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Artavasdes II of Armenia

October 17, 2023

Artavasdes II (Ancient Greek: ΑΡΤΑΒΑΖΔΗΣ Artabázdēs) was king of Armenia from 55 BC to 34 BC. A member of the Artaxiad dynasty, he was the son and successor of Tigranes the Great (r. 95–55 BC),[1] who ascended the throne of a still powerful and independent state.[2] His mother was Cleopatra of Pontus, thus making his maternal grandfather the prominent Pontus king Mithridates VI Eupator. Like his father, Artavasdes continued using the title of King of Kings, as seen from his coins.[3]

Name Edit

Artavasdes' name is the Latin attestation of an Old Iranian name *Ṛtavazdah-, identical to the Avestan Ašavazdah, presumably meaning "powerful/persevering through truth".[4] It is attested in Armenian as Artavazd and in Greek as Artaouásdēs, Artabázēs, Artábazos, and Artáozos.[4]

Biography Edit

In c. 54 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of the Roman triumvirs, who had become proconsul of Syria, had been preparing to invade the Parthian realm.[5] Artavasdes II, who was an ally of Rome, advised Crassus to take a route through Armenia to avoid the desert and offered him reinforcements of a further 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry.[6] His reasoning was that the Parthian cavalry would be less potent in the Armenian highlands.[6] Crassus refused the offer and decided to take the direct route through Mesopotamia.[6]

 
Artavasdes II's drachm, showing him wearing a tiara with Artaxiad coat of arms

As Crassus' army marched to Carrhae (modern Harran, southeastern Turkey), the Parthian king Orodes II (r. 57–37 BC) invaded Armenia, cutting off support from Artavasdes II. Orodes II persuaded Artavasdes II to a marriage alliance between the crown prince Pacorus I (d. 38 BC) and Artavasdes II's sister.[7] Crassus was shortly defeated and killed by the forces led by Orodes II's general Surena.[8] While Orodes II and Artavasdes II were observing a play of The Bacchae of Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) at the Armenian court in honor of the wedding of Pacorus and Artavasdes II's sister, the Parthian commander Silaces announced the news of the victory at Carrhae, and put the head of Crassus at Orodes II's feet.[9] The head was given to the producer of the play, who decided to use Crassus' actual severed head in place of the stage-prop head of Pentheus.[10] The death of Pacorus I in 38 BC and succession of Orodes II's other son Phraates IV (r. 37–2 BC) damaged the relations between Parthia and Armenia.[11]

In 36 BC the Roman General Mark Antony started his Parthian campaign. He allied himself with several kings of the region, including Artavasdes, who again switched sides. According to Plutarch, of the allied kings Artavasdes was "the greatest of them all... who furnished six thousand horse and seven thousand foot" to Antony.[12] Artavasdes II also persuaded Antony to attack his enemy Artavasdes of Atropatene.[13] Nevertheless, once Antony left Armenia to invade Atropatene, Artavasdes II "despairing of the Roman cause" abandoned Antony.[14] Although Artavasdes II gave refuge and supplied the defeated Romans, in 34 BC Antony planned a new invasion of Armenia to take revenge for the betrayal.[15] First he sent his friend Quintus Dellius, who offered a betrothal of Antony's six-year-old son Alexander Helios to a daughter of Artavasdes II, but the Armenian king hesitated.[16] Now the triumvir marched into Roman western Armenia. He summoned Artavasdes II to Nicopolis, allegedly to prepare a new war against Parthia. Artavasdes II didn't come, so the Roman general quickly marched to the Armenian capital Artaxata. He arrested the king, hoping with his hostage's assistance to obtain great treasures in the Armenian castles. His son Artaxias II was elected as successor. After a lost battle Artaxias II fled to the Parthian king. Finally Antony took Artavasdes II to Alexandria.[17]

The Armenian king and his family, who were bound with golden chains, had to follow Antony in his triumphal procession.[18] Cleopatra VII of Egypt awaited the triumvir on a golden throne, but Artavasdes II refused to render homage to the Egyptian Queen by proskynesis.[19]

In 31 BC, after Antony's defeat at the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra had Artavasdes decapitated. He had been an enemy of his namesake, King Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene, an ally of Antony and Cleopatra. She sent his head to Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene to secure his help.[20]

Plutarch described Artavasdes II as a well-educated man, who had a great fondness for all things Greek and was an accomplished scholar who composed Greek tragedies and histories.[21] From a wife whose name is unknown, he was survived by two sons: Artaxias II,[22] Tigranes III,[23] and a daughter[24] who possibly married King Archelaus of Cappadocia.

