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(Ἀριοβαρζάνης; Ariobarzánēs, Old Persian Ariyabrdana). [German version] [1] Satrap of Dascylium Vice-governor in 407 BC under  Pharnabazus, satrap of Dascylium, and perhaps his eldest son (Xen. Hell. 1,4,7) [1]; guest-friend of the Spartan  Antalcidas (Xen. Hell. 5,1,28). Succeeded Pharnabazus in 387 BC as satrap of Propontis [1]. In 368 BC A. succeeded, with the aid of his confidant  Philiscus, in assuring the support of Athens and Sparta (Xen. Hell. 7,1,27), which he in fact obtained during his revolt a…

[German version] [1] Member of the Parthian royal house P. (not P. I!), a son of Orodes [2] II; he is central to the first phase of the  Parthian Wars which followed the battle of Carrhae. In 53 BC, P. got engaged to a sister of the Armenian king Artavasdes [2] II, sealing the latter's coming over to the Parthian side. The Parthian invasion of Syria (51-50) was only nominally under the leadership of P., who was still young.  He played a greater part in the great attack on Syria, carried out under his command from 41 onward, but after initial success he died at Gindarus in 38 BC. Parthia Schottky, Mart…

[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)

Roman nomen gentile of Sabine origin. Its members begin to appear in the sources late in the 3rd cent. BC. Politically the most important branch was that of the Terentii Varrones which attained the ranks of the nobility with T. [I 14] Varro, consul in 216 BC. From the mid-2nd cent., several families of this branch were in simultaneous and unconnected existence. Cognomina showing geographical origins are widespread among the Terentii (Afer, Lucanus, Massaliota). Elvers, Karl-Ludwig (Bochum) I. Republican period [German version] [I 1] As people's tribune in 54 BC, T. prevented…

(Ἐρατώ; Eratṓ). [German version] [1] One of the nine Muses One of the nine  Muses; daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Hes. Theog. 78; Apollod. 1,13). Attribution of a sphere of activity, as in the case of the other Muses, emerged only gradually. Plato i.a. assigns her to the sphere of the erotic, on account of her name (Phdr. 259d); but she is above all the Muse of love-lyric, and is appealed to in this connection by poets (cf. Verg. Aen. 7,37; Ov. Ars am. 2,16; 425). She is portrayed i.a. on the François Vase (570 BC) and on the Basle lekythos (together with  Thamyris and  Klio). Bloch, René (Berne) Bibl…

(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] Parthian noble from the house of Suren, who in AD 36 supported the counter-king  Tiridates against  Artabanus [5] II and after Tiridates' failure fled to Syria (Tac. Ann. 6,31 and passim). Whether he is identical to the homonymous troop leader of Artabanus (Ios. Ant. Iud. 18,9,4) is just as uncertain as his possible relation to the Indo-Parthian King Abdagases (1st cent. AD). Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) Bibliography E. Herzfeld, in: AMI 4, 1932, 75 ff. M. Karras-Klapproth, Prosopographische Studien zur Gesch. des Partherreiches, 1988 J. Markwart, in: ZDMG 49…

[German version] (Pahlavi pāp, bāb, ‘father’). Son of the Armenian king Arsaces [4] II and Pharandsem of Siwnik'. After his father was captured, P. fled to Valens, who restored him as ruler of Armenia in the same year (AD 369) with the support of the comes et dux Terentius (Amm. Marc. 27,12,9-10). In the following,  Sapor [2] II managed to persuade P. to implement anti-Roman measures. P. thus dispatched the heads of his ministers Cylaces and Artabannes [1] to the Persian king (Amm. Marc. 27,12,14). However, the poisoning of the katholikós Nersēh by the king as claimed by Armenian …

(Γόρδιος; Górdios). [German version] [1] Mythical founder of the Phrygian state Mythical founder of the Phrygian state and eponymous hero of its capital  Gordium. When birds flew around him as he was ploughing, he wanted to find out the significance of the sign from the seers in the city. A beautiful girl from a family of seers whom he asked for information at the city gate interpreted the sign as a promise of royal honour and offered to marry him. In order to end a civil war, the  Phrygians followed Zeus'…

The name of several kings of Osroene in the era from 94 BC to AD 244. Worthy of notice are: [German version] [1] II. Ariamnes bar Abgar (68-53 BC) A. II Ariamnes bar Abgar, reigned 68-53 BC. He was accused by the Romans of having caused the catastrophe of Crassus. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [2] V Ukkāmā (the Black) (4BC to 50 AD) A. V Ukkāmā (the Black), 4 BC - AD 7 and AD 13-50; played a dubious role in the Parthian struggle for the throne between Gotarzes II and Meherdates. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [3] VIII, the Great (77-212 AD) A. VIII, the Great, 177-21…

