“TIGRANES II AND ROME”
(H. Manandyan, translated by George A. Bournoutian)
(H. Manandyan, translated by George A. Bournoutian)
Tigranes II (95-55 B.C.), known in Armenian historiography as Tigranes the Great, is the sole Armenian monarch who not only succeeded in unifying all the lands inhabited by the Armenians, but extended Armenian rule into Syria and northwestern Iran. In the first century B.C. he created an Armenian empire that lasted for some two decades, taking the title of “King of Kings,” which until then was only held by the kings of Parthia.
Tigranes’ greatness, as will be evident in this classic study, was in his attempt to forge an independent and powerful state and to break away from the constraints imposed upon Armenia by its geography. Together with Mithridates Eupator, the king of Pontus, he tried to free Asia Minor from Persian military and political threats in the east and those of Rome in the west.
