A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

ARSACIDAE.
of the Parthians, was driven out of Armenia by
Corbulo, who appointed in his place Tigranes IV.,
the grandson of king Archelaus, A. D. 60. [TIGRANES IV.] Tiridates subsequently received the
crown as a gift from Nero, A. D. 63. [ARSACES
XXIII., TIRIDATES I.]
EXEDARES (Ardashies III.), an Arsacid (of the
younger Armenian branch), was driven out by
Chosroes or Khosrew, king of the Parthians.
(Dion Cass. lxviii. 17.) According to Moses
Chorenensis (ii. 44-57), Exedares, who is called
Ardashes III., was a mighty prince, who humbled
the armies of Domitian, but was finally driven out
by Trajan. Chosroes placed on the throne in his
stead Parthamasiris, a Parthian prince. Exedares
reigned during forty-two years, from A. D. 78 to
120, but was several times compelled to fly from
his kingdom.
PARTHAMASIRIs, the son of Pacorus (Arsaces
XXIV.), king of Parthia, and the nephew of
Chosroes, who supported him against Trajan.
Parthamasiris, reduced to extremity, humbled himself before Trajan, and placed his royal diadem at
the feet of the emperor, hoping that Trajan would
restore it to him and recognize him as a subject
king. But he was deceived in his expectation,
and Armenia was changed into a Roman province.
According to some accounts, he was put to death
by Trajan. (Dion Cass. lxviii. 17-20; comp.
Eutrop. viii. 2; Fronto, Princ)ip. Hist. p. 248, ed.
Niebuhr.)
PARTHAMASPATES, was appointed by Trajan
king of Parthia, but after he had been expelled by
the Parthians [ARSACES XXV.]; he seems to
have subsequently received the kingdom of Armenia
from Hadrian. (Comp. Spartan. Hadr. cc. 21, 5,
where he is called Psamatossiris.)
ACHAEMENIDES, the son of Parthamaspates.
There are some coins on which he is represented
with the diadem, which seems to have been given
to him by Antoninus Pius. (lamblichus, ap. Phot.
Cod. 94. p. 75, b., ed. Bekker.)
SoAEMUS or SOHEMUS (o'acupos), the son of
Achaemenides, was established on the throne by
Thucydides, the lieutenant of Lucius (Martius)
Verus, during the reign of M. Aurelius Antoninus.
(lamiblich. ap. Phot. 1. c.) We learn from Moses
Chorenensis (ii. 60-64), that the national king,
who was supported by Vologeses II. of Parthia,
was Dikran or Tigranes. Soaemus was an Arsacid.
(Dion Cass. Fragm. Ixxi. p. 1201, ed. Reimar.)
SANATRUCES (avarCTpoKVw7s), the son of Soaemus, as it seems, was established on the throne by
Septimius Severus. According to Suidas, he was
a man highly distinguished by his warlike qualities and many nobler virtues. He seems to be the
king of Armenia mentioned by Dion Cassius, who
was treacherously seized upon by Caracalla, about
A. D. 212. The Armenian name of Sanatruces is
Sanadrug. (Dion Cass. lxxv. 9, lxxvii. 12; Suidas,
s. v. Ti'varpoivKhs; comp. Herodian, iii. 9.)
VOLOGESES, the son of Sanatruces, whom Dion
Cassius (Ixxvii. 12) calls king of the Parthians. [AtRSACES XXIX.] Vaillantthinks that hewasthe king
seized upon by Caracalla. On the other hand, the
Armenian historians tell us that Wagharsh, in
Greek Vologeses or Valarsases, the son of Dikran
(Tigranes), reigned over Armenia, or part of
Arnenia, from A. D. 178 to 198, and that he perished in a battle against the Khazars, near Derbent, in 198. It is of course impossible that he

ARSACIDAE. 363
should have been seized by Caracalla, who succeeded his father Septimius Severus in 211. Nor
do the Armenians mention any king of that name
who was a contemporary either of Septimius
Severus or Caracalla. (Moses Choren. ii. 65-68.)
TIRIDATES II., the son of Vologeses. [TinIDATES II.]
ARSACES II., the brother of ArtabanusIV.,the last
Arsacid in Parthia, by whom he was made king of
Armenia in the first year of the reign of Alexander
Severus. (A. D. 222-223.) When his brother
was killed by Artaxerxes (Ardashir), the first
Sassanid on the Persian throne, he resisted the
usurper, and united his warriors with those of
Alexander Severus in the memorable war against
Artaxerxes. [SASSANIDAE.] (Procop. de AediJciis
Justin. iii. 1; Dion Cass. lxxx. 3, 4; Herodian,
vi. 2, &c.; Agathias, pp. 65, 134, ed. Paris.)
ARTAVASDES III., the ally of Sapor against the
emperor Valerian, A. D. 260. (Trebell. Poll. Valerian. 6.)
Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. ix. 8) mentions a Christian
king of Armenia during the reign of Diocletian,
who seems to have been the son of Artavasdes III.
During the war of Diocletian with Narses, king of
Persia, this king of Armenia joined the Roman
army commanded by Galerius Caesar. After the
accession of Maximinianus he was involved in a
war with this emperor, who intended to abolish
the Christian religion in Armenia.
TIRIDATES III. [TIRIDATES III.]
ARSACEs III. (Tiranus), the son of Diran
(Tiridates III.), ascended the throne either in the
seventeenth year of the reign of Constantius, that
is, in A. D. 354, or perhaps as early as 341 or 342,
after his father had been made prisoner and deprived of his sight by Sapor II., king of Persia.
After the reconciliation of Sapor with his captive
Diran (Tiridates), Arsaces was chosen king, since
his father, on account of his blindness, was unable
to reign according to the opinion of the eastern
nations, which opinion was also entertained by the
Greeks of the Lower Empire, whence we so often
find that when an emperor or usurper succeeded
in making his rival prisoner, he usually blinded
him, if he did not venture to put him to death.
The nomination of Arsaces was approved by the
emperor Constantius. The new king nevertheless
took the part of Sapor in his war with the Romans,
but soon afterwards made peace with the latter.
He promised to pay an annual tribute, and Constantius allowed him to marry Olympias, the
daughter of the praefect Ablavius, a near relation
of the empress Constantia, and who had been betrothed to Constans, the brother of Constantius.
Olympias was afterwards poisoned by a mistress
of Sapor, an Armenian princess of the name of
P'harhandsem.
To punish the defection of Arsaces, Sapor invaded Armenia and took Tigranocerta. He was
thus involved in a war with the emperor Julian,
the successor of Constantius, who opened his
famous campaign against the Persians (A. D. 363)
in concert with Arsaces, on whose active co-operation the success of the war in a great measure depended. But Julian's sanguine expectations of
overthrowing the power of the Sassanidae was destroyed by the pusillanimity, or more probably
well calculated treachery, of Arsaces, who withdrew
his troops from the Roman camp near Ctesiphon in
the month of June, 363. Thence the disastrous