Ariobarzanes 2-3 AD No known coins

Ariobarzanes II, former king of Media Atropatene, became King of Armenia in AD 2. A Roman vassal in Media since 20 BC, he had been deposed in 8 BC after a pro-Parthian coup. Augustus kept him under Roman protection, and when the joint reign of Tigranes IV and Erato collapsed, the emperor dispatched his grandson Gaius Caesar to install Ariobarzanes on the Armenian throne as a consensus candidate acceptable to Rome, Parthia, and the Armenian nobility.

Although born outside Armenia, Ariobarzanes was tied to the Artaxiads through marriage and claimed Achaemenid descent. That pedigree, combined with explicit Roman sponsorship, secured rapid recognition at Artaxata. Once crowned, he governed even-handedly: respecting noble privileges, reopening trade routes, and avoiding entanglement in Rome–Parthia rivalry. His experience in Media and his earlier loyalty to Augustus reassured both great powers and gave Armenia a brief respite from external invasion.

Ariobarzanes’ reign was cut short. In AD 3—after scarcely a year on the throne—he died suddenly (Roman sources attribute the death to illness, Armenian tradition to an accident). His passing reopened the succession crisis that Augustus had hoped to settle, forcing Rome to search yet again for a stable client-king and plunging Armenia back into uncertainty.