Orontes IV

Who is Orontes IV?

Orontes IV was the son of King Arsames and is recorded as ruling Armenia from inscriptions found at the historic capital of the Orontid dynasty, Armavir. In his reign the religious site of Bagaran was founded. Large bronze statues in the Hellenistic style of the gods, Zeus, Artemis and Herakles were brought there and set up in temples dedicated to them. He is also said to have founded a shrine at Armavir dedicated to Apollo, a golden statue of four horses pulling a chariot with Apollo as god of the Sun. This was later destroyed by the Sassanid Persian army in the 4th century AD.

King Antiochus III instigated a revolt against King Orontes IV. Strabo, who wrote about this 200 years later, stated that it was general Artaxias I, who was also an Orontid, who overthrew King Orontes IV. Aramaic inscriptions found at Armavir state that King Orontes IV died at the hands of his own army, in other words by betrayal from Artaxias I. This was most likely bribery of the Armenian army by King Antiochus III.

Artaxias I took over as King of Armenia soon afterwards, according to Strabo.