Orontid dynasty
| Orontid dynasty | |
|---|---|
| Country | King of Greater Armenia |
| Dissolution | 200 BC (Armenia) 95 BC (Sophene) 72 AD (Commagene) |
| Cadet branches | Artaxiad dynasty[1][2] Artsruni dynasty[3] Gnuni dynasty[4] |
| History of Armenia |
|---|
 |
| Timeline • Origins • Etymology |
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 (321 BC–428 AD).
Historical background
Some historians state that the Orontids were of Iranian origin,[5][6][1][7][8] and suggest that it held dynastic familial linkages to the ruling Achaemenid dynasty.[9][8][10] Throughout their existence, the Orontids stressed their lineage from the Achaemenids in order to strengthen their political legitimacy.[11]
Other historians state the Orontids were of Armenian origin,[12][13] while according to Razmik Panossian, the Orontids probably had marriage links to the rulers of Persia and other leading noble houses in Armenia, and states their Armenian ethnicity is uncertain.[14]
The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of a masculine name of
The precise date of the foundation of the Orontid dynasty is debated by scholars to this day but there is a consensus that it occurred after the destruction of Urartu by the Scythians and the Medes around 612 BC.[citation needed]
Language
Despite the Hellenistic invasion of Persia, Persian and local Armenian culture remained the strongest element within society and the elites.[a][16]
The imperial administration used Aramaic, where it was used in official documents for centuries.[17] Whereas most inscriptions used Old Persian cuneiform.[17] Xenophon used an interpreter to speak to Armenians, while some Armenian villages were conversant in Persian.[17]
The Greek inscriptions at Armavir indicate that the upper classes used Greek as one of their languages.[18] Under Ervand the Last (r. ca. 210–200 B.C.), the structure of government had begun to resemble Greek institutions, and Greek was used as the language of the royal court. Ervand had surrounded himself by the Hellenized nobility and sponsored the establishment of a Greek school in Armavir, the capital of the Ervanduni kingdom.[19][20]
Orontid kings and satraps of Armenia
As a successor of Astyages, Cyrus demanded to be paid the same tribute.
These events are described in detail within the
In 401 BC Artaxerxes gave him his daughter Rhodogoune in marriage. In two inscriptions of king
Starting from 301 BC Armenia is included within the sphere of influence of the Seleucid Empire, but it maintained a considerable degree of autonomy, retaining its native rulers. According to Polyaenus, in 227 BC the Seleucid rebel king Antiochus Hierax took refuge in Armenian territory governed by King Arsames, founder of the city Arsamosata. Towards the end of 212 BC the country was divided into two kingdoms, both vassal states of the Seleucids: Greater Armenia and Armenia Sophene, including Commagene or Armenia Minor. Antiochus III the Great decided to suppress the local dynasties, and besieged Arsamosata. Xerxes, the satrap of Sophene and Commagene, surrendered and implored the clemency of the king, whom he accepted as his sovereign. Antiochus gave his sister Antiochis as a wife to Xerxes; she would later murder him. Greater Armenia was ruled by an Orontid descendant of Hydarnes, the last Orontid ruler of Greater Armenia (Strabo xi.14.15); he was apparently subdued by Antiochus III the Great, who then divided the land between his generals Artaxias (Artashes) and Zariadres (Zareh), both of whom would claim descent from the Orontid family.
Orontids of Commagene
In Nemrut Dagi, opposite the statues of Gods there are a long row of pedestals, on which stood the steles of the Greek ancestors of Antiochos. At a right angle to this row stood another row of steles, depicting his Orontid and Achaemenid ancestors. From these steles the ones of Darius and Xerxes are well preserved. In front of each stele is a small altar. Inscriptions have been found on two of those altars. Antiochos expended great effort to ensure that everyone was aware that he was related to the dynasty of the King of Kings, Darius I, by the marriage of princess Rhodogune to his ancestor Orontes. The father of Rhodogune was the Persian king, Artaxerxes. In 401 BC Artaxerxes defeated his younger brother, who tried to depose him. Because of the help Artaxerxes received from Orontes—his military commander and satrap of Armenia—he gave his daughter in marriage to him. Their descendant, the Orontid
Dynasty
Family tree of the Orontid dynasty according to Cyril Toumanoff:
| Bagabigna | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hydarnes I Persian nobleman (521) | Sisamnes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hydarnes II chiliarc of Iran (480–428) | Sisamnes (480) | Otanes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hydarnes III Satrap of Armenia († 410) | Orontes | ? | Gobryas gouv. of Akkad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Amestris Daughter of Darius II | Teritouchmes Satrap of Armenia († 410) | Roxane († 410) | Tissaphernes satrap of Sardes († 396) | several princes and princesses executed in 410 | Stateira († 400) ep. Artaxerxes II | Artasyrus satrap of Hyrcany | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a prince († 404) | Mazeus satrap of Babylone († 328) | Rhodogune | Orontes I satrap of Armenia (401–361) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hydarnes satrap of Ionie (ca.334) | Orontes II satrap of Armenia (361–331) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mithrenes king of Armenia (331-ca.317) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Orontes III king of Armenia (ca.317-ca.260) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sames I king of Armenia (ca.260) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arsames I king of Armenia (ap.260-ap.228) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Orontid kings in Armenian tradition
- Orontes I Sakavakyats (570–560 BC)
- Tigranes Orontid(560–535 BC)
- Vahagn (530–515 BC)
- Hidarnes I (late 6th century BC)
- Hidarnes II (early 5th century BC)
- Hidarnes III(middle of 5th century BC)
- Artasyrus (2nd half of 5th century BC)
Kings and satraps
- Orontes (401–344 BC)
- Darius Codomannus (344–336 BC)
(Note: Some dates are approximate or doubtful).
