Vologases I of Parthia
Encyclopedia
Parthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
from about 51 to 78. Son of Vonones II
Vonones II of Parthia
Vonones II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire briefly in 51. During the reign of his brother Gotarzes II he was governor of Media, and was raised to the throne on Gotarzes' death. However, he died after a few months and was succeeded by his son Vologases I....
by a Thracian
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
concubine, he succeeded his father in 51 AD. He gave the kingdom of Media Atropatene to his brother Pacorus II
Pacorus II of Parthia
Pacorus II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from about 78 to 105. A son of Vonones II and brother of Vologases I, he was given the kingdom of Media Atropatene by the latter after his succession to the throne. After Vologases' death, Pacorus revolted against his brother's son and successor,...
, and occupied Armenia for another brother, Tiridates
Tiridates I of Armenia
Tiridates I was King of Armenia beginning in AD 53 and the founder of the Arshakuni Dynasty, the Armenian line of the Arsacid Dynasty. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58...
. This led to a long war with the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(54–63), which was ably conducted by the Roman general Corbulo
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo was a Roman general and a brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula.-Descent:Corbulo was born in Italy into a senatorial family...
.
The power of Vologases was weakened by an attack of the Dahae
Dahae
The Dahae , or Dahaeans were a confederacy of three Ancient Iranian tribes who lived in the region to the immediate east of the Caspian Sea. They spoke an Eastern Iranian language.-Records:...
and Sacae nomads, a rebellion of the Hyrcanians, and the usurpation of his son Vardanes II
Vardanes II of Parthia
Vardanes II of Parthia was the son of Vologases I and briefly ruler of part of the Parthian Empire. He rebelled against his father from about 55 to 58 CE and must have occupied Ecbatana, since he issued coins from the mint there, bearing the likeness of a young beardless king wearing a diadem with...
. According to Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
, he was prevented from attacking the vassal king of Adiabene
Adiabene
Adiabene was an ancient Assyrian independent kingdom in Mesopotamia, with its capital at Arbela...
by an invasion of the eastern nomads. At last, a peace was concluded, by which Tiridates was acknowledged as king of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, but had to become a vassal of the Romans; he went to Rome, where Roman emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
gave him back the diadem; from that time an Arsacid dynasty
Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty...
ruled in Armenia under Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
supremacy.
Vologases was satisfied with this result, and honored the memory of Nero (Suetonius
Lives of the Twelve Caesars
De vita Caesarum commonly known as The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus.The work, written in AD 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Suetonius,...
Nero, 57), though he stood in good relations with Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
also, to whom he offered an army of 40,000 archers in the war against Vitellius
Vitellius
Vitellius , was Roman Emperor for eight months, from 16 April to 22 December 69. Vitellius was acclaimed Emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors...
. Soon afterwards the Alans
Alans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
, a great nomadic tribe beyond the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, invaded Media and Armenia; Vologases applied in vain for help to Vespasian
Vespasian
Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
. It appears that the Persian losses in the east also could not be repaired; Hyrcania remained an independent kingdom. Vologases died in about 78 and was succeeded by his son Vologases II
Vologases II of Parthia
Vologases II of Parthia was the son of Vologases I of Parthia and ruled the Parthian Empire from about 77 to 80. Little is known about him. It seems that Vologases II was defeated and deposed by his uncle, Pacorus II of Parthia ....
.
Vologases and the Iranian Revival
His reign is marked by a decided reaction against HellenismHellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
. He was influential in reverting the Hellenization by going back to Iranian customs and traditions of Achamenids time. He replaced the Greek alphabet with Aramaic script. On some of his coins the initials of his name appear in Aramaic letters. He reverted the Greek names of Iranian cities to Iranian names.
According to Zoroastrian texts, Vologases ordered the collection of the ancient Avestan texts. One some of his coins a fire temple can be seen and this tradition continued for several hundred years to the end of Sassanians.
He built cities including Vologesocerta (Balashkert or Balashgerd or Balashkard, literally Balash built it) in the neighborhood of Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
with the intention of drawing to this new town the inhabitants of Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleucia on the Tigris
Seleucia , also known as Seleucia on the Tigris, was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Ctesiphon, in present day Babil Governorate, Iraq.-Seleucid empire:Seleucia,...
. Another town founded by him is Vologesias on a canal of the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
, south of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
(near Hirah).