Arsacids (Parthians)
Pacorus II
پاکور دوم
- Reign
- c. 78–110 CE
- Dynasty
- Arsacids (Parthians)
- Persian page
- فارسی
Featured dossier
Pacorus II: thirty years on a shared throne
A son of Vologases I. He was king for nearly thirty years, but for much of that time rivals struck coins beside him: first his brother Artabanus (III), later Vologases (II) and Osroes. Almost no continuous account of his reign survives and the dates are rebuilt from coins. The official history of the Later Han tells of a Chinese envoy who reached the edge of Parthia in 97 CE and of a gift Parthia sent to the Han court in 101 CE.
- years of reign (with gaps)
- ~32
- rival claimants
- 3
- Gan Ying’s journey (CE)
- 97
Map: Babylonia, Characene and the trade routes
Administration & economyc. 78 CE1 of 5
Accession
Pacorus succeeded his father Vologases I. Iranica: “Parthian history in the next few decades is difficult to reconstruct.”
Certainty: ProbableLe Rider gave the coins of 77/78, 89/90 and 106–108 to a separate king he called “Vologases II”, so the old “Vologases II” became “Vologases III”. Iranica reports this, and all these dates are disputed.
Sources: K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, updated 2016 · D. Sellwood, 1980
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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
A king we know from his coins
For Pacorus’ thirty years we have no historian like Tacitus or Josephus. His coins show him at different stages of his reign, and in some years other claimants struck coins at the same Seleucia mint.
Iranica says Pacorus, Vologases and Osroes “must have” each held large territories. That means the Parthian kingdom in this period looked more like a league of provinces under rival kings than a single state. Their exact order is rebuilt from coins and is debated.
Two or three kings in one country without the country falling apart: perhaps Parthia’s staying power lay more in its great houses and merchant cities than in the person of the king.
Sources: K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica · D. Sellwood
Dossier · 2
Artabanus III and the “false Nero”
Iranica (Schippmann): Artabanus III, a son of Vologases I and brother of Pacorus, contended with him in 79–81 CE (Le Rider) or 80–81 CE (Sellwood) and found support only in Babylonia. He offered help to the first false Nero, a Roman citizen named Terentius Maximus. There are no coins of his after 81 CE.
Backing a false Nero may have been an attempt to unsettle Rome and find an outside ally. The number “III” follows Iranica; in this site’s numbering, Artabanus II is the king of 10–38 CE and this claimant is Artabanus III.
A claimant backed in only one province, pinning his hopes on a Roman impostor, shows that legitimacy cannot be had without people’s support.
Sources: K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica · D. Sellwood
Dossier · 3
Parthia and China
The Hou Hanshu, the official history of the Later Han, records two events of Pacorus’ time. In 97 CE Gan Ying, sent by Ban Chao, set out for Rome and reached the coast at “Tiaozhi”, but Parthian sailors frightened him with tales of a long, dangerous voyage and he turned back. In 101 CE the Parthian king sent lions and great birds to the Han court. (These are paraphrases, not direct quotations.)
Many scholars suppose the Parthians did not want China and Rome to trade directly, since Parthia was the profitable middleman of the silk trade. The Chinese source itself does not state such a motive; that reading is modern.
Trade between China and Rome passed through Parthia and both ends profited. Middlemen provide a service while the trade is free; once it becomes a monopoly, the buyer pays for it.
Sources: Fan Ye, tr. J. E. Hill
Synthesis
Pacorus II was king for nearly thirty years, but for most of them he shared the empire with a brother and other claimants. Only coins, a few Roman notices gathered by Iranica, and the Later Han history survive from his reign.
Bibliography
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Artabanus (Arsacid kings) iii. Artabanus III (1986, updated 2013). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artabanus-parth/artabanus-arsacid-kings-iii-artabanus-iii/Iranica calls this pretender of the 80s CE “Artabanus III”.
- Fan Ye, tr. J. E. Hill, Hou Hanshu 88 (The Western Regions), in Through the Jade Gate to Rome (2009). The official history of the Later Han; paraphrased here only.
- 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.
Vologases I, his fatherOsroes IVologases IIIThe Arsacid dynasty