No More Learning

§ 4. ) sius, Albani), who penetrated also into Armenia
Vologeses founded on the Euphrates, a little to and Cappadocia, but were induced to retire, partly
the south of Babylon, the town of Vologesocerta. by the presents of Vologeses, and partly through
(Plin. H. N. vi. 30. ) He seems to have lived till fear of Arrian, the Roman governor of Cappadocia.
the reign of Domitian.
(Dion Cass. lxix. 15. ) During the reign of Ha-
ARSACES XXIV. , PACORUS, succeeded his drian, Vologeses continued at peace with the Ro
father, Vologeses I. , and was a contemporary of mans; and on the accession of Antoninus Pius,
Domitian and Trajan ; but scarcely anything is A. d. 138, he sent an embassy to Rome, to present
recorded of his reign. He is mentioned by Martial the new emperor with a golden crown, which event
(ix. 36), and it appears from Pliny (Ep. x. 16), is commemorated on a coin of Antoninus. (Eckhel,
that he was in alliance with Decebalus, the king vii. pp. 5, 10, 11. ) These friendly relations, how-
of the Dacians. It was probably this Pacorus ever, did not continue undisturbed. Vologeses
who fortified and enlarged the city of Ctesiphop. solicited from Antoninus the restoration of the
(Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6. )
royal throne of Parthia, which had been taken by
ARSACES XXV. , CHOSROES, called by Dion | Trajan, but did not obtain his request. He made
Cassius Osroes, a younger son of Vologeses 1. , preparations to invade Armenia, but was deterred
succeeded his brother Pacorus during the reign of from doing so by the representations of Antoninus.
Trajan. Soon after his accession, he invaded Ar- (Capitol. Anton. Pius, c. 9. )
menia, expelled Exedares, the son of Tiridates, ARSACES XXVIII. , VOLOGESES 111. , probably
who had been appointed king by the Romans, and a son of the preceding, began to reign according
gave the crown to his nephew Parthamasiris, the to coins (Eckhel, iii. p. 538), A. D. 149. During
son of his brother Pacorus. Trajan hastened in the reign of Antoninus, he continued at peace
person to the east, conquered Armenia, and reduced with the Romans; but on the death of this em-
it to the form of a Roman province. Parthama- peror, the long threatened war at length broke
siris also fell into his hands. After concluding out. In a. D. 162, Vologeses invaded Armenia,
peace with Augarus, the ruler of Edessa, Trajan and cut to pieces a Roman legion, with its com-
overran the northern part of Mesopotamia, took mander Severianus, at Elegeia, in Armenia. He
Nisibis and several other cities, and, after a most then entered Syria, defeated Atidius Cornelianus,
glorious campaign, returned to Antioch to winter, ) the governor of Syria, and laid waste every thing
.
;
NY
2


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300
ARSACES.
ARSACIDAE
Un
VETTI TANOY
edia
before him. Thereupon the emperor Verus pro- Vologeses IV. , was engaged, as already remarked,
ceeded to Syria, but when he reached Antioch, he in civil wars with his brothers. It was against
remained in that city and gave the command of him that Caracalla made war in A. D. 215, be-
the army to Cassius, who soon drove Vologeses cause he refused to surrender Tiridates and An-
out of Syria, and followed up his success by in- tiochus, who had fled to Parthin from the Romans,
vading Mesopotamia and Assyria. He took Se but did not prosecute it, since the Parthians
leuceia and Ctesiphon, both of which he sacked through fear delivered up the persons he had de-
and set on fire, but on his march homewards lost manded. (Dion Cass. lxxvii. 19. ) He appears
a great number of his troops by diseases and to have been dethroned about this time by his
famine. Meantime Statius Priscus, who had been brother Artabanus.
sent into Armenia, was equally successful. He ARSACES XXXI. , ARTABANUS IV. , the last
entirely subdued the country, and took Artaxata, king of Parthia, was a brother of the preceding,
the capitol. (Dion Cass. lxx. 2, lxxi. 2; Lucian, and a son of Vologeses IV. According to He-
Alex. Psoudom. c. 27; Capitol. M. Ant. Phil. cc. rodian, Caracalla entered Parthia in A. D. 216,
8, 9, Verus, cc. 6, 7; Eutrop. viii. 10. ) This under pretence of seeking the daughter of Artaba-
war seems to have been followed by the cession of nus in marriage ; and when Artabanus went to
Mesopotamia to the Romans.
meet him unarmed with a great number of his no-
bility, Caracalla treacherously fell upon them and
ΑΣ
put the greater number to the sword ; Artabanus
himself escaped with difficulty. Dion Cassius
merely relates that Artabanus refused to give his
daughter in marriage to Caracalla, and that the
latter laid waste in consequence the countries bor-
dering upon Media. During the winter Artaba-
nus raised a very large army, and in the following
ycar, A. D. 217, marched against the Romans.
