Izates I. (Adiabene)

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Izates I († 15/30 AD) was king of Adiabene , an Assyrian kingdom in Mesopotamia , at the beginning of the first century AD, and became the progenitor of a dynasty that ruled there until 116 AD.

origin

No further details are known about the origin of Izates I. He is believed to have come from a local Assyrian dynasty that ruled as their vassals under the rule of the Parthian Empire . Only Izates I is mentioned in writing, who ruled the small Mesopotamian kingdom of Adiabene in the last third of the first century BC .

Life

Izates I, who lived around the middle of the 1st century BC. Was born in BC, lived in a time of fierce fighting between the regionally rival great powers, the Roman Empire on the one hand and the Parthian Empire on the other. Since the incorporation of the remains of the Seleucid Empire into the Roman Empire as the province of Syria under Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 63 BC. There were repeated confrontations between the two rivals. For example in the battle of Carrhae , in which the Romans 53 BC. Were defeated by the Parthians, 40/39 BC. When the Parthians were defeated in Asia Minor, or 36 BC. When the Parthian campaign of Marcus Antonius failed. Only under Emperor Augustus did it come from 20 BC. To a relaxation of the relations.

Another circumstance that facilitated the izates' independence efforts were internal power struggles in the Parthian Empire . Thus the usurper Tiridates II succeeded between 30 BC. BC and 25 BC BC , to rule parts of the empire with varying degrees of success: At first he was able to control around 32 BC. Defeat the reigning King of the Parthians, Phraates IV ; However, he was soon defeated by Phraates IV with the help of Scythian troops and had to flee to Syria . Later he was able to conquer parts of Mesopotamia with the help of Roman troops and let 26 BC. Mint coins with his image as "Arsaces Philoromaios" (Arsaces the Roman friend). Eventually he was defeated by Phraates IV and fled to Emperor Augustus in Spain .

Thanks to these circumstances, Izates succeeded in the last third of the first century BC in making the province of Adiabene, which was previously dependent on the Parthian Empire, an independent state and itself its king.

This kingdom - a later successor to an independent Assyrian kingdom - was located in Mesopotamia between the Lycus ( Großer Zab ) and Caprus ( Kleiner Zab ) rivers , which are part of the river system of the Shatt al-Arab in present-day Iraq . According to the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus († approx. 395), the kingdom of Adiabene also included the cities of Nineveh (on the Tigris , in today's Iraq), Gaugamela (north of Nineveh in today's Iraq), but also Ekbatana (the old capital of the Medes Empire and Residence of the great Persian kings in the Achaemenid Empire - today Hamadan in Iran ).

Adiabene was culturally, linguistically (Aramaic) and also politically part of Assyria. Even after the fall of Nineveh it remained under the Perserreich the Achaemenidae , under the Seleukidenreich and as part of Parthian connected to Assyria.

Izates made the city of Arbela his capital. This was one of the oldest continuously populated cities in the world, as it was already in the Ur-III period, i.e. the time in which the ( 3rd Dynasty of Ur ) - "the brothers of Gilgamesh " - (around 2000 BC. ) prevailed when "Urbilium" was known. Today this is the city of Erbil , the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in northern Iraq .

Marriage and offspring

Izates I, King of Adiabene, was probably married to several women, whose names were not known.

Children:

Izates left at least two children:

  • Monobazos I, King of Adiabene, (* c. 25 BC, † 35 AD)

oo Helene von Adiabene, his (half-?) sister

Probably from another marriage:

  • Helene von Adiabene (* c. 15 BC, † 60 AD)

oo Monobazos I, King of Adiabene, her (half? -) brother

Grandson:

According to Settipani, at least two sons come from the marriage of King Monobazus I and Helene von Adiabene:

  • Izates II. King of Adiabene (36–60 AD), (* approx. 5 BC, † 60 AD)

oo Symacho , Princess of Charakene (* approx. 5 AD), daughter of Abinergaos I. King of the Charakene.

  • Monobazos II, King of Adiabene (60–66 AD), (* 1/5 AD, † AD 66)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugh Chisholm (Ed., 1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition). Cambridge University Press .
  2. ↑ Ammianus Marcellinus: Res gestae XVIII, VII 1
  3. ↑ Christian Settipani; “Nos Ancêtres de l'Antiquité” Editions Christian, Paris, page 80
  4. ↑ Christian Settipani; “Nos Ancêtres de l'Antiquité” Editions Christian, Paris, page 80

literature

  • Christian Settipani: Nos Ancêtres de l'Antiquité, Editions Christian, Paris.
  • Monika Schuol : The characters. A Mesopotamian kingdom in the Hellenistic-Parthian period. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07709-X , (Oriens et Occidens 1), (also: Kiel, Univ., Diss., 1998), pp. 226-227, 323-326.
  • Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates Judaicae ( Jewish antiquities ) xx. 2 f.
  • Delitzsch, The Royal House of Adiabene, in Deutsche Revue, 1885, pp. 187 et seq.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Izates I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Adiabene
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century