PERSIA.
435
Theus. In the eleventh year of his reign, or, according to Thomas,1
in 255, the Parthians revolted under Arsaces, who founded the
third Persian dynasty, the Arsacidae or Ashkanians,—Ashk being
the name given to Arsaces by the Persians. Arsaces, enraged at
an affront offered to Tiridates his brother, put the governor of
Parthia, Agathocles, to death, and declared himself independent.
The following, as given by Thomas, vol. ii., p. 299, is the list of
the Ashkanian kings, of whose authentic history little is known :—
1. Ashk, or Arsaces 1 255
2. Tiridates I., or Ashk II. ...253
3. Artabanusl., or Shahpur...216
4. Phraapatius 196
5. Phrahates 1 181
6. Mithradates 1 173
7. Phrahates II 136
8. Artabanus II 126
9. Mithradates II 123
10. Mnaskires 80
11. Sinatroces 77
12. Phrahates III 70
13. Mithradates III 60
14. OrodesI 54
15. Phrahates IY 37
A.D.
16. Phrahataces 4
17. Orodes II. 5
18. Yonones 1 5
I Artabanus III I
) Tiridates III .1 ^
' (Artabanus III J
20. Bardanes 42
21. Gotarzes,or Bahram Gudarz 45
22. Meherdates 50
23. Vonones II 51
24. Vologeses I., or Volas 51
25. Artabanus IV., or Hormuz 62
26. Pacorus or Firuz 77
27. Chosroes or Khusrau 108
28. Parthamaspates 115
29. Chosroes restored 116
30. Vologeses II., or Volas 121
31. Vologeses III., or Volasin 148
32. Vologeses IV 192
„o ( Vologeses V 1 r)nq
‘ I ArtabanusV.,or Arduan )
34. Artaxerxes, King of Persia, first of the Sassanidae 235
The alternative appellations are those given by the Persian his¬
torians, who, it will be seen, omit the majority of these princes
altogether. They are also silent as to the wars between this
dynasty and the Romans. We learn, however, from the historians
of the West that Pacorus, the 26th king, sent an embassy to Sylla
in A.D. 90 ; and that in a.D. 53, Crassus, having passed the Euphra¬
tes a second time to carry on a war he had commenced against the
Parthians, was defeated and slain, with 20,000 of his men, and
10,000 were made prisoners. Next year Cassius, his quaestor, who
had carried off the remains of the army, repelled from Syria an
invading Parthian army; and in 51, on their returning and be¬
sieging Antioch, he defeated them again with great slaughter. In
the years 41 and 40, however, they returned and conquered all
Syria, and took Jerusalem, slew Phasael, made Hyrcanus prisoner,
and settled Antigonus on the throne of Judea. In 39 Ventidius
defeated the Parthians in a great battle, and drove them out of
Syria; and in 36, Antony having invaded Parthia, was repulsed
with the loss of the larger portion of his army. In 20 B.c. the
Parthian king sent an embassy to Augustus to seek his friendship,
and restored the standards taken from Crassus and Antony, and all
the surviving prisoners.
In 165 a.d. the generals of the Emperor Marcus took Seleucia,
which had become the Parthian capital, and put 300,000 of the in¬
habitants to death. They at the same time pillaged and destroyed
Ctesiphon; but this latter city, in 198, had become so populous
and strong, that it maintained an obstinate defence against the
Emperor Severus, and, when stormed, supplied him with 100,000
captives. Even after this, Ctesiphon recovered, and became the
winter residence of the Parthian monarchs. About the year 217,
the Emperor Macrinus purchased a disgraceful peace for Parthia
by the payment of a sum equivalent to three millions of our money.
This is all that is known of a period which is justly declared by
D’Herbelot to be the most obscure in Persian history.
The Sassanian dynasty of kings forms a new era in the history
of Persia. These monarchs were engaged in long and bloody wars
with the Roman emperors; and hence we are enabled to correct
the imperfect records of the East by the authentic narrative of the
Roman historians. The first of these, Artaxerxes, or Ardishxr, as
he is called by the Persian historians, began his reign A.D. 226,
and, having pacified the province of Ears, made himself master of
’Irak. Having defeated and slain Aravan or Artabanus, who ruled
over the mountainous country about Hamadan and Karmansbah,
he was hailed in the field with the title of Shahanshah, or “ King of
Kings,”—a name which has ever since been assumed by the sovereigns
of Persia. In the course of his reign he extended and consolidated
his newly-acquired dominions, and waged, with various success, a
war with the Roman emperor Alexander. He laboured to restore
the religion of Zoroaster, and the authority of the Magi, which he
enforced by the most sanguinary decrees. He was succeeded by
his son Shahpur or Sapor, a.d. 238, who carried on a successful
war against the Romans, whose emperor, Valerian, in an attempt
to relieve Edessa, was defeated and taken prisoner. Shahpur
gained many victories over the Roman armies; but towards the
latter part of his reign he suffered reverses. His army7 was attacked
by Odenathus, prince of Palmyra; and his country was afterwards Persia,
invaded by Aurelian, the warlike Emperor of Rome. Hurmuzd his i
son, the Hormisdas of Greek authors, reigned only one year, and
was succeeded by Bahram or Varanes I. in 271, who evinced his
zeal for the ancient religion of Persia by the execution of Mani,
founder of the sect of Manicheans. He reigned three years and
three months, and was succeeded by Bahram or Varanes II.,
a weak prince. He engaged in a war with the Emperor Carus,
who conquered Mesopotamia, carried his arms across the Tigris,
and made himself master of Ctesiphon. Bahram or Varanes III.
