This account has been rejected by more recent scholarship, which maintains that the next two successors to Arsaces I, the founder of the Arsacid dynasty, were not his brother Tiridates I followed by his nephew, Artabanus I. Instead, they assert that both Tiridates I and Artabanus I are legendary, and the first historical Arsacid monarch by the name of Artabanus is Artabanus, the son of the third Arsacid king, Priapatius, who had been previously identified as Artabanus II. According to these scholars, after the death of Priapatius, his oldest son, Phraates I (r. 176–171 BCE), succeeded him, and after the death of Phraates I, his younger brother, Mithridates I (r. 171–139/138 BCE), ascended the Arsacid throne. As one of the most brilliant of all Arsacid kings, Mithridates I transformed the Arsacid state from a small kingdom in northeastern Iran to a vast and powerful empire, seizing Media in western Iran as well as southwestern Iran and parts of southern Mesopotamia, including the city of Seleucia-on-Tigris. After the death of Mithridates I, his son Phraates II ascended the throne. Phraates II (r. 139/138–128 BCE) defeated and killed the Seleucid monarch Antiochus VII on the battlefield in 129 BCE, putting an end to Seleucid rule in Iran. Phraates II was, however, killed in a battle against nomadic groups from Central Asia who had invaded the eastern frontiers of the Arsacid state. Upon the death of Phraates II, his uncle, Artabanus I, ascended the Arsacid throne. Therefore, according to this narrative Artabanus I was a son of the third Arsacid monarch, Priapatius, and a brother of Phraates I and Mithridates I.
Because of the continuing threat posed by invading nomadic groups, namely the Scythians of Central Asia, Artabanus I spent much of his reign in military campaigns against them. His preoccupation with the nomadic invaders in the east allowed the vassals of the Arsacid state in the southwestern provinces of the newly established empire to break away and declare their independence. Thus, a certain Hyspaosines, who ruled the small kingdom of Characene or Mesene in present-day Kuwait and southern Iraq, seized Babylonia in either 128 or 127 BCE. Artabanus never managed to recover these territorial losses, because in a battle against nomadic groups from Central Asia sometime between 124 and 123 BCE “he received a wound in his arm, of which he died immediately” (Justin: XLII.II.1). He was succeeded on the throne by his son, Mithridates II (r. 124/123–88/87 BCE), whose conquests and many achievements gained him the title “the Great” (Justin: XLII.II.1).
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates I; Mithridates II; Phraates II; Priapatius; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Appian. Appian’s Roman History. 4 vols. Translated by Horace White. London and New York: William Heinemann, 1912.
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1928.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Justin. The History of the World. Translated by G. Turnbull. London, 1746.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Schippmann, K. “Artabanus (Arsacid Kings).” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artabanus-parth.
Artabanus II
Artabanus II (Ardavan II) was a king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty from 10/11 to 38 CE. He ascended the throne after a revolt erupted against the reigning Arsacid monarch Vonones. The Roman historian Tacitus attributed the revolt against Vonones to the disdain that the Parthian nobility felt toward a king who had adopted Roman habits, customs, and manners. Vonones was denounced as a foreigner who was far more Roman than Parthian.
According to Tacitus, Vonones “had been given as a hostage to Augustus” by his father Phraates IV (Tacitus: 45). Although he had repeatedly defeated Roman armies, “Phraates had shown to Augustus every token of reverence and had sent him some of his children,” not because he was frightened or intimidated by Roman power but rather “to cement the friendship” between Rome and Parthia (Tacitus: 45). After the death of Phraates IV, a civil war erupted among the various contenders to the Arsacid throne. To end the bloodshed, the Parthian nobility sent envoys to Rome and requested that Vonones return to Parthia and assume the reins of power. The Roman emperor Tiberius “thought this a great honor to himself, and loaded Vonones with wealth” (Tacitus: 45). However, the Arsacid nobles began to doubt their decision when they realized that the prince they had selected had been infected with the culture and habits of the Roman enemy: “Where, they asked, was the glory of the men who slew Crassus, who drove out Antonius, if Caesar’s drudge, after an endurance of so many years’ slavery, were to rule over Parthians” (Tacitus: 45). Vonones himself “further provoked their disdain, by his contrast with their ancestral manners, by his rare indulgence in the chase, by his feeble interest in horses, by the litter in which he was carried whenever he made a progress through their cities, and by his contemptuous dislike of their national festivities” (Tacitus: 45). The Arsacid nobles “also ridiculed” the “Greek attendants” of Vonones and his habit of “keeping under seal the commonest household articles” (Tacitus: 45–46). They therefore decided to summon Artabanus, “an Arsacid by blood, who had grown to manhood among the Dahae,” from whom the Arsacid dynasty had hailed (Tacitus: 46). In his first attempt to seize the throne, Artabanus and his army were routed. However, in their second encounter Artabanus rallied his forces and emerged as the victor. In 7 or 8 CE, Artabanus ascended the throne in the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon near present-day Baghdad in southern Iraq. The defeated Vonones fled to Armenia, “then a free country, and exposed to the power of Parthia and Rome, without being trusted by either” (Tacitus: 46).
