Editing Mithridates II of Parthia (section)

== Further expansions to the west, and contact with the Romans ==
Tigranes remained a hostage at the Parthian court until {{circa|96/95 BC}}, when Mithridates II released him and appointed as the king of Armenia.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2009|p=168}}{{sfn|Dąbrowa|2018|p=78}} Tigranes ceded an area called "seventy valleys" in the [[Caspiane]] to Mithridates II, either as a pledge or because Mithridates II demanded it.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2009|pp=165, 182 (see note 57)}} Tigranes' daughter [[Ariazate]] had also married a son of Mithridates II, which has been suggested by the modern historian Edward Dąbrowa to have taken place shortly before he ascended the Armenian throne as a guarantee of his loyalty.{{sfn|Dąbrowa|2018|p=78}} Tigranes would remain a Parthian vassal until the end of the 80s BC.{{sfn|Olbrycht|2009|p=169}} The following year, Mithridates II attacked [[Adiabene]], [[Gordyene]] and [[Osrhoene]] and conquered these [[city state]]s, shifting the western border of the Parthian realm to the Euphrates.{{sfn|Kia|2016|pp=55, 186}} There the Parthians encountered the [[Roman Republic|Romans]] for the first time. In 96 BC Mithridates II sent one of his officials, [[Orobazus]], as an envoy to [[Sulla]]. As the Romans were increasing in power and influence, the Parthians sought friendly relations with the Romans and thus wanted to reach an agreement that assured mutual respect between the two powers.{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p=12}} Negotiations followed in which Sulla apparently gained the upper hand, which made Orobazus and the Parthians look like supplicants. Orobazus would later be executed.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sulla*.html#5.4. Plutarch, ''Life of Sulla'' 5.4]</ref>{{sfn|Dignas|Winter|2007|p=12}}