Category:Tigranes the Great--history (subject)

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Survey of scholarly works on Tigranes the Great.

Overview

Tigranes the Great is quite a neglected figure in Biblical and Judaic Studies. Only Armenian scholarship has preserved vivid memory of his military campaigns, in which Judea also was subdued. As an example of the way in which the relationship between Tigranes and Queen Alexandra is retold in modern Armenian culture, we may read the passage in Armen’s biography (1940):

“As the king’s forces poured into southern Phoenicia, Jews were alarmed at the proximity of such vast hosts to Judea. Queen Alexandra of Jerusalem, and the Jewish leaders already visioned Armenian cuirassiers riding into the sacred city, and once more the recollection of Babylonian captivity intensified their present panic. The undimmed prestige of Tigranes as a conqueror, who moved peoples, among them Jews from Syria, to populate his native territories, made him appear as a new Nebuchadnezzar, while the prospect of singing the songs of Zion on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris to satisfy the disdainful curiosity of their enslavers terrified them. For “how shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land!” Trembling Jewish ambassadors met Tigranes in Phoenicia, they “ interceded with him, and entreated him he would determine nothing that was severe about their queen and nation.” Tigranes alleviated their fears and assured then of his peaceful intentions toward Judea” (p.150).

Samuel Rocca and Gabriele Boccaccini have recently argued that Tigranes might be the "Nebuchadnezzar" of the Book of Judith, whose invasion threatened the independence of the Hasmonean State and was opposed only by the courage of a devout and strong widow (Judith = Salome Alexandra).

Selected Bibliography (articles)

• The Book of Judith, Queen Sholomzion and King Tigranes of Armenia: A Sadducee Appraisal / Samuel Rocca / Materia Giudaica 10.1 (2005): 1-14

• Tigranes the Great as 'Nebuchadnezzar' in the Book of Judith / Gabriele Boccaccini / In: A Pious Seductress: Studies in the Book of Judith (2012 Xeravits), edited volume, 55-69.