PAA Macrinus, who had meantime succeeded Caracalla,
advanced to meet him ; and a desperate battle was
From this time to the downfall of the Parthian fought near Nisibis, which continued for two days,
empire, there is great confusion in the list of kings. but without victory to either side. At the com-
Several modern writers indeed suppose, that the mencement of the third day, Macrinus sent an
events related above under Vologeses 111. , hap- embassy to Artabanus, informing him of the death
pened in the reign of Vologeses II. , and that the of Caracalla, with whom the Parthian king was
latter continued to reign till shortly before the chiefly enraged, and offering to restore the prison-
death of Commodus ( a. D. 192); but this is highly ers and treasures taken by Caracalla, and to pay a
improbable, as Vologeses II. ascended the throne large sum of money besides. On these conditions
about a. d. 122, and must on this supposition a peace was concluded, and Artabanus withdrew
have reigned nearly seventy years. If Vologeses his forces.
III. began to reign in A. D. 149, as we have sup- In this war, however, Artabanns had lost the
posed from Eckhel, it is also improbable that he best of his troops, and the Persians seized the op-
should have been the Vologeses spoken of in the portunity of recovering their long-lost independ-
reign of Caracalla, about A. D. 212. We are ence. They were led by Artaxerxes (Ardshir),
therefore inclined to believe that there was one the son of Sassan, and defeated the Parthians in
Vologeses more than has been mentioned by modern three great battles, in the last of which Artabanus
writers, and have accordingly inserted an ad- was taken prisoner and killed, A. D. 226. Thus
ditional one in the list we have given.
ended the Parthian empire of the Arsacidae, after it
ARSACES XXIX. , VOLOGESES IV. , proba- had existed 476 years. (Dion Cass. Ixxvii. 1, 3,
bly ascended the throne in the reign of Commo- 26, 27, lxxx. 3; Herodian, iv. 9, 11, 14, 15, vi.
dus. In the contest between Pescennius Niger 2; Capitolin. Macrin. cc. 8, 12; Agathias, Hist. iv.
and Severus for the empire, A. D. 193, the Par- 24; Syncellus, vol. i. p. 677, ed Dindorf. ) The
thians sent troops to the assistance of the former ; Parthians were now obliged to submit to Artax-
and accordingly when Niger was conquered, erxes, the founder of the dynasty of the Sassani-
Severus marched against the Parthians. He was dae, which continued to reign till A. D. 651.
accompanied by a brother of Vologeses. His in- [SASSANIDAE. ] The family of the Arsacidae,
vasion was quite unexpected and completely suc- however, still continued to exist in Armenia as an
cessful. He took Ctesiphon after an obstinate re- independent dynasty. [ARSACIDAE. )
sistance in A. D. 199, and gave it to his soldiers The best modern works on the history of the
to plunder, but did not permanently occupy it. Parthian kings are: Vaillant, Arsacidarum impe-
Herodian appears to be mistaken in saying that rium sive reyum Parthorum historia ad fidem numis-
this happened in the reign of Artabanus. (Hero- matum accomodata, Par. 1725; Eckhel, Doctr.
dian. iii. 1, 9, 10; Dion Cass. lxxv. 9; Spartian. Num. Veter, vol. iii. pp. 523—550 ; C. F. Richter,
Sever. cc. 15, 16. ) Reimar (ad Dion Cass. I. c. ) Histor. Krit. Versuch über die Arsaciden und Sas-
supposes that this Vologeses is the same Vologeses, saniden-Dynastie, Göttingen, 1804; Krause in
son of Sanatruces, king of Armenia, to whom, Ersch und Gruber's Encyclopädie, Art
. Parther.