[German version] (Μιθρήνης; Mithrḗnēs). Eminent Persian, who surrendered the castle of Sardis to  Alexander [4] the Great in 334 BC (Arr. Anab. 1,17,3f.; Diod. Sic. 17,21,7: Mithrínēs; Dion Chrys. 73,2: Mithránēs). After having accepted him as an honoured member of his retinue and having used him in diplomatic service (Curt. 3,12,6), Alexander appointed him satrap of Armenia, which had not yet been conquered (Arr. Anab. 3,16,5; Diod. Sic. 17,64,6; Curt. 5,1,44 and 8,12), in 331/330. However, the Orontides (Orontes IV), of wh…

[German version] [1] C.I. Sassanid king since 488 AD Sassanid king from AD 488, son of  Perozes. After he had first played individual powerful families off against each other, he supported the social-religious movement of  Mazdac in order to destroy the power of the aristocracy. This led in 496 to a conspiracy of the Zarathustrian clergy with the higher nobility, in the course of which C.'s brother Zamasphes was elevated to the throne whilst he himself disappeared in the ‘castle of oblivion’. C. managed…

[German version] (Ἀσποῦργος; Aspoûrgos). Although this Bosporan king is unknown to literary sources, his reign can be attested for AD 10/11-38/9. A. was therefore the (direct?) successor to his mother  Dynamis, who reigned until AD 7/8. The name of his father is given in inscriptions as Ἀσάνδροχος/Asándrochos (IOSPE II 36), doubtless a variant of  Asander [3]. A. was not acknowledged by Rome until he appeared there in person [1. 337 with n. 8]. A. was the father of the later Bosporan king Cotys [II…

(Greek Περόζης; Perózēs). [German version] [1] P.I. Persian king of kings, 459-484 AD (Arabic Fīrūz). Persian Great King (AD 459-484), son of Yazdgird II. His reign is characterised by disputes with tribes of Hunni, who were already supporting a campaign for the throne against Hormisdas [5] III. In about AD 465 P. got into conflict with king Kunchas of the Kidarites, to whom he sent a woman to be his wife, claiming that she was his sister (Priscus fr. 41 Blockley). More dangerous to him were the Hephthalitae,…

(Ἀρχέλαος; Archélaos). [German version] [1] Macedonian king (ca. 413-399 BC) Son of  Perdiccas, king of Macedonia about 413-399 BC, who according to Plato's spiteful representation (Gorg. 471) was the son of a slave woman and had ascended to the throne by murder. However, he appeared about 415 in a contract with Athens in third place after Perdiccas and his brother Alcetas, i.e. as legitimate (IG I3 89,60). Murdering other pretenders to the throne was not uncommon among the  Argeads, who had no firm rule of succession. He was on a good footing with the Atheni…

[German version] (Ναβέδης; Nabédēs). Military commander under Chosroes [5] I in the Persian War of Iustinianus [1]. Initially commandant of Nisibis (Procop. Pers. 2,18,9; 19; Procop. Anecdota 2,28), he defeated the Romans in AD 543 at Anglon in the region of Dvin/Persarmenia (Procop. Pers. 2,25,5-35) and in 550 undertook an invasion of Lazica (Procop. Goth. 4,9,6f.). PLRE 3, 909. Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld)

(Νικομήδης; Nikomḗdēs). [German version] [1] Spartan commander, 458 or 457 BC Member of the Spartan royal family of the Agiadae, son of Cleombrotus [2], brother of Pausanias, the victor of Plataeae. In 458 or 457 BC, N. led a Spartan army as the guardian of his underage nephew Pleistoanax to support the inhabitants of the Doris region against the Phocians and on the return march defeated the Athenians near Tanagra (Thuc. 1,107,2-108,1; Diod. Sic. 11,79,4-80,6; Plut. Cimon 17,4-9; Plut. Pericles 10,1-4). Welwei, Karl-Wilhelm (Bochum) [German version] [2] N. I of Bithynia King from 280 BC S…

Schottky, Martin (Pretzfeld) [German version] [1] Wife of Chosroes [6] II, c. 600 AD (Šīrīn, Σειρέμ / Seirém, Σιρήν/ Sirḗn). A Christian from Ḫūzistan, one of the wives of Chosroes [6] II, who was elevated by him to queen in AD 592 (Theophylaktos Simokattes, Historiae 5,13,7). She was still alive in 627 (Theophanes, Chronographia anno mundi 6118). Only late oriental authors tell of her suicide over the corpse of her husband [1. 401-405]. The S. topic underwent many literary revisions in the Islamic world, of which the epic Chosrou and S. by the Persian poet Neẓāmī (Nesami; translate…