- Orontes II (336–331 BC)
- Mithranes (331–323 BC)
- Perdiccas (non-dynastic) (323 BC)
- Neoptolemus (non-dynastic) (323–321 BC)
- Eumenes (non-dynastic) (321 BC)
- Mihran (321–317 BC)
- Orontes III (317–260 BC)
- Sames of Sophene(Armenia and Sophene c. 260 BC, unknown previous tenure as Satrap of Sophene)
- Arsames I (260–228 BC) (Armenia, Sophene, and Commagene)
- Charaspes (doubtful)
- Arsames II (Sophene c. 230 BC, possibly same person as Arsames I)
- Xerxes(228–212 BC) (Sophene and Commagene)
- Abdissares (212–200 BC) (Sophene and Commagene)
- Orontes IV (228–200 BC) (Armenia)
- Ptolemaeus (201 BC–163 BC) (Commagene)
- Seleucid rule (200–189 BC)
- Artaxiad rule (189–163 BC)
Orontid kings of Commagene
- Ptolemaeus 163–130 BC
- Sames II Theosebes Dikaios 130–109 BC
- Mithridates I Callinicus 109–70 BC
- Antiochus I Theos70–38 BC
- Mithridates II 38–20 BC
- Mithridates III 20–12 BC
- Antiochus III 12 BC–17 AD
- Ruled by Rome 17–38 AD
- Antiochus IV 38–72 AD and wife, Iotapa
See also
- Artaxiad dynasty
- Commagene
- List of rulers of Commagene
Notes
References
- ^ a b Garsoian 2005.
- ^ Garsoian, Nina (2004). "ARMENO-IRANIAN RELATIONS in the pre-Islamic period". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
However, the recent discovery in Armenia of boundary stones with Aramaic inscriptions, in which the ruler Artašēs proclaims himself "the son of Zareh" and an "Eruandid king" (Perikhanian, 1966), demonstrates that both "generals" [Artaxias and Zariadris], far from being Macedonians, belonged in fact to the earlier native dynasty, albeit probably to collateral branches, and that the Eruandids, or Artaxiad/Artašēsids as they came to be known, with their Iranian antecedents, continued to rule Armenia as before. An unexpected corroboration of this dynastic continuity is also provided by Xenophon's much earlier choice of the name "Tigranes" for the crown prince of Armenia in his historical romance, the Cyropaedia (Xen., Cyr. 3.1.7). (...) Except for the occasional princes imposed by the Romans, none of whom succeeded in consolidating himself on the throne, all the dynasties to rule pre-Islamic Armenia were of Iranian stock.
- ISBN 978-0700714520.
The Artsruni Princes were, like the Artaxiads, related to the ancient Orontid line.
- ^ Toumanoff 1961, p. 53.
- ^ Toumanoff 1963, p. 278.
- ^ Canepa 2015, p. 80.
- ^ Gaggero 2016, p. 79.
- ^ a b Allsen 2011, p. 37.
- ^ Lang 2000, p. 535.
- ^ Payaslian 2007, p. 8-9.
- ^ Payaslian 2007, p. 9.
- ^ Adrych et al. 2017, p. 138.
- ^ Ghafurov 1971, pp. 30–31.
- ^ Panossian 2006, p. 35.
- ^ a b Schmitt 2002.
- ^ a b Panossian 2006, p. 36.
- ^ a b c Bournoutian 2006, p. 23.
- ^ Manandian 1965, p. 37.
- ^ Payaslian 2007, p. 12.
