Characene
Encyclopedia
Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire , also known as the Arsacid Empire , was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Persia...
at the head of the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
. Its capital was Charax Spasinou, "The Fort of Hyspaosines". The city was an important port in the trade from Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and provided port facilities for the great city of Susa
Susa
Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....
, further up the present day Karun
Karun
The Kārun is Iran's most effluent, and the only navigable, river. It is 450 miles long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang, before passing through the capital of the Khuzestan Province of...
River.
Characene was founded around 127 BC under Aspasine, known in Classical writings as Hsypaosines, formerly a satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
installed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiochus IV Epiphanes
Antiochus IV Epiphanes ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was a son of King Antiochus III the Great. His original name was Mithridates; he assumed the name Antiochus after he ascended the throne....
. Characene existed through the break-up of the Seleucid Empire
Seleucid Empire
The Seleucid Empire was a Greek-Macedonian state that was created out of the eastern conquests of Alexander the Great. At the height of its power, it included central Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Persia, today's Turkmenistan, Pamir and parts of Pakistan.The Seleucid Empire was a major centre...
and continued as an essentially independent kingdom under the Parthians, until it was conquered by the Sassanians in the beginning of the 3rd century CE. At one point Characene included Tylos
Tylos
Bahrain was referred to by the Greeks as Tylos, the centre of pearl trading, when Nearchus came to discover it serving under Alexander the Great. From the 6th to 3rd century BC Bahrain was included in Persian Empire by Achaemenians, an Iranian dynasty...
, the present day country of Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
.
After the Parthian conquest it remained a semi-autonomous country with its own kings. It disappeared as a separate kingdom with the fall of the Parthian Empire.
Trajan
Trajan
Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...
, the Roman emperor, visited Charax in 116 AD, during his invasion of Parthia, and watched the ships leaving for India. He reportedly lamented the fact that he was not younger so that he could, like Alexander, have gone there himself.
The kings of Characene are mainly known by their coins, consisting mainly of silver tetradrachm
Tetradrachm
The tetradrachm was an Ancient Greek silver coin equivalent to four drachmae. It was in wide circulation from 510 to 38 BC.-History:Many surviving tetradrachms were minted by the polis of Athens from around the middle of the 5th century BC onwards; the popular coin was widely used in transactions...
s with Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and later Aramaic inscriptions. These coins are dated (following the Seleucid era
Seleucid era
The Seleucid era was a system of numbering years in use by the Seleucid Empire and other countries among the ancient Hellenistic civilizations. The era dates from the return of Seleucus I Nicator to Babylon in 311 BC after his exile in Ptolemaic Egypt, considered by Seleucus and his court to mark...
) providing a secure framework for the chronological placements of the kings.
Kings of Characene
- HyspaosinesHyspaosinesHyspaosines or Aspasine was a satrap installed by Antiochus IV Epiphanes and later the first king of Characene or Mesene . Hyspaosines is mainly known from coins, but also appears in texts of cuneiform script...
c. 127-124 BC - ApodakosApodakosApodakos was a king of Characene, a vassal kingdom of the Parthian Empire.Apodakos is known from his silver and bronze coins, only some of which are dated. The dated coins belong to the years 110/09 to 104/3 BC....
c. 110/09-104/03 BC - Tiraios I 95/94-90/89 BC
- Tiraios II 79/78-49/48 BC
- Artabazos 49/48-48/47 BC
- Attambelos I 47/46-25/24 BC
- Theonesios I c. 19/18
- Attambalos II c. 17/16 BC - AD 8/9
- Abinergaos IAbinergaos IAbinergaos I, also known as Abinerglus, was the king of Characene during the second decade of the Christian era. The years of his reign are not known beyond a few coins. The coins are dated to the years AD 10/11, 11/12, 13/14 and 22/23. However he appears to be Abbinerigos mentioned by Josephus....
10/11; 22/23 - Orabazes I c. 19
- Attambalos III c. 37/38-44/45
- Theonesios II c. 46/47
- Theonesios III c. 52/53
- Attambalos IV 54/55-64/65
- Attambalos V 64/65-73/74
- Orabazes II c. 73-80
- Pakoros (II)Pacorus II of ParthiaPacorus II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from about 78 to 105. A son of Vonones II and brother of Vologases I, he was given the kingdom of Media Atropatene by the latter after his succession to the throne. After Vologases' death, Pacorus revolted against his brother's son and successor,...
80-101/02 - Attambalos VI c. 101/02-105/06
- Theonesios IV c. 110/11-112/113
- Attambalos VII 113/14-117
- Meredates c. 131-150/51
- Orabazes II c. 150/51-165
- Abinergaios II (?) c. 165-180
- Attambalos VIII c. 180-195
- Maga (?) c. 195-210
- Abinergaos III c. 210-222
Further reading
- Schuol, Monika: Die Charakene. Ein mesopotamisches Königreich in hellenistisch-parthischer Zeit (= Oriens et occidens 1), Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07709-X
- Sheldon A. Nodelman, A Preliminary History of Charakene, Berytus 13 (1959/60), 83-121, XXVII f.,
- Hansman , John: "CHARACENE and CHARAX" , Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition,Center for Iranian Studies Columbia University,December 15, 1991, available at WEB ADDRESS OF THE ARTICLE, Access date :14 September 2011.