Coin of the Parthian/Arsacid king of kings Artabanus II (Ardavan II). By incorporating the local royal houses of Media Atropatene, Mesene-Characene, Persis, and Elymais into his empire, Artabanus II brought all of the Iranian Plateau and the Tigris-Euphrates valley under Parthian/Arsacid rule. (Tom Cockrem/Getty Images)
Scholars of ancient Iran have debated about the extent of historical knowledge held by the Arsacid and Sasanian dynasties regarding their predecessors, particularly the Achaemenids. For example, did the Parthian and Sasanian kings know about Cyrus II the Great? And if they knew about them, what was or what were the sources of their knowledge? And how accurate was their understanding of the events that had transpired several centuries before they seized the reins of power? In his Annals of Imperial Rome, Tacitus wrote that the Arsacid monarch Artabanus II was fully aware of the accomplishments of Cyrus II the Great and Alexander the Macedon and of the boundaries of their empires:
He [Artabanus II] was elated by the wars which he had successfully waged against surrounding nations, while he disdained the aged and, as he thought, unwarlike Tiberius, eagerly coveting Armenia, over which, on the death of Artaxias, he placed Arsaces, his eldest son. He further added insult, and sent envoys to reclaim the treasures left by Vonones in Syria and Cilicia. Then too he insisted on the ancient boundaries of Persia and Macedonia, and intimated, with a vainglorious threat, that he meant to seize on the country possessed by Cyrus and afterwards by Alexander. (Tacitus: 183)
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Vonones I; Vologeses I; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1928.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh, and Sarah Stewart, eds. The Age of the Parthians. London: I.
B. Tauris, 2007.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Sellwood, David. Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia. London: Spink and Son, 1980.
Tacitus. The Annals of Imperial Rome. Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2007.
Artabanus III
Artabanus III was a king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty who most probably ruled from 79 to 81 CE. Our information about this Arsacid king is scanty to the extreme. Artabanus was one of the sons of the Arsacid king Vologeses I, who ruled from 51 to 76/80. He was also the brother of Pacorus (r. 77/78–108/109). The two brothers fought over the Arsacid throne either from 79 to 81 or from 80 to 81 (Sellwood: 233).
After the Roman emperor Nero committed suicide in 68 CE, several Nero impostors appeared. One of these pseudo-Neros appeared during the reign of Emperor Titus (r. 79–81 CE). The name of this impostor, who was a Roman citizen from Asia Minor, was Terentius Maximus (Debevoise: 214). When the impostor who had advanced as far as the Euphrates was forced to flee, he sought refuge with Artabanus III. The Arsacid monarch agreed to provide Terentius Maximus with military support so he could seize the reins of power in Rome. The plan, however, fizzled when the true identity of the impostor was discovered (Debevoise: 214; Cassius Dio: LXVI.19.3b).
On his coins, which were either minted in Seleucia or Ecbatana, Artabanus III is depicted as a king with straight hair and either a rectangular or long square-cut beard. The monarch wears an earring on his left ear and a diadem with a loop at the top. On the reverse side of his coins a beardless archer is seated on a throne. The archer has a bow in his right hand. On the reverse of one of his coins, a seated king is shown receiving a diadem from Tyche. There are no coins of Artabanus III after 81 CE. Based on this fact, scholars have concluded that in the struggle for power between the brothers Pacorus and Artabanus III, the former triumphed and the latter was most probably vanquished.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Pacorus; Vologeses II
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1928.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh, and Sarah Stewart, eds. The Age of the Parthians. London: I. B. Tauris, 2007.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Sellwood, David. Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia. London: Spink and Son, 1980.
Artabanus IV
Artabanus IV (Ardavan IV) was the last king of the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty, who probably ruled from 213 to 224 CE. His death on the battlefield signaled the end of the Parthian Empire. Artabanus IV was the son of the Arsacid king Vologeses V (r. 191/192–207/208 CE). After the death of Vologeses V, his oldest son ascended the Arsacid throne as Vologeses VI (r. 207/208–221/222). Sometime after Vologeses had been proclaimed king, his younger brother, Artabanus, revolted and declared himself the legitimate heir to the Arsacid throne. The war between the two brothers dragged on for several years. The Romans took advantage of the civil war among the Parthian contenders to the throne to invade Mesopotamia. Eventually, Artabanus defeated his brother and ascended the Arsacid throne. Because of the scarcity of Parthian sources, it is not clear exactly when and how Artabanus seized the reins of power. We do know, however, that in 216 CE, the Roman emperor Caracalla (r. 211–217) asked Artabanus IV for the hand of his daughter in marriage. This fact has led historians of the Arsacid dynasty to conclude that Artabanus had already ascended the Parthian throne by 216 CE, although the coins minted with the face of Vologeses VI continued to appear in Seleucia until at least 221/222 CE. Artabanus turned down Caracalla’s request and refused to allow his daughter to become a wife of the Roman emperor. Caracalla, who according to ancient sources was obsessed with his love for military glory, used the rebuff from Artabanus as a convenient pretext to invade Parthian territory. Roman forces under the command of Caracalla marched through northern Mesopotamia and captured the capital of the kingdom of Adiabene, the city of Arbela in present-day northern Iraq. The Romans could not, however, maintain their territorial gains and eventually withdrew without scoring a major military victory over Parthian forces. In response to Caracalla’s invasion of Parthian territory, beginning in the spring of 217 Artabanus IV organized a military campaign aimed at reimposing Arsacid rule over Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, the situation in Rome had dramatically changed. Macrinus, the commander of the imperial guard who had become exasperated with the erratic and unpredictable decisions of his emperor, assassinated Caracalla just as he was about to embark on his second Parthian campaign. Artabanus used the arrival of a new emperor in Rome to demand the withdrawal of all Roman forces from Mesopotamia and financial compensation for the damages and destruction the Romans had brought about in their most recent campaign. When Macrinus rejected these demands, the war ensued yet once again.
