Artabanus II of Parthia
| Artabanus II 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓 | |
|---|---|
Arsacid dynasty | |
| Father | unnamed Dahae prince |
| Mother | unnamed daughter of Phraates IV |
| Religion | Zoroastrianism |
Artabanus II (also spelled Artabanos II or Ardawan II; Parthian: 𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓 Ardawān), incorrectly known in older scholarship as Artabanus III,[1] 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 (r. 8–12). His father was a Dahae prince, whilst his mother was a daughter of the Parthian King of Kings Phraates IV (r. 37–2 BC)
Before his ascension to the Parthian crown, Artabanus had ruled as king of
Name
Artabanus is the Latin form of the Greek Artábanos (Ἁρτάβανος), itself from the Old Persian *Arta-bānu ("the glory of Arta.").[2] The Parthian and Middle Persian variant was Ardawān (𐭍𐭐𐭕𐭓).[1][2]
Background and kingship of Media Atropatene
Artabanus was not from the ruling branch of the Arsacid royal family; his father was a
Reign
Artabanus, now the monarch of the Parthian Empire, attempted to depose Vonones I from the Armenian throne and appoint his own son instead.[7] This attempt was instantly opposed by the Romans, who regarded this as posing a danger to their interests.[7] As a result, the Roman emperor Tiberius (r. 14–37 AD) sent his stepson Germanicus to prevent this from happening.[7] However, the Roman general met no resistance from the Parthians. Instead, Germanicus reached an agreement with Artabanus to appoint Artaxias III the new king of Armenia and renounce their support of Vonones I.[7][8] The Romans thus acknowledged Artabanus as the legitimate Parthian ruler.[8] In order to ratify the friendly relationship between the two empires, Artabanus and Germanicus met on an island in the Euphrates in 18 AD.[7]
The Romans moved Vonones I to
Artabanus spent the following years increasing his authority.[1] To the north-east, he was victorious in his efforts to have a new dynasty established in Khwarazm, thus starting a new era in the history of the country.[11] Artabanus most likely operated in western Bactria as well, which had been part of the Parthian domains for centuries.[10]
In 35 AD, Artabanus tried again to conquer Armenia and to establish his son Arsaces I as Armenia's king. A war with Rome seemed inevitable. The faction among the Parthian magnates which was hostile to Artabanus II applied to Tiberius for a king who was a descendant of Phraates IV. Tiberius sent Phraates IV's grandson,
Tiridates III, who was proclaimed King, could not keep control of the Parthian throne, because he appeared to his subjects to be a vassal of the Romans. In the meantime, Artabanus II returned from
Artabanus II had four sons:
Mandaeans
Mandaeans credit a king named Artabanus (Mandaic: Ardban), most likely to be Artabanus II, with helping them escape persecution in Jerusalem and settling in Media during his reign. He is mentioned in the Haran Gawaita, a Mandaean text.[12]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Schippmann 1986, pp. 647–650.
- ^ a b Dandamayev 1986, pp. 646–647.
- ^ a b c d Olbrycht 2016, p. 24.
- ^ a b Olbrycht 2014, pp. 94–96.
- ^ a b c d Olbrycht 2014, p. 96.
- ^ Olbrycht 2012, pp. 215–216.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Dąbrowa 2012, p. 174.
- ^ a b Olbrycht 2012, p. 215.
- ^ Epigraphy of Later Parthia, «Voprosy Epigrafiki: Sbornik statei», 7, 2013, pp. 276-284 [1]
- ^ a b c Olbrycht 2012, p. 216.
- ^ Olbrycht 2015, p. 341.
- ISBN 9781451416640.(pp94-11). Minneapolis: Fortress Press
Notes
- ^ Briefly interrupted in 35.
Sources
- Chaumont, M. L. (1986). "Armenia and Iran ii. The pre-Islamic period". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 418–438.
