Editing Mithridates II of Parthia (section)

==Name==
"Mithridates" is the [[Greek language|Greek]] attestation of the [[Iranian language|Iranian]] name ''Mihrdāt'', meaning "given by [[Mithra]]", the name of the ancient Iranian sun god.{{sfn|Mayor|2009|p=1}} The name itself is derived from [[Old Iranian]] ''Miθra-dāta-''.{{sfn|Schmitt|2005}} Mithra is a prominent figure in [[Zoroastrian]] sources, where he plays the role of the patron of ''[[khvarenah]]'', i.e. kingly glory.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2016|pp=97, 99–100}} Mithra played an important under the late Iranian [[Achaemenid Empire]], and continued to grow throughout the Greek [[Seleucid]] period, where he was associated with the Greek gods [[Apollo]] or [[Helios]], or the [[Babylonian religion|Babylonian]] god [[Nabu]].{{sfn|Olbrycht|2016|p=100}} The role of Mithra peaked under the Parthians, which according to the modern historian Marek Jan Olbrycht, "seems to have been due to Zoroastrian struggles against the spread of foreign faiths in the [[Hellenistic period]]."{{sfn|Olbrycht|2016|p=100}}