References Edit

  1. ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plutarch's Lives, Vol III. by Aubrey Stewart & George Long". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2022-12-11.
  2. ^ M. Chahin. The kingdom of Armenia. p. 242.
  3. ^ Shayegan 2011, p. 245.
  4. ^ a b Schmitt 1986, p. 653.
  5. ^ Bivar 1983, pp. 49–50; Katouzian 2009, pp. 42–43
  6. ^ a b c Plutarch, vol III. XIX.
  7. ^ Bivar 1983, pp. 55–56; Garthwaite 2005, p. 79; see also Brosius 2006, pp. 94–95 and Curtis 2007, pp. 12–13
  8. ^ Kennedy 1996, p. 78.
  9. ^ Dąbrowa 2018, p. 80; Bivar 1983, p. 56
  10. ^ Bivar 1983, p. 56.
  11. ^ Russell 1987, p. 125.
  12. ^ Plutarch, Antony 37
  13. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.25
  14. ^ Plutarch, Antony 39; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.25
  15. ^ Garsoïan 1997, p. 60.
  16. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.39.2
  17. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.39.3 - 49.40.1
  18. ^ Tacitus, The Annals 2.3
  19. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.40.3-4; Velleius, Roman History 2.82.4; Plutarch, Antony 50.6-7
  20. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 51.5.5; Strabo, Geography, book 11, p. 532
  21. ^ Plutarch, Crassus 33
  22. ^ Swan, The Augustan Succession: An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio’s Roman History, Books 55-56 (9 B.C.-A.D. 14), p.112
  23. ^ Bunson, Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire, p.47
  24. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.39.2

Bibliography Edit

Ancient works Edit

Modern works Edit

  • Bivar, A.D.H. (1983). "The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3(1): The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 21–99. ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
  • Brosius, Maria (2006), The Persians: An Introduction, London & New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-32089-4
  • Boyce, Mary (1984). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press. pp. 1–252. ISBN 9780415239028.
  • Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991). Beck, Roger (ed.). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004293915.
  • Curtis, Vesta Sarkhosh (2007). "Religious iconography on ancient Iranian coins". Journal of Late Antiquity. London: 413–434.
  • Dąbrowa, Edward (2018). "Arsacid Dynastic Marriages". Electrum. 25: 73–83. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.18.005.8925.
  • Garthwaite, Gene Ralph (2005), The Persians, Oxford & Carlton: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 978-1-55786-860-2.
  • Katouzian, Homa (2009), The Persians: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Iran, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-12118-6.
  • Kennedy, David (1996), "Parthia and Rome: eastern perspectives", in Kennedy, David L.; Braund, David (eds.), The Roman Army in the East, Ann Arbor: Cushing Malloy Inc., Journal of Roman Archaeology: Supplementary Series Number Eighteen, pp. 67–90, ISBN 978-1-887829-18-2
  • Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. BRILL. ISBN 9789004350724.
  • Lee E., Patterson (2015). "Antony and Armenia". TAPA. 145: 77–105. doi:10.1353/apa.2015.0006. ISSN 1533-0699. S2CID 162878359.
  • Russell, James R. (1987). Zoroastrianism in Armenia. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674968509.
  • Schmitt, R. (1986). "Artavasdes". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 6. p. 653.
  • Shayegan, M. Rahim (2011). Arsacids and Sasanians: Political Ideology in Post-Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–539. ISBN 9780521766418.
  • Garsoïan, Nina (1997). "The Emergence of Armenia". In Hovannisian, Richard G. (ed.). The Armenian people from ancient to modern times Volume I. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 37–60. ISBN 978-0-312-10169-5.
  • Strugnell, Emma (2006), "Ventidius' Parthian War: Rome's Forgotten Eastern Triumph", Acta Antiqua, 46 (3): 239–252, doi:10.1556/AAnt.46.2006.3.3
  • Syme, Ronald (1939), The Roman Revolution, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-280320-7

External links Edit

  • Tetradrachm of Artavasdes II
Artavasdes II of Armenia
Born: unknown Died: 31 BC
Preceded by King of Armenia
55 BC – 34 BC 		Succeeded by

