Artabanus IV of Parthia

Artabano IV coin.

Artabano IV or Ardavan IV (163-224) was the last king of the Parthians, of the Arsacid dynasty, titled, as was traditionally done in Persia, as shahanshah.

He was the son of Vologases V, whom he succeeded in 213 after fighting his own brother, Vologases VI. His mother, Kujisuni, was a princess from Caucasian Iberia.

He faced the Roman Empire, managing to defeat the troops of the emperors Caracalla and Macrinus. But, in 224, Ardacher I, a governor of Fars (present-day Iran), rebelled against Parthian power and managed to defeat it at the Battle of Hormizdagan, putting an end to the Empire that had reigned in the area for more than four hundred years, and Establishing the Sassanid Empire. A usurper, Artavasdes, attempted to continue the Parthian reign, but barely survived another year.

Tradition has it that a daughter of his, Ziyanak, married Ardacher, giving legitimacy to the new Sasanian dynasty.