Note 70 — Chapter IX · THE EUPHRATES FRONTIER AND THE PARTHIANS. (continued 2)

Artaxares names his father Papacus in the inscription, quoted at p. 83, note 1, king; how it is to be reconciled with this, that not merely does the native legend (in Agathias ii. 27) make Pabek a shoemaker, but also the contemporary Dio (if in reality Zonaras, xii. 15, has borrowed these words from him) names Artaxares ἐξ ἀφανῶν καὶ ἀδόξων, we do not know. Naturally the Roman authors take the side of the weak legitimate Arsacid against the dangerous usurper.