horse archers during the Jewish Revolt. Soon afterwards the Alans, a great nomadic tribe beyond the Caucasus, invaded Atropatene and Armenia; Vologases I applied in vain for help to Vespasian, but did not achieve any decisive result. The Alans quickly withdrew with a lot of booty after plundering Armenia and Media Atropatene. Vologases I later died in 78, and was succeeded by his son Pacorus II. Government Coinage Vologases was the first Arsacid ruler to have the Parthian script and language appear on his minted coins alongside the now almost illegible Greek. However, the use of Greek-alphabet legends on Parthian coins remained until the collapse of the empire. On the reverse of his silver tetradrachms, he is being invested as king by a female deity, representing one of the female Iranian deities (yazata) Anahita or Ashi. Both of these deities are closely linked with the khvarenah ("Divine Glory") of the monarch. Trade Vologases sought to accomplish the goal of Artabanus II, by attempting to establish a long and structured trade-route that spanned through East Asia, India and the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This planned long trade-route would greatly improve the economy of the Parthian Empire. In order to accomplish this, Vologases strengthened relations with other powers whom he was able to establish long-distance trade with, most notably Han China. Vologases sought to impose his authority over the trade revenue of Seleucia, and was unrelenting against the Greek elites who questioned his rule. Vologases founded the town of Valashabad in the neighborhood of Ctesiphon and Seleucia, with the intention of breaking the Greek monopoly on trade. Zoroastrianism Vologases is an important figure in Zoroastrianism. According to the 10th-century Middle Persian Zoroastrian document Denkard ("Acts of Religion"), Vologases ordered his subjects to safeguard variants of the Avestan books and schooling, which had been scattered due to raids and plundering by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great () in the 4th-century BC. Family tree References Bibliography Ancient works Tacitus, Annals Modern works . . Further reading 1st-century births Year of birth unknown 78 deaths 1st-century Parthian monarchs People of the Roman–Parthian Wars 1st-century Iranian people Iranian people of Greek descent 1st-century Babylonian kings