have been the collapse of Parthian negotiations after the Roman conquest of Armenia . Lucius ' presentation of terms was seen as cowardice . The Parthians were not in the mood for peace . Lucius needed to make extensive imports into Antioch , so he opened a sailing route up the Orontes . Because the river breaks across a cliff before reaching the city , Lucius ordered that a new canal be dug . After the project was completed , the Orontes ' old riverbed dried up , exposing massive bones — the bones of a giant . Pausanias says they were from a beast " more than eleven cubit s " tall ; Philostratus says the it was " thirty cubits " tall . The oracle at Claros declared that they were the bones of the river ' s spirit . In the middle of the war , perhaps in autumn 163 or early 164 , Lucius made a trip to Ephesus to be married to Marcus ' daughter Lucilla . Lucilla ' s thirteenth birthday was in March 163 ; whatever the date of her marriage , she was not yet fifteen . Marcus had moved up the date : perhaps stories of Panthea had disturbed him . Lucilla was accompanied by her mother Faustina and M . Vettulenus Civica Barbarus , the half - brother of Lucius ' father . Marcus may have planned to accompany them all the way to Smyrna ( the biographer says he told the senate he would ) ; this did not happen . Marcus only accompanied the group as far as Brundisium , where they boarded a ship for the east . Marcus returned to Rome immediately thereafter , and sent out special instructions to his proconsuls not to give the group any official reception . Lucilla would bear three of Lucius ' children in the coming years . Lucilla became Lucilla Augusta . Counterattack and victory , 163 – 66 . I " Minervia " and V " Macedonica " , under the legates M . Claudius Fronto and P . Martius Verus , served under Statius Priscus in Armenia , earning success for Roman arms during the campaign season of 163 , including the capture of the Armenian capital Artaxata . At the end of the year , Verus took the title " Armeniacus " , despite having never seen combat ; Marcus declined to accept the title until the following year . When Lucius was hailed as " imperator " again , however , Marcus did not hesitate to take the title " Imperator II " with him . The army of Syria was reinforced by II " Adiutrix " and Danubian legions under X " Gemina " ' s legate Geminius Marcianus . Occupied Armenia was reconstructed on Roman terms . In 164 , a new capital , " Kaine Polis " ( " New City " in Greek ) , replaced Artaxata . On Birley ' s reckoning , it was thirty miles closer to the Roman border . Detachments from Cappadocian legions are attested at Echmiadzin , beneath the southern face of Mount Ararat , 400 km east of Satala . It would have meant a march of twenty days or more , through mountainous terrain , from the Roman border ; a " remarkable example of imperialism " , in the words of Fergus Millar . A new king was installed : a Roman senator of consular rank and Arsacid descent , C . Iulius Sohaemus . He may not even have been crowned in Armenia ; the ceremony may have taken place in Antioch , or even Ephesus . Sohaemus was hailed on the imperial coinage of 164 under the legend : Verus sat on a throne with his staff while Sohamenus stood before him , saluting the emperor . In 163 , while Statius Priscus was occupied in Armenia , the Parthians intervened in Osroene , a Roman client in upper Mesopotamia , just east of Syria , with its capital at Edessa . They deposed the country ' s leader , Mannus , and replaced him with their own nominee , who would remain in office until 165 . ( The Edessene coinage record actually begins at this point , with issues showing Vologases IV on the obverse and " Wael the king " ( Syriac : W ' L MLK ' ) on the reverse . ) In response , Roman forces were moved downstream , to cross the Euphrates at a more southerly point . On the evidence of Lucian , the Parthians still held the southern , Roman bank of the Euphrates ( in Syria ) as late as 163 ( he refers to a battle at Sura , which is on the southern side of the river ) . Before the end of the year , however , Roman forces had moved north to occupy Dausara and Nicephorium on the northern , Parthian bank . Soon after the conquest of the north bank of the Euphrates , other Roman forces moved on Osroene from Armenia , taking Anthemusia , a town south - west of Edessa . There was little movement in 164 ; most of the year was spent on preparations for a renewed assault on Parthian territory . In 165 , Roman forces , perhaps led by Martius Verus and the V " Macedonica " , moved on Mesopotamia . Edessa was re - occupied , Mannus re - installed . His coinage resumed , too : ' Ma ' nu the king ' ( Syriac : M ' NW MLK ' ) or Antonine dynasts on the obverse , and ' King Mannos , friend of the Romans ' ( Greek : " Basileus Mannos Philorōmaios " ) on the reverse . The Parthians