Antiochus I Theos Dikaios Epiphanes Philorhomaios Philhellen was king of the Greco-Iranian kingdom of Commagene and the most famous king of that kingdom.
Artaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia, ruling from 189 BC to 160 BC. Artaxias was a member of a branch of the Orontid dynasty, the earlier ruling dynasty of Armenia. He expanded his kingdom on all sides, consolidating the territory of Greater Armenia. He enacted a number of administrative reforms to order his expanded realm. He also founded a new capital in the central valley of the Araxes River called Artaxata (Artashat), which quickly grew into a major urban and commercial center. He was succeeded by his son Artavasdes I.
Zariadres was an Orontid ruler of Sophene in the early 2nd century BC. According to Strabo, he was a general of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III who was made ruler of Sophene, although most scholars believe that he was a member of the Orontid dynasty, which ruled Armenia and Sophene. After the Seleucids were defeated by the Romans in 190 BC, Zariadres and his ally Artaxias I of Greater Armenia revolted against the Seleucids, became independent kings and expanded their territories. The last information about Zariadres' reign dates to 188 BC. He was succeeded as king by Mithrobouzanes, possibly his son.
Mithrenes was a Persian commander of the force that garrisoned the citadel of Sardis. According to Cyril Toumanoff, he was also a member of the Orontid dynasty, of Iranian origin. Waldemar Heckel, on the other hand, considers Mithrenes to be a Persian noble of unknown family background. After the battle of the Granicus Mithrenes surrendered voluntarily to Alexander the Great, and was treated by him with great distinction. Mithrenes was present in the Macedonian camp after the Battle of Issus, and Alexander ordered him to visit the captured family of Darius III and assure them that Darius was alive, before changing his mind and assigning the duty to Leonnatus instead. He fought for Alexander at Gaugamela, and ironically he was fighting against an army that included his father Orontes II. Afterwards, Alexander appointed him Satrap of Armenia.
The Artaxiad dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in 12 AD. Their realm included Greater Armenia, Sophene and, intermittently, parts of Mesopotamia. Their main enemies were the Romans, the Seleucids and the Parthians, against whom the Armenians conducted multiple wars. Under the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great, the Kingdom of Armenia reached its greatest territorial extent, extending for a brief period from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire established an independent kingdom. Later, a branch of the Orontids ruled as kings of Sophene and Commagene. They are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the antiquity-era Kingdom of Armenia.
Sames I, was the Orontid king of Sophene and Commagene, ruling around 260 BC.
Arsames I seems to have taken control of Commagene, Sophene and Armenia in the year 260 BC after the death of his grandfather Orontes III, king of Armenia, and his father Sames, king of Commagene.
Xerxes was king of Sophene and Commagene from 228 BC to 212 BC. He was the son and successor of Arsames I.
Commagene was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynasty that had ruled over Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ancient city of Samosata, which served as its capital. The Iron Age name of Samosata, Kummuh, probably gives its name to Commagene.
The Satrapy of Armenia, a region controlled by the Orontid dynasty, was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC that later became an independent kingdom. Its capitals were Tushpa and later Erebuni.
Ptolemaeus was initially the satrap of Commagene, later becoming its first king in 163 BC. He belonged to the Orontid dynasty, founded by Orontes I. Ptolemaeus' father was King Orontes IV of Armenia, son of Arsames I.
Antiochus III Epiphanes was the ruler of the Kingdom of Commagene from 12 BC to 17 AD. He was the son and successor of King Mithridates III of Commagene and Iotapa, and of mixed Iranian, Armenian, Greek and Median descent – the last through his mother. His parents were first cousins.
The Kingdom of Sophene, was a Hellenistic-era political entity situated between ancient Armenia and Syria. Ruled by the Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed with Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Syrian, Anatolian and Roman influences. Founded around the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom maintained independence until c. 95 BCE when the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great conquered the territories as part of his empire. Sophene laid near medieval Kharput, which is present day Elazığ.
Orontes II was a Persian noble living in the 4th century BC. He is probably to be identified as the satrap of Armenia under Darius III, and may in fact have succeeded Darius in this position when Darius ascended the throne of Persia in 336 BC.
Hyspaosines was the founder of Characene, a kingdom situated in southern Mesopotamia. He was originally a Seleucid satrap installed by king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, but declared independence in 141 BC after the collapse and subsequent transfer of Seleucid authority in Iran and Babylonia to the Parthians. Hyspaosines briefly occupied the Parthian city of Babylon in 127 BC, where he is recorded in records as king (šarru). In 124 BC, however, he was forced to acknowledge Parthian suzerainty. He died in the same year, and was succeeded by his juvenile son Apodakos.
Orontes III was King of Armenia. In his reign he struggled for control of the Kingdom of Sophene with king Antiochus II Theos until being defeated in 272 BC and was forced to pay a large tribute which included 300 talents of silver and 1,000 horses and mules. Orontes III was subsequently murdered in 260 BC, whether at the instigation of King Antiochus II is not recorded. His son, Sames, continued to rule in Sophene.
Orontes I was a military officer of the Achaemenid Empire and satrap of Armenia at the end of the 5th-century BC and first half of the 4th-century BC. He is notable for having led the unsuccessful Great Satraps' Revolt in Asia Minor against the Achaemenids from 362/1 BC to 360/359 BC.
Artasyrus was a Bactrian nobleman in the Achaemenid Empire, who was the father of Orontes I, the satrap of the Armenia and ancestor of the Orontid dynasty. The career of Artasyrus is obscure. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, he held the high-ranking office of the "King's Eye". He has been suggested be the same person as the namesake Iranian noble who participated in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. He and Orontes I are the only Bactrians who are known to have occupied high offices under the Achaemenid Empire. Bactrians that settled in other parts of the empire either did so by their own will or as garrison-colonists.
Yervandashat or Eruandashat was an Armenian city and one of the historical capitals of Armenia, serving as the capital city between c. 200 BC and 176 BC under the rule of the Orontid dynasty and at the beginning of the rule of their successors, the Artaxiad dynasty. Its ruins are located on a rocky hill near the confluence of the Akhuryan and Aras rivers, on the left bank of the Aras, between the villages of Yervandashat and Bagaran in modern-day Armenia.
