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Historical person

Phraates IV of Parthia

died 2 BCE

Phraates IV secured the Parthian throne through dynastic violence and ruled during renewed confrontation with Rome. His forces and allies resisted Mark Antony’s invasion in 36 BCE, exploiting Roman supply difficulties and destroying the siege train before Antony’s costly retreat from Media Atropatene.

The failed campaign damages Antony’s prestige and contributes to the political vulnerability later used by Octavian. Phraates IV was king of the Parthian Empire during Mark Antony’s failed invasion of 36 BCE.

In Alex Gough’s Caesar’s Nemesis, Mark Antony’s invasion of Parthian territory fails after the loss of his siege train and a devastating retreat, weakening his authority and deepening his dependence on Cleopatra’s resources. In Peter Darman’s Lord of War, set in the Parthian Empire in the later first century BCE, under Phraates IV and an uneasy accommodation with Rome, you want peace and a happy retirement, Pacorus?.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Phraates IV of Parthia (2 series)

Parthian Chronicles in Order

by Peter Darman 16 books 4.5(22,678)

The Parthian Chronicles follow Pacorus, a fictional Parthian prince whose life stretches across the violent politics of the first century BCE. The opening novel places him beside Spartacus during the Third Servile War; later volumes return him to Mesopotamia, where he becomes ruler of Dura and is drawn…

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The Mark Antony Series in Order

by Alex Gough 4 books 4.5(1,714)

The Mark Antony series presents a biographical saga of the Roman commander from the Catilinarian crisis to his defeat by Octavian. Antony’s youth is shaped by the execution of his stepfather, service under Aulus Gabinius in Judaea and Egypt, and the campaigns in Gaul that bind him to…

All books in this series