47-735: The Orontid dynasty , also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis , ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire established an independent kingdom. Later, a branch of the Orontids ruled as kings of Sophene and Commagene . They are
94-612: A golden wreath. Many coins were struck by him during the Satraps' Revolt in Clazomenae , Phocaea , and Lampsacus . All subsequent Orontids are his descendants. Darius III was the satrap of Armenia following Orontes, from 344 to 336 BC. An Armenian contingent was present at the Battle of Gaugamela under the command of Orontes and a certain Mithraustes. Diodorus mentions that Orontes was a friend of
141-480: A provincial city, the Persian conquest introduced a ruling class which was not absorbed by the native Babylonian culture, instead maintaining their own additional political centers outside of Mesopotamia. Since the new rulers did not rely on Babylon's significance for their continued rule (partly due to two large uprisings centered within the city- see below), the city's prestige had been irreversibly diminished. Although
188-501: A wife to Xerxes; she would later murder him. Greater Armenia was ruled by an Orontid descendant of Hydarnes, the last Orontid ruler of Greater Armenia (Strabo xi.14.15); he was apparently subdued by Antiochus III the Great, who then divided the land between his generals Artaxias (Artashes) and Zariadres (Zareh), both of whom would claim descent from the Orontid family. In Nemrut Dagi, opposite
235-642: A wrong pretender less than a year prior. Combining the reigns of the two Nebuchadnezzars into one might also have been seen as a practical solution as it avoided two different consecutive years from both being referred to as the "accession year of Nebuchadnezzar". According to the inscriptions of Darius, the Babylonians quickly gave their support to Nebuchadnezzar IV. Most cuneiform tablets attributable to Nebuchadnezzar IV's reign have been recovered from Babylon itself, with tablets with contemporary dates from several other Mesopotamian cities, such as Sippar , recognising
282-557: Is called the "first capital of the Orontid dynasty". The precise date of the foundation of the Orontid dynasty is debated by scholars to this day but there is a consensus that it occurred after the destruction of Urartu by the Scythians and the Medes around 612 BC. Despite the Hellenistic invasion of Persia, Persian and local Armenian culture remained the strongest element within society and
329-401: Is mentioned as hipparchos (vice-governor) of Armenia under Orontes, who later became satrap of Lydia . In 401 BC Artaxerxes gave him his daughter Rhodogoune in marriage. In two inscriptions of king Antiochus I of Commagene on his monument at Nemrut , an Orontes , called Aroandes (son of Artasouras and husband of Artaxerxes's daughter Rhodogoune), is reckoned, among others, as an ancestor of
376-523: Is only attested in Greek (Gr.: Ὀρόντης ). Its Avestan connection is Auruuant (brave, hero) and Middle Persian Arwand (Modern Persian اروند Arvand). Various Greek transcriptions of the name in Classical sources are spelled as Orontes, Aruandes or Ardoates. The presence of this dynasty is attested from at least 400 BC, and it can be shown to have ruled originally from Armavir and subsequently Eruandashat . Armavir
423-514: The Macedonian general Peucestas . Armenia formally passed to the Macedonian Empire, as its rulers submitted to Alexander the Great . Alexander appointed an Orontid named Mithranes to govern Armenia following the defeat of Orontes II. With the agreement at Babylon after Alexander's death (323 BC) Armenia was assigned to Neoptolemus , and kept it till his death in battle in 321 BC. Around 302 BC
470-751: The Seleucid Empire . In 212 BC, Xerxes, King of Armenia revolted against the Seleucids but capitulated when besieged at his capital, Arsamasota, by Antiochus III . Despite the Hellenistic invasion of Persia, Persian and local Armenian culture remained the strongest element within society and the elites. The Orontid administration used Aramaic , where it was used in official documents for centuries. Whereas most inscriptions used Old Persian cuneiform . Xenophon used an interpreter to speak to Armenians, while some Armenian villages were conversant in Persian. The Greek inscriptions at Armavir indicate that
517-482: The satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC that later became an independent kingdom . Its capitals were Tushpa and later Erebuni . The Orontid dynasty, or known by their native name, Eruandid or Yervanduni, was an Iranian hereditary dynasty that ruled the satrapy of Armenia, the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Ararat). It is suggested that it held dynastic familial linkages to
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#1732847886138564-565: The Achaemenid empire, as rulers of an independent kingdom, and later as kings of Sophene and Commagene , which eventually succumbed to the Roman Empire . Following the demise of the Achaemenid Empire, the Satrapy of Armenia was incorporated into Alexander's empire . After Alexander's death, the Orontids gained independence from 321 BC until 301 BC when the Kingdom of Armenia fell to
