Attambelos VII was a

king King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Characene Characene (Ancient Greek: Χαρακηνή), also known as Mesene (Μεσσήνη) or Meshan, was a kingdom founded by the Iranian Hyspaosines located at the head of the Persian Gulf mostly within modern day Iraq. Its capital, Charax Spasinou (� ...

, a

vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

state of the

Parthian Parthian may refer to: Historical * Parthian people * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery sk ...

s and important trading port. His short reign lasted from 113/4 to 116/7 AD and was spent mostly contending with the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

invasion under Trajan.

Career

Like most

s of Characene he is primarily known from

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

sources, in his case from few a few bronze coins dated 113/114AD. In 114 or 115 the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

took the

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

Ctesiphon Ctesiphon ( ; , ''Tyspwn'' or ''Tysfwn''; ; , ; Thomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modified July 28, 2014, http://syriaca.org/place/58.) was an ancient city in modern Iraq, on the eastern ba ...

and then moved with a fleet of 50 ships to the Characene state on the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

. Attambelos VII surrendered to Trajan around 116/17 AD who received the temporary submission of Attambelos, as the ruling prince in Characene.

Legacy

Despite the overwhelming victory, the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

did not hold

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

for long, with the area being abandoned shortly after the death of Trajan. However, the fate of Attambelos VII during this time is unknown. The next King of Characene is not heard of until 131AD.Monika Schuol, ''The Characene: A Kingdom Hellenistic times''. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, , page. 231-232, 344-348. His successor was Meredates son of Pakoros (II), King of the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

who had himself been king of Characene from 80 to 101/02, a generation earlier. Meredates was eventually ousted by his cousin

Vologases IV Vologases IV ( ''Walagash'') was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 147 to 191. He was the son of Mithridates V (). Vologases spent the early years of his reign re-asserting Parthian control over the Kingdom of Characene. From 161 to 166 ...

, from a rival branch of the Parthian royal house, indicating a time of weakness within both the Parthian royalty and the local Characene rulers, a weakness made much worse by the opportunistic invasion by Trajan. This weakening in royal power may also be indicated by the quality of Attambelos coinage, which is

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

, unlike the

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

Tetradrachm The tetradrachm () was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard coin of the Antiquity, spreading well beyond the borders of the ...

coinage of his predecessors and may account for the lapse in coinage after Attambelos VII time. Attambelos VII coinage is also significant as his are the last Characene coinage that have a truly Greek style. From the invasion of Trajan the influence of Greek style becomes noticeably less.

References

{{s-end Kings of Characene 2nd-century monarchs in the Middle East Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown 1st-century births 2nd-century deaths

Career

Legacy

See also

References