October 17, 2023
artavasdes, armenia, artavasdes, ancient, greek, ΑΡΤΑΒΑΖΔΗΣ, artabázdēs, king, armenia, from, member, artaxiad, dynasty, successor, tigranes, great, ascended, throne, still, powerful, independent, state, mother, cleopatra, pontus, thus, making, maternal, grand. Artavasdes II Ancient Greek ARTABAZDHS Artabazdes was king of Armenia from 55 BC to 34 BC A member of the Artaxiad dynasty he was the son and successor of Tigranes the Great r 95 55 BC 1 who ascended the throne of a still powerful and independent state 2 His mother was Cleopatra of Pontus thus making his maternal grandfather the prominent Pontus king Mithridates VI Eupator Like his father Artavasdes continued using the title of King of Kings as seen from his coins 3 Artavasdes IIKing of KingsSilver tetradrachm with bust of Artavasdes IIKing of ArmeniaReign55 34 BCPredecessorTigranes the GreatSuccessorArtaxias IIDied31 BCAlexandria EgyptIssueArtaxias IITigranes IIIDynastyArtaxiad dynastyFatherTigranes the GreatMotherCleopatra of PontusReligionZoroastrianism Contents 1 Name 2 Biography 3 References 4 Bibliography 4 1 Ancient works 4 2 Modern works 5 External linksName EditArtavasdes name is the Latin attestation of an Old Iranian name Ṛtavazdah identical to the Avestan Asavazdah presumably meaning powerful persevering through truth 4 It is attested in Armenian as Artavazd and in Greek as Artaouasdes Artabazes Artabazos and Artaozos 4 Biography EditIn c 54 BC Marcus Licinius Crassus one of the Roman triumvirs who had become proconsul of Syria had been preparing to invade the Parthian realm 5 Artavasdes II who was an ally of Rome advised Crassus to take a route through Armenia to avoid the desert and offered him reinforcements of a further 10 000 cavalry and 30 000 infantry 6 His reasoning was that the Parthian cavalry would be less potent in the Armenian highlands 6 Crassus refused the offer and decided to take the direct route through Mesopotamia 6 nbsp Artavasdes II s drachm showing him wearing a tiara with Artaxiad coat of armsAs Crassus army marched to Carrhae modern Harran southeastern Turkey the Parthian king Orodes II r 57 37 BC invaded Armenia cutting off support from Artavasdes II Orodes II persuaded Artavasdes II to a marriage alliance between the crown prince Pacorus I d 38 BC and Artavasdes II s sister 7 Crassus was shortly defeated and killed by the forces led by Orodes II s general Surena 8 While Orodes II and Artavasdes II were observing a play of The Bacchae of Euripides c 480 406 BC at the Armenian court in honor of the wedding of Pacorus and Artavasdes II s sister the Parthian commander Silaces announced the news of the victory at Carrhae and put the head of Crassus at Orodes II s feet 9 The head was given to the producer of the play who decided to use Crassus actual severed head in place of the stage prop head of Pentheus 10 The death of Pacorus I in 38 BC and succession of Orodes II s other son Phraates IV r 37 2 BC damaged the relations between Parthia and Armenia 11 In 36 BC the Roman General Mark Antony started his Parthian campaign He allied himself with several kings of the region including Artavasdes who again switched sides According to Plutarch of the allied kings Artavasdes was the greatest of them all who furnished six thousand horse and seven thousand foot to Antony 12 Artavasdes II also persuaded Antony to attack his enemy Artavasdes of Atropatene 13 Nevertheless once Antony left Armenia to invade Atropatene Artavasdes II despairing of the Roman cause abandoned Antony 14 Although Artavasdes II gave refuge and supplied the defeated Romans in 34 BC Antony planned a new invasion of Armenia to take revenge for the betrayal 15 First he sent his friend Quintus Dellius who offered a betrothal of Antony s six year old son Alexander Helios to a daughter of Artavasdes II but the Armenian king hesitated 16 Now the triumvir marched into Roman western Armenia He summoned Artavasdes II to Nicopolis allegedly to prepare a new war against Parthia Artavasdes II didn t come so the Roman general quickly marched to the Armenian capital Artaxata He arrested the king hoping with his hostage s assistance to obtain great treasures in the Armenian castles His son Artaxias II was elected as successor After a lost battle Artaxias II fled to the Parthian king Finally Antony took Artavasdes II to Alexandria 17 The Armenian king and his family who were bound with golden chains had to follow Antony in his triumphal procession 18 Cleopatra VII of Egypt awaited the triumvir on a golden throne but Artavasdes II refused to render homage to the Egyptian Queen by proskynesis 19 In 31 BC after Antony s defeat at the Battle of Actium Cleopatra had