Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia or Armenia Major sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire, was a kingdom in the Ancient Near East which existed from 331 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into the successive reigns of three royal dynasties: Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid (52–428).
Vologases I was the King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 51 to 78. He was the son and successor of Vonones II. He was succeeded by his younger son Pacorus II, who continued his policies.
Gotarzes II was king of the Parthian Empire from 40 to 51. He was an adopted son of Artabanus II. When his father died in 40, his brother Vardanes I was to succeed to the throne. However, the throne was seized by Gotarzes II. Gotarzes II eventually was able to gain control of most of Parthia forcing Vardanes to flee to Bactria. With the death of Vardanes in c. 46, Gotarzes II ruled the Parthian Empire until his death. Gotarzes II was succeeded by his uncle Vonones II.
Vonones II was a Parthian prince who ruled as king of Media Atropatene and briefly as king of the Parthian Empire.
Vologases IV was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 147 to 191. He was the son of Mithridates V. Vologases spent the early years of his reign re-asserting Parthian control over the Kingdom of Characene. From 161 to 166, he waged war against the Roman Empire; although initially successful, conquering Armenia and Syria, he was eventually pushed back, briefly losing control of the Parthian capitals of Seleucia and Ctesiphon to the Romans. The Romans suffered heavy losses from a plague erupting from Seleucia in 166, forcing them to withdraw. The war ended soon afterward, with Vologases losing most of northern Mesopotamia to the Romans. He died in 191 and was succeeded by his son Vologases V.
Rhadamistus was a royal prince of the Pharnavazid dynasty of the Kingdom of Iberia who reigned over the Kingdom of Armenia from 51 to 53 and 54 to 55. He was considered a usurper and tyrant, who was overthrown in a rebellion supported by the Parthian Empire.
Relations between the Roman and Iranian states were established c. 92 BC. It was in 69 BC that the two states clashed for the first time; the political rivalry between the two empires would dominate much of Western Asia and Europe until 628. Initially commencing as a rivalry between the Parthians and Rome, from the 3rd to mid-7th centuries the Roman Empire and its rival Sassanid Persia were recognized as two of the leading powers in the world.
The Arsacid dynasty, called the Arshakuni in Armenian, ruled the Kingdom of Armenia, with some interruptions, from 12 to 428. The dynasty was a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Arsacid kings 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 Rome. 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 its abolishment by the Sasanian Empire in 428.
Tiridates I was King of Armenia beginning in 53 AD and the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. 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 to 63. In an agreement to resolve the Roman–Parthian conflict in and over Armenia, Tiridates I was crowned king of Armenia by the Roman emperor Nero in 66; in the future, the king of Armenia was to be a Parthian prince, but his appointment required approval from the Romans. Even though this made Armenia a client kingdom, various contemporary Roman sources thought that Nero had de facto ceded Armenia to the Parthian Empire.
Mithridates of Armenia was a Pharnavazid prince of the Kingdom of Iberia who served as a King of Armenia under the protection of the Roman Empire.
The Parthian Empire, also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquering the region of Parthia in Iran's northeast, then a satrapy (province) under Andragoras, who was rebelling against the Seleucid Empire. Mithridates I greatly expanded the empire by seizing Media and Mesopotamia from the Seleucids. At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to present-day Afghanistan and western Pakistan. The empire, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Basin and the Han dynasty of China, became a center of trade and commerce.
Pharasmanes I the Great was a king (mepe) of Iberia. He plays a prominent role in the historian Tacitus' account of policy and campaigns in the eastern lands of the Roman Empire under Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero. According to Cyril Toumanoff, Pharasmanes was a member of the third Pharnavazid dynasty and reigned from 1 to 58. Pharasmanes is mentioned on the Stele of Vespasian. During his reign, Iberia was transformed into the Transcaucasian empire, that would dominate the kingdoms of Armenia and Albania.
The Pharnavazid is the name of the first dynasty of Georgian kings of Kartli (Iberia) preserved by The Georgian Chronicles. Their rule lasted, with intermissions, from the 3rd century BC to the 2nd century AD. The main male line is reported to have become extinct early on and followed by houses related to it in the female line. By the close of the 2nd century AD, the Pharnavazid rule came to an end and the Arsacid dynasty took over the crown of Iberia.
The Roman–Parthian Wars were a series of conflicts between the Parthian Empire and the Roman Republic and Roman Empire. It was the first series of conflicts in what would be 682 years of Roman–Persian Wars.
The Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 or the War of the Armenian Succession was fought between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire over control of Armenia, a vital buffer state between the two realms. Armenia had been a Roman client state since the days of Emperor Augustus, but in 52/53, the Parthians succeeded in installing their own candidate, Tiridates, on the Armenian throne.
Gaius Julius Sohaemus was a Roman client king of Armenia.
Arsaces I of Armenia, also known as Arsaces I, Arshak I and Arsak was a Parthian Prince who was King of Armenia during 35 AD.
Orodes of Armenia was a Parthian Prince who served as a Roman Client King of Armenia in 35 and from again 37 until 42. Orodes was the second born son of the Parthian King Artabanus II of Parthia by an unnamed wife. He was born and raised in the Parthian Empire. Orodes was the namesake of his Parthian relations who ruled with this name as King.
Zenobia of Armenia was a royal Iberian princess of the Pharnavazid dynasty who was a Queen of Armenia from 51 to 53 and 54 to 55 during the reign of her husband, King Rhadamistus.
