Vologases I of Parthia

Vologases I of Parthia (Persian: ولاش يکم‎‎) sometimes called Vologaeses or Vologeses or following Parthian usage, Walagash (Persian: بلاش‎‎ Balāsh) was king of the Parthian Empire from about 51 until his death in 78.

Family and ascension

Vologases I was a Prince of Iranian and Greek ancestry. He was one of the sons born to Vonones II from a Greek concubine, he succeeded his father in 51. When he ascended the Parthian throne, he appointed his brother Pacorus II as king of Atropatene.

Invasion of Armenia

In 52, Vologases I invaded Armenia, conquering Artaxata (Artashat in Armenia) and proclaiming his younger brother Tiridates I as king. This action violated the treaty that had been signed by the Roman emperor Augustus and Parthian king Phraates IV which gave the Romans the explicit right to appoint and crown the kings of Armenia. Vologases I considered the throne of Armenia to have been once the property of his ancestors, now usurped by a foreign monarch in virtue of a crime. A winter epidemic as well as an insurrection initiated by his son Vardanes forced him to withdraw his troops from Armenia, allowing Rhadamistus to come back and punish locals as traitors; they eventually revolted and replaced him with the Parthian prince Tiridates I in early 55. Rhadamistus escaped along with his wife Zenobia who was pregnant. Unable to continue fleeing, she asked her husband to end her life rather than be captured. Rhadamistus stabbed her with a Median dagger and flung her body into the river Araxes. Zenobia was not fatally injured and was recovered by shepherds who sent her to Tiridates. Tiridates I received her kindly and treated her as a member of the monarchy. Rhadamistus himself returned to Iberia and was soon put to death by his father Parasmanes I of Iberia for having plotted against the royal power.