611-639: The Armenians in the army of Xerxes "were armed like the Phrygians ." In 401 BC Xenophon marched through Armenia with a large army of Greek mercenaries as part of the March of the Ten Thousand . Xenophon mentions two individuals by the name Orontes, apparently both Persian. One was a nobleman and military officer of high rank, belonging to the royal family; as the commander of the citadel of Sardis , he waged war against Cyrus
658-521: The Great in 539 BC. After its conquest, Babylon would never again rise to become the single capital of an independent kingdom, much less a great empire. The city, owing to its prestigious and ancient history, continued to be an important site, however, with a large population, defensible walls and a functioning local cult for centuries. Though the city did become one of the Achaemenid Empire's capitals (alongside Pasargadae , Ecbatana and Susa ), retaining some importance through not being relegated to just
705-600: The Last (r. ca. 210–200 B.C.), the structure of government had begun to resemble Greek institutions, and Greek was used as the language of the royal court. Ervand had surrounded himself by the Hellenized nobility and sponsored the establishment of a Greek school in Armavir, the capital of the Ervanduni kingdom. Xenophon mentions a king of Armenia named Tigranes in his Cyropaedia . He
752-511: The Orontid Mithridates I Callinicus married Seleucid Princess Laodice VII Thea . Family tree of the Orontid dynasty according to Cyril Toumanoff : (Note: Some dates are approximate or doubtful). Satrapy of Armenia The Satrapy of Armenia ( Old Persian : 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴 Armina or 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴𐎹 Arminiya ), a region controlled by the Orontid dynasty (570–201 BC), was one of
799-513: The Orontids ruling over Commagene , who traced back their family to Darius I . Diodorus Siculus mentions another Orontes, possibly the same, that in 362 BC was satrap of Mysia and was the leader of the Satrap Revolt in Asia Minor , for which position he was well-suited because of his noble birth and his hatred of the king. Misled by his love of power and fraud, he betrayed his fellow satraps to
846-570: The Orontids were of Armenian origin, while according to Razmik Panossian , the Orontids probably had marriage links to the rulers of Persia and other leading noble houses in Armenia, and states their Armenian ethnicity is uncertain. The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of a masculine name of Iranian origin, rendered Eruand ( Երուանդ ) in Old Armenian ( Yervand in Modern Armenian). The name
893-678: The Persian kings continued to stress Babylon's importance through their titulature, using the royal title King of Babylon and King of the Lands , the Babylonians became less and less enthusiastic in regards to Persian rule as time went on. That the Persians were foreigners probably had very little to do with this resentment; none of the traditional duties and responsibilities of the Babylonian kings required them to be ethnically or even culturally Babylonian; many foreign rulers had enjoyed Babylonian support in
940-688: The Persians from crossing the Tigris river on 13 December 522 BC, the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar III were decisively defeated near Zazana by the Euphrates river on 18 December, whereafter Babylon was captured by Darius and Nebuchadnezzar III was executed. Following Nebuchadnezzar III's defeat in December 522 BC, Darius stayed in Babylon for some time, stabilising his rule in the city. Having been recognised as its king from at least 22 December onwards, he stayed in
987-584: The Persians with that of Nebuchadnezzar III. Likewise, considering the name Arakha itself is a term meaning "crown prince" in Armenian, a land outside of Persian rule with ties to Assyria where any remaining children of Nabonidus would have likely fled to, and given the fact that many rulers of this period would often lie on royal engravings such as the Behistun inscription later transcribed by Darius in order to discredit their opponents, there are questions that remain as to
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#17328478861381034-509: The Younger and he tried to betray him to Artaxerxes II Memnon shortly before the battle of Cunaxa , but was taken prisoner and sentenced to death by a court martial. Xenophon's Anabasis has a detailed description of the country, where it is also written that the region near the river Centrites was defended by the satrap of Armenia for Artaxerxes II , named Orontes , son of Artasyras, who had Armenian contingents as well as Alarodians . Tiribaz
1081-451: The capital was transferred from Armavir to Yervandashat by Orontes. Starting from 301 BC Armenia is included within the sphere of influence of the Seleucid Empire , but it maintained a considerable degree of autonomy, retaining its native rulers. According to Polyaenus , in 227 BC the Seleucid rebel king Antiochus Hierax took refuge in Armenian territory governed by King Arsames, founder of
1128-425: The chief deities of the ancient Urartian kingdom. Persian documents state that Arakha was an Armenian from a region called Dubala. Like Nebuchadnezzar III before him, Arakha also claimed to be a son of Nabonidus and like his predecessor took the name Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar IV downplayed his Armenian origin and through taking the same regnal name as his predecessor intended to align his own rebellion against
