A slave woman sent from Rome persuaded the Parthian king to send his four sons to Rome, then her son killed him and married her

In 20 BC Phraates IV of Parthia returned the Roman legionary standards to Augustus. In the same exchange he received an Italian slave woman, Musa. Josephus calls her Thermusa and says she was a gift of Julius Caesar. She bore Phraates a son, Phraates, called Phraataces, "little Phraates", and he made her first a concubine and then his lawful wife. Josephus says she persuaded him to send his legitimate sons to Rome as pledges of loyalty, which cleared the way for her own son. Livius names the four: Seraspadanes, Rhodaspes, Phraates and Vonones; parthia.com dates their departure to 10 BC. Phraates named Phraataces his successor and was killed soon after, in 2 BC. Josephus says the son plotted his father's death with his mother's help; parthia.com says Musa poisoned him^†. Phraataces then married his mother, and her portrait appears on his coins. Josephus says the Parthians hated him for the killing and the marriage, drove him out in a revolt, and he died. parthia.com dates his fall to AD 4. The Parthians later took Vonones, raised in Rome, as their king.