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GOTARZES

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 270 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOTARZES , or. GoTERZES, See also:

king of See also:Parthia (c. A.D. 42-51). In an inscription at the See also:foot of the See also:rock of See also:Behistun' he is called PwrapNs FeenroOpos, i.e. " son of Gew," and seems to be designated as " See also:satrap of satrap." This inscription therefore probably See also:dates from the reign of See also:Artabanus II. (A.D. 10-40), to whose See also:family Gotarzes must have belonged. From a very barbarous See also:coin of Gotarzes with the inscription Oavi-Xewc /3au X€wv Apravq' nos KEKaXov/AEvor Aprajavou PwrepOls (Wroth, See also:Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia, p. 165; Numism. Chron., 1900, p. 95; the earlier readings of this inscription are wrong), which must be translated " king of See also:kings Arsakes, named son of Artabanos, Gotarzes," it appears that he was adopted by Artabanus.

When the troublesome reign of Artabanus II. ended in A.D. 39 or 40, he was succeeded by See also:

Vardanes, probably his son; but against him in 41 See also:rose Gotarzes (the dates are fixed by the coins). He soon made himself detested by his See also:cruelty—among many other murders he even slew his See also:brother Artabanus and his whole family (Tac. See also:Ann. xi. 8)—and Vardanes regained the See also:throne in 42; Gotarzes fled to See also:Hyrcania and gathered an See also:army from the Dahan nomads. The See also:war between the two kings was at last ended by a treaty, as both were afraid of the conspiracies of their nobles. Gotarzes returned to Hyrcania. But when Vardanes was assassinated in 45, Gotarzes was acknowledged in the whole See also:empire (Tac. Ann. xi. g ff.; See also:Joseph. Antiq. xx. 3, 4, where Gotarzes is called Kotardes). He now takes on his coins the usual See also:Parthian titles, " king of kings See also:Arsaces the benefactor, the just, the illustrious (Epiphanes), the friend of the Greeks (Philhellen)," without mentioning his proper name.

The discontent excited by his cruelty and luxury induced the hostile party to apply to the 'See also:

emperor See also:Claudius and fetch from See also:Rome an Arsacid See also:prince Meherdates (i.e. Mithra; dates), who lived there as See also:hostage. He crossed the See also:Euphrates in 49, but was beaten and taken prisoner by Gotarzes, who cut off his ears (Tac. Ann. xii. to ff.). Soon after Gotarzes died, according to See also:Tacitus, of an illness; See also:Josephus says that he was murdered. His last coin is dated from See also:June 51. 1 See also:Rawlinson, Journ. See also:Roy. Geog. See also:Soc. ix. 114; Flandin and Coste, La Perse ancienne, i. tab. 19; Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci inscr.

431. An earlier " Arsakes with the name Gotarzes," mentioned on some astronomical tablets from See also:

Babylon (Strassmaier in Zeitschr. See also:fur Assyriologie, vi. 216; Mahler in Wiener Zeitschr. fur Kunde See also:des Morgenlands, xv. 63 ff.), appears to have reigned for some See also:time in Babylonia about 87 B.C. (En.

End of Article: GOTARZES

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