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[German version] L. Iulius Aurelius Septimius V. Athenodorus, son of Odaenathus [2] and Zenobia, perhaps identical to the Timolaos [5] mentioned in the Historia Augusta (SHA Gall. 13,2; SHA Tyr. Trig. 15,2 et passim; but cf. SHA Aur. 38,1). He was still a child when his father was murdered (in AD 267), so that his career was guided by Zenobia: V. appears after 267 as rex regum and corrector totius orientis (CIS II 3971), was later imperator and dux Romanorum [1] and Augustus in the spring of 272 (ILS 8924). Coins from Alexandria showing both Aurelianus [3] and V. should n…

[German version] (German Roderich, Spanish Rodrigo, Arabic Luḏrīq). Last king of the Visigoths. The so-called Crónica Mozárabe (in Spanish) of AD 754, which provides information about the end of the West Gothic empire, reveals that R. was initially provincial governor (of Hispania Baetica ?) and in 710, after the death of Witiza, was elected king, an election which did not go unopposed. At the very time the Muslims invaded Spain in April/May 711, R. was fighting the Basques; yet he managed to deploy an approxim…

[German version] Commander of Sapor [2] II, entrusted with the defence of the Persian western frontier. He spoke in favour of peace negotiations with Rome in AD 357 (Amm. Marc. 16,9,3 f.; 17,5). When the Persian War flared up again in 359, T. and Nohodares successfully led small, highly manoeuvrable divisions against the Romans (Amm. Marc. 18,8,3; 19,9,7; cf. Them. Or. 4,57). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

(Ὀρώδης; Orṓdēs). [German version] [1] O. I Parthian king, 1st cent. BC Parthian king around 81/80-76/5 BC who is mentioned under the name Uruda only in cuneiform texts [1. 517, 1162f., 1165, 1170f., 1174, 1446]. He was probably a son of Artabanus [4] I and therefore a brother of the kings Mithridates [13] II and Gotarzes I who ruled before him and Sanatruces who ruled after him. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography 1 T.G. Pinches, J.N. Strassmaier, A. J. Sachs, Late Babylonian Astronomical and Related Texts, 1955. J. Oelsner, Randbemerkungen zur arsakidischen Geschichte …

[German version] (App. Mithr. 19: Nemánēs; but cf. Memnon FGrH 434 F 22: Menophánēs). An Armenian in the service of Mithridates [6] VI of Pontus, who dealt M. Aquillius [I 4] a heavy defeat in Bithynia in 88 BC. He seems then to have entered the service of the Paphlagonian king Mithridates Philopator Philadelphus, a son of Mithridates VI, as a ‘N., son of Naimanes’ appears among the envoys who brought gifts in the former's name to the Roman Capitol in about 80 BC (CIL I2 730 = CIL VI 30922 = ILS 30 = ILLRP 180). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

[German version] Son of Sūrēn Abdagaeses, centre of a conspiracy against the Parthian king Artabanus [5] II. At his instigation, in AD 35 a Parthian legation obtained from Tiberius the dispatch of prince Phraates to be pretender to the throne. After his death, Phraates' son or nephew Tiridates was installed as his successor in the Parthian Empire by L. Vitellius, the legate of Syria. S. took  Tiridates' side, taking with him his own troops (Tac. Ann. 6,31 f.; 6,36 f.). S.' subsequent fate is unknown. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

[German version] (Μιθροβουζάνης; Mithrobouzánēs). Son of Zariadris of Sophene, who was at the court of Ariarathes V of Cappadocia when his father died (163 BC). Ariarathes rejected the proposal of Artaxias I (Artaxias [1]) of Armenia to eliminate the sons of Zariadris and to split Sophene between Armenia and Cappadocia, and helped M. to take up his throne (Diod. Sic. 31,22; Pol. 31,16). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography M. Schottky, Media Atropatene und Groß-Armenien, 1989, 196-199.

[German version] (Βᾶς; Bâs). The Bithynian dynast was the son of Boteiras and second successor to  Doedalses. Memnon (FGrH 434 F 12,4) gives him 71 years, of which he ruled for 50 (377/6-328 BC). His victory over Calas, the satrap charged by Alexander [4] the Great with the conquest of  Bithynia, falls in his late phase (between 333 and 328). This event gave rise to an independent Bithynian ‘kingdom’, whose first king was B.'s son  Zipoetes [1] . Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

[German version] [1] 1st cent. AD Parthian king Son of Vologaeses I, who fought Pacorus for the Parthian crown from AD 89/90, but did not succeed until 108/9. His meddling in Armenia (cf. Axidares; Parthamasiris) provoked Trajan's Parthian War (Parthian and Persian Wars), which O. weathered despite severe setbacks. In 117, he expelled his son Parthamaspates, who had been drawn to the Roman side and whom Trajan had made king of the Parthians. A treaty was concluded at a meeting with Hadrian in 123, and O…

(Σαμψιγέραμος; Sampsigéramos) [German version] [1] Prince of Emesa and Arethusa, 1st cent. BC The prince of Emesa and Arethusa (Str. 16,2,11) in Syria; was an (unfaithful) ally of Antiochus [14] XIII, whom he captured twice and killed in 64 BC (Diod. Sic. 40,1b). His good relationship with Pompeius [I 3] prompted Cicero to use his exotic Aramaic name as a nickname for Pompey (Cic. Att. 2,14,1; 16,2; 17,1-2; 23,2-3). S. was named among the princes who supported the rebellion of the Pompeian Caecilius [I 5] Bassus, which began in 46 BC (Str. 16,2,10). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) …

[German version] Chosroes [6] II's general who in 614 AD conquered Jerusalem and in 626 besieged Constantinople. On 27 April 630 he overthrew Ardashir [3] III and ruled as Persian king of kings until he was himself killed on 9 June 630 [1]. PLRE 3B, 1141-1144. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography 1 M. Ibn-G. at Tabari, Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden (with German transl., comm. and additions by  Th. Nöldeke), 1879 (reprint 1973), 290-303, 388-390.

