The Arsacid dynasty, called the Arshakuni () in Armenian, ruled the Kingdom of Armenia (with some interruptions) from 12 to 428 AD. The dynasty, a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia, reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad dynasty until 62, when Tiridates I, brother of Parthian King Vologases I, secured Arsacid rule in Armenia as a client-king of the Roman Empire. However, he did not succeed in establishing his line on the throne, and various princes of different Arsacid lineages ruled until the accession of Vologases II, who succeeded in establishing his own line on the Armenian throne, which ruled the kingdom until the Sasanian Empire abolished it in 428.
Two of the most notable events in Armenian history during the Arsacid period were the conversion of Armenia to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator and Tiridates III in the early 4th century; and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots . In contrast to the more Hellenic-influenced Artaxiads, Arsacid Armenia featured greater Iranian influence.
Early Arsacids
The first appearance of an Arsacid on the Armenian throne occurred in 12 when the Parthian king Vonones I was exiled from Parthia for his pro-Roman policies and Occidental manners.Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 18.42–47 Vonones I briefly acquired the Armenian throne with Roman consent, but Artabanus II, incorrectly known as Artabanus III in older scholarship, demanded his deposition, and as Emperor Augustus did not wish to begin a war against the Parthians, he deposed Vonones I and sent him to Syria. Soon after the deposition of Vonones I, Artabanus II installed his son Orodes on the Armenian throne. Emperor Tiberius had no intention of giving up the buffer states of the eastern frontier and sent his nephew and heir Germanicus to the East. Germanicus concluded a treaty with Artabanus II in which he was recognized as king and friend of the Romans.
In 18, Armenia was given to Zeno, son of Polemon I of Pontus, who assumed the Iranian name Artaxias (a.k.a. Zeno-Artaxias). The Parthians under Artabanus II were too distracted by internal strife to oppose the Roman-appointed king. Zeno's reign was remarkably peaceful in Armenian history. After Zeno's death in 36, Artabanus II decided to reinstate an Arsacid on the Armenian throne, choosing his eldest son Arsaces I as a suitable candidate, but his succession to the Armenian throne was disputed by his younger brother Orodes, who had been overthrown by Zeno. Tiberius quickly concentrated more forces on the Roman frontier and once again after a decade of peace, Armenia was to become the theater of bitter warfare between the two greatest powers of the known world for the next 25 years.
Tiberius sent an Iberian, Mithridates, who claimed to be of Arsacid bloodHoward H. Scullard, Storia del mondo romano, p.332.. Mithridates successfully subjugated Armenia to Roman rule and deposed Arsaces, inflicting huge devastation upon the country. Surprisingly, Mithridates was summoned back to Rome, where he was kept as a prisoner, and Armenia was given back to Artabanus II, who gave the throne to his younger son Orodes. Another civil war erupted in Parthia upon Artabanus II's death. In the meantime, Mithridates was put back on the Armenian throne, with the help of his brother, Pharasmanes I, and of Roman troops. Civil war continued in Parthia for several years, with Gotarzes eventually seizing the throne in 45.
In 51, Mithridates's nephew Rhadamistus invaded Armenia and killed his uncle. The governor of Cappadocia, Julius Pailinus, decided to conquer Armenia but settled with the crowning of Rhadamistus, who generously rewarded him. Parthian King Vologases I saw an opportunity, invaded Armenia and succeeded in forcing the Iberians to withdraw from Armenia. The harsh winter that followed proved too much for the Parthians, who also withdrew, thus leaving open doors for Rhadamistus to regain his throne. After regaining power, according to Tacitus, the Iberian was so cruel that the Armenians stormed the palace and forced Rhadamistus out of the country, and Vologases I got the opportunity to install his brother, the first Arsacid king, Tiridates on the throne. Tiridates, who had previously been the leader of the Magi, likely played a significant role in promoting Zoroastrianism in Armenia.
Between Rome and Parthia Unhappy with the growing Parthian influence at their doorstep, Roman Emperor Nero sent General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo with a large army to the east to install Roman client kings (see Roman–Parthian War of 58–63). After Tiridates I escaped, the Roman client king Tigranes VI was installed. In 61, he invaded the Kingdom of Adiabene, one of the Parthian vassal kingdoms.acsearch.info – the ancient coin search engine: article on Tigranes VI
Vologases I considered this an act of aggression from Rome and restarted a campaign to restore Tiridates I to the Armenian throne. In the following Battle of Rhandeia in 62, command of the Roman troops was again entrusted to Corbulo, who marched into Armenia and set a camp in Rhandeia, where he made a peace agreement with Tiridates. It stated that Tiridates was recognized as King of Armenia, but he agreed to become a Roman client king and go to Rome to be crowned by Emperor Nero. Tiridates ruled Armenia until his death or deposition around 110, when the Parthian king Osroes I invaded Armenia and enthroned his nephew Axidares, the son of the previous Parthian king, Pacorus II, as King of ArmeniaPotts, Araby the Blest: Studies in Arabian Archaeology, p.151.
