The Seleucid kingdom, prevented from retaking the Parthian lands it once controlled, begins to rapidly disintegrate.

The defeat of Antiochus has finally ended Seleucid dominion over the countries east of the Euphrates River, and marks the beginning of small principalities in both the north and south of Mesopotamia.

In Mesene (also called Characene, Persian Meshan), a Seleucid satrap with an Iranian name, Hyspaosines (also called Aspasine, or Spasines, who reigns from 127 BCE to about 121 BCE, refortifies Antiochia, a town originally founded by Alexander the Great near the junction of the Eulaeus (Karun) and Tigris rivers, and calls it Spasinou Charax (“Fort of Spasines”).

Hyspaosines' troops had moved north and occupied Babylon and Seleucia probably sometime in 127, when the Parthians were fighting nomadic invaders in the eastern part of their territory.

His rule there must have been short, however, for the Parthian governor of Babylon and the north, Himerus, was back in Seleucia and Babylon by 126.

Himerus cannot have been a rebel, since he strikes coins in the name of the Parthian rulers Phraates II and Artabanus II, both of whom had been killed in fighting in eastern Iran.

Himerus abuses his power and is said to have oppressed the cities of Mesopotamia, plundering them and killing their inhabitants.

Cuneiform documents from Babylon stop after this date, indicating that the city does not survive the depredations of Himerus.

He vanishes, however, and Parthian sovereignty is restored by the ninth Arsacid king, Mithridates II, who comes to the throne about 124; he is the son of Artabanus II, who had been slain fighting the Sakas.

Mithridates recovers all Mesopotamia and …

…conquers Characene, overstriking coins of Hyspaosines and driving him from his capital in 122 or 121.