Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1139

Rh TIGRANES. his doom was no longer to be eluded. A centurion and his company were despatched to Sinuessa, and Tigellinus, in the lap of luxury, and surrounded by the victims and ministers of his excesses, after a vain attempt to corrupt his executioners, perished by his own hand. (Tac. Hist. i. 72; Plut. Galb. 2,1 3, ] 7, 1 9, 23, 29, 0th. 2 ; Dion Cass. Ixiv. 3 ; Joseph. B. J. iv. 9. § 2 ; Suet. Galh. 15). [W. B. D.] TIGE'LLIUS HERMO'GENES. [Hermo« GENES.] TIGRA'NES (Tt7paj/77s), was the name of se- veral kings of Armenia, of whom the first and greatest is also frequently reckoned among the kings of Syria. The Armenian or native form of the name is Dikran. TiGRANES 1.* was a descendant of Artaxias, the founder of the Armenian monarchy. According to Appian {Syr. 48) his father's name was Tigranes, but no king of that name preceded his accession, and the native historians represent him as a son of Artaces or Artaxes. [Arsacidae, Vol. I. p. 365.] The statement of Plutarch that he had reigned twenty-five years when he received the first em- bassy of LucuUus in B.C. 71 (Plut. LuculL 21), would fix the date of his accession in B. c. Qd, but Appian (Mithr. 15), perhaps inadvertently, al- ludes to him as already on the throne in r. c. 98. Of the early events of his reign we have very im- perfect information. But it appears that he suc- cessively conquered Arsaces or Artanes, king of Sophene, and several other petty princes, so that he united under his sway not only all Armenia, ^ut several of the neighbouring provinces, and thus raised himself to a degree of power far superior to that enjoyed by any of his predecessors. Towards the commencement of his reign he appears to have been worsted by the Parthians, and was compelled to purchase a peace from those formidable neigh- bours by the cession of a considerable extent of territory. But at a later period he was not only able to recover possession of these districts, but invaded Parthia in his turn, and carried his arms as far as Ninus and Arbela, while he permanently annexed to his dominions the important provinces of Atropatene and Gordyene. Inflated by these successes, he assumed the pompous title of king of kings, and always appeared in public accompanied by some of his tributary princes as attendants (Strab. xi. p. 532 ; Plut. Lticull. 21 ; Appian, Syr. 48). His power v/as at the same time greatly strengthened by his alliance with Mithridates the Great, king of Pontus, whose daughter Cleopatra he had married at an early period of his reign. (Appian, Mithr. 15 ; Plut. Lucull. 22.) An additional field was now opened to his am- bition by the dissensions which divided the Seleu- cidan princes of Syria. Tliat country had been so long distracted by civil wars, that a large part of its inhabitants appear to have welcomed, if they did not invite, the foreign invader ; Antiochus Eusebes was able to offer little opposition, and Tigranes made himself master without difficulty of the whole Syrian monarchy from the Euphrates to the sea, together with the dependent province of Cilicia, «. c. 83 (App. Syr. 48 ; Justin, xl. 1). He was now at the summit of his power, and con- " He is called by some writers Tigranes II., the king of Armenia contemporary with Cyrus [see below. No. 1], being reckoned as Tigranes I. TIGRANES. 1!27 tinned in the undisputed possession of these ex- tensive dominions for nearly fourteen years. Of the events of this period we have scarcely any information, but he appears to have consigned the government of Syria to a viceroy Magadates, while he himself continued to reside in the upper pro- vinces of his kingdom (Appian, I. c). Here he followed the example of so many other Eastern despots, by founding a new capital which he named after himself, Tigranocerta (Strab. xi. p. 532). It was his connection with Mithridates that, by bringing him into collision with the power of Rome, paved the way for his downfal. When that monarch was preparing to renew the contest with Rome after the death of Sulla (b c. 76), he was desirous to obtain the support of his son-in- law by involving him in the same quarrel, and in consequence instigated Tigranes to invade Cappa- docia. The Armenian king swept that country with a large army, and is said to have carried off into captivity no less than 300,000 of the inhabit- ants, a large portion of whom he settled in his newly-founded capital of Tigranocerta (Appian, Milir. 67 ; Strab. xi. p. 532 ; Memnon, c. 43). But in other respects he appears to have furnished little support to the projects of Mithridates, and left that monarch to carry on the contest with Lucullus single-handed, while he himself turned his attention to his Syrian dominions. And when (in B. c. 71) the vicissitudes of the war at length compelled the king of Pontus to take refuge in the dominions of his son-in-law, Tigranes, though he assigned him a guard of honour, and treated him with all the distinctions of royalt}-, refused to admit him to a personal interview, and manifested no inclination to espouse his cause. But when Appius Clodius who had been sent by Lucullus to demand the surrender of the fugitive monarch, at length obtained an interview with Tigranes at Antioch, his haughty demeanour as well as the imperious terms in which his message itself was couched, so offended the pride of the Armenian king that he returned a peremptory refusal, accom- panied with an express declaration of war. (Plut. LucuU. 21, 22 ; Memnon, 46.) There now remained for him no choice but to prepare for the contest which he had so impru- dently provoked. But he was quite unable to appreciate the character of the enemy with whom he had to cope, and though he now at length con- descended to admit Mithridates to his presence and his councils, he was too much inflated with pride to listen to the advice which his experience prompted ; and hastened to assume the offensive by sending a force to invade Lycaonia and Ciliciii, before his other preparations were completed. He appears to have been firmly impressed with the idea that Lucullus would await his approach in the Roman provinces, and when that general in- stead of doing so, boldly crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris, and penetrated into the heart of Ar- menia itself, Tigranes was completely taken by surprise. He at first refused to believe the intelli- gence, and when at length convinced of its truth he opposed Mithrobarzanes with a very inadequate force to the advance of the conqueror. The de- struction of this detachment aroused him to a sense of his error and he now abandoned his capi- tal of Tigranocerta, and withdrew to the moun- tains. Murena, who was sent in pursuit of him, succeeded in cutting off all his baggage, and con- 4 c 4