The encroachment on the traditional sphere of influence of the Roman Empire started a new war between Parthia and Rome and ended the peace that had endured for about half a century since Nero's time.Statius Silvae 5.1; Dio Cassius 68.17.1.; Arrian Parthica frs 37/40 Roman Emperor Trajan marched towards Armenia in October 113 to restore a Roman client king in Armenia. Envoys from Osroes I met Trajan at Athens, informed him that Axidares had been deposed and asked for Axidares' elder brother, Parthamasiris, to be granted the throne. Trajan declined the proposal and in August 114 captured Arsamosata, where Parthamasiris asked to be crowned, but instead of crowning him, he annexed his kingdom as a new province to the Roman Empire.Dio Cassius 68.17.2–3 Parthamasiris was dismissed and died mysteriously soon afterwards.
As a Roman province, Armenia was administered along with Cappadocia by Lucius Catilius Severus. The Roman Senate issued coins that celebrated this occasion and borne the following inscription: ('Armenia and Mesopotamia brought back into the power of the people of Rome'). After a rebellion led by a pretender to the Parthian throne (Sanatruces II, son of Mithridates V), was put down, some sporadic resistance continued, and Vologases III had managed to secure a sizeable amount of Armenia just before Trajan's death in August 117. However, in 118, the new Roman emperor, Hadrian, gave up Trajan's conquered lands, including Armenia, and installed Parthamaspates as King of Armenia and Osroene, although the Parthian king Vologases held most Armenian territory. Eventually, a compromise with the Parthians was reached, and Vologases was placed in charge of Armenia.
Vologases ruled Armenia until 140. Vologases IV, the son of the legitimate Parthian King Mithridates V, dispatched his troops to seize Armenia in 161 and eradicated the Roman legions that had been stationed there under legatus Gaius Severianus. Encouraged by the Osroes, Parthian troops marched further west into Roman Syria.Sellwood Coinage of Parthia 257–260, 268–277; Debevoise History of Parthia 245; Dio Cass.71.2.1.
Marcus Aurelius immediately sent Lucius Verus to the eastern front. In 163, Verus dispatched General Statius Priscus, who had been recently transferred from Roman Britain along with several legions, from Syrian Antioch to ArmeniaHistoria Augusta, Marcus Aurelius, 14.1-5. The Artaxata army, commanded by Vologases IV, surrendered to Priscus, who installed a Roman puppet, Sohaemus (Roman senator and consul of Arsacid and Emessan ancestry), on the Armenian throne and deposed a certain Pacorus, who had been installed by Vologases III.Historia Augusta, Marcus Antoninus 9.1, Verus 7.1; Dio Cass. 71.3.
As a result of an epidemic within the Roman forces, Parthians retook most of their lost territory in 166 and forced Sohaemus to retreat to Syria.Historia Augusta, Verus 8.1–4; Dio Cass. 71.2. After a few intervening Roman and Parthian rulers, Vologases II assumed the throne in 186. In 198, Vologases II assumed the Parthian throne and named his son Khosrov I to the Armenian throne. Khosrov I was subsequently captured by the Romans, who installed one of their own to take charge of Armenia. However, the Armenians themselves revolted against their Roman overlords, and in accordance with a new Roman-Parthian compromise, Khosrov I's son, Tiridates II (217–252), was made king of Armenia.
Sassanids and Armenia In 224, Ardashir I overthrew the Arsacid king Artabanus IV of Parthia and established the rule of the Sasanian dynasty in Iran. The Armenian Arsacids were hostile to the new dynasty and considered it their duty to avenge their Parthian kinsmen. A period of greater hostility between Armenia and Sasanian Iran and closer relations between Armenia and Rome began as a result. Armenia was an ally of Rome in the first Roman–Sasanian wars. Shapur I's victories over the Romans led to a period of Sasanian domination over the country. Tiridates II's presumably died after the Battle of Barbalissos in 252, after which Shapur laid waste to the country and installed his own son, Hormizd-Ardashir, on the Armenian throne, leaving Tiridates's heir in exile. Hormizd-Ardashir succeeded Shapur as the Sasanian king in 272, while his brother, Narseh, became the ruler of Armenia.
The recovery of Rome and the internal discord in the Sasanian Empire in the 270s and '80s allowed the restoration of the Arsacid monarchy in Armenia during the reign of Diocletian; however, the details of this restoration are unclear. According to Cyril Toumanoff's chronology, Tiridates II's son Khosrov II was made ruler of the western, Roman part of Greater Armenia in 278/9 as a result of Probus's negotiations with the Sasanians. Khosrov II was killed and succeeded by his brother Tiridates, while Khosrov's son Tiridates (known as 'the Great', called Tiridates IV by Toumanoff) was returned as ruler of Armenia as a consequence of the Peace of Nisibis in 298/9; although others believe that Tiridates the Great was restored to his father's throne already in 287. The Peace of Nisibis also brought the southern districts of Armenia (Sophene, Ingilene, Arzanene, Korduene and Zabdikene) back under Roman influence, but now as separate principalities with the status of autonomous allies ().
Christianization
As late as the later Parthian period, Armenia was predominantly Zoroastrian. In the early 4th century AD, Saint Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates III, a zealous Zoroastrian, and members of his court to Christianity, making Armenia the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion.Academic American Encyclopedia – Page 172 by Grolier IncorporatedEstimated dates vary from 284 to 314. The latter is the date favored by mainstream scholarship, see Garsoïan (op.cit. p.82), following the research of Ananian, and Seibt (2002)