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When two young princes, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, rose to the head of the empire in 161 ce, the Parthian king Vologases IV took advantage of the situation and put a Parthian prince on the Armenian throne, which provoked a reaction from the governor of Cappadocia. The Roman retaliation was poorly prepared and ended in disaster and Cappadocia as well as North Syria were invaded by the Parthians. Friendly to Rome, the prince of Edessa, Ma’nu VIII, was pushed out by a rival supported by the Parthians in 162 ce. Leadership of the campaign, decided as soon as the Armenian affair blew up, was entrusted to Lucius Verus who took his time coming to Syria. Not only was Ma’nu reinstated in Edessa, but Rome also annexed a strip of territory along the Euphrates, including the important city of Dura-Europos, which finally became part of the empire in 165 ce; other territories further north, such as Nisibis, were probably acquired during this period. But the Roman army could not pursue its expedition after 165 ce because an epidemic of the plague hit. The prestige that Avidius Cassius, legate of the third legion Gallica and native of Cyrrhus in North Syria, had gained from his victories led him to believe that he could declare himself emperor upon hearing a false report of Marcus Aurelius’s death in 175 ce. Avidius Cassius suffered a defeat almost immediately and was killed.