Artabanus I of Parthia

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Coin of Artabanus I. Reverse shows a seated goddess (perhaps Demeter) holding Nike and a cornucopia. Text reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ ([coin] of king Arsaces). The date ΗΠΡ is 188 of the Seleucid era, that is, 125 BC–124 BC.

Artabanus I of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from c. 128 to 124 BC. He succeeded his nephew Phraates II and died, just like his predecessor, in battle against the Tochari - a name commonly identified with the Yuezhi of the Chinese sources, who had fled from Gansu in northwest China, via the Ili River and Issyk Kul region and then through Dayuan (Ferghana) into Daxia or Bactria, and apparently also invaded the eastern territories of Iran:

"Bello Tochariis inlato, in bracchio vulneratus statim decedit"

"During the war against the Tokharians, he was wounded in the arm and died immediately" Justin, Epitomes, XLII,2,2.

He is perhaps identical with the Artabanus mentioned in Trogus, Prologi, xli, 5.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, xli, 2