At first Macrinus, having no military experience and wishing to avoid a battle, tried to placate and reach an accommodation with Artabanus, offering to return all prisoners. Artabanus rejected this, demanding financial compensation, the rebuilding of the destroyed towns and the cession of the Roman provinces of northern Mesopotamia, only recently conquered by Septimius Severus. These terms were unacceptable to the Romans, and so Macrinus rejected them.[1]