They henceforth obtained recognition from Graeco-Roman writers--albeit a grudging and covert recognition--as the second Power in the world, the admitted rival of Rome, the only real counterpoise upon the earth to the power which ruled from the Euphrates to the Atlantic Ocean.
While the general of King Orodes was thus successful against the Romans in Mesopotamia, the king himself had in Armenia obtained advantages of almost equal value, though of a different kind.

Instead of contending with Artavasdes, he had come to terms with him, and had concluded a close alliance, which he had sought to confirm and secure by uniting his son, Pacorus, in marriage with a sister of the Armenian monarch.

A series of festivities was being held to celebrate this auspicious event, when news came of Surenas's triumph, and of the fate of Crassus.
According to the barbarous customs of the East, the head and hand of the slain proconsul accompanied the intelligence.

We are told that at the moment of the messenger's arrival the two sovereigns, with their attendants, were amusing themselves with a dramatic entertainment.

Both monarchs had a good knowledge of the Greek literature and language, in which Artavasdes had himself composed historical works and tragedies.
The actors were representing the famous scene in the "Bacchae" of Euripides, where Agave and the Bacchanals come upon the stage with the mutilated remains of the murdered Pentheus, when the head of Crassus was thrown in among them.