1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Orodes
ORODES (also called Hyrōdes, Pers. Huranda), the name of two Parthian kings.
1. Orodes I., son of Phraates III., whom he murdered in 57 B.C., assisted by his brother Mithradates III. This Mithradates was made king of Media, but soon afterwards was expelled by Orodes and fled into Syria. Thence he invaded the Parthian kingdom, but having reigned for a short time (55) was besieged by Surenas, general of Orodes, in Seleucia, and after a prolonged resistance was captured and slain. Meanwhile Crassus had begun his attempt to conquer the east, but he was defeated and killed in 53 at Carrhae by Surenas, while Orodes himself invaded Armenia and forced King Artavasdes, the son of Tigranes, to abandon the Romans. By the victory of Carrhae the countries east of the Euphrates were secured to the Parthians. In the next year they invaded Syria, but with little success, for Surenas, whose achievements had made him too dangerous, was killed by Orodes (Plut. Crass. 33), and Pacorus, the young son of the king, was defeated by C. Cassius in 51. During the civil war the Parthians sided first with Pompey and then with Brutus and Cassius, but took no action until 40 B.C., when Pacorus, assisted by the Roman deserter Labienus, conquered a great part of Syria and Asia Minor, but was defeated and killed by Ventidius in 38 (see Pacorus). The old king, Orodes, who was deeply afflicted by the death of his gallant son, appointed his son Phraates IV. successor, but was soon afterwards killed by him (37 B.C.; Dio. Cass. 49.23; Justin 42.4; Plut. Crassus, 33). Plutarch relates that Orodes understood Greek very well; after the death of Crassus the Bacchae of Euripides were represented at his court (Plut. Crass. 33).
2. Orodes II., raised to the throne by the magnates after the death of Phraates V. about A.D. 5, was killed after a short reign "on account of his extreme cruelty" (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 2, 4). (Ed. M.)