Editing Arsaces I of Parthia (section)

=== Succession ===
[[Image:Nisa-Overview-2015.JPG|thumb|300px|Overview of the ruins of [[Nisa, Turkmenistan|Nisa]], the former royal residence of the [[Parthian Empire|Arsacids]].]]
For a long time, the line of succession of Arsaces, and to some extent his historicity, had been unclear. The now-deprecated narrative of the foundation of the Arsacid dynasty by Arsaces and his brother Tiridates, who led the Parni in revolt together, was established by Jean Foy-Vaillant in 1725. He and generations of scholars thought that after Arsaces' death, Tiridates succeeded him as king of the Arsacid dynasty.{{sfn|Foy-Vaillant|1725|pp=1ff.}}<ref>{{harvtxt|Wolski|1962|pp=139–142}}, for a summary of the old historiography since Foy-Vaillant.</ref> This led to some different theories, including one that considered Arsaces a legendary figure, whilst attributing the foundation of the Arsacids to Tiridates.{{sfn|Bivar|1983|p=29, 30}}

Between 1957 and 1962 {{ill|Józef Wolski|pl}} published a series of articles with the opposite view: he regarded Arsaces as the founder of the Arsacids, and Tiridates as legendary.<ref>{{harvtxt|Wolski|1959}} and {{harvtxt|Wolski|1962|p=145}}. The author's main argument was that Justin was misunderstood in previous studies, which also relied too much on [[Arrian]]—a Greek historian whose work comprises numerous mistakes.</ref> This theory has since been supported—with minor divergences—by most scholars, until its confirmation by the discovery in Nisa of an [[ostraca|ostracon]] bearing the name of Arsaces.{{sfn|Bivar|1983|p=30}} Moreover, numismatic data and recent analysis of the sources have led to the conclusion that the character of Tiridates is indeed fictional, and that Arsaces continued to rule until his death in 217 BC, where he was succeeded by his son, [[Arsaces II of Parthia|Arsaces II]].{{sfn|Dąbrowa|2012|p=169}}