Dion Cassius tells us, that Severus granted part of ARSA'CES, the name of four Armenian kings.
Armenia ; but the account of Dion Cassius is very [ARSACIDAE, pp. 362, b. , 363, b. , 364, a. ]
confused. On the death of Vologeses IV. , at the ARSA'CIDAE. 1. The name of a dynasty of
beginning of the reign of Caracalla, Parthia was Parthian kings. [ARSACES. ]
torn asunder by contests for the crown between 2. The name of a dynasty of Armenian kings,
the sons of Vologeses. (Dion Cass. lxxvii. 12. ) who reigned over Armenia during the wars of the
ARSACES XXX. , VOLOGESES V. , a son of Romans with Mithridates the Great, king of Pou-



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ARSACIDAE.
361
ARSACIDAE.
tus, and with the Parthians. The history of this, the Armenian historians. They were one of the
dynasty is involved in great difficulties, as the most powerful families in Armenia.
After they
Latin and Greek authors do not always agree with had come to the throne, they sometimes were com-
the Armenian historians, such as Moses Chorenensis, pelled to pay tribute to the khalifs and to the em-
Faustus Byzantinus, and others. The Romans do perors of Constantinople, and in later times they
not call the dynasty of the Armenian kings by the lost a considerable part of Armenia. A branch of
name of Arsacidae ; they mention several kings of this family reigned at Kars for a considerable time
the name of Arsaces, and others descended from the after 1079. Another branch acquired the kingdom
Parthian dynasty of the Arsacidae, and they seem of Georgia, which it possessed down to the present
not to have known several kings inentioned by the day, when the last king, David, ceded his kingdom
Armenian historians. On the other hand, the to Russia, in which country his descendants are
Armenian writers know but one dynasty reigning still living. The princes of Bagration in Russia
in Armenia during that period, and they do not are likewise descended from the Pagratidae, an-
mention several kings spoken of by the Romans; other branch of whom settled in Imerethia in the
or, if they mention their names, they do not con- Caucasus, and its descendants still belong to the
sider them as kings. The consequence of this is, principal chiefs of that country.
that every account based exclusively on Roman VII. DYNASTY OF THE ARDZRUNIANS, said to
and Greek writers would be incomplete ; they have been descended from the ancient kings of
want to be compared with the Armenian historians, Assyria. Several members of it were appointed
and thus only a satisfactory result car be obtained governors of Armenia by the first khaliſs. In a. D.
Several attempts have been made to reconcile the 855, this family became independent in the northern
different statements of the western and eastern part of Armenia in the country round the upper
historians, as the reader may see from the notes of part of the Euphrates. Adom and Abusahl, the
the brothers Whiston and the works of Vaillant, last Ardzrunians, were killed in 1080 by the em-
Du Four de Longuerue, Richter, and especially peror Nicephorus Botaniates, who united their do-
St. Martin, which are cited below.
minions with the Byzantine empire.
The expression “kings of Armenia” is in many VIII. MOHAMMEDAN DYNASTIES. 1. Of Kurd-
instances vague, and leads to erroneous conclusions, ish origin, from A. D. 984 to a. D. 1085. 2. Of
especially with regard to the Arsacidae. The trans Turkoman origin, from A. D. 1084 to A. D. 1312.
actions of the Romans with Armenia will present | They resided in different places, and the extent
much less difficulties if the student will remember of their dorninions varied according to the military
that he has to do with kings in Armenia, and kings success of the khalifs of Egypt and the Seljukian
of Armenian origin reigning in countries beyond princes.
the limits of Armenia. The history of the Arsa- IX. DYNASTIES OF DIFFERENT ORIGIN, from
cidae cannot be well understood without a previous the eleventh to the fourteenth century. Some
knowledge of the other dynasties before and after kings belonged to the Pagratidae, among whom
that of the Arsacidae ; for Armenian kings were was the celebrated Haython I. or Hethum in 1224;
known to the Greeks long before the accession of and some were Latin princes, among whom was Leo
the Arsacidae ; and the annals of the Eastern em- VI. of Lusignan, who was driven out by the khalif
pire mention many important transactions with of Egypt, and died in Paris in 1393, the last king
kings of Armenia, belonging to those dynasties, of Armenia. Otto, duke of Brunswick, from whom
which reigned in this country during a period of is descended the present house of Hanover, was
almost a thousand years after the fall of the Arsa- crowned as king of Armenia in Germany, but he
cidae. But as any detailed account would be out never entered the country.
