This article is about a king of Armenia in the 1st century BC. For other historical figures with the same name (including other kings of Armenia), see Tigranes.
Tigranes the Great
King of Kings
Coin of Tigranes, Antioch mint.
King of Armenia
Reign
95–55 BC
Predecessor
Tigranes I
Successor
Artavasdes II
Born
140 BC
Died
55 BC (aged 85)
Burial
Tigranocerta (modern-day Diyarbakır, Turkey)
Consort
Cleopatra of Pontus
Issue
Four sons: Zariadres Unnamed Tigranes Artavasdes II Three daughters: Ariazate Unnamed Unnamed
Dynasty
Artaxiad
Father
Artavasdes I or Tigranes I
Mother
Alan princess[1]
Religion
Zoroastrianism[2][3]
Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great (Tigran Mets in Armenian;[4][a] Ancient Greek: Τιγράνης ὁ Μέγας, Tigránes ho Mégas; Latin: Tigranes Magnus;[6] 140 – 55 BC), was a king of Armenia. A member of the Artaxiad dynasty, he ruled from 95 BC to 55 BC. Under his reign, the Armenian kingdom expanded beyond its traditional boundaries and reached its peak, allowing Tigranes to claim the title Great King or King of Kings. His empire for a short time was the most powerful state to the east of the Roman Republic. Tigranes's title King of Kings is linked, along his victories, also to the appearance of Halley comet during his reign,[7]
as depicted on the rare series of Tigranes's coins. [8]
Either the son or nephew of Artavasdes I, Tigranes was given as a hostage to Mithridates II of Parthia after Armenia came under Parthian suzerainty. After ascending to the Armenian throne, he rapidly expanded his kingdom by invading or annexing Roman and Parthian client-kingdoms. Tigran decided to ally with Mithridates VI of Pontus by marrying his daughter Cleopatra. At its height, Tigranes' empire stretched from the Pontic Alps to Mesopotamia and from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. With captured vassals, he had even reached the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Many of the inhabitants of conquered cities were forcibly relocated to his new capital, Tigranocerta. An admirer of the Greek culture, Tigranes invited many Greek rhetoricians and philosophers to his court, and his capital was noted for its Hellenistic architecture.
Armenia came into direct conflict with Rome after Mithridates VI was forced to seek refuge in Tigranes' court. In 69 BC, Tigranes was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tigranocerta by a Roman army under the command of Lucullus, and a year later he met another major defeat at Artaxata, the old Armenian capital. The recall of Lucullus gave Tigranes a brief respite, but in 66 BC Armenia faced another Roman invasion led by Pompey, aided by Tigranes' own son, Tigranes the Younger. Tigranes chose to surrender and was allowed to retain the heartland of his kingdom as a Roman buffer state, while all of his conquests were annexed. He continued to rule Armenia as a formal ally of Rome until his death around 55 BC at the age of 85.
^Mayor 2009, p. 136.
^Romeny 2010, p. 264.
^Curtis 2016, p. 185; de Jong 2015, pp. 119–120, 123–125; Chaumont 1986, pp. 418–438
^Manaserian, R. (1985). "Tigran B Mets" Տիգրան Բ Մեծ. In Arzumanian, Makich (ed.). Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարան [Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia] (in Armenian). Vol. 11. Erevan: Haykakan SSH Gitutʻyunneri Akademia. pp. 697–698.
^Achaṛyan, Hrachʻya (1965). "Tigran" Տիգրան. Hayotsʻ andznanunneri baṛaran Հայոց անձնանունների բառարան [Dictionary of Armenian personal names] (in Armenian). Vol. V. Erevan: Petakan hamalsarani hratarakchʻutʻyun. pp. 147-148.
^Ubbo Emmius (1620). Appendix Genealogica: illustrando operi chronologico adjecta. Excudebat Ioannes Sassivs. p. D5.
^Mayor, Adrienne (2011). The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691150260.
^Gurzadyan, V. G.; Vardanyan, R. (August 2004). "Halley's comet of 87 BC on the coins of Armenian king Tigranes?". Astronomy & Geophysics. 45 (4): 4.06. arXiv:physics/0405073. Bibcode:2004A&G....45d...6G. doi:10.1046/j.1468-4004.2003.45406.x. S2CID 119357985.
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and the army of the Kingdom of Armenia led by King TigranestheGreat. The Roman force, led by Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, defeated Tigranes, and...
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10 BC. Erato's father, Tigranes III, died before 6 BC. In 8 BC, the Armenians installed Tigranes IV as successor of Tigranes III. In accordance with...
Although Tigranes IV was the namesake of his father, the name Tigranes was the most common royal name in the Artaxiad dynasty and was among the most ancient...
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of the same name and was born and raised in the Kingdom of Pontus. She was the wife of the Armenian King TigranestheGreat. She married Tigranes in 94...
Empire extended from the Pontic Alps to Mesopotamia, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean. Tigranes invaded as far southeast as the Parthian capital...
Armenian TigranestheGreat (r. 95–55 BC). The apocryphal Book of Judith, which probably applies the name "Nebuchadnezzar" to TigranestheGreat of Armenia...
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to the Roman Republic in 64 BC by Pompey in the Third Mithridatic War following the defeat of King of Armenia TigranestheGreat, who had become the protector...
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