- ^ Tiratsyan, “Hayastane vagh hellenizmi zhamanakashrjanum,” pp. 514–15
Sources
- Bournoutian, George (1995). A History of the Armenian People: Pre-history to 1500 A.D. ISBN 978-0-939214-96-9.
- Maranci, Christina (2018). The Art of Armenia: An Introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-19-093588-7.
- Adrych, Philippa; Bracey, Robert; Dalglish, Dominic; Lenk, Stefanie; Wood, Rachel (2017). Elsner, Jaś (ed.). Images of Mithra. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192511119.
- Allsen, Thomas T. (2011). The Royal Hunt in Eurasian History. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 37. ISBN 978-0812201079.
- Bournoutian, George (2006). A Concise History of the Armenian People. California: Mazda Publishers, Inc. p. 23. ISBN 1-56859-141-1.
Aramaic, the language of the imperial administration, was introduced into Armenia, where, for centuries, it continued to be used in official documents. Old Persian cuneiform, meanwhile, was used in most inscriptions. Xenophon mentions that he used a Persian interpreter to converse with Armenians and in some Armenian villages they responded in Persian.
- Canepa, Matthew (2010). "Achaemenid and Seleukid Royal Funerary Practices and Middle Iranian Kingship". In Börm, H.; Wiesehöfer, J. (eds.). Commutatio et Contentio. Studies in the Late Roman, Sasanian, and Early Islamic Near East in Memory of Zeev Rubin. pp. 1–21.
- ISBN 978-1848857513.
Iranian culture deeply influenced Armenia, and Iranian dynasties ruled Armenia during several important periods, including the Orontids (c. sixth century - c. early second century BCE) and Arsacids (54-428 CE).
- Gaggero, Gianfranco (2016). "Armenians in Xenophon". Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach. De Gruyter.
The above mentioned Orontids..[..]..but also because the two satraps who were contemporaries of Xenophon's are explicitly stated to be Persian.
- Garsoian, N. (2005). "TIGRAN II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
Tigran (Tigranes) II was the most distinguished member of the so-called Artašēsid/Artaxiad dynasty, which has now been identified as a branch of the earlier Eruandid [Orontid] dynasty of Iranian origin attested as ruling in Armenia from at least the 5th century B.C.E
- OCLC 8240688.
- Hovannisian, Richard G. (1997). The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. Vol. I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Palgrave Macmillan.
..but the existence of a local Armenian dynasty, probably of Iranian origin..
- Lang, David M. (2000). "Iran, Armenia and Georgia". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
The most striking example of the syncretism of gods in ancient Parthia actually occurs in a former Armenian satellite kingdom, namely Commagene, the modern Malatya district. Here a scion of the Armenian Orontid house, King Antiochus I (69 — 38 B.C.) built himself a funeral hill at Nimrud Dagh.(..) We see the king's paternal ancestors, traced back to the Achaemenian monarch Darius, son of Hystaspes, while Greek inscriptions record the dead ruler's connections with the Armenian dynasty of the Orontids.
- Manandian, Hagop (1965). The Trade and Cities of Armenia in Relation to Ancient World Trade. Armenian library of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. p. 37.
- Panossian, Razmik (2006). The Armenians From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars. United Kingdom: Columbia University Press. pp. 35. ISBN 9781850657880.
It is not known whether the Yervandunis were ethnically Armenian. They probably had marriage links to the rulers of Persia and other leading noble houses in Armenia.
- Payaslian, Simon (2007). The history of Armenia : from the origins to the present (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1403974679.
- ISBN 978-0-71009-104-8.
Iran, however, was to be the dominant influence in Armenian spiritual culture. The Orontid, Artaxiad, and Arsacid dynasties were all Iranian in origin, and the greater part of the Armenian vocabulary consists of Mid. Ir. loanwords. The Armenians preserved strong regional traditions which appear to have been incorporated into Zoroastrianism, a religion adopted by them probably in the Achaemenid period.
- Sartre, Maurice (2005). The Middle East Under Rome. Harvard University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-0674016835.
The Commagene kings claimed to be descended from the Orontids, a powerful Iranian family that had ruled the area during the Achaemenid period. They were related to the Achaemenids who had built a kingdom (...)
- Schmitt, Rüdiger (2002). "ORONTES". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- S2CID 151524770.
- Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. p. 278.
The eponym's praenomen Orontes is as Iranian as the dynasty itself..
Further reading
- Cyril Toumanoff. "A Note on the Orontids." Le Muséon. 72 (1959), pp. 1–36 and 73 (1960), pp. 73–106.
- Haykakan SSH GA hratarakchʻutʻyun. pp. 19–401.)