Orodes c. 17/18 AD No known coins

When the pro-Roman claimant Vonones I was driven from Armenia (AD 16–17), the Parthian king Artabanus II moved quickly: he installed his own son Orodes as king at Artaxata, backing the act with a show of Parthian force. The appointment signalled Parthia’s intention to control the northern flank of Mesopotamia after a decade of seesawing client-rulers. Armenian nobles, confronted with Artabanus’ army, offered no immediate resistance.

Rome answered through diplomacy. In the spring of AD 18 the prince Germanicus met Artabanus on the Euphrates. According to Tacitus, the two agreed that Parthia would recall Orodes and accept a neutral compromise candidate, Artaxias (Zeno) of Pontus, as Rome’s client-king in Armenia. Orodes therefore vanished from the record after little more than a year, and no coins or inscriptions are known for his rule.