Mesene

Mesene, ancient Parthian vassal state located in the south of Babylonia (modern southern Iraq). After the fall of the Seleucid king Antiochus VII Sidetes in 129 bc, a local prince, Hyspaosines (also called Aspasine, or Spasines), founded the Mesene kingdom, which survived until the rise of the Sāsānian empire. Hyspaosines refortified a town originally founded by Alexander the Great near the junction of the Eulaeus (Kārūn) and Tigris rivers and called it Spasinou Charax (“Fort of Spasines”); in the following centuries it was the main mercantile centre on the Tigris estuary. The chief source of information about Mesene is the series of coins minted by the dynasty; they are dated according to the Seleucid era and make it possible to compile a fairly complete list of local kings, from Hyspaosines (reigned 127–c. 121 bc) to Thionesius IV (reigned c. ad 111–c. 112).