Tigranes the Great

Tigranes II was a powerful ruler of Armenia. Most historians call him Tigranes the Great. He belonged to the Artaxiad dynasty. He ruled from 95 BC to 55 BC. During his reign, Armenia reached its greatest size. His empire became the most powerful state east of the Roman Republic.

At its peak, his territory was massive. It stretched from the Pontic Alps to Mesopotamia. It reached from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. Some of his captured lands even touched the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf.

Tigranes had a complicated early life involving the Parthian Empire. Around 120 BC, the Parthian king Mithridates II invaded Armenia. This forced King Artavasdes I to accept Parthian authority. As part of this arrangement, Tigranes was given to the Parthians as a hostage. He lived in the Parthian court at Ctesiphon. There, he studied Parthian language and culture. Eventually, Mithridates II released him. The king then appointed Tigranes to rule Armenia.

As a condition of his rule, Tigranes gave the "seventy valleys" in the Caspian region to the Parthians.

When he took the throne, Tigranes wanted to centralize his power. Armenia had many local leaders called nakharars. These feudal lords held great influence in their specific provinces. Tigranes worked to consolidate control over these regions. He then began a series of military campaigns. He invaded or annexed several Roman and Parthian client-kingdoms. He also deposed Artanes, the last king of the Kingdom of Sophene. His expansionist policies were driven by the needs of the landowning nobility and slave-owners.

Tigranes formed a major alliance with Mithridates VI of Pontus. He married Cleopatra, the daughter of Mithridates VI, to seal this bond. This alliance aimed to create a strong Hellenistic state. This state would challenge the growing influence of Rome. Tigranes expanded his reach into Syria, Phoenicia, and Cilicia. He effectively ended the remnants of the Seleucid Empire. He even took the title "King of Kings." This was an ancient title used by the Achaemenids. When he appeared in public, he was often accompanied by four vassal kings.

To manage his growing empire, Tigranes built a new capital called Tigranocerta. He was a great admirer of Greek culture. He invited Greek philosophers and rhetoricians to his court. The city was famous for its Hellenistic architecture. Tigranes also forcibly relocated many people from conquered cities to this new metropolis. This helped populate his capital and centralize his administration.

Conflict with Rome eventually became unavoidable. The Roman commander Lucullus demanded that Tigranes expel his ally, Mithridates VI. Tigranes refused this demand. Doing so would have meant accepting Roman authority. In 69 BC, the two sides met at the Battle of Tigranocerta. Despite having a much larger force, Tigranes was decisively defeated. A year later, he suffered another major defeat at Artaxata.

Although Lucullus faced mutinies from his own troops, the Roman presence remained a threat.

In 66 BC, the Roman leader Pompey arrived to finish the conflict. This invasion was complicated by Tigranes' own son, Tigranes the Younger. The son joined the Parthians and helped Pompey invade Armenia. This was an attempt to replace the elder Tigranes with the younger one. Faced with this pressure, the 75-year-old king chose to surrender. Pompey allowed him to remain king of the Armenian heartland. However, Tigranes had to give up all his other conquests. He also had to pay 6,000 talents of silver to Rome.

He ruled as a client-king of Rome until his death around 55 BC. He lived to be approximately 85 years old.