Portal:Armenia/Selected biography

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Coin of Tigranes II. The Greek inscription reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟΥ ("[coin] of King Tigranes").

Tigranes the Great (Armenian: Տիգրան Մեծ, translit. Tigran Mets or Dikran Medz ) (ruled 95 BCE-55 BCE) (also called Tigranes II and sometimes Tigranes I) was a king of Armenia. Tigranes was born around 140 BCE and was the son or nephew of Artavasdes I.

Tigranes had been a hostage until the age of 40 at the court of King Mithradates II of Parthia who defeated the Armenians in 105 BCE. After the death of King Tigranes I in 95 BCE, Tigranes bought his freedom by handing over "seventy valleys" in Atropatene (Azerbaijan) to the Parthians (Strabo 11.14.15). He deposed Artanes, the last king of Armenian Sophene and a descendant of Zariadres (Strabo XI. 532). He invaded Cappadocia in 93 BCE on behalf of Mithradates II, but was driven back by Sulla in 92 BCE.