Vardanes I of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire

Parthia

Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....

 from about 40–45. He succeeded his father Artabanus II

Artabanus II of Parthia

Artabanus II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from about AD 10 to 38. He was the son of a princess of the Arsacid Dynasty, who lived in the East among the Dahan nomads...

, but had to continually fight against Gotarzes II

Gotarzes II of Parthia

Gotarzes II of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire intermittently between about 40 and 51. He was the son of Artabanus II and when his father died in about 38 and his brother Vardanes I succeeded to the throne, Gotarzes rebelled....

, a rival claimant to the throne.

His coins show that he was in full possession of the throne from about 40 to 45 CE. In 43 he forced the city of Seleucia on the Tigris

Seleucia on the Tigris

Seleucia , also known as Seleucia on the Tigris, was one of the great cities of the world during Hellenistic and Roman times. It stood in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the Tigris River, opposite the smaller town of Ctesiphon, in present day Babil Governorate, Iraq.-Seleucid empire:Seleucia,...

 to submit to the Parthians again after a rebellion of seven years. Ctesiphon

Ctesiphon

Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...

, the residence of the kings on the left bank of the Tigris, opposite to Seleucia, naturally profited by this war; and Vardanes is therefore called founder of Ctesiphon by Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus was a fourth-century Roman historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity...

. He also prepared for a war against the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

, with the aim of reconquering Armenia

Armenia

Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

, but ultimately decided against facing the Roman legions.

In a new war with Gotarzes he gained a great success against the eastern nomads. According to Tacitus (Annales xi. 8-10), Vardanes was expelled temporarily from the throne by his brother Gotarzes, and fled to take refuge "in the plains of the Bactrians" (possibly the Yuezhi

Yuezhi

The Yuezhi, or Rouzhi , also known as the Da Yuezhi or Da Rouzhi , were an ancient Central Asian people....

, who occupied Bactria at that time). Once he resumed power, he led a victorious campaign against the Dahae

Dahae

The Dahae , or Dahaeans were a confederacy of three Ancient Iranian tribes who lived in the region to the immediate east of the Caspian Sea. They spoke an Eastern Iranian language.-Records:...

 army of Gotarzes, as far as the Sindes river (the Tejen

Tejen

Tejen is an oasis city in the Karakum Desert, in Ahal Province of Turkmenistan. It is located at latitude 37.3786 North; longitude 60.4961 East at an altitude of 161 meters...

).

He is praised by Tacitus

Tacitus

Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...

 as a young and highly gifted ruler of great energy, but lacking in humanity. In about 47 he was assassinated while hunting, and Gotarzes became king again.

Vardanes is mentioned in Life of Apollonius Tyana

Life of Apollonius Tyana

Life of Apollonius of Tyana is a book written in Ancient Greece by Philostratus . It tells the story of Apollonius of Tyana , a Pythagorean philosopher and teacher.-Contents:...

 as a benefactor to Apollonius of Tyana

Apollonius of Tyana

Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Little is certainly known about him...

 (2–c. 98 AD). He gives him letters guaranteeing safe passage 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...

, so that he can meet there the Indo-Parthian ruler of India Phraotes

Phraotes

Phraotes was an Indo-Parthian king of the city of Taxila in northern India, met by the Greek philosopher Apollonius of Tyana around 46 CE according to the Life of Apollonius Tyana written by Philostratus....

:

"And with that, he showed them a letter, written to that effect, and this gave them occasion to marvel afresh at the humanity and foresight of Vardanes. For he had addressed the letter in question to the 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....

 of the Indus, although he was not subject to his dominion; and in it he reminded him of the good service he had done him, but declared that he would not ask any recompense for the same, "for", he said, "it is not my habit to ask for a return of favors." But he said he would be very grateful, if he could give a welcome to Apollonius and send him on wherever he wished to go. And he had given gold to the guide, so that in case he found Apollonius in want thereof, he might give it him and save him from looking to the generosity of anyone else." – Book II:17