1175-534: The city Arsamosata . Towards the end of 212 BC the country was divided into two kingdoms, both vassal states of the Seleucids: Greater Armenia and Armenia Sophene, including Commagene or Armenia Minor. Antiochus III the Great decided to suppress the local dynasties, and besieged Arsamosata. Xerxes, the satrap of Sophene and Commagene, surrendered and implored the clemency of the king, whom he accepted as his sovereign. Antiochus gave his sister Antiochis as
1222-552: The city by the Persian general Intaphrenes , Babylon was recaptured by the Persians on 27 November 521 BC, whereafter Nebuchadnezzar IV and his supporters were executed. The Neo-Babylonian Empire , the last great king Mesopotamian empire to be ruled by monarchs native to Mesopotamia itself and the final and most spectacular era in Babylonian history, was ended through the Persian Achaemenid conquest of Babylon under Cyrus
1269-457: The city until June 521 BC, when he departed for Media and Persia . With Darius absent, Babylon revolted against his rule again on 25 August 521 BC, just two months after he left the city and less than a year after the defeat of Nebuchadnezzar III. The leader of the revolt was Arakha, the son of a man by the name of Haldita and himself not a native Babylonian, but rather a Urartian ( Armenian ). His father's name referenced Ḫaldi , one of
1316-404: The cuneiform tablets recognising the rule of Nebuchadnezzar IV are from Babylon itself, but there are further documents mentioning him from other cities like Uruk and Borsippa and he might have been accepted as king in much of middle and southern Babylonia . Cities in the north, such as Sippar , continued to recognise Persian rule throughout Nebuchadnezzar IV's brief reign. Following a siege of
1363-522: The death of Cambyses and the proclamation of Smerdis as King, the Armenians revolted. Darius I of Persia sent an Armenian named Dâdarši to suffocate the revolt, later substituting him for the Persian Vaumisa who defeated the Armenians on May 20, 521 BC. Around the same time, another Armenian by the name of Arakha , son of Haldita, claimed to be the son of the last king of Babylon , Nabonidus , and renamed himself Nebuchadnezzar IV . His rebellion
1410-554: The earliest revolt being the 522 BC revolt of Nebuchadnezzar III , originally named Nidintu-Bēl, who claimed to be a son of Nabonidus , Babylon's final independent king before the Persian conquest. The late 520s BC was a tumultuous time in the Achaemenid Empire, with numerous regions rebelling against the newly crowned Darius I . It is probable that many of the revolts had originally been intended towards Darius I's predecessor, Bardiya (widely accepted to have been an impostor), who had been overthrown by Darius. After failing to prevent
1457-399: The elites. The imperial administration used Aramaic , where it was used in official documents for centuries. Whereas most inscriptions used Old Persian cuneiform . Xenophon used an interpreter to speak to Armenians, while some Armenian villages were conversant in Persian. The Greek inscriptions at Armavir indicate that the upper classes used Greek as one of their languages. Under Ervand
Orontid dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-481: The first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (321 BC–428 AD). Some historians state that the Orontids were of Iranian origin, and suggest that it held dynastic familial linkages to the ruling Achaemenid dynasty . Throughout their existence, the Orontids stressed their lineage from the Achaemenids in order to strengthen their political legitimacy. Other historians state
1551-463: The king. But he revolted a second time, probably owing to his dissatisfaction with the king's rewards, and launched several attacks, which were continued in the reign of the new king Artaxerxes III Ochus . During that time he also conquered and occupied the town of Pergamum , but finally he must have become reconciled with the king. In 349 he was honored by a decree of the Athenians with civic rights and
1598-405: The past and many native kings had been despised. More important than a king's origin was whether they fulfilled their royal duties in line with established Babylonian royal tradition. The Persian kings had capitals elsewhere in their empire, rarely partook in Babylon's traditional rituals (meaning that these rituals could not be celebrated in their traditional form since the presence of the king
1645-400: The preceding Nebuchadnezzar III probably accounts for why Darius thought it sufficient to send one of his generals instead of leading a campaign against the rebel himself. Shortly after being captured by Intaphrenes, Nebuchadnezzar IV was killed on Darius's orders. Conflicting accounts describe Nebuchadnezzar IV as either being crucified or impaled . The Babylonian nobles who had supported
1692-427: The revolt, numbering 2,497 according to Persian sources, were killed alongside him. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus describes a long siege of Babylon by Darius being resolved through a ruse, involving self-mutilation by the general Zopyrus , and the city's gates and walls being destroyed as retribution. Chronological and historical details of Herodotus's account makes it impossible to reconcile with either of