retreated to Nisibis , but this too was besieged and captured . The Parthian army dispersed in the Tigris ; their general Chosrhoes swam down the river and made his hideout in a cave . A second force , under Avidius Cassius and the III " Gallica " , moved down the Euphrates , and fought a major battle at Dura - Europos . By the end of 165 , Cassius ' army had reached the twin metropolises of Mesopotamia : Seleucia on the right bank of the Tigris and Ctesiphon on the left . Ctesiphon was taken and its royal palace set to flame . The citizens of Seleucia , still largely Greek ( the city had been commissioned and settled as a capital of the Seleucid Empire , one of Alexander the Great ' s successor kingdoms ) , opened its gates to the invaders . The city got sacked nonetheless , leaving a black mark on Lucius ' reputation . Excuses were sought , or invented : the official version ( promulgated , according to the " Historia Augusta " , by Asinius Quadratus ) had it that the Seleuceni broke faith first . Whatever the case , the sacking marks a particularly destructive chapter in Seleucia ' s long decline . During the sacking , Roman troops stole the statue of Apollo Comaeus from its temple and brought it back to Rome , where it was installed at the temple of the Palatine Apollo . This blasphemy may have been on Marcus ' mind when he called a " lectisternium " , a great meal offered to the gods , at the beginning of the Marcomannic Wars ( " ca " . 167 ) to ward off the evils then being visited on the state . Cassius ' army , although suffering from a shortage of supplies and the effects of a plague , contracted in Seleucia , made it back to Roman territory safely . Iunius Maximus , a young " tribunus laticlavius " serving in III " Gallica " under Cassius , took the news of the victory to Rome . Maximus received a generous cash bounty ( " dona " ) for bringing the good news , and immediate promotion to the quaestorship . Lucius took the title " Parthicus Maximus " , and he and Marcus were hailed as " imperatores " again , earning the title " Imp . III " . Cassius ' army returned to the field in 166 , crossing over the Tigris into Media . Lucius took the title " Medicus " , and the emperors were again hailed as " imperatores " , becoming " Imp . IV " in imperial titulature . Marcus too took the " Parthicus Maximus " now , after another tactful delay . Conclusion of the war , mid - 160s – 167 . Most of the credit for the war ' s success must be ascribed to subordinate generals . The forces that advanced on Osroene were led by M . Claudius Fronto , an Asian provincial of Greek descent who had led I Minervia in Armenia under Priscus . He was probably the first senator in his family . Fronto was consul for 165 , probably in honor of the capture of Edessa . Claudius Fronto returned to Italy for his consulship ; the governor of Syria , Cn . Iulius Verus , also returned . P . Martius Verus had led V Macedonica to the front , and also served under Priscus . Martius Verus was a westerner , whose " patria " was perhaps Tolosa in Gallia Narbonensis . The most prominent general , however , was C . Avidius Cassius , commander of III Gallica , one of the Syrian legions . Cassius was young senator of low birth from the north Syrian town of Cyrrhus . His father , Heliodorus , had not been a senator , but was nonetheless a man of some standing : he had been Hadrian ' s " ab epistulis " , followed the emperor on his travels , and was prefect of Egypt at the end of Hadrian ' s reign . Cassius also , with no small sense of self - worth , claimed descent from the Seleucid kings . Cassius and Martius Verus , still probably in their mid - thirties , took the consulships for 166 . After their consulships , they were made governors : Cassius , of Syria ; Martius Verus , of Cappadocia . On the return from the campaign , Lucius was awarded with a triumph ; the parade was unusual because it included the two emperors , their sons and unmarried daughters as a big family celebration . Marcus Aurelius ' two sons , Commodus five years old and Marcus Annius Verus of three , were elevated to the status of Caesar for the occasion . A statue base survives in Sardis to commemorate Lucius ' victory ( the emperor had presumably visited the city on his return to Rome ) . The wealthy sophist T . Flavius Damianus also hosted the emperor and his army during their return trip . Nisibis on the upper Euphrates remained in Roman hands for several decades after the end of the war . By the mid - 3rd century , when it was frequently contested by and exchanged between Persia and Rome , it had taken on the appearances of a typical Roman garrison town . Citations . All citations to the " Historia Augusta " are to individual biographies , and are marked with a " " HA " " . Citations to the works of Fronto are cross - referenced to C . R . Haines ' Loeb edition . < br >