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From: "~Ford~" <>
Subject: Edessa, Judea, and Armenia
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 2004 14:14:22 -0500


Don,
You had asked for Prof. Kelley’s reasoning behind deriving the later
Edessan royalty from the house of Herod. Once I found Dave’s letter, and
reread it, I wanted to get his permission before sharing it. Having gotten
same, I am condensing, (I could only do so slightly, without damaging the
gist of his argument), in order to save myself typing. While the exact
wording is often mine, the phrasing, argumentation and conclusions are Prof.
Kelley’s; in whom any copyrights should be vested.
Notes prepared 1 April 1980, by David H. Kelley, based on his conclusions
reached in 1965.
1) Pseudo-Moses of Chorene and Pseudo-Agathangelos derive 3rd & 4th
century Arsacids of Armenia from the kings of Edessa, in a female line, and
their claim to Armenia, through said kings, who are made male-line Arsacids,
of the family of Tigran, the Great, (who was NOT actually an Arsacid).
2) The name Tigran ‘went through’ the Armenian royal houses:
Tigran III, the Great, who m. Cleopatra, of Pontus;
Tigran IV & V, of the house of Herod;
Tigran VI, the Arsacid, ca. 161-180, (the ‘Diran I’ of later tradition);
Tigran VII, the Arsacid.
3) There was a tradition, or an antiquarian invention that the Bagratids
of Armenia were of Jewish origin. This is based on two bases. a] The
Georgian Bagratids did, indeed, have a Jewish origin, which was then applied
to the Armenian Bagratids. b] The Abgarids of Edessa, from whom they
claimed descent, (vide supra), were. indeed, Jewish, though not appearing as
such in Armenian tradition.
4) The Armenian historical tradition constantly, and, (more or less),
understandably confuses Abgar V, who was converted to Judaïsm, with Abgar
IX, who was (the first king, anywhere) coverted to Christianity.
5) Armenian tradition: Vologaes V, of Parthia, son of Diran, (Tigran
VI), of Armenia, son of Artashes, son of Sanatruk, son of Ode, of Edessa.
Ode’s husband is not given. Chronological analysis shows ‘to my entire
satisfaction’ that the aforementioned Artashes is same as Vologaes III, of
Parthia. Sanatruk is king of Adiabene, and of Edessa (91-109), as well as
of Armenia. Cassius Dio says that Vologaes, son of Sanatruk, became king of
part of Armenia in 116, on the death of his father. John Malala says
Parthemaspates, (‘I think Parthamaspates II’, K. Edessa 118-123), was son of
Chosroes, (whom he calls by the Edessan form of his name, ‘Osroes’), brother
of Sanatruk. ’In my opinion,’ this Chosroes is NOT the like-named K.
Parthia. Dominus says Sanatruk was son of Meerdat, brother of Chosroes,
(who was K. Parthia, ca. 109-128). They were brothers of Pakor II, and sons
of Vologaes I, K. Parthia 51/2-79/80, brother of Pakor, K. Atropatene, and
of Tiridat, K. Armenia, and sons of Vonones II, brother of Artaban III, ca.
11-40.
6) ’The above reconstruction (not based on the Armenian tradition)’
makes Parthamaspat II, of Edessa, 118-123 a grandson of Meherdat, and makes
Sanatruk of Edessa a son of Mithradat. The fact that Armenian tradtion
makes the mother of Sanatruk a sister of Abgar of Edessa, and the heiress of
Armenia, (and, presumably, of Edessa) seems strong support for the validity
of the tradition. Moreover, Ode as a female name is ‘strikingly reminiscent
’ Hodda, a known female name in the royal family of Edessa. The marriage of
Mithridat [and Ode] must have occurred ca. AD 50-60, which means the Ode’s
brother could be neither Abgar V, nor IX, but must have been Abgar VI, son
of Maanu VI, K. Edessa 57-71. In later Armenian tradition, Ode and Abgar
are made childrem of Arscham, brother of Tigran, (apparently ’the Great’).
This is nonsensical, as is the further derivation of the last from the
Arsacids. ’I believe that not only Sanatruk and Parthamaspates were
Arsacids, but that all the later’ Ks. Edessa were really Arsacids. The fact
of the later Abgarids being Arsacids may have led to an ‘illegitimate’
back-aplication to earlier kings; particularly as Abgar IX, (convert to
Christianity), would have been an Arsacid.
7) ‘The confusion over the chronology and identity of the Abgars may
have been partially responsible for the confusion above. The assertion that
Abgar was a son of Arsham is ridiculous; that that he was a PATERNAL nephew
of ANY Tigran of Armenia is equally so. However, it is ’entirely possible
for him to have been a MATERNAL nephew of’ Tigran V. ’This is, in fact,
highly likely.’ Abgar VI was son of Maanu VI, a Jewish king living part of
the time in Jerusalem. Tigran V was likewise a Jewish king living part of
the time in Jerusalem. An intermarriage between two Jewish royal families,
(ca. AD 30-40) ‘is highly likely.’ It would a] provide a legitimate line of
inheritance for the throne of Armenia, and b] explain the inheritance of the
name of Tigran.
8) ’[T]hat Tigranes V was a descendant of Herod would, in and of itself,
be an adequate reason for Christian chroniclers to try to eliminate him from
the pedigree’. But if Ode was an heiress of Armenia, ‘it must surely have
been’ through this Jewish line, rather than ’an obscure Artaxiad’ or the
kings of Media-Atropatene.
9) Tigran’s grandmother was Glaphyra, of Cappadocia, whom Josephus
presents as ‘always boasting of her pedigree.’ She claimed to descend from
Timon, ‘(some versions, mistakenly, have Simon)’, i.e. from the Macedonians,
in the paternal line and, maternally from the Achaemenid kings of Persia. ’
It seems highly likely that the latter claim refers to a descent from
Cleopatra, of Pontus, wife of Tigran III. Glaphyra married Alexander, son
of Herod and Mariamne, ca. 17 BC, and Cleopatra married Tigran ca. 90. ’I
suspect that Glaphyra’s mother was a daughter of Tigranes, who would have
had equal status with the daughter who married Mithradates, of Media
Atropatene and carried a claim to Armenia to them.
10) The name ’Salome’ appears in the family of the Arsacid kings of
Armenia, and Edessa, as well as the better known Herodians.
The preceding omits details of the chronological argument and of the
arguments from ‘coinage, which I find quite unlikely in the usual
interpretations.’ To elaborate adequately on these would take more time
than is available.
‘The arguments seem to me reasonable. I would not claim more.’

There is attached a genealogical chart, which I shall endeavour to put
on http://home.earthlink.net/~smommaerts/classicalgenealogy.
I have discussed with Prof. Kelley the fact that this reconstruction does
not explain the introduction of the name ’Izates’ into the Edessan royal
line from the royal house of Adiabene, and a claim to that throne. He
acknowledged same and pointed out that it could have come by a different
route than through Edessa. I suggest that the daughter of Izates II was
mother of Meherdat, who married Odé/Hodda.

^Ford^



In Xanadu did Kublai Khan
a stately pleasure-dome decree,
where Alph, the sacred river, ran
through caverns measureless to man
down to a sunless sea,
so twice five miles of fertile ground
with walls and towers were girdled round.
THE BALLAD OF KUBLAI KHAN
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE


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