Featured dossier
Orodes III: the short-lived, hot-tempered king
After driving out Phraataces, the Parthian nobles made an Orodes of the Arsacid house king. Josephus says he was very cruel and quick to anger, and after about two years they killed him. His link to the earlier kings is unclear.
- years of reign
- ~2
Map: a brief reign
Administration & economyc. 4 CE1 of 2
Chosen by the nobles
Josephus: the Parthian nobles agreed that they could not be without a king and that the king had to be of the house of Arsaces; so they called Orodes.
Certainty: ProbableWhere his reign began is unknown; the marker on the map is only symbolic.
Sources: Flavius Josephus, tr. W. Whiston, 1737 · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, updated 2016
BattleCampaignBuildingAdministration & economyReligionArrow keys, Home/End and Space work.
Three separate layers
Each section has three layers: “Historical evidence” is only what the sources say; “Philosophical interpretation” is our reading by the standard of property and liberty; “Modern cultural meaning”. Quotations come only from published translations, with references.
Historical evidencePhilosophical interpretationModern cultural meaning
Dossier · 1
The nobles as king-makers
Josephus states two Parthian rules: the kingdom must have a king, and the king must be of the house of Arsaces. Orodes III was chosen despite his bad name because he “was one of the family of Arsaces”.
though he was accused of very great cruelty, and was of an untractable temper, and prone to wrath, yet still he was one of the family of Arsaces. However, they made a conspiracy against him, and slew him, and that, as some say, at a festival, and among their sacrifices; [for it is the universal custom there to carry their swords with them;] but, as the more general report is, they slew him when they had drawn him out a hunting.
Iranica reads this period as a sign of the nobles’ power over the king. The coins assigned to Orodes III are few and their attribution is disputed.
In Parthia, lineage was the condition for the throne and the nobles’ consent the condition for keeping it. It was a check on the king, but not accountability to the people.
Sources: Flavius Josephus, tr. W. Whiston · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica · D. Sellwood
Synthesis
Orodes III is little more than a name. His story shows that in this period the Parthian nobles made and unmade kings.
Bibliography
- Flavius Josephus, tr. W. Whiston, Antiquities of the Jews 13.14.3 (13.384–386); 18.2.4 (18.39–52) (1737). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2848
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/
- D. Sellwood, An Introduction to the Coinage of Parthia, 2nd ed. (1980). The standard numbering of Parthian coins (“S”); some of its attributions have since been revised.
All photos are from Wikimedia Commons; licence and author were checked on each file page.
Phraates V, his predecessorVonones I, his successorThe Arsacid dynasty