In 217 CE, Artabanus IV attacked northern Mesopotamia. The decisive battle was fought at Nisibis in today’s southeastern Turkey, where the Parthians scored an impressive victory. The defeat forced the Romans to sue for peace. Shortly after this impressive victory, however, Artabanus IV was challenged by Ardashir, the governor of Istakhr, a small vassal kingdom in the province of Fars in present-day southern Iran. Using first the civil war between Vologeses VI and his younger brother Artabanus and then the wars between the Arsacids and the Romans, Ardashir expanded his territorial possessions from Fars into present-day southwestern Iran, seizing the province of Khuzestan. He also pushed eastward and seized Kerman in southeastern Iran. These conquests allowed Ardashir to declare himself an independent king. To demonstrate his independence, Ardashir minted his own coins. Artabanus IV seems initially not to have taken this challenge from a vassal very seriously. As Ardashir seized more territory and imposed his rule over neighboring kings, however, Artabanus IV had no choice but to respond. In April 224 when the two armies joined battle, Ardashir defeated and killed Artabanus IV. Cassius Dio wrote that Artaxerxes (Ardashir) conquered the Parthians in three battles, killing their king Artabanus (Cassius Dio: LXXX.23.2). Ardashir celebrated his momentous victory over Artabanus IV on a rock relief in Firuzabad in the province of Fars. With the death of Artabanus IV, Arsacid rule came to an abrupt end. Ardashir ascended the throne as the shahanshah (king of kings) and the founder of the new Sasanian dynasty (r. 224–651 CE). Soon all the provinces of the Parthian Empire were brought under the authority of the new Sasanian dynasty, which unlike the Arsacids established a highly centralized political system and, in sharp contrast to the Parthians, who displayed a high level of tolerance toward all religious communities, imposed Zoroastrianism as the state religion of their empire.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Vologeses V; Vologeses VI; K&Q, Sasanian: Ardashir I; Peoples: Arsacid Parthian Empire; Arsacids; Sasanian Empire
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Cassius Dio. Dio’s Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary. London: William Heinemann, 1927.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
Debevoise, Neilson C. A Political History of Parthia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
Herodian. History of the Roman Empire. Translated by Edward C. Echols. Berkeley: University of Califor
nia Press, 1961.
Rawlinson, George. The Sixth Great Oriental Monarchy. Tehran: Imperial Organization for Social Services, 1976.
Schippmann, K. “Artabanus (Arsacid Kings).” Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artabanus-parth.
Gotarzes I
Arsacid monarch who ruled the Parthian (Arsacid) Empire from 91/90 to 81/80 BCE. A rock relief at Bisotun near the city of Kermanshah in western Iran depicts the Arsacid king of kings Mithridates II and four of his high officials. A Greek inscription identifies one of these dignitaries as Gotarzes (Godarz), satrap of satraps, most probably the same Godarz who is believed by some scholars to have raised the flag of rebellion in Babylon and proclaimed himself the king in the last years of Mithridates’s reign (Bivar: 41). Tablets “from Babylon dated c. 90 BC and after suddenly begin to name a king Gotarzes,” which is believed to be Gotarzes I (Colledge: 34). After the death of Mithridates II in 88 or 87 BCE, it seems that Gotarzes was the sole ruler of the Arsacid Empire. The death of Mithridates II, however, ignited chaos and anarchy. Tigranes, the king of Armenia, attacked and captured northern Mesopotamia. Gotarzes himself was overthrown by an Arsacid contender, Orodes, in either 81 or 80 BCE.
See also: K&Q, Arsacid/Parthian: Mithridates II; Orodes I
Further Reading
Bivar, A. D. H. “The Political History of Iran under the Arsacids.” In The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 3(I), edited by Ehsan Yarshater, 21–99. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Colledge, Malcolm A. R. The Parthians. New York: Praeger, 1967.
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