Talk:Himeros (Parthian)

Himeros as king of Babylon

 * pinging you because you've done the most work on this article. I've been trying to figure out what was going on in Babylon during the Parthian period, specifically in regards to the sequence of rulers (see List of kings of Babylon) and some sources describe Himeros as Babylon's king. For instance, Neusner (1965) writes that:


 * Himerus, however, apparently hoped to establish himself in the area, and issued coins with the title "king of Babylon" in 124/3.

According to Neusner, the chronology is that Phraates II reconquered Babylon from Antiochus VII Sidetes in 129 BC, lost it to Hyspaosines in 127 BC (so far so good), but that Himeros then conquered Babylon from Hyspaosines (nominally on behalf of the Arsacids) and claimed to be its king. In the article however, it is said that "Himeros never took the title of king". If Himeros did claim to be the "king of Babylon", this would be significant since that would be the final time a ruler explicitly claimed the title for themselves (with later Parthians being accorded it by the Babylonians but with zero evidence that they used it themselves). Ichthyovenator (talk) 12:12, 20 September 2020 (UTC)


 * I would take Neusner with a grain of salt, considering that Parthian historiography has and is constantly changing, with his source being quite old. The Iranologist Shayegan sheds a lot of new light on the Near East (including Babylon) in the Hellenistic era, perhaps this would be of help . Looking at the source, Himerus/Himeros seems to have been a deputy of Phraates II at best (page 93 and 127). --HistoryofIran (talk) 14:23, 20 September 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the quick response! Yeah, I thought something strange was up. Thank you for the source linked, I will check it out. Ichthyovenator (talk) 14:48, 20 September 2020 (UTC)