Category:Tigranes the Great (subject)

Tigranes the Great (Tigranes II; 95-55 BCE) was an Armenian King, who threatened to invade Israel at the time of the Hasmonean Queen Salome Alexandra.

Biography

Under Tigranes' leadership, Armenia became for a short time the strongest empire in the Middle East and a menace to Roman power in the region.

At its height, the Armenian Empire included the regions of Media, Assyria, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Cilicia, Syria and Phoenicia. The Hasmonean Queen Salome Alexandra also had to pay tribute to the king and was facing invasion, when the Roman intervention forced Tigranes to withdraw.

The campaigns of the Roman general Lucullus largely reduced Tigranes' power in the region, until he finally surrendered to Pompey in 66 BCE, receiving in exchange permission to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome, until his death in 55/54 BCE.

Tigranes in ancient sources

Tigranes in Scholarship

Tigranes in Fiction

Tigranes might be the "Nebuchadnezzar" of the Book of Judith, whose invasion threatened the independence of the Judean State and was opposed only by the courage of a devout and strong widow (Judith = Salome Alexandra).