Vologases V was King of Kings of the Parthian Empire from 191 to 208AD. As king of Armenia, he is known as Vologases II. Not much is known about his period of kingship of the Armenia, except that he put his son Rev I on the Iberian throne in 189. Vologases succeeded his father Vologases IV as king of the Parthian Empire in 191; it is uncertain if the transition of power was peaceful or if Vologases took the throne in a civil war. When Vologases acceded the Parthian throne, he passed the Armenian throne to his son Khosrov I. Vologases' reign was marked by war with the Roman Empire, lasting from 195 to 202, resulting in the brief capture of the Parthian capital of Ctesiphon, and reaffirmation of Roman rule in Armenia and northern Mesopotamia. At the same time, internal conflict took place in the Parthian realm, with the local Persian dynast Pabag seizing Istakhr, the capital of the southern Iranian region of Persis.
Name
Vologases is the Greek and Latin form of the Parthian Walagaš. The name is also attested in New Persian as Balāsh and Middle Persian as Wardākhsh. The etymology of the name is unclear, although Ferdinand Justi proposes that Walagaš, the first form of the name, is a compound of words "strength", and "handsome".
During Vologases' early life, he became the ruler of Armenia, succeeding Sohaemus. Throughout the 1st and 2nd-centuries, the Armenian throne was usually occupied by a close relative of the Parthian King of Kings, who held the title of "Great King of Armenia". According to the 5th-century Armenian historian Agathangelos, the king of Armenia had the second rank in the Parthian realm, below only to the Parthian king. The modern historian Lee E. Patterson suggests that Agathangelos may have exaggerated the importance of his homeland. Unlike the previous eight Arsacid princes who ruled Armenia, Vologases managed to ensure his descendants ruled on the Armenian throne; they would rule the country until the Sasanian abolition of the Armenian throne in 428AD. During Vologases' rule in Armenia, he managed in 189 to impose his son Rev I on the Iberian throne. His descendants would rule Iberia until 284 when it was replaced by another Parthian family, the Mihranids.
King of the Parthian Empire
Vologases ascended the Parthian throne in 191 after the death of his father Vologases IV, passing the Armenian throne to his son Khosrov I. It is uncertain if the transition of power was peaceful or if Vologases took the throne in a civil war. Vologases' succession, however, was not uncontested; a rival king, Osroes II, had already set himself up in Media before the death of the previous ruler, but Vologases appears to have quickly put him down. Septimius Severus Vologases supported Emperor Pescennius Niger in his struggle for the Roman throne against Emperor Septimius Severus in 192–193, during the Year of the Five Emperors. Furthermore, he also intervened in the affairs of the Roman vassal states in northern Mesopotamia—Adiabene and Osroene. Because of this, Septimius Severus, who emerged victorious in the struggle, attacked the Parthian Empire in 195. Severus advanced into Mesopotamia, made Osroene a Roman province, and captured the Parthian capital Ctesiphon in 199. At the same time, revolts were occurring in the Parthian provinces of Media and Pars. Septimius Severus now declared himself Parthicus Maximus. He was, however, unable to maintain his conquests, due to lack of food supplies and reinforcements. As a result, he withdrew his forces; during his withdrawal, he attempted in vain to conquer the Arab fortress of Hatra twice, later withdrawing his forces to Syria. In 202, peace was restored, reaffirming Roman rule in Armenia and northern Mesopotamia. The IranologistTouraj Daryaee argues that the reign of Vologases was "the turning point in Arsacid history, in that the dynasty lost much of its prestige." The kings of Persis were now unable to depend on their weakened Arsacid overlords. Indeed, in 205/6, Pabag, a local ruler in Persis, rebelled and overthrew his overlord Gochihr, taking the Persis capital Istakhr for himself. His son Ardashir I would go on to continue his conquests, overthrowing the Parthian Empire and establishing the Sasanian Empire in 224. Vologases died in 208, succeeded by his son Vologases VI, however another son, Artabanus IV, attempted to seize the throne a few years later, resulting in a civil war.