- Chaumont, M. L.; Schippmann, K. (1988). "Balāš". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 6. pp. 574–580.
- Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007). "Religious iconography on ancient Iranian coins". Journal of Late Antiquity. London: 413–434.
- Dąbrowa, Edward (2007). "The Parthian Kingship": 123–134.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - Dąbrowa, Edward (2012). "The Arsacid Empire". In ISBN 978-0-19-987575-7. Archived from the originalon 2019-01-01. Retrieved 2019-01-13.
- Dandamayev, M. A. (1986). "Artabanus (Old Persian proper name)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 6. pp. 646–647.
- de Crespigny, Rafe (2007), A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD), Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, ISBN 978-90-04-15605-0.
- Gregoratti, Leonardo (2017). "The Arsacid Empire". In Daryaee, Touraj (ed.). King of the Seven Climes: A History of the Ancient Iranian World (3000 BCE - 651 CE). UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies. pp. 1–236. ISBN 9780692864401.
- Kia, Mehrdad (2016). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. ISBN 978-1610693912. (2 volumes)
- Morton, William S.; Lewis, Charlton M. (2005), China: Its History and Culture, New York: McGraw-Hill, ISBN 978-0-07-141279-7.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (1997). "Parthian King's tiara - Numismatic evidence and some aspects of Arsacid political ideology". Notae Numismaticae. 2: 27–61.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2012). "The Political-Military Strategy of Artabanos/Ardawān II in AD 34–371". Anabasis: Studia Classica et Orientalia. 3: 215–237.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2014). "The Genealogy of Artabanos II (AD 8/9–39/40), King of Parthia". Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica. 15 (3): 92–97. .
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2015). "Arsacid Iran and the nomads of Central Asia – Ways of cultural transfer". Complexity of Interaction Along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the First Millenium Ce, Edited by Jan Bemmann, Michael Schmauder (Bonn Contributions to Asian Archaeology, Volume 7) Bonn 2015 [Vor- und Fruhgeschichtliche Archäologie, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn]: 333–390.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2016). "Dynastic Connections in the Arsacid Empire and the Origins of the House of Sāsān". In Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh; Pendleton, Elizabeth J.; Alram, Michael; Daryaee, Touraj (eds.). The Parthian and Early Sasanian Empires: Adaptation and Expansion. Oxbow Books. ISBN 9781785702082.
- Rapp, Stephen H. (2014). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1472425522.
- Rose, Jenny (2004). "Investiture". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. XIII, Fasc. 2. pp. 180–188.
- ISBN 978-0199733309.
- Schippmann, K. (1986). "Artabanus (Arsacid kings)". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 6. pp. 647–650.
- Schippmann, K. (1987). "Azerbaijan iii. Pre-Islamic History". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. III, Fasc. 2. pp. 221–224.
- Sellwood, D. (1983). "Adiabene". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 5. pp. 456–459.
- Watson, William (1983). "Iran and China". In ISBN 0-521-20092-X..
- Wang, Tao (2007), "Parthia in China: a Re-examination of the Historical Records", in Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh and Sarah Stewart (ed.), The Age of the Parthians: The Ideas of Iran, vol. 2, London & New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd., in association with the London Middle East Institute at SOAS and the British Museum, pp. 87–104, ISBN 978-1-84511-406-0.
- Wood, Frances (2002), The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years in the Heart of Asia, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-520-24340-8.
- Yü, Ying-shih (1986), "Han Foreign Relations", in Twitchett, Denis and Michael Loewe (ed.), Cambridge History of China: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 B.C. – A.D. 220, vol. 1, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 377–462, ISBN 978-0-521-24327-8.
Further reading
- Gregoratti, Leonardo (2015). "A Tale of Two Great Kings: Artabanus and Vologaeses". In Krasnowolska, A. (ed.). Studies on the Iranian World: Before Islam: Medieval and Modern, Vol. 1. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press. pp. 203–210.
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