of place here, we can give only a short sketch. THE DYNASTY OF THE ARSACIDAE. (See
I. DYNASTY of Haïg, founded by Haïg, the son above, No. 111. ) It has already been said, that
of Gathlas, who is said to have lived B. c. 2107. there are considerable discrepancies between the
Fifty-nine kings belong to this dynasty, and statements of the Romans and those of the Arme-
among them Zarmaïr, who, according to the As- nians concerning this dynasty. The Romans tell
menian historians, assisted the Trojans at the siege us that Artaxias, governor of Armenia Magna for
of their city, where he commanded a body of As Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, made himself
syrians; Dikran or Tigranes, a prince mentioned independent in his government B. c. 188; and that
by Xenophon (Cyrop. iii
. 1, v. 1, 3, viii. 3, 4); Zadriates became king of Armenia Minor, of which
and Wabe, the last of his house, who fell in a country he was praefect. The descendents of Ar-
battle with Alexander the Great in B. C. 328. taxias became extinct with Tigranes 111. , who was
The names of the fifty-nine kings, the duration of driven out by Caius Caesar ; and among the kings
their reigns, and some other historical facts, mixed | who reigned after him, there are many who were
up with fabulous accounts, are given by the Ar- not Arsacidae, but belonged to other Asiatic
menian historians.
dynasties. The Armenians on the contrary say,
II. Seven GOVERNORS appointed by Alexander, that the dynasty of the Arsacidae was founded by
and after his death by the Seleucidae, during the Valarsaces or Wagharshag, the brother of Mithri-
period from 328 to 149 B. C.
dates Arsaces (ARSACES III. ), king of Parthia, hy
III. DYNASTY OF THE ARSACIDAE, from B. C. whom he was established on the throne of Armenia
149 to A. D. 428. See below.
in B. c. 149. A younger branch of the Arsacidae
IV. PERSIAN GOVERNORS, from a. D. 428 to was founded by Arsham or Ardsham, son of
625.
Ardashes (Artaxes) and brother of the great
V. GREEK AND ARABIAN Governors, from Tigranes, who reigned at Edessa, and whose de-
A. D. 632 to 855.
scendants became masters of Armenia Magna after
VI. DYNASTY OF THE PAGRATIDAE, from 855 the extinction of the Arsacidae in that country
to 1079. The Pagratidne, a noble family of Jewish with the death of Tiridates I. , who was establish-
origin, settled in Armenia in B. C. 600, according to ed on the throne by Nero, and who died most


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362
ARSACIDAE.
ARSACIDAE
probably in 1. n. 62. The Armenian historians Caesar. lle was the last of his race. (TE
have treated with particular attention the history | GRANES 111. )
of the younger branch ; they spenk but little about A RIOBARZANES. After Artavasdes II. and Ti-
the earlier transactions with Rome; and they are granes 111. had been driven out by the Romans,
almost silent with regard to those kings, the off the choice of Augustus for a king of the Arme-
spring of the kings of Pontus and Judaea, who nians fell upon one Ariobarzanes, a Median or
were imposed upon Armenia by the Romans. Parthian prince, who seems not to have belonged
I'rom this we may conclude, that the Armenians to the dynasty of the Arsacidae. As Ariobar
considered those instruments of the Romans as in- zanes was a man of great talents and distinguished
truders and political adventurers, and that the by bodily beauty, a quality which the castern
Arsacidae were the only legitimate dynasty. nations have always liked to see in their kings,
Thus they sometimes speak of kings unknown to the Armenians applauded the choice of Augustus.
the Romans, and who perhaps were but pretend- He died suddenly after a short reign in A. D. 2,
ers, who had succeeded in preserving an obscure according to the chronology of St. Martin. He
independence in some inaccessible corner of the left male issue, but the Armenians disliked his
mountains of Armenia. On the other hand the children, and chose Erato their queen. She was,
Romans, with all the pride and laughtiness of perhaps, the widow of Tigranes Ill. (Tac. Ann.
