Artaxias I of Armenia

Artaxias I (from ) was the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia, ruling from 189 BC to 160 BC. Artaxias was a member of a branch of the Orontid dynasty, the earlier ruling dynasty of Armenia. He expanded his kingdom on all sides, consolidating the territory of Greater Armenia. He enacted a number of administrative reforms to order his expanded realm. He also founded a new capital in the central valley of the Araxes River called Artaxata (Artashat), which quickly grew into a major urban and commercial center. He was succeeded by his son Artavasdes I. Modern scholars regard him as the founder of independent Armenian statehood.

Name The Greek form Artaxias ultimately derives from the Old Iranian name *, which is also the source of Greek and Middle Persian Ardashir. The Armenian form, , was borrowed at an early date, possibly during the late Achaemenid period, from Old Persian . According to Hrachia Acharian, the immediate source of the Armenian form is the unattested form *. The name can be translated as "he whose reign is through truth (asha)." In his Aramaic inscriptions, Artaxias refers to himself with the epithet "the Good," which, in Gagik Sargsyan's view, should be understood as "the Pious," corresponding to the Greek epithet . In modern Armenian historiography, he is sometimes referred to by the epithets "the Pious" (, ) and "the Conqueror" (, ).

Background Armenia was ruled by members of the Orontid dynasty, probably of Iranian origin, starting from the 5th century BC. At the end of the 3rd century BC, the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great appointed Artaxias and Zariadres as (military governors) of Greater Armenia and Sophene, respectively. Strabo reports that Artaxias and Zariadres were Antiochus's generals. However, the discovery of boundary stones with Aramaic inscriptions"These steles bear inscriptions in Aramaic (or more precisely, likely in an Iranian language “encrypted” with Aramaic spellings of individual words—i.e., an Aramaic word is written, but an Iranian word should be read in its place)." According to an epic tradition related by Movses Khorenatsi, Artaxias married Satenik, daughter of the king of the Alans, as part of a peace treaty after Artaxias defeated the invading Alans on the banks of the Kura River. However, it is generally believed that the real historical basis for the story came from the invasion of Armenia by the Alans in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiridates I.

Artaxias' known sons were his successors, Artavasdes I and Tigranes I. Four other sons are attested only in Movses Khorenatsi's history: Mazhan, who was appointed priest of Aramazd in Ani; Vroyr, who was appointed hazarapet; Tiran, who was given command of the southern part of the army; and Zareh, who was appointed commander of the northern part of the army.

Legacy

Modern cultural depictions In 1848, the Armenian playwright wrote a play in Classical Armenian titled Artashes ev Satenik (Artashes and Satenik). The 19th-century Armenian poet Bedros Tourian wrote a play about Artaxias titled (Artashes the Conqueror), which was first performed in 1870. It was written on the basis of Khorenatsi's history. Artaxias has been depicted in painting by Mkrtum Hovnatanian (1836). In 2001, a statue of Artaxias by Vanush Safaryan was erected in the central square of modern-day Artashat.