Arsacids (Parthians)
Vardanes I
وردان یکم
- Reign
- c. 39–45 (or 47) CE
- Dynasty
- Arsacids (Parthians)
- Persian page
- فارسی
Featured dossier
Vardanes I: the swift rider who took Seleucia and was killed on a hunt
A son of Artabanus II. Tacitus calls him “ever ready for daring achievements”. He fought his brother Gotarzes for the throne, made rebel Seleucia surrender after seven years and pushed to the border of the Arians. But, the same Tacitus says, victory made him “the more haughty and more intolerable to his subjects”, and the nobles killed him on a hunt.
- in two days (so Tacitus)
- 375 mi
- years of Seleucia’s revolt before it yielded
- 7
Map: from Seleucia to the river Sindes
Administration & economyc. 39–40 CE1 of 6
Succession and the fight with Gotarzes
After Artabanus’ death, Vardanes and Gotarzes both claimed the throne. Tacitus: Gotarzes had killed his brother Artabanus with his wife and son; the people took fright and called in Vardanes, who “traversed 375 miles in two days” and drove Gotarzes off.
Certainty: DisputedIranica (Schippmann), following Le Rider, has Vardanes as Artabanus’ direct successor (c. 39–45 CE); Kahrstedt, Hanslik and others put Gotarzes first. Boyce makes Gotarzes a son of Artabanus and half-brother of Vardanes; Schippmann a “nephew” of Artabanus.
Sources: Tacitus, tr. A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb, 1876 · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 1986, updated 2016 · M. Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica, 2001, updated 2014
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
Two brothers, one throne
Tacitus tells it like this: Gotarzes killed his brother Artabanus with his wife and son; the people took fright and called in Vardanes. Vardanes drove Gotarzes off, but Gotarzes came back. Then they learned the nobles were plotting against both, so they made peace with oaths at an altar. Gotarzes went to Hyrcania. Coins of 42 CE from Seleucia were struck for both, each as “king of kings”.
Ever ready for daring achievements, Vardanes traversed 375 miles in two days, and drove before him the surprised and terrified Gotarzes.
The order of events, and even how the two were related, is debated. Tacitus’ report of the murder of a brother Artabanus has no other confirmation.
When two claimants strike coins at the same time, the market and the city have to live with two powers. The brothers’ peace came not from affection but from fear of the nobles’ plot: a balance of power sometimes keeps the peace better than an oath.
Sources: Tacitus, tr. A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb · M. Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica · K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica
Dossier · 2
The end of Seleucia’s revolt
Seleucia had been in revolt since about 36 CE. Vardanes, Tacitus says, angry at a city that had also rebelled against his father, laid siege to it; but the city had walls, a river and supplies. In the end, after the brothers made peace, it surrendered.
When Vardanes returned, Seleucia capitulated to him, seven years after its revolt, little to the credit of the Parthians, whom a single city had so long defied.
Tacitus, a Roman, calls it “little to the credit of the Parthians”. From Seleucia’s side, seven years of resistance was the price of keeping its self-governing institutions. We know nothing of the city’s fate after it gave in.
A merchant city with a senate and a popular assembly stood up to the King of Kings for seven years. It shows what citizens with their own property and institutions will pay for their freedom.
Dossier · 3
To the border of the Arians, and the end
After the battle at the Charinda, Vardanes pushed on to the river Sindes. The troops refused distant service. He set up monuments and came back; and, Tacitus says, became “the more haughty and more intolerable to his subjects than ever”. The nobles killed him on a hunt.
So after erecting monuments on which he recorded his greatness, and the tribute won from peoples from whom no Arsacid had won it before, he returned covered with glory, and therefore the more haughty and more intolerable to his subjects than ever.
Tacitus says that, had he lived, few young kings would have matched his fame. That is a Roman verdict on Roman terms: a great king is a great warrior.
The soldiers who refused far-off war and the nobles who killed a haughty king both set limits on royal power. Murder is a bad way to hold power to account; but where there is no other way, this is what happens.
Sources: Tacitus, tr. A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb · M. Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica
Synthesis
Vardanes I was a short-lived, fast-moving king: a war with his brother, the taking of Seleucia, a campaign to the east and death on a hunt. Nearly all we know comes from Tacitus and the coins, and even the order of succession after Artabanus II is unclear.
Bibliography
- Tacitus, tr. A. J. Church & W. J. Brodribb, Annals 6.31–44, 11.8–10, 12.10–14, 12.44–51, 13.6–9, 13.34–41, 14.23–26, 15.1–31 (1876). https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Annals_(Tacitus)The fullest account of Parthia in the first century CE; a Roman view from the capital, with harsh moral judgements on “barbarians”.
- Flavius Josephus, tr. W. Whiston, Antiquities of the Jews 18.4.4–5, 18.9.1–9, 20.2–4 (1737). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2848Seen from the Jews of Babylonia and Adiabene; vivid stories, sometimes at odds with Tacitus.
- K. Schippmann, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Arsacids ii. The Arsacid dynasty (1986, updated 2016). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arsacids-ii/
- M. Boyce, Encyclopaedia Iranica, Gōdarz i. Historical figures (2001, updated 2014). https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/godarz/godarz-i-historical-figures/
- 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.
Artabanus II, his fatherGotarzes II, his rivalThe Arsacid dynasty