Himeros (called ''Euhemeros'' by Diodorus) was an Iranian officer of Hyrcanian origin, who controlled

Babylonia Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...

on behalf of the Arsacid king

Phraates II Phraates II (also spelled Frahad I; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭇𐭕 ''Frahāt'') was king of the Parthian Empire from 132 BC to 127 BC. He was the son and successor of Mithridates I (). Because he was still very young when he came to the throne, his moth ...

(r. 138-128) from 129 BC. Although Himeros never took the title of king, he was of great significance. He is mentioned by various ancient historians, such as Diodorus and Justin on account of his exceptional atrocities. Phraates II was confronted with war on two fronts during his reign. In the west, the Seleucids attacked and in the east the nomadic peoples, who had already destroyed the

Greco-Bactrian kingdom The Bactrian Kingdom, known to historians as the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom or simply Greco-Bactria, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Hellenistic Greece, Greek state, and along with the Indo-Greek Kingdom, the easternmost part of the Helleni ...

, threatened. Phraates II moved east against these nomads and appointed Himeros who was one of his favourites on account of his good appearance as satrap in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. Himeros' tenure stood out principally for his tyrannical atrocities and constant harassment of his subjects in

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

and the surrounding cities. He would have even his own underlings sold into slavery. He set fire to the

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

and the temple of Babylon and destroyed wide sections of the city. Perhaps because of this, his rule, which also encompassed

Seleucia on the Tigris Seleucia (; grc-gre, Σελεύκεια), also known as or , was a major Mesopotamian city of the Seleucid empire. It stood on the west bank of the Tigris River, within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. Name Seleucia ( grc-gre, Σ ...

and

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...

, seems to have been very brief indeed. Shortly before 127 BC,

Hyspaosines Hyspaosines (also spelled Aspasine) was an Iranian peoples, Iranian prince, and the founder of Characene, a kingdom situated in southern Mesopotamia. He was originally a Seleucid Empire, Seleucid satrap installed by king Antiochus IV Epiphanes ( ...

is attested in Babylon as ruler. The later fate of Himeros is unknown.

Bibliography

Ancient works

* Justin 42.

*

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

34.21. *

Poseidonius Posidonius (; grc-gre, wikt:Ποσειδώνιος, Ποσειδώνιος , "of Poseidon") "of Apamea (Syria), Apameia" (ὁ Ἀπαμεύς) or "of Rhodes" (ὁ Ῥόδιος) (), was a Greeks, Greek politician, astronomer, astrologer, geog ...

, ''Histories'' 16 (Fragment, cited in Athenaios, ''Deipnosophistai'' 11.466)

Modern works

* * * {{cite book, last1=Kia, first1=Mehrdad, title=The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia volumes A Historical Encyclopedia, date=2016, publisher=ABC-CLIO, isbn=978-1610693912, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5BHDAAAQBAJ&q=false Satraps 2nd-century BC births 2nd-century BC deaths 2nd-century BC Iranian people People from the Parthian Empire