(Τιγράνης/ Tigránēs). [German version] [1] T. I. Father of T. [2] (App. Syr. 48), king of Armenia around 120-95 BC. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [2] T. II. Son of T. [1], born in 140 BC. In c. 120 BC, after a lost battle against the Parthians, he was given over to them, to be released in Armenia in 95. For his release, he had to hand over an area containing 70 valleys. In c. 93, T. annexed Orontes' [6] IV kingdom of Sophene. Not later than after the death of the Parthian king Mithridates [13] II (88/87), he recaptured the 70 valleys and annexed other…

[German version] In AD 62, the Parthian Vologaeses I succeeded in encircling the Roman army of Caesennius [4] Paetus near Rhandia. V.--commander of the cavalry--was sent from the Parthian side to negotiate the capitulation. In the discussion, Paetus prided himself on the Roman supremacy over Armenia which had been in existence from Licinius [I 26] Lucullus and Pompeius [I 3] , while V. emphasised the actual Parthian dominance. His part in the negotiations that followed cannot be clearly determined…

[German version] [1] Member of the royal family of Cappadocia, 4th cent. BC Brother of Ariarathes I of Cappadocia who helped Artaxerxes [3] III in the Egyptian campaigns. His brother adopted his son Ariarathes II. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [2] Member of the royal family Cappadocia, 2nd cent. BC (also Olophernes in the manuscripts). Son of Ariarathes  IV of Cappadocia and Antiochis. He was allegedly foisted on the king by the queen who was initially childless. When she wanted to obtain the crown for her younger son Mithridates…

(Οὐολόγαισος/ Ouológaisos(and other spellings); Lat. Vologaeses (and other spellings), Parthian Walagaš), name of Iranian and Armenian rulers (Parthians). [German version] [1] V. I Son of Vonones [2] II and a Greek mistress (Tac. Ann. 12,44; Jos. Ant. Lud. 20,3,4 erroneously referred to him as the son of Artabanus [5] II). In AD 50/51, he successfully fought for the Parthian throne against Gotarzes II. The first phase of his reign was marked by a war on two fronts--against the Romans in Armenia and against a son of Vardanes [2] who operated from Hyrcania. In c. 61, V. succeeded in des…

[German version] Son of the Chorasanian governor Farruḫ-Hormizd, who overthrew Azarmiducht in AD 631 and effected the recognition of  Yazdgird III in 633. As supreme commander he tried to fend off an Arab incursion. Under R.'s leadership, for example, a Persian army advanced as far as the border fortification of Al-Qādisīya on the edge of the Syrian Desert. In the spring of 636 or 637 a battle of several days developed there, in which the Persians were defeated after R. had fallen (PLRE 3B, 1100). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography B. W. Robinson, s. v. R., EI2 8, 1995, 636-638  B. Spu…

[German version] (Κυρρηστική; Kyrrhēstikḗ). Region in northern Syria south of  Commagene, between the Euphrates and the  Amanus; named after its capital Cyrrhus [2]. The name is used for the first time, but perhaps anachronistically, in connection with events of the year 286 BC (Plut. Demetrius 48,6). Attested with certainty is a revolt of 6,000 Cyrrhesticans against Antiochus [5] the Great in 221 (Pol. 5,50; 57). At the time Seleucid rule was ending, local dynasts appear to also have had their say in the political affairs in C: the Cyrrhestican and (apparently disloyal) Roman socius C…

[German version] (Ζαβεργάς; Zabergás). In the winter of AD 558/9, Z. the khan of the Hunnish Cotrigurs led his warriors across the frozen Danube and advanced as far as Constantinople. Belisarius, who had retired from active service in 551, was recalled and sent with a motley army against the Cutrigurs. Z. lost the battle and soon afterwards abandoned his camp at Melantias. Since Iustinianus [1] recalled Belisarius immediately after his initial success, Z. was able to plunder the diocese of Thracia …

[German version] After the murder of Pap in AD 374 his nephew (or cousin?) V. was installed by the Roman government as king in Armenia. He had the imperial general Mušel Mamikonian, the son of Vasaces [1], murdered and c. 378 was banished by Vasaces's brother Manuel (Faustus [4] of Byzantium 5,34 f.; 5,37; legendary Moses [2] of Chorene 3,40). PLRE 1, 945. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography M.-L. Chaumont, s. v. Armenia and Iran II, EncIr 2, 418-438, esp. 428 R. H. Hewsen, The Successors of Tiridates the Great, in: Rev. des études arméniennes 13, 1978/79, 99-126 J. Markwart, Sü…

[German version] [1] V. I was the eldest of four Parthian princes who in 10 BC were placed in the custody of the Romans by their father Phraates [4] IV. He was able to succeed Orodes [3] III c. 8 AD, but did not manage to gain the respect of the Iranian nationalist nobility that Artabanus [5] II arrayed against him. V. was able to force his competitor to temporarily retreat into the Medean mountains, but ultimately had to flee from him to Armenia. He tried to win the throne there, which was vacant after the final retreat of Erato […