Artasires

the last Arsacid on the throne of Armenia, the son of Bahram Shapur, and the nephew of Chosroes. Moses Chorenensis tells us, that his real name was Ardashes. (Artases or Artaxes.) He was made king of Armenia in 422, by Bahram IV., who ordered or requested him to adopt the name of Ardashir (Artasires or Artaxerxes). As Artasires was addicted to vices of every description, the people, or rather the nobles of Armenia, wished for another king. Since the conversion of prince Gregory (afterwards St. Gregory), the son of Anag, the Arsacid, to the Christian religion, in the time of Constantine the Great, the Armenians had gradually adopted the Christian religion; and there was a law that the patriarch should always be a member of the royal family of the Arsacidae. During the reign of Artasires the office of patriarch was held by Isaac, to whom the nobles applied when they wished to choose another king; but Isaac aware that their choice would fall upon Bahram, the heathen king of Persia, refused to assist them. The nobles thereupon applied straightway to Bahram, who invaded Armenia, deposed Artasires, and united his dominions to Persia, A. D. 428.

From this time eastern Armenia was called Persarnenia. (Procop. De Aedif. Justin. 3.1, 5; Moses Choren. 3.63, &c.; Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, vol. iii. pars i. p. 396, &c.)

The following chronological table, which differs in some points from the preceding narrative, is taken from St. Martin, and is founded upon the Armenian histories of Moses Chorenensis and Faustus Byzantinus, compared with the Greek and Roman authors. A. The first or elder Branch in Armenia Magna.

B. C. 149. Valarsaces or Wagharshag I., founder of the Armenian dynasty of the Arsacidae, established on the throne of Armenia by his brother, Mithridates Arsaces [Arsaces VI.] king of the Parthians. --B. C. 127. Arsaces or Arshag I., his son.--B. C. 114. Artaces, Artaxes, or Ardashes I., his son.--B. C. 89. Tigranes or Dikran I. (II.), his son.--B. C. 36. Artavasdes or Artawazt I., his son.--B. C. 30. Artaxes II., his son.--B. C. 20. Tigranes II., brother of Artaxes II.--B. C. .... Tigranes III.--B. C. 6. Artavasdes II.--B. C. 5. Tigranes III. reestablished.--B. C. 2. Erato, queen.

A. D. 2. Ariobarzanes, a Parthian prince, established by the Romans.--A. D. 4. Artavasdes III. or Artabases, his Son.--A. D. 5. Erato re-established ; death uncertain.-- .... Interregnum.--A. D. 16. Vonones.--A. D. 17. Interregnum.--A. D. 18. Zeno of Pontus, surnamed Artaxias.--... Tigranes IV., son of Alexander Herodes.--A. D. 35. Arsaces II. --A. D. 35. Mithridates of Iberia.--A. D. 51. Rhadamistus of Iberia.--A. D. 52. Tiridates I.--A. D. 60. Tigranes V. of the race of Herodes.--A. D. 62. Tiridates I. re-established by Nero, reigned about eleven years longer. B. The second or younger Branch,

The second or younger branch, at first at Edessa, and sometimes identical with the " Reges Osrhoenenses," afterwards in Armenia Magna. B. C. 38. Arsham or Ardsham, the Artabazes of Josephus. (Ant. Jud. 20.2.)--B. C. 10. Manu, his son.--B. C. 5. Abgarus, the son of Arsham, the Ushama of the Syrians. This is the celebrated Abgarus who is said to have written a letter to our Saviour. (Moses Chor. 2.29.)

A. D. 32. Anane or Ananus, the son of Abgarus. --A. D. 36. Sanadrug or Sanatruces, the son of a sister of Abgares, usurps the throne.--A. D. 58. Erowant, an Arsacid by the female line, usurps the throne; conquers all Armenia; cedes Edessa and Mesopotamia to the Romans.--A. D. 78. Ardashes or Artaxes III. (Exedares or Axidares), the son of Sanadrug, established by Vologeses I., king of the Parthians.--A. D. 120. Ardawazt or Artavasdes IV., son of Ardashes III., reigns only some months.-- A. D. 121. Diran or Tiranus I., his brother.--A. D. 142. Dikran or Tigranes VI., driven out by Lucius (Martius) Verus, who puts Soaemus on the throne. --A. D. 178. Wagharsh or Vologeses, the son of Tigranes VI.--A. D. 198. Chosroes or Khosrew I., surnamed Medz, or the Great, the (fabulous) conqueror (overrunner) of Asia Minor; murdered by the Arsacid Anag, who was the father of St. Gregory, the apostle of Armenia.--A. D. 232. Ardashir or Artaxerxes, the first Sassanid of Persia.--A. D. 259. Dertad or Tiridates II., surnamed Medz, the son of Chosroes, established by the Romans.--A. D. 314. Interregnum. Sanadrug seizes northern Armenia, and Pagur southern Armenia, but only for a short time.--A. D. 316. Chosroes or Khosrew II., surnamed P'hok'hr, or " the Little," the son of Tiridates Mezd.--A. D. 325. Diran or Tiranus I., his son.--A. D. 341. Arsaces or Arshag III., his son. --A. D. 370. Bab or Para.--A. D. 377. Waraztad, usurper.--A. D. 382. Arsaces IV. (and Valarsaces or Wagharshag II., his brother).--A. D. 387. Armenia divided.--A. D. 389. Arsaces IV. dies. Cazavon in Roman Armenia, Chosroes or Khosrew III. in Persarmenia.--A. D. 392. Bahram Shapur (Sapor), the brother of Chosroes III.--A. D. 414. Chosroes re-established by Yezdegerd.--A. D. 415. Shapur or Sapor, the son of Yezdegerd--A. D. 419. Interregnum.--A. D. 422. Ardashes or Ardashir (Artasires) IV.--A. D. 428. End of the kingdom of Armenia. (Comp. Vaillant, Regnum Arsacidarum, especially Elenchus Regum Armeniae Majoris, in the 1st. vol.; Du Four de Longuerue, Annales Arsacidarum, Strasb. 1732; Richter, Histor. Krit. Versuch über die A rsaciden und Sassaniden-Dynastien, Göttingen, 1804; St. Martin, Mémoires historiques et géograph. sur l' Arménie, vol. i.) [W.P]