Artabanus IV of Parthia had rebelled against his brother Vologases VI of Parthia soon after the latter's succession to the throne around 212 and gained control over a greater part of the empire.

Vologases VI maintains himself in a part of Babylonia.

The Roman emperor Caracalla, wishing to make use of this civil war for a conquest of the East in imitation of his idol, Alexander the Great, marches into Mesopotamia under the pretext of marrying one of Artabanus' daughters.

Caracalla, according to the historian Herodian, tricked the Parthians in 216  into believing that he accepted a marriage and peace proposal, but then had the bride and guests slaughtered after the wedding celebrations.

The thereafter ongoing conflict and skirmishes become known as the Parthian war of Caracalla.

After deposing the kings of Osroene and Armenia to make them Roman provinces once more, he crosses the Tigris, destroys the towns, and spoils the tombs of Arbela, but when Artabanus advances at the head of an army, …