Tigran The Great

[Dyutazn]

Dear Dyutzazn, we love your passion and enthusiasm. Keep it up!

Did you see post # 12 above where we talked about this? - Where some doubt that Tigran even spoke Armenian?

 

Thank you, Axpers !

 

I read your post # 12 ,but as you wrote there, << it is a doubt that Tigran even spoke Armenian ? >>

I am sure that he knew Armenian.

I will try to find your mentioned book - << George Brnoutian's new (translation) book about Tigranes II and the Romans by Hakob Manandian >> .

 

Tigran anun@ parskakana,bayts da chi nsanakum vor ink@ hayeren cgiter …

 

[Yervant1]

THE RISE AND FALL OF TIGRANES THE GREAT, KING OF ARMENIA

Ancient Origins
March 24 2015

Under King Tigranes II the Great, from 95 to 55 B.C. Armenia thrived,
and became the strongest state in the Roman east for a time.

In the aftermath of the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans at
the Battle of Magnesia in 190 B.C., the grip of the Seleucid Empire
on the East was weakened. According to the Greek geographer Strabo,
Armenia was at that time governed by two of Antiochus' generals,
Artaxias and Zariadris. Seizing the opportunity, the generals decided
to declare their loyalty to the Roman victors, and claimed autonomy
from the ailing Seleucid Empire. For much of its later history, the
Kingdom of Armenia would serve as a buffer state between the Roman
Empire in the West and the Parthian Empire in the East. Yet, this was
not always the case, as Armenia was once a powerful Eastern kingdom
during the reign of Tigranes II, also known as Tigranes the Great.

Coin with Tigranes the Great portrait (Armenian king, ruled 95 BCE-55
BCE). Public Domain

Following the independence of Armenia, the satrapy was divided between
the two generals. Artaxias ruled over the Kingdom of Armenia, which,
according to Strabo, consisted of "what is properly called Armenia,
which lay adjacent to Media and Albania and Iberia, extending as far as
Colchis and Cappadocia on the Euxine." Zariadris, on the other hand,
ruled over the Kingdom of Sophene, and "held the southern parts and
those that lay more to the west than these (i.e. the territories
of Artaxias)." Tigranes was a descendant of Artaxias, and was born
around 140 B.C. Around 120 B.C.,

Tigranes was taken as a hostage by the Parthians, only to be released
some 25 years later after ceding "seventy valleys in Armenia" to them.

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Once freed from the Parthians and on the throne of Armenia, Tigranes
wasted no time at establishing his position. He first formed an
alliance with Mithridates VI of Pontus by marrying his daughter,
Cleopatra the Elder.

Then, Tigranes set his sights on conquest. At that time, the Kingdom
of Sophene was ruled by Artanes, a descendant of Zariadris. Tigranes
decided to expand his kingdom, and conquered the lands held by Artanes
in 93 B.C.

Following the death of Mithridates II of Parthia in 91 B.C.,
Tigranes successfully reconquered the "seventy valleys of Armenia"
ceded to him just four years earlier, and laid waste to Parthian
lands. Tigranes then conquered Osroene (Edessa), Nisibis, Gordyene,
Atropatene, and Adiabene. He also waged war on the Seleucid Empire,
and took Syria and Phoenicia in 83 B.C.

The Kingdom of Armenia at its greatest extent under Tigranes the
Great. Aivazovsky/Wikimedia Commons

Although Tigranes grew rapidly in power, his triumph was to be
short-lived. To the west of Armenia, Tigranes' father-in-law,
Mithridates VI of Pontus, was at war with the Romans, in what is known
today as the Third Mithridatic War. Having been defeated by the Roman
general Lucullus, Mithridates fled to Tigranes, who refused to hand
him over to the Romans. By doing so, Tigranes effectively declared
war with Rome.

Armenian foot soldiers wearing the traditional Mithraic /Phrygian
caps. Wikimedia Commons

Although heavily outnumbered by his enemies, Lucullus decided to march
on Tigranocerta, the new, unfinished capital of the Kingdom of Armenia,
in 69 B.C. While the Romans were besieging the city, Tigranes arrived
with a huge army, which, according to Plutarch, numbered at 260,000
men. Leaving around 6,000 men to maintain the siege, Lucullus met
Tigranes with about 11,000 men. In a most surprising turn of events,
Tigranes was defeated by Lucullus, and was forced to flee to the old
Armenian capital, Artaxata, where he was again defeated by the Romans.

When the Roman troops grew weary of the eastern campaign, and refused
to go any further, Lucullus was recalled by the Senate, and replaced by
Pompey. In 66 B.C., Pompey marched on Armenia, and Tigranes surrendered
to the Roman general without a fight.

Having reconciled with the Romans, Tigranes became a 'friend and ally'
of the Romans, with the condition that he give up the territories
won through his previous conquests. Tigranes continued to rule over
the Kingdom of Armenia until his death in about 55 B.C.

Tigranes' descendants continued to rule the Kingdom of Armenia as
client kings of Rome until the overthrow of the Artaxiad dynasty in
A.D. 12 for their alleged allegiance to the Parthians.

Featured image: Tigranes the Great with four Kings surrounding him.

19th century illustration. Public Domain

References

Appian, History of Rome: The Mithridatic Wars
[Online] [White, H. (trans.), 1913. Appian's History
of Rome: The Mithridatic Wars.] Available at:
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_mithridatic_00.html

Lendering, J., 2007. Armenia. [Online] Available at:
http://www.livius.org/arl-arz/armenia/armenia.html

Lendering, J., 2014. Tigranes II. [Online] Available at:
http://www.livius.org/person/tigranes-ii/

Minasyan, S., 2008. Tigran the Great. [Online] Available at:
http://www.armenian-history.com/Nyuter/HISTORY/ArmeniaBC/tigran_the_great.htm

Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Lucullus [Online] [Dryden, J. (trans.),
1683. Plutarch's Parallel Lives: Lucullus.] Available at:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plutarch/lucullus.html

Strabo, Geography [Online] [Hamilton, H.C. & Falconer,
W. (trans.), 1903. Strabo's Geography.] Available at:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0198

By a¸~Na¸¥wty

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[Yervant1]

PanArmenian, Armenia

Oct 9 2017

Azerbaijani textbook features map of Greater Armenia

http://media.pn.am/media/issue/247/392/photo/247392.jpg

Azeri social media users have posted a picture of a map of Greater Armenia they found in school textbooks on the history of Azerbaijan.

In a 10th grade textbook, the Russian sector features a map showing what is known as sea so sea Armenia which includes parts of present-day Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Turkey, Vesti.Az reports.

Authored by nine historians, the textbook was published in Baku this year with a circulation of 7,000 copies.

The phrase "sea to sea Armenia" is a popular _expression_ used by Armenians to refer to the kingdom of Tigranes which extended from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

http://panarmenian.net/m/eng/news/247392/16

[gamavor]

"In Armenia, Tigran is seated surrounded with that power which has wrested Asia from the Parthians, which carries Greek colonies into Media, subdues Syria and Palestine and cuts off the Seleucids." Allegedly these are the words of Lucullos recorded by the Greek historian Plutarch. It is also known that Cicero said of King Tigran: " "He made the Republic of Rome tremble before the powers of his arms." Both references are from http://www.hyeetch.nareg.com.au/armenians/history_p1.html.

I'm trying to trace the words of Cicero to any historical writing with no avail. Any clue?