The looming threat of Roman invasion of Armenia

While the Armenian royal court was preoccupied with the internal affairs of its vast dominion, a storm was brewing in the west: the threat of a Roman invasion of Armenia was becoming increasingly real.

By 70 BC, when Tigran II first entered into diplomatic relations with Rome, the neighboring Pontus had already fought three wars against Rome since 89 BC. Initially, King Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus achieved significant successes—he conquered almost all of Asia Minor and extended the theater of war to Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula.

However, defeated by the Romans in two battles, Mithridates, by the agreement of 84 BC, renounced all conquered territories and agreed to pay a large indemnity. The second war between Pontus and Rome (83-81 BC) was local in nature and had no significant consequences.

Armenia did not participate in these wars. Nor did it get involved in the new, third war that broke out in 74 BC. Only on the eve of this war did Armenian troops once again invade Cappadocia and, according to the historian Appian, took 300,000 people from there. Mithridates, however, thoroughly prepared for the war.

Initially, fortune smiled on Pontus, but then misfortunes began. Lucius Lucullus, one of Rome’s brilliant generals, managed to gradually push Mithridates back into Pontus and deliver a crushing defeat there. Mithridates fled to Armenia, thus initiating a conflict that would later escalate into a Roman-Armenian war with heavy consequences for Armenia.

The outstanding general and experienced politician, Tigran II, however, underestimated the Roman threat. Watching from the sidelines the desperate struggle of Pontus with Rome, he overlooked the fact that his internal enterprises, seemingly unrelated to Rome, sharply affected Roman interests. Sooner or later, Rome was bound to confront the new power that had arisen in the East, and that moment was approaching.

In 70 BC, Lucullus sent his representative Appius Claudius to Tigran with a demand to hand over Mithridates: the Pontic king was to adorn Lucullus’s triumph in Rome. Receiving Lucullus’s envoy in Antioch, Tigran refused to hand over Mithridates, which served as a pretext for Lucullus to wage war against Armenia.

On his way to Antioch, Appius Claudius conducted a reconnaissance trip through Armenia, sowing discord among the dynasties and kings subject to Tigran with various promises. He managed to persuade many of them to rebel, particularly King Zarbienus of Corduene.

Thus, the Romans were already preparing for war regardless of the outcome of negotiations with Tigran or anticipating his refusal. Tigran, however, continued to stay in the south of the kingdom, besieging the city of Ptolemais near the borders of Egypt, the last stronghold of the Seleucid queen Selene.

Returning from Antioch, he completed the siege, capturing Queen Selene. Envoys from the neighboring queen of Palestine arrived at the walls of the captured Ptolemais to prevent Tigran’s expected campaign into Palestine with gifts and persuasion.

Such was the situation in the spring of 69 BC, when Tigran, as reported by the historian Josephus, suddenly received news of Lucullus’s invasion of Armenia. With his six-thousand-strong guard, Tigran hurried north, ordering the satrap of Syria, Bagrat, to lead the troops behind him.

To halt Lucullus’s rapid advance through Armenia, the Armenian general Meruzhan was sent to intercept him, but his detachment was insufficient; Meruzhan was defeated and fell on the battlefield. Upon arriving in Armenia, Tigran found the capital, Tigranakert, already besieged. Under the cover of night, his guard broke through the Roman siege lines into the city and removed the treasury.

Gathering 70-80 thousand troops, Tigran approached the Romans besieging Tigranakert. The armies met near Tigranakert, on the banks of the river Nicephorius (now Farqin Su) on October 6, 69 BC. Leaving a detachment under the city walls to protect his rear from a sortie by the garrison, Lucullus took up a position on the riverbank with his main forces.

On the opposite bank was Tigran’s army. Striking simultaneously from two flanks at the numerous but diverse Armenian army, the Romans caused panic and disorder in its ranks and scattered it.

Now they could focus all their attention on the siege of Tigranakert, which had already lasted several months. The Romans’ task was greatly facilitated by the betrayal of the Greek mercenaries in the service of the commander of Tigranakert, the Armenian general Mankay. Seeing from the city towers how the battle with Tigran ended, they considered his defeat final and opened the city gates to the Roman troops. On Lucullus’s orders, the Romans plundered Tigranakert and razed it to the ground.

Meanwhile, Tigran and Mithridates, who had arrived from his assigned fortress, were already recruiting and training a new army and seeking allies. They turned to the Parthian king Phraates with a proposal for an alliance against the Romans, promising to return the lands captured by Tigran and warning against the inevitable future Roman attack on Parthia. Phraates hesitated; his response was also awaited by an embassy from Lucullus. In the end, he gave vague promises to both sides.

Lucullus headed north with the intention of capturing the second capital of Armenia—Artashat—and thus ending the war. The Armenian army now adhered to a new tactic—wearing down the enemy with small skirmishes, hindering food supplies, and destroying separated enemy groups. Starting the northern campaign in early summer, Lucullus only reached the crossing of the Aratsani River in autumn. He motivated his exhausted legions with the prospect of rich spoils upon capturing the “Armenian Carthage”—Artashat.

The threat of losing Artashat forced Tigran to decide on a battle. The battle took place at the crossing of the Aratsani. This time, the Romans faced an army not as numerous as at Tigranakert but better trained and experienced in fighting the Romans. In the battle, the Romans suffered huge losses and could not continue their advance north.

