ARSACES

Title shared by Parthian rulers beginning with Arsaces I, founder of the kingdom (250? BC). The Parthian kingdom under Arsaces VI (Mithridates I) grew to include Media and Persia among other nations, thereby encroaching upon Seleucid territory. Syrian king Demetrius Nicator retaliated in 141 BC by invading the kingdom of Arsaces VI, an event recorded in the Apocrypha (1 Macc 14:1-3). Arsaces was one of the kings whom the Roman consul advised not to harm the Jews (1 Macc 15:15-22).