1739-495: The rule of Darius instead. American historian Albert T. Olmstead suggested in 1938 that Nebuchadnezzar IV's rule might thus have been restricted to just Babylon itself. Contemporary records, however, write that the revolt began in Ur before spreading north to Babylon, and tablets dated to his reign have also been recovered at Borsippa and Uruk . Other Mesopotamian cities do appear to have accepted his authority in some capacity since he
1786-450: The ruling Achaemenid dynasty . Throughout their existence, the Orontids stressed their lineage from the Achaemenids to strengthen their political legitimacy. Members of the dynasty ruled Armenia intermittently during the period spanning from the 6th to at least the 2nd centuries BC, first as client kings or satraps of the Median and Achaemenid empires and later, after the collapse of
1833-441: The statues of Gods there are a long row of pedestals, on which stood the steles of the Greek ancestors of Antiochos. At a right angle to this row stood another row of steles, depicting his Orontid and Achaemenid ancestors. From these steles the ones of Darius and Xerxes are well preserved. In front of each stele is a small altar. Inscriptions have been found on two of those altars. Antiochos expended great effort to ensure that everyone
1880-719: The upper classes used Greek as one of their languages. Under Orontes IV (r. ca. 210–200 B.C.), the structure of government had begun to resemble Greek institutions, and Greek was used as the language of the royal court. Orontes IV had surrounded himself by the Hellenized nobility and sponsored the establishment of a Greek school in Armavir, the capital of the Armenian kingdom. Arakha Nebuchadnezzar IV ( Babylonian cuneiform : [REDACTED] Nabû-kudurri-uṣur , meaning " Nabu , watch over my heir"; Old Persian : 𐎴𐎲𐎢𐎤𐎢𐎭𐎼𐎨𐎼 Nabukudracara ), alternatively spelled Nebuchadrezzar IV and also known by his original name Arakha ( Old Persian : 𐎠𐎼𐎧 Araxaʰ ),
1927-448: The veracity of his self-purported royal parentage. Documents were dated to his first regnal year, not his accession year, signaling that Nebuchadnezzar IV's uprising was the continuation of the previous Babylonian revolt. This might have been devised by the Babylonian priesthood and the idea might have been to portray Nebuchadnezzar IV as the same person as Nebuchadnezzar III; otherwise the priesthood could have been accused of supporting
Orontid dynasty - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-563: Was a nobleman of Urartu 's Satrapy of Armenia of Urartian ( Armenian ) descent who in 521 BCE seized power in Babylon , becoming the city's king and leading a revolt against the Persian Achaemenid Empire . His revolt began less than a year after the unsuccessful revolt of Nebuchadnezzar III . Like his predecessor, Arakha assumed the name Nebuchadnezzar and claimed to be a son of Nabonidus , Babylon's last independent king. Most of
2021-468: Was an ally of Cyrus the Great with whom he hunted. Tigranes paid tribute to Astyages . His elder son, named Tigranes , renounced his treaty obligations to the Medes upon the outbreak of hostilities between them and Babylonians . As a successor of Astyages, Cyrus demanded to be paid the same tribute. Strabo corroborates this in his Geography (xi.13.5). In 521 BC, with the disturbances that occurred after
2068-477: Was aware that he was related to the dynasty of the King of Kings, Darius I, by the marriage of princess Rhodogune to his ancestor Orontes. The father of Rhodogune was the Persian king, Artaxerxes. In 401 BC Artaxerxes defeated his younger brother, who tried to depose him. Because of the help Artaxerxes received from Orontes—his military commander and satrap of Armenia—he gave his daughter in marriage to him. Their descendant,
2115-528: Was short-lived and was suppressed by Intaphrenes , Darius' bow carrier. These events are described in detail within the Behistun inscription . After the administrative reorganization of the Persian Empire , Armenia was converted into several satrapies . Armenian satraps regularly intermarried with the Achaemenids. These satraps provided contingents to Xerxes ' invasion of Greece in 480 BC. Herodotus says that
2162-416: Was successful in summoning the statues of the gods of the cities Uruk and Larsa to Babylon for their protection in an effort to appeal to Babylon's religious authorities. It is plausible that he ruled over most of middle and southern Babylonia. The Babylonian revolt was defeated by Darius's bow carrier, Intaphrenes , on 27 November 521 BC. The lesser extent of Nebuchadnezzar IV's rule compared to that of
2209-418: Was typically required) and rarely performed their traditional duties to the Babylonian cults through the construction of temples and giving of cultic gifts to the city's gods. As such, the Babylonians might have interpreted them as failing in their duties as kings and thus not having the necessary divine endorsement to be considered true kings of Babylon. Babylon would revolt several times against Persian rule,
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