The Parthian Empire — Empires of Persia

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King	Reign (BCE/CE)	Yrs	Father	Mother	Parthian Name	فارسی
The Arsacid Kings
Arsaces I¹	247–217 BCE	30	Parni chieftainfounder	unknown	Aršak	اشک
Arsaces II	217–191 BCE	26	Arsaces I	unknown	Aršak	اشک
Phriapatius	191–176 BCE	15	Arsaces II	unknown	Friyapatiš	فریاپاتیش
Phraates I	176–171 BCE	5	Phriapatius	unknown	Frahāt	فرهاد
Mithridates I (the Great)	171–132 BCE	39	Phriapatiusbrother of Phraates I	unknown	Mihrdād	مهرداد
Phraates II	132–127 BCE	5	Mithridates I	unknown	Frahāt	فرهاد
Artabanus I	127–124 BCE	3	Phriapatiusbrother of Mithridates I	unknown	Ardavān	اردوان
Mithridates II (the Great)	124–91 BCE	33	Artabanus I	unknown	Mihrdād	مهرداد
Gotarzes I	91–87 BCE	4	unknown	unknown	Gōtarz	گودرز
Orodes I	80–77 BCE	3	unknownrecord poorly attested²	unknown	Urūd	اُرد
Sinatruces	77–70 BCE	7	unknownelder Arsacid³	unknown	Sinatrukēs	سیناتروک
Phraates III	70–57 BCE	13	Sinatruces	unknown	Frahāt	فرهاد
Orodes II	57–37 BCE	20	Phraates III	unknowndefeated Crassus at Carrhae⁴	Urūd	اُرد
Phraates IV	37–2 BCE	35	Orodes II	unknown	Frahāt	فرهاد
Phraates V (Phraataces)	2 BCE–4 CE	~6	Phraates IV	MusaItalian freedwoman⁵	Frahātak	فرهادک
Orodes III	4–6 CE	2	unknown	unknown	Urūd	اُرد
Vonones I	8–12 CE	4	Phraates IV	unknownraised hostage in Rome⁶	Vanōn	ونون
Artabanus II	12–38 CE	26	Arsacid maternal lineraised among the Dahae	unknown	Ardavān	اردوان
Vardanes I	40–47 CE	7	Artabanus II	unknownrival to Gotarzes II	Vardan	وردان
Gotarzes II	40–51 CE	11	Artabanus II	unknownrival to Vardanes I	Gōtarz	گودرز
Vonones II	51 CE	<1	Artabanus IIuncertain	unknown	Vanōn	ونون
Vologases I	51–78 CE	27	Vonones II	unknown	Valaxš	بلاش
Pacorus II	78–110 CE	32	Vologases I	unknown	Pakōr	پاکور
Osroes I	109–128 CE	19	Vologases Irival to Pacorus II	unknown	Husrōy	خسرو
Vologases III	105–147 CE	42	Pacorus II	unknown	Valaxš	بلاش
Vologases IV	147–191 CE	44	unknowncollateral Arsacid line	unknown	Valaxš	بلاش
Vologases V	191–208 CE	17	Vologases IV	unknown	Valaxš	بلاش
Vologases VI	208–228 CE	20	Vologases V	unknown	Valaxš	بلاش
Artabanus IV	216–224 CE	8	Vologases Vrival to his brother Vologases VI	unknown	Ardavān	اردوان

Notes on the evidence

¹ Every Arsacid king ruled under the single throne-name “Arsaces,” recorded on coinage simply as ΑΡΣΑΚΗΣ (“Arsaces”) in Greek, the language of Parthian court coin legends. The individual names used in this table — Mithridates, Phraates, Vologases and the rest — are the personal names by which ancient historians and modern scholars distinguish one king from another; they rarely appear on the coins themselves. Arsaces I’s own origins are contested: Arrian’s Parthica calls him chief of the Parni, a nomadic Iranian tribe of the steppe, while later Arsacid court tradition claimed descent from the Achaemenids. His Parthian name, Aršak, survives in New Persian as “Ashk,” the root of Ashkanian (اشکانیان), the modern Persian name for the whole dynasty.

² The years 87–80 BCE are among the worst-attested in Parthian history. A king “Orodes I” is known chiefly from coinage, and the sequence and dates of rulers in this decade remain genuinely debated among specialists.

³ Sinatruces is said by the satirist Lucian to have been placed on the throne in old age after decades among the Sacaraucae, a Saka nomadic people of Central Asia. His parentage and exact relationship to the ruling Arsacid line are unknown.

⁴ Orodes II had his brother and co-heir Mithridates III (r. c. 57–54 BCE, omitted above as a short-lived rival) deposed and executed after seizing sole power. He is best known for annihilating a Roman invasion under Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.

⁵ Musa was an Italian slave woman sent to Phraates IV as a gift by the Roman emperor Augustus. She became his queen, was widely suspected of poisoning him, and then married their own son Phraates V and ruled jointly with him — a scandal recorded by Josephus.

⁶ Vonones I had been sent to Rome as a boy hostage. His Roman manners made him unpopular on the Parthian throne, and he was quickly deposed in favor of Artabanus II.

Parthian chronology rests heavily on coin legends and Babylonian astronomical diaries rather than a continuous royal annal, and competing modern reconstructions of the 1st century BCE–1st century CE sequence can differ by several years. Rival co-kings ruled simultaneously over different provinces for much of the empire’s final two centuries; only the better-attested claimants are listed here. The Persian forms given here are New Persian renderings of the reconstructed Parthian names — several, such as Farhad, Mehrdad, Godarz and Khosrow, survive as personal names in Iran to this day.

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