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Phraates IV, was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 37 to 2 BC. He was the son and successor of Orodes II, and was given the throne after the death of his brother Pacorus I. Phraates IV soon murdered all his brothers, and also possibly his father. His actions alienated the Armenians and also some of his nobles, including the distinguished Monaeses, who fled to the Roman triumvir Mark Antony, but shortly returned and reconciled with Phraates IV.
Orodes II, was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 57 BC to 37 BC. He was a son of Phraates III, whom he murdered in 57 BC, assisted by his elder brother Mithridates IV. The two brothers quickly fell out and entered into a dynastic struggle, in which Orodes was triumphant.
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Artabanus I, incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus II, was king of the Parthian Empire, ruling briefly from c. 127 to 124/3 BC. His short reign ended abruptly when he died during a battle against the Yuezhi in the east. He was succeeded by his son Mithridates II.
Artabanus II, incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus III, was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 12 to 38/41 AD, with a one-year interruption. He was the nephew and successor of Vonones I. His father was a Dahae prince, whilst his mother was a daughter of the Parthian King of Kings Phraates IV
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Gotarzes I was king of the Parthian Empire from 91 BC to 87 or 80 BC. He was the son and successor of Mithridates II, and was succeeded by his son Orodes I.
Elymais or Elamais was an autonomous state of the 2nd century BC to the early 3rd century AD, frequently a vassal under Parthian control. It was located at the head of the Persian Gulf in Susiana. Most of the population probably descended from the ancient Elamites, who once had control of that area.
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The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, in rebellion against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I (r. c. 171–132 BC) greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.
Hyspaosines was an Iranian prince, and 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.
Mithridates III was king of the Parthian Empire from 87 to 80 BC. His existence is disputed in scholarship.
References
- 1 2 3 4 Vardanyan, Ruben (2006). "Some remarks on the arrangement of the Parthian "Dark Age" coin series" (PDF). Parthica: Incontri di Culture Nel Mondo Antico. 8. Retrieved 11 March 2020.[ dead link ]
- ↑ Sellwood, David (15 March 2011). "The Drachms of the Parthian "Dark Age"". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland. 108 (1): 2–25. doi:10.1017/S0035869X00132988. S2CID 161619682.
- 1 2 Boiy, T. (2004). Late Achaemenid and Hellenistic Babylon. Peeters Publishers. p. 184. ISBN 978-90-429-1449-0.
- ↑ Kofoed, Jens Bruun (2005). Text and History: Historiography and the Study of the Biblical Text. Eisenbrauns. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-57506-094-1.
- 1 2 Sampson, Gareth C. (2008). The Defeat of Rome: Crassus, Carrhae and the Invasion of the East. Pen & Sword Military. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-84415-676-4.
- ↑ "AZERBAIJAN iii. Pre-Islamic History – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. 8 February 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2020.