Tigranes VI of Armenia

Tigranes VI, also known as Tigran VI or by his Roman name Gaius Julius Tigranes^[1] (Greek: Γαίος Ιούλιος Τιγράνης, before 25 – after 68) was a Herodian prince and served as a Roman client king of Armenia in the 1st century.

He was the child born to Alexander by an unnamed wife.^[2] His mother was a noblewoman that flourished in the reigns of the first two Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius. He was the namesake of his paternal uncle Tigranes V,^[3] who served as a previous king of Armenia during the reign of Augustus. His father's parents were Alexander and Glaphyra.^[4] Tigranes appears to be the only grandchild born to his paternal grandparents.

His paternal grandfather

Tigranes’ name is a reflection of his Armenian and Hellenic lineage. The name Tigranes was the most common royal name in the Artaxiad dynasty and was among the most ancient names of the Armenian kings.^[7] Josephus states that his ancestral line had been kings of Armenia.^[8] Like his father and paternal uncle, Tigranes was an apostate to Judaism. It is unlikely that Tigranes attempted to exert influence on Judean politics.

Little is known on Tigranes’ life prior to becoming King of Armenia. Tigranes was raised in Rome.

In the spring of 58 the Roman general

In 58, the Roman emperor

Tigranes invaded a neighbouring small vassal state of the Parthians called Adiabene and deposed their King Monobazes. Vologases I of Parthia considered this as an act of aggression from Rome. He attacked Armenia and besieged Tigranakert. Eventually, the Parthians signed a treaty with Corbulo to install Tiridates I as King of Armenia as long as he goes to Rome to be crowned by Nero. In 63 Tigranes had to renounce his crown.

Historical and numismatic evidence shows that Nero planned to restore Tigranes to the Armenian throne, however Nero's plan for Tigranes and Armenia disintegrated with the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War in 66.^[10] His fate afterwards is not known. Coinage has survived from his reign.^[11] His royal title is in Greek ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΤΙΓΡΑΝΟΥ ΜΕΓΑΛΟΥ which means of great King Tigranes. The surviving coinage is a reflection of his Hellenic and Armenian descent and is evidence that he relinquished his Jewish connections.^[12]

Family tree of the Herodian dynasty

References

Sources

• ARMENIA (HAYK') by I. Mladjov ^{[dead link]}
• acsearch.info – the ancient coin search engine: article on Tigranes VI
• H. Temporini & W. Haase, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt: Geschichte und Kultur Roms im spiegel der neueren Forschung, Walter de Gruyter, 1977
• S. Schwartz, Josephus and Judaean politics, BRILL, 1990
• R. Syme & A.R. Birley, Anatolica: studies in Strabo, Oxford University Press, 1995
• A.E. Redgate, The Armenians, Wiley-Blackwell, 2000
• J.D. Grainger, Nerva and the Roman succession crisis of AD 96–99, Routledge, 2003
• R.G. Hovannisian, The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Volume 1: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
• J. Lindsay, A View of the History and Coinage of the Parthians, Adamant Media Corporation, p.p. 83-84.
  ISBN 1-4021-6080-1
• D. Dueck, H. Lindsay & S. Pothecary, Strabo's cultural geography: the making of a kolossourgia, Cambridge University Press, 2005
• A. Kasher & E. Witztum, King Herod: a persecuted persecutor: a case study in psychohistory and psychobiography, Walter de Gruyter, 2007

• Coinage of Tigranes VI
• Coinage of Tigranes VI
• Coinage of Tigranes VI