Artavasdes decapitated He had been an enemy of his namesake King Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene an ally of Antony and Cleopatra She sent his head to Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene to secure his help 20 Plutarch described Artavasdes II as a well educated man who had a great fondness for all things Greek and was an accomplished scholar who composed Greek tragedies and histories 21 From a wife whose name is unknown he was survived by two sons Artaxias II 22 Tigranes III 23 and a daughter 24 who possibly married King Archelaus of Cappadocia References Edit The Project Gutenberg eBook of Plutarch s Lives Vol III by Aubrey Stewart amp George Long www gutenberg org Retrieved 2022 12 11 M Chahin The kingdom of Armenia p 242 Shayegan 2011 p 245 a b Schmitt 1986 p 653 Bivar 1983 pp 49 50 Katouzian 2009 pp 42 43 a b c Plutarch vol III XIX Bivar 1983 pp 55 56 Garthwaite 2005 p 79 see also Brosius 2006 pp 94 95 and Curtis 2007 pp 12 13 Kennedy 1996 p 78 Dabrowa 2018 p 80 Bivar 1983 p 56 Bivar 1983 p 56 Russell 1987 p 125 Plutarch Antony 37 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 25 Plutarch Antony 39 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 25 Garsoian 1997 p 60 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 39 2 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 39 3 49 40 1 Tacitus The Annals 2 3 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 40 3 4 Velleius Roman History 2 82 4 Plutarch Antony 50 6 7 Cassius Dio Roman History 51 5 5 Strabo Geography book 11 p 532 Plutarch Crassus 33 Swan The Augustan Succession An Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio s Roman History Books 55 56 9 B C A D 14 p 112 Bunson Encyclopedia of the Roman Empire p 47 Cassius Dio Roman History 49 39 2Bibliography EditAncient works Edit Cassius Dio Roman History Plutarch Parallel Lives Tacitus AnnalsModern works Edit Bivar A D H 1983 The Political History of Iran Under the Arsacids In Yarshater Ehsan ed The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3 1 The Seleucid Parthian and Sasanian Periods Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 21 99 ISBN 0 521 20092 X Brosius Maria 2006 The Persians An Introduction London amp New York Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 32089 4 Boyce Mary 1984 Zoroastrians Their Religious Beliefs and Practices Psychology Press pp 1 252 ISBN 9780415239028 Boyce Mary Grenet Frantz 1991 Beck Roger ed A History of Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule Leiden Brill ISBN 978 9004293915 Curtis Vesta Sarkhosh 2007 Religious iconography on ancient Iranian coins Journal of Late Antiquity London 413 434 Dabrowa Edward 2018 Arsacid Dynastic Marriages Electrum 25 73 83 doi 10 4467 20800909EL 18 005 8925 Garthwaite Gene Ralph 2005 The Persians Oxford amp Carlton Blackwell Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 1 55786 860 2 Katouzian Homa 2009 The Persians Ancient Medieval and Modern Iran New Haven amp London Yale University Press ISBN 978 0 300 12118 6 Kennedy David 1996 Parthia and Rome eastern perspectives in Kennedy David L Braund David eds The Roman Army in the East Ann Arbor Cushing Malloy Inc Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplementary Series Number Eighteen pp 67 90 ISBN 978 1 887829 18 2 Marciak Michal 2017 Sophene Gordyene and Adiabene Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West BRILL ISBN 9789004350724 Lee E Patterson 2015 Antony and Armenia TAPA 145 77 105 doi 10 1353 apa 2015 0006 ISSN 1533 0699 S2CID 162878359 Russell James R 1987 Zoroastrianism in Armenia Harvard University Press ISBN 978 0674968509 Schmitt R 1986 Artavasdes Encyclopaedia Iranica Vol II Fasc 6 p 653 Shayegan M Rahim 2011 Arsacids and Sasanians Political Ideology in Post Hellenistic and Late Antique Persia Cambridge University Press pp 1 539 ISBN 9780521766418 Garsoian Nina 1997 The Emergence of Armenia In Hovannisian Richard G ed The Armenian people from ancient to modern times Volume I New York St Martin s Press pp 37 60 ISBN 978 0 312 10169 5 Strugnell Emma 2006 Ventidius Parthian War Rome s Forgotten Eastern Triumph Acta Antiqua 46 3 239 252 doi 10 1556 AAnt 46 2006 3 3 Syme Ronald 1939 The Roman Revolution Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 280320 7External links EditTetradrachm of Artavasdes IIArtavasdes II of ArmeniaArtaxiad dynastyBorn unknown Died 31 BCPreceded byTigranes II King of Armenia55 BC 34 BC Succeeded byArtaxias II Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Artavasdes II of Armenia amp oldid 1177607154, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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