A TALE OF TWO CITIES? DIFFERENT DATES FOR THE PARTHIAN SECESSION FROM THE SELEUCIDS, AND THE REVOLT OF AN AFRICAN HECATOMPYLUS

Abstract Hecatompylus (Tébessa, Algeria) was a Carthaginian subject by the third century b.c . In 256 the Roman consul M. Atilius Regulus invaded Punic North Africa, sparking a widespread rebellion of an alleged 200 cities (App. Pun . 3.11). Far to the east, the rebellion of the Seleucid satrap Andragoras, based at another Hecatompylus (Shahr-e Qumis, Iran), predated the invasion of the future Parthian king Arsaces I by a number of years, but is usually dated to the 240s. Justin’s dating of the ‘first revolt’ of the Parthians to both the year of Regulus’ consulship (256/255) and the reign of Seleucus II (246–225) has naturally called into question which of these date ranges is correct, as well as what event precisely he refers to ( Epit . 41.4.3). This article provides a hypothetical solution to this problem in suggesting that a conflation of events, dates and places has occurred in this confused passage of Justin’s Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus . The solution understands Trogus—or more likely his key source, Timagenes—as having misinterpreted a reference to the revolt of the African Hecatompylus during Regulus’ invasion as meaning its more famous namesake, the Parthian capital, which revolted from the Seleucids around a decade later. By revisiting the context and sources for the revolt of the African city, this article also offers fresh perspective on the ordering of events in the latter stages of the First Punic War and the career of the general Hanno ‘the Great’, rival to Hamilcar Barca.