GOTARZES  , or . GoTERZES,

king of Parthia (c . A.D . 42-51) . In an inscription at the foot of the rock of Behistun' he is called PwrapNs FeenroOpos, i.e . " son of Gew," and seems to be designated as " satrap of satrap." This inscription therefore probably dates from the reign of Artabanus II . (A.D . 10-40), to whose family Gotarzes must have belonged . From a very barbarous coin of Gotarzes with the inscription Oavi-Xewc /3au X€wv Apravq' nos KEKaXov/AEvor Aprajavou PwrepOls (Wroth, Catalogue of the Coins of Parthia, p . 165; Numism . Chron., 1900, p . 95; the earlier readings of this inscription are wrong), which must be translated " king of kings Arsakes, named son of Artabanos, Gotarzes," it appears that he was adopted by Artabanus .

When the troublesome reign of Artabanus II. ended in A.D . 39 or 40, he was succeeded by

Vardanes, probably his son; but against him in 41 rose Gotarzes (the dates are fixed by the coins) . He soon made himself detested by his cruelty—among many other murders he even slew his brother Artabanus and his whole family (Tac . Ann. xi . 8)—and Vardanes regained the throne in 42; Gotarzes fled to Hyrcania and gathered an army from the Dahan nomads . The war between the two kings was at last ended by a treaty, as both were afraid of the conspiracies of their nobles . Gotarzes returned to Hyrcania . But when Vardanes was assassinated in 45, Gotarzes was acknowledged in the whole empire (Tac . Ann. xi. g ff.; Joseph . Antiq. xx . 3, 4, where Gotarzes is called Kotardes) . He now takes on his coins the usual Parthian titles, " king of kings Arsaces the benefactor, the just, the illustrious (Epiphanes), the friend of the Greeks (Philhellen)," without mentioning his proper name .

The discontent excited by his

cruelty and luxury induced the hostile party to apply to the 'emperor Claudius and fetch from Rome an Arsacid prince Meherdates (i.e . Mithra; dates), who lived there as hostage . He crossed the Euphrates in 49, but was beaten and taken prisoner by Gotarzes, who cut off his ears (Tac . Ann. xii. to ff.) . Soon after Gotarzes died, according to Tacitus, of an illness; Josephus says that he was murdered . His last coin is dated from June 51 . 1 Rawlinson, Journ . Roy . Geog . Soc. ix . 114; Flandin and Coste, La Perse ancienne, i. tab . 19; Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci inscr .

431 . An earlier " Arsakes with the name Gotarzes," mentioned on some astronomical tablets from

Babylon (Strassmaier in Zeitschr. fur Assyriologie, vi . 216; Mahler in Wiener Zeitschr. fur Kunde des Morgenlands, xv . 63 ff.), appears to have reigned for some time in Babylonia about 87 B.C . (En .