ORODES II

died , 37/36 BC king of Parthia (reigned c. 5737/36 BC) who helped his brother Mithradates III murder their father, Phraates III, and in turn supplanted Mithradates. When Mithradates occupied Seleucia and Babylon, Orodes stormed those towns, immediately executing his brother. No less ruthless to his attendants, he put to death the general who in 53 BC had crushed the Romans under the triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus at Carrhae in northern Mesopotamia. Parthian raids into Roman Syria were checked by the death of Pacorus, Orodes' favourite son and perhaps joint king. Orodes, stunned by the loss, was murdered in turn by another son, who became Phraates IV.