[7] To conduct reconnaissance, Rhadamistus pretended that he was at feud with his father and stepmother and went to the court of Mithridates, who received him like a son and with an excessive kindness.

Meanwhile Pharasmanes had invented a pretext for war: when he was fighting with the king of the Caucasian Albanians and appealing to the Romans for help, his brother had opposed him, and the conflict was to be called revenge for that opposition.

Pharasmanes gave his son a large Iberian army, who by a sudden invasion forced Mithridates to take shelter in the fortress of Gorneas, which had a strong Roman garrison under the command of Caelius Pollio.

[9][10] Rhadamistus opened negotiations with his uncle, claiming to be kindly disposed towards him because of their ties of blood and because of his marriage to Mithridates' daughter Zenobia.

Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus, governor of Syria, sent a force to restore order, but was recalled so as not to provoke a war with Parthia.

Consequently, King Vologases I, having recently ascended the Parthian throne, saw an opportunity to detach Armenia from the dominion of Rome and add it to his own, thus advancing his reputation and providing a principality for his brother Tiridates.

[32][33] Upon his return to his father's domains in 58, Rhadamistus was executed for treason,[34] ending Pharasmanes' fears of usurpation and demonstrating Iberian loyalty to Rome,[35][36] and in particular to Emperor Nero.