A few days later, under pressure from his troops, Lucullus began to retreat. To regain the favor of his army, Lucullus led them to Nisibis, a wealthy city in northern Mesopotamia, promising great spoils. The capture of Nisibis after several months of siege was Lucullus’s last success in this Armenian campaign.

Meanwhile, Tigran resumed active military operations, clearing the southern regions of Armenia of Romans. Mithridates, with the Armenian troops assigned to him, invaded Pontus and reclaimed his kingdom. Defeating one of Lucullus’s commanders left there, Fabius, he moved against another of them—Triarius.

Lucullus hurried to help but was too late—the army of Triarius was defeated and almost completely destroyed. Under these conditions, Lucullus’s soldiers refused to fight Mithridates. They also did not go against Tigran. Soon it became known that the Roman Senate, dissatisfied with Lucullus’s actions, dismissed him and transferred command in the East to Gnaeus Pompey.

It seemed that circumstances favored the restoration of Armenia’s pre-war status. However, this was hindered by internal strife. In the previous year, 67 BC, Tigran II’s son, Tigran the Younger, relying on elements dissatisfied with the king’s policies, particularly representatives of the noble families, rebelled against his father and, after being defeated, sought refuge with the Parthians.

The Parthian king Phraates received him warmly, gave him his daughter in marriage, and waited for the right moment to place him on the throne of Armenia instead of the hated Tigran II. There were also rumors that Tigran the Younger was being encouraged by his maternal grandfather, Mithridates Eupator. Soon Phraates and Tigran the Younger invaded Armenia.

Initially, they were successful and even besieged Artashat, while Tigran II retreated to the mountains. However, the siege dragged on, and Phraates had to leave, leaving Tigran the Younger with only part of the army. Returning, Tigran II defeated these forces, and his son, losing faith in the Parthians, fled this time to Pompey, who had already arrived at the scene of the military actions and was conducting energetic activities. The dispute between father and son was an extremely favorable circumstance for him.

Pompey managed to defeat Mithridates and force him to flee. Mithridates headed north to Crimea, to his Bosporan kingdom. On the way, he tried once again to enlist the support of Tigran II. However, the latter had no time for him: accompanied by Tigran the Younger, Pompey invaded Armenia, heading along the Araxes River to Artashat.

Armenia once again faced severe trials, threatened with the loss of independence. Considering armed struggle in the current conditions as noble as it was fatal, Tigran II chose another path. The 75-year-old king, alone, without attendants, unarmed, appeared in Pompey’s camp.

This step, however it may be judged by ancient authors, was a calculated, diplomatically and psychologically flawless move, taking into account the character of the simple and vain Pompey. The emotional Roman embraced the old man and seated him beside himself.

Pompey’s Preference and the Aftermath

Pompey preferred the father—an opponent of the Parthians—to the son—their ally. Tigran II remained the king of Greater Armenia, while his son received the throne of Sophene, which was practically nothing, as this throne had already been granted to him by his father. Expressing his dissatisfaction, Tigran the Younger was taken into custody by Pompey’s order.

In 66 BC, a peace agreement was signed, which, given the circumstances, can be considered a diplomatic success for Tigran, despite the harsh terms of the treaty. Armenia lost all its external territorial conquests and paid a huge indemnity; however, the state of Greater Armenia remained intact. It was declared a “friend and ally of the Roman people.”

Pompey’s army stayed for the winter in the Kura Valley.

There, it was attacked by the Iberians and Albanians but repelled them. In 65 BC, Pompey himself moved against the Iberians, defeated them, and intended to pursue Mithridates. However, upon receiving news of an Albanian uprising, Pompey turned to Albania and brought it to submission.

In 64 BC, Pompey dealt with affairs in Asia Minor and Syria. He deposed Antiochus Asiaticus, a Seleucid placed on the throne by Lucullus, from the Syrian throne. Syria was declared a Roman province.

Meanwhile, the Parthians invaded Corduene and seized it. The army sent by Pompey drove them out and returned the region to Armenia. In 64 BC, the Parthians invaded Armenia again. Tigran II turned to Pompey, and the Parthians did the same. The arbitrators sent by Pompey decided the dispute in favor of Armenia, as a result of which not only Corduene but also some lands of Northern Mesopotamia remained within its borders.

Rome clearly revised its position regarding Armenia, courting it in anticipation of future Parthian threats. Pompey even restored Tigran’s title of “king of kings,” which had reverted to the Parthians after Tigran’s defeat. Phraates III, who finally began to grasp the essence of Roman policy, conceded and decided to bide his time, hoping for an alliance with Armenia in the future struggle against Rome.

In 63 BC, news spread of the death of Mithridates Eupator, which the Romans received with delight. The indomitable old man never abandoned the idea of settling scores with Rome until his last breath. In the Bosporan kingdom, he had recruited and trained a strong army with which he intended to invade Italy via the northern Black Sea coast through Thrace.

After resolving territorial disputes with Parthia, when Corduene was ceded to Armenia, Armenia enjoyed a period of peace for about ten years until the death of Tigran II in 55 BC. The country had a respite from the military and political storms that had swept over it.

Artatsolum

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