Editing Alexander Balas (section)

===Collapse of the East===

Meanwhile, the Seleucid positions in the eastern [[Upper Satrapies]], already weakened by the previous kings' failure to contain the [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]] and the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom|Greco-Bactrians]], suffered almost complete collapse. The Parthians under [[Mithridates I of Parthia|Mithridates I]] took advantage of the general instability to invade [[Media (Iran)|Media]]. The region had been lost to Seleucid control by the middle of 148 BC.<ref>''Inscriptiones d;Iran et d'Asie centrale'' n. 70; Justin, ''Epitome of Pompeius Trogus'' 41.6.6; {{cite book |last1=Le Rider |first1=Georges |title=Suse sous les Séleucides et les Parthes: Les trouvailles monétaires et l'histoire de la ville |date=1965 |location=Paris |pages=339–340}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Chrubasik |first1=Boris |title=Kings and Usurpers in the Seleukid Empire: The Men who would be King |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780198786924|pages=132}}</ref> At around the same time the local nobles in [[Elymais]] and [[Persis]] asserted their own ephemeral independence, only to be soon also subdued by the Parthians.<ref name="ei-elymais">{{cite web|title=Elymais|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/elymais|website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|publisher=[[Columbia University]]|access-date=2 October 2021|language=en}}</ref><ref name="ei-farataka">{{cite web|title=Frataraka|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/frataraka|website=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|publisher=[[Columbia University]]|access-date=2 October 2021|language=en}}</ref> By 148 BC at the latest the Parthians also secured their hold over [[Hyrcania]] at the coast of the [[Caspian Sea]].<ref name="Rawlinson (1873)" >Rawlinson (1873)</ref> By 147 BC the Parthians stood at the doorsteps of [[Babylonia]], one of the Seleucid empire's hearthlands and location of one of its two capital cities, [[Seleucia|Seleucia-on-Tigris]].

Alexander is not recorded to do anything of note to stem the steady erosion of Seleucid power in the East. Ancient historians hostile to him depict him as too distracted by a life of debauchery to take action to stop the Parthians, unlike earlier Seleucid Kings who would mount expeditions to the eastern satrapies to deter the Parthians.  He was reputed to hand the administration over to two commanders, Hierax and [[Diodotus Tryphon|Diodotus]], neither of whom seemed to care for anything but their own interests.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Alexander Balas|volume=1|pages=565-566}}</ref> This representation is at least partially a product of his opponents' propaganda, but it is true that under Alexander, the Seleucid Empire continued to see its reach and power slip away.