Vonones II

Coin of Vonones II.

Vonones II of Parthia (Persian: ونن دوم‎‎, Greek: Ονωνης, flourished second half of 1st century BC – 51 AD^[1]) was a Prince of Iranian and Greek ancestry who served as a King of Media Atropatene and briefly as King of Parthia.

Vonones II was the second born son of an unnamed Arsacid Parthian Princess^[2] who was a relation to the King Vonones I of Parthia and her husband, the Median Atropatenian Prince, Darius.^[3][4][5] His known grandparents which were his paternal ones were the Monarchs Artavasdes I of Media Atropatene and his wife, Athenais.^[6][7] Vonones II had an elder brother the Parthian King Artabanus III.^[8] Vonones II was the namesake of his maternal relative Vonones I, as he was born and raised in the Parthian Empire.

Prior to his Parthian Kingship from about 11 until 51, Vonones II served as a King of Media Atropatene.^[9][10] Little is known on his reign as King of Media Atropatene.

After the death of his nephew Gotarzes II,^[11] Vonones II was raised to the Parthian Kingship in 51. The Kingship of Vonones II was brief. After a few months of him being appointed as King of Parthia, Vonones II died and was succeeded by his son, Vologases I. Tacitus described Vonones II as “he knew neither success nor failure which have deserved to be remembered to him. It was a short and inglorious reign”.^[12]

From a Greek concubine,^[13] Vonones II had 5 sons who held the thrones of Parthia and Armenia who were Pacorus II, Vologases I, Osroes I, Tiridates I and Mithridates IV. His sons were born and raised during his Kingship of Media Atropatene.

References

1. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Affiliated Lines, Descendant Lines
2. Tacitus, Annals, 6.42
3. Baldwin, Comments on "Iberian route"
4. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Affiliated Lines, Descendant Lines
5. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Tryphaena, Footnote 13
6. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Affiliated Lines, Descendant Lines
7. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Tryphaena, Footnote 13
8. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Tryphaena, Footnote 13
9. Tacitus, Annals, 12.14
10. Bunson, A Dictionary of the Roman Empire, p.454
11. Ptolemaic Genealogy: Tryphaena, Footnote 13
12. Annals, 12.14
13. Woodthorpe Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, p.p.51-52

Sources

• Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, xx, 3, 4.
• Tacitus, Annals
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• M. Bunson, A Dictionary of the Roman Empire, Oxford University Press, 1995
• S. Baldwin, Comments on "Iberian route" DFA line, web, 1996
• W. Woodthorpe Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge University Press, 2010
• Ptolemaic Genealogy: Affiliated Lines, Descendant Lines
• Ptolemaic Genealogy: Tryphaena