Andragoras, a Seleukid Governor of Parthia-Hyrkania, and his Coinage

We learn of Andragoras from one mention by the Roman hist orian Justin stating that it was this governor (praefect us) who was killed by Arsakes I, the founder of the Arsakid state. Arsakes invaded Parthia when he heard the news of the defeat of Seleukos II at the hands of the Gauls at Ankyra in Asia Minor. In Latin sources, the title praefectus is usually equivalent to the Seleukid offfice of strategos. But it is possible that Justin’s praefectus means in this case ‘satrap’. A Greek inscription discovered in the Iranian province of Gorgān (ancient Hyrkania) around 1959 mentions a Seleukid offficial called Andragoras. In all likelihood, the mentions in Iustinus and the inscription refer to the same power-holder. Parthia alongside Hyrkania made up a single administrative province in the Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic period. This large double satrapy encompassed Iranian Khorasan, the Gorgān region, and southern Turkmenist an. Several sources point to the fact that Parthia seceded from the Seleukid Empire in the 250s-240s B.C.