reigned only three months. His brother Narsi (the Narses of
the Greeks) reigned nine years, and abdicated in favour of his son
Hurmuzd or Hormisdas II. He subdued Armenia, and signally
defeated the Emperor Galerius on the same fatal field on which
Crassus had been slain. The Romans invaded Persia next year,
and defeated Narses, who fled, leaving his tents and family in pos¬
session of the conquerors. An inglorious peace followed, by which
Mesopotamia and five districts to the eastward of the Tigris were
ceded to the Romans. No events of any consequence occurred
during the succeeding reign of Hurmuzd II. He was succeeded
in 308 by Shahpur or Sapor II., who was crowned king from his
birth, and during a reign of seventy-one years maintained the in¬
tegrity of his kingdom. His first operations were directed against
the Arab tribes, on whom he took a severe vengeance for having
invaded his territories. He was involved in bloody wars with the
Romans, in the course of which he experienced serious reverses.
Constantine advanced into Persia with a formidable army, and was
joined by the Arab forces. A dreadful conflict took place, in
which the Persian army was routed with great slaughter; and the
king himself narrowly escaped, with a few followers, from the fatal
field. But having recruited his army, he again took the field;
and in a night attack he recovered some of the advantages which
he had lost. .He was also successful in repelling the invasion of
Julian, who was killed by an arrow; and his successor Jovian was
fain to purchase a peace by the loss of all the provinces east of the
Tigris, which had been ceded in the former reign. He was suc¬
ceeded by Ardishir or Artaxerxes II., who was deposed by Shahpur,
the son of the late monarch, after a reign of four years. He
reigned only five years, when he was killed by the fall of a tent,
which was blown down by one of those whirlwinds which sometimes
occur in Persia. Bahram or Varanes IV., who succeeded, reigned
eleven years, and was at length killed in 399 by an arrow, in en¬
deavouring to quell a tumult in his army. The throne of Persia
was next filled by Yezdijird, the Greek Isdegerde. He is very
differently represented by the Persians and Greeks ; by the former
as cruel and abandoned to luxury, and by the latter as wise and
virtuous. He was killed by a kick of his horse, after a reign of
twenty years. Bahram Gur, or Varanes V., succeeded, and became
celebrated for his munificence and generosity. His dominions were
invaded, and partly overrun, by the Tatars, who, being flushed with
their conquest, gave themselves over to a false security, and were
one night surprised and defeated with great slaughter by Bahr&m.
The only fruit which he sought from this victory was peace with
all his neighbours, after which he returned to his capital. He was
engaged in wars with the Romans under Theodosius, in which nei¬
ther party bad any cause to boast. His ruling passion was the
chase, and he was fond of hunting the wild ass;. and it was in pur¬
suit of one of these animals that he lost his life in a deep pool nea^
Ausepas, about three marches from Shiraz, on the road to Isfahan.
According to the Shdhndmah, however, and other authorities, he
died a natural death. He was succeeded in 440 by his son 1 ezdi-
jird II., who followed his father’s footsteps, and during his reign
of eighteen years was only once engaged in war with the Romans.
The succession to the throne was now disputed-between Hurmuzd
or Hormisdas III., the younger son of Vezdijird, who was appointed
heir by his father, and Firuz or Perose the Elder, who, being sup¬
ported by an army of Tatars, to whose king he fled for support, and
by the chief nobles, succeeded in wresting the sceptre from his
brother’s hand, and in putting him to death, after reigning a year.
He lost his life in an expedition which he undertook against the
Tatar prince, by whom he had been treated with so much generosity.
Balias or Palash, the son of Firuz, now ascended the throne (485),
and was succeeded by Kubad or Cavades, who, though he was de¬
throned by his discontented subjects, re-conquered his lost dignity.
He carried on a successful war with Anastasius the Roman emperor,
and died, after a long and troublous reign, in 531.
His son and successor Khusrau Nushirvan, or Chosroes, is cele¬
brated by the Persian historians as a model of justice, generosity,
and sound policy. He is said to have been the fruit of a casual
amour of Kubad, who, flying from his brother Firuz, then esta¬
blished on the throne, halted for a night with a beautiful girl at
1 Indian Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 299.
Binning, vol. ii., p. 357.