Zariadres

Zariadres
Satrap and then King of Sophene
Reign	212 – 188 BC
Predecessor	Abdissares
Died	188 BC
Issue	Artaxias I
Dynasty	Orontid
Father	Xerxes

Zariadres (Armenian: Զարեհ Zareh) was a King of Sophene.

Name

Zariadres (Ζαριάδρης) is the Greek transliteration of an Iranian name, attested as ZRYTR (ZRYHR) in the Aramaic engravings in Sevan and Siwnik, and as Zareh in Armenian sources.^[1] The name is derived from Old Iranian Zari āθra ("with golden fire").^[2]

Biography

Strabo cites Sophene being taken over by a "general" of king Antiochus III by 200 BC, called Zariadres.^[3]

Following the defeat of Antiochus III by the Romans at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, Zariadres and Artaxias revolted and with Roman consent began to reign as kings under the terms of the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC—Zariadres over Sophene and Artaxias over Armenia.

It is possible that Zariadres (Dsariadres) was the father of Abdissares, although the scant historical records have Abdissares ruling before Zariadres. The name written as Dsariadris might be a Greek corruption of the name Bagdassar. A hypothesis is that king Bagdassar was forced to accept rule by king Antiochus III, but stayed as a Satrap, paying tribute until the Battle of Magnesia allowed him to reassert his independence. Strabo was writing 200 years after these events and may not have been accurate.

Over a dozen stone boundary markers have been discovered on the territory of modern Armenia from the time of the reign of Artashes with Aramaic inscriptions, before their discovery the existence of these stones was attested by Moses of Chorene. In these inscriptions Artashes claims descent from the Yervanduni (Orontid) Dynasty: King Artaxias, the son of Orontid Zariadres.

References

Sources

• Babaie, Sussan; Grigor, Talinn (2015). Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–288. ISBN 9780857734778.
• Garsoian, Nina (2005). "Tigran II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. BRILL. ISBN 9789004350724.
• Sartre, Maurice (2005). The Middle East Under Rome. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674016835.