Artavasdes II (Armenia)

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Artavasdes II ( Armenian Արտավազդ Բ / Aratavazd B , also called Artabazes ; † 30 BC) from the Artaxid dynasty was a son of Tigranes II the Great and was his successor from around 55 BC. King of Armenia .

Life

After the battle of Tigranokerta (69 BC) Artavasdes was made co-regent by his father Tigranes. After Tigran's death he became sole ruler and at the beginning of the Roman Parthian War (54 BC) offered himself to Marcus Licinius Crassus in Syria as an ally with 6,000 riders. Although the Armenian king was not respected and dismissed by the Roman general, he was still considered a Roman ally by the Parthian king Orodes II and was therefore appointed in 53 BC. Hit by the Parthian offensive. Artavasdes sent Crassus sensible and well-intentioned messages and was nevertheless considered a traitor by the Romans, so that he switched sides, made peace with Orodes, who had advanced to Armenia, and married his sister to the Parthian crown prince Pakoros . According to Cicero , this marriage lasted 51 BC. When the Roman orator was governor of Cilicia and feared that Artavasdes might help Pakoros, who was campaigning across the Euphrates , by invading Cappadocia .

The sources only report about Artavasdes again on the occasion of the Parthian campaign of Marcus Antonius in 36 BC. After a defeat by Publius Canidius Crassus he found himself ready to support the triumvir, also because he hated his neighbor of the same name , the king of Media Atropatene, who was allied with the Parthians . Together with two legions under the command of Oppius Statianus, the Armenian king and his horsemen protected the siege engines that were slowly following Antonius. But they were attacked and defeated; Artavasdes then fled back to his kingdom. Antony therefore blamed Artavasdes for his defeat. Since Antony had to retreat through Armenia with his severely decimated army in winter, he was forced to continue to treat Artavasdes as friendly as an ally. Antony's opponent Octavian secretly contacted Artavasdes in order to harm Antony.

In view of the tensions with Octavian, Antony had to get the problem with the Parthians under control. But since a victory against this dangerous enemy seemed out of reach, Antony decided at the beginning of 34 BC. To ensure stable conditions in Armenia, whose king he blames for the failed campaign of 36 BC. Attributed to Chr. This safely attainable “small solution” was supposed to help secure the eastern front. First the triumvir made the Armenian king an offer of alliance and sent his confidante Quintus Dellius to him to propose the engagement of his six-year-old son Alexander Helios to the daughter of Artavasdes; but the Armenian king obviously hesitated. The ancient historian Cassius Dio claims that the engagement offer was just a deception by Antony to capture Artavasdes. Werner Huss and other researchers accordingly doubt the seriousness of this attempt at an alliance by the triumvir. Christoph Schäfer , on the other hand, believes that Antonius was serious about the offer and wanted to turn an insecure partner into a personally bound ally who, due to his kinship with the Romans, could no longer have easily fallen away to the Parthians. In his report, Cassius Dio had only taken up Octavian's anti-Antonius propaganda, because among his numerous often untrue accusations against the address of his opponent in order to win public opinion for the upcoming civil war, the ancient historian also found the criticism that Antonius had deceived the Armenian king have.

Beginning of 34 BC BC Antony first advanced to Roman (Western) Armenia as far as Nicopolis and ordered Artavasdes there, allegedly to advise on measures against the Parthians. Since the summoned party did not show up, the Roman general and his army quickly advanced to the capital of Artavasdes, Artaxata . Dellius, who was sent ahead, was supposed to convince the Armenian king to go to the Roman camp. Artavasdes finally complied with this order under military and diplomatic pressure. The triumvir had the king arrested, but initially treated with honor. He had to travel through his kingdom for a while as a hostage , as Antonius wanted to open the Armenian locks with great treasures with his help. But the Armenians raised the eldest son of the captive king, Artaxias , to the new ruler, who, however, had to flee to the Parthians after a defeat. Artavasdes, however, was placed in silver chains .

Then Antonius made an alliance with Artavasdes von Medien, who had meanwhile fallen away from the Parthians, and had thus achieved to some extent a security of the eastern front. Then the Armenian Artavasdes was brought to Alexandria and had to accompany his wife and children in golden chains on the Dionysian triumphal procession ( Dionysos cult ) of Antony, which his lover Cleopatra VII was waiting for on a golden throne. However, despite the threat of violence, the Armenian king and his family proudly pleaded neither for mercy nor did they practice proseynesis towards Cleopatra. This had the captured Artavasdes executed after the battle of Actium (31 BC) and sent his head to the Medischen Artavasdes to secure his help.

Artavasdes also worked as a Greek-writing tragedy writer . There were still samples of his works in Plutarch's time. The coins he found with the inscription "King of the Kings Artavasdes" show the Armenian tiara with a tied tiara . In the later Armenian legend in Moses von Choren ( History of Armenia 2.22) he lives on.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Memnon of Herakleia in C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (FHG) III 556.
  2. Plutarch , Crassus 19.
  3. Plutarch, Crassus 22; 33.
  4. Cicero, epistle 15,3,1.
  5. Cf. Cicero, epistle 15,2,2; ad Atticum 5.20.2; 5.21.2.
  6. Plutarch, Antonius 37; Cassius Dio , Roman History 49.25.
  7. Plutarch, Antonius 39; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.25.
  8. Strabon , Geographika 11,524; Plutarch, Antonius 50.
  9. ^ Plutarch, Antonius 50; Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.31.
  10. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49,41,5.
  11. Werner Huss, Egypt in Hellenistic Time , p. 738.
  12. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 49,39,2.
  13. Cassius Dio, Roman History 50,1,4.
  14. Werner Huss, Egypt in Hellenistic Time , p. 738 in contrast to Christoph Schäfer, Cleopatra , p. 175f.
  15. Cassius Dio, Roman History 49.39.3-40.1; on this Werner Huss, Egypt in the Hellenistic Period . P. 738f .; Christoph Schäfer, Cleopatra , p. 176.
  16. Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49,40,2; 49.44.2; Plutarch, Antonius 53.12.
  17. ^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 49,40,3f.
  18. ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History 51,5,5; Strabon, Geographika 11,532.
  19. ^ Plutarch, Crassus 33.
predecessor Office successor
Tigranes II. King of Armenia
approx. 55–34 BC Chr.
Artaxias II.