conquerors, consider their instruments or allies iii. 4. )
alone as the legitimate kings, and they generally VONONES. Erato was deposed by the Arme
speak of the Arsacidae as a family imposed nians after a short reign, and the throne remained
upon Armenia by the Parthians. As to the origin vacant for several years, till the Armenians at
of the Armenian Arsacidae, both the Romans and length chose Vonones as their king, the son of
Armenians agree, that they were descended from Phraates IV. , and the exiled king of Parthia.
the dynasty of the Parthian Arsacidae, an opinion (A. D. 16. ) Vonones maintained himself but one
which was so generally established, that Procopius year on the throne, as he was compelled to tly
(De Aedificiis Justiniani, ii. 1) says, that nobody into Syria through fear of Artabanus 111. , the
had the slightest doubt on the fact. But as to the king of Parthia (Aksaces XVIII. ]
origin of the earlier kings, who according to the ARTaxias III. , chosen king, A. D. 18, about
Romans were not Arsacidae, we must prefer the two years after Vonones had fied into Syria. [AN-
statements of the Armenians, who, as all Orientals, Taxias III. ]
paid great attention to the genealogy of their great ARSACES I. , the eldest son of Artabanus, king
families, and who say that those kings were Ar- of the Parthians, was placed on the throne of
bacidae.
Armenia by his father, after the death of Ariaxias
The Persian historians know this dynasty by 111. He perished by the treachery of Mithridates,
the name of the Ashcanians, and tell us, that its | the brother of Pharasmanes, king of Iberia, who
founder was one Ashk, who lived at the time of had bribed some of the attendants of Arsaces to kill
Alexander the Great. But the Persian authors their master. After his death, which happened in
throw little light upon the history of the Arsa- A. D. 35, Mithridates invaded Armenia and took
cidae. A series of the kings, according to its capital, Artaxata. Josephus (xviii. 3. § 4. )
the Romans, is necessary for understanding their calls this Armenian king Orodes, but this was the
historians. But as their statements are rather name of his brother, who, as we learn from Tacitus,
one-sided, they will be found insufficient not only was sent by the Parthian king to revenge his
for a closer investigation into the history of Ar. death. (Tac. Ann. vi. 31-33 , Dion Cass. Ivin.
menia, but also for many other events connected 26. )
with the history of the eastern empire. It has, ÁITHRIDATES, the aforesaid brother of Pharas-
therefore, been thought advisable to give first the manes, was established on the throne of Armenia
series of the kings according to the Roman writers, by the emperor Tiberius, A. D. 35. He was re-
and afterwards a series of these kings according to called to Rome by Caligula, but sent into Armenia
the Roman accounts combined with those of the again by Claudius, about A. D. 47, where he con-
Armenians. The chronology of this period has tinued to reign, supported by the Romans, till he
not yet been satisfactorily fixed, and many points was expelled and put to death by his nephew
remain rague.
Rhadamistus, A. D. 52. (Tac. Ann. vi. 33, ix. 8,
The following is a series of the Arsacidae and 9, xii. 44–47 ; Dion Cass. lx. 8. )
other kings of Armenia according to the Romans. RHADAMISTUS, the son of Pharasmanes, king of
ARTaxias I. , praefect of Armenia Magna under Iberia, was a highly gifted but ambitious youth,
Antiochus the Great, became the independent whom his old father tried to get rid of by exciting
king of Armenia in B. c. 188. [ARTAXIAS I. ] him to invade Arinenia, for which purpose he gave
TIGRANES I. , the ally of Mithridates the Great him an army. (A. D. 52. ) Rhadamistus, seconded
against the Romans. [TIGRANES I. )
by the perfidy of the Roman praefect in Armenia,
ARTAVASDES I. , the son of Tigranes I. , taken Pollio, succeeded in seizing upon the person of his
prisoner by M. Antonius. [ARTAVASDES I. ] uncle, whom he put to death with his wife and
ARTaxias II. , the son of Artavasdes I. , killed his children. Rhadamistus then ascended the
by his rebellious subjects. [ARTAXIAS II. ) throne; but Vologeses I. , the king of the Par-
TIGRANES II. , the son of Artavasdes I. , and thians, took advantage of the distracted state of
the brother of Artaxias 11. , established in Armenia the country to send his brother Tiridates into
by order of Augustus, by Tiberius Nero. [T1 Armenia, and proclaim him king. Tiridates ad-
GRANES II.