Episode T18 – Tigranes

The Ancient World

Scott C.

History

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2020

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Synopsis: The death of King Philip I marks the official end of the Seleucid line. Invited by the Antiochenes to rule them, King Tigranes II of Armenia proceeds to conquer all of Syria – including Cleopatra Selene’s stronghold of Ptolemais-Akko. But Tigranes’ refusal to abandon his ally, King Mithridates VI of Pontus, leads to his empire’s destruction. “Tigranes…marched forth with an army of such huge proportions that he actually laughed heartily at the appearance of the Romans present there. He is said to have remarked that, in cases where they came to make war, only a few presented themselves, but when it was an embassy, many came.” – Cassius Dio, Rome, Book 36 “Pompey…expelled Antiochus (XIII), from the government of Syria, although he had done the Romans no wrong…The pretense was that it was unseemly for the Seleucidae, whom Tigranes had dethroned, to govern Syria, rather than the Romans, who had conquered Tigranes.” – Appian, The Syrian Wars, Book 10 (Absolutely awesome and super-useful) map of Syria and surrounding territories c. 87 BC https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/87BC.png Map of the Greater Armenian Empire of King Tigranes II https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/Armenia1.png Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Scott. If you're a fan of the ancient world, please help us get the word out.
0:07.0	Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and rate the series on iTunes.
0:13.0	Thanks again for listening. In 86 BC, B.C. King Togranes II of Armenia was 54. As mentioned last episode he'd spent
0:37.8	24 years as a Parthian captive before being installed as a vassal king in 95 BC. But that was never how Tigrani saw himself.
0:50.4	He was the great grandson of Artoxys the first, the Satrap of Antiochus the Great, who'd found
0:57.3	in an Armenian dynasty.
1:00.1	And Aroxys's line went back even further.
1:03.4	To the Aronted Kings who'd ruled the region in the time of Cyrus the Great.
1:09.6	Back in 94 BC, the year after he'd been installed, Togranis II had allied himself with
1:16.8	Mithradati's the 6th of Pontus by marrying his daughter Cleopatra. Then he'd begun to expand.
1:26.0	Strebo records that Artanis, the king of neighboring Sophini, was overcome by Tigrani's who established himself as Lord of all.
1:37.0	Sophini was an opportune choice.
1:41.0	North and West would have brought conflict with Rome and the same with
1:45.2	Parthia to the east and south. But now with Rome expelled from Anatolia and
1:52.3	Mithridonties of Parthy a dead. The path was clear to make much
1:57.3	bolder moves. According to Straibo, after taking back the 70 valleys previously claimed by the Parthians,
2:07.1	Tagranis devastated the Parthians country, both that around Nineveh and that around Arbella. And he subjugated to himself the rulers of
2:18.0	a trappitine and Gordaeine, and along with these, the rest of Mesopotamia.
2:25.0	Atropitine and Gordaein were Parthian kingdoms on Armenia's southern border. At some point the Attropatine king, another Mithridates, married to Grani's the second's daughter.
2:39.1	So that was likely more negotiation than conquest. Gordaiin, on the other hand, had a reputation for fierce independence.
2:49.2	Even after his military defeat, its king Tsarbionis remained a reluctant vassal.
2:57.3	Next up was neighboring Azerwini, which likely submitted without a fight.
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