Artaxids

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The Artaxids or Artashesyan ( Armenian Արտաշեսեան առքայատոհմ ) ruled Armenia from 189 BC. Until their overthrow by the Romans in 12 AD. Their empire comprised Greater Armenia , Sophene and, at intervals, Lesser Armenia and parts of Mesopotamia . Their greatest opponents were the Seleucids and the Parthians , against whom the Armenians waged many wars. During the reign of the dynasty, there was considerable Hellenistic influence in Armenian culture.

Historical background

The standard of the Artaxids

According to the geographer Strabo , Artaxias and Zariadris were two satraps of the Seleucids who ruled over the provinces of Greater Armenia and Sophene, respectively. After the Seleucids were defeated at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. They revolted and declared themselves independent, with Artaxias ( Armenian Արտաշես ) in 188 BC. Became the first king of the Artaxids in Armenia. However, recent studies doubt this process and it is now believed that Artaxias and Zariadris were not foreign generals, but local people who were related to the Orontids . This is also evident from their Armenian-Iranian names.

Consolidation of Armenia under Artaxias

Artaxias is considered to be one of the most important kings in Armenian history. He presented himself as the rightful descendant of the Orontids, although it is unclear whether he was actually related to this dynasty. At the beginning of his rule, parts of the Armenian highlands were under the control of the neighboring empires. Artaxias made the reunification of these lands a priority under his rule. The Greek geographer and historian Strabon reports on the conquests in the west, east, north and south as well as on the fact that the population of the countries spoke Armenian:

“According to the report, Armenia, although formerly a small country, was enlarged by Artaxias and Zariadris, who were generals of Antiochus the Great , but later, after his defeat, they ruled as kings (the first as king of Sophene, Acisene, Odomantis and certain other countries, and the other as king of the country around Artashat), and together they enlarged their kingdoms by cutting off areas of the surrounding nations - I mean the cutting off of Caspiane and Phaunitis and Basoropeda from the land of the Medes ; and the land along the mountain of Paryadres and Chorsene and Gogarene, which reached to the other side of the Kura , from those of the Iberians ; and Carenitis and Xerxene, which borders Lesser Armenia or elsewhere, are parts of those of the Chalybes and the Mossynoics ; and Acilisene and the land around the Antitaurus from those of the Cataonians; and Taronitis from those of the Syrians ; and consequently they all spoke the same language. "

- Strabon : Geographika book 11, chapter 14, section 5

According to Strabo and Plutarch , Artaxias founded the Armenian capital Artashat with the help of the Carthaginian general Hannibal , who found protection from the Romans at the royal court . The population of the former Orontid capital, Jerwandashat , was brought to Artashat. Over a dozen boundary stones with Aramaic inscriptions from the time of Artaxias have been found in present-day Armenia. These were mentioned in Moses von Choren even before they were discovered . In these inscriptions Artaxias claims a descent from the Orontids: King Artaxias, son of the Orontid Zariadris.

Hellenistic culture

Although Greater Armenia was only superficially affected by the conquests of Alexander the Great , the country began in the third century BC. Under the Orontids, to be influenced by the Hellenistic world. This process reached its climax under the Artaxids, especially under Tigranes II the Great. At the time, Armenia incorporated many Greek elements into its culture. This is evident in the contemporary coins that were first issued under the Orontids. They clearly follow Greek coins and have Greek inscriptions. Some coins describe the Armenian king as Philhellenes ( friend of the Greeks ). Greek knowledge is also evidenced by parchments and rock inscriptions. Cleopatra of Pontus , the wife of Tigranes, invited Greeks like the rhetorician Amphikrates and the historian Metrodorus from Scepsis to the Armenian court, and - according to Plutarch - when the Roman general Lucullus took the Armenian capital Tigranocerta , he found a group of Greek actors who were in town to play for Tigranes. Tigranes' successor Artavasdes II even wrote Greek tragedies. Nonetheless, there was a strong Iranian element in Armenian culture, especially on religious subjects.

Armenian Empire

The Kingdom of Armenia under Tigranes II.

Under the rule of Tigrane II, Armenia was at the zenith of its power and was briefly the most powerful empire east of the Roman Empire . Artaxias I and his successors had created the basis on which Tigranes then founded his empire. Despite this fact, the mountainous territory of Armenia was administered by Nakharars, who were largely autonomous. Tigranes united them and thus created internal security in the empire. The borders of Armenia stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. At the time, Armenia was becoming so expansive that the Romans and Parthians united to defeat them. Tigranes founded a new capital called Tigranocerta, which was in a more central location.

Large areas were taken from the Parthians and they were forced to sign a treaty of friendship with Tigranes. Iberia , Albania and Atropatene also lost territories to Armenia and their remnants became vassal states of Armenia. The Seleucids offered Tigranes in 83 BC. Their crown and so the kingdom reached as far as Acre in what is now Israel, which caused a conflict with the Hasmoneans .

Decay

Rome's interference in Asia Minor ended Tigranes' empire. Tigranes allied with Rome's greatest enemy Mithridates VI. and during the third Mithridatic War in 69 BC. BC Lucullus invaded the Armenian Empire with an army and drove Tigranes out of Tigranocerta. In 66 BC Chr. Lucullus' successor Pompey Tigranes finally forced to give up. Pompey reduced Armenia to its former borders, but allowed Tigranes to return to the throne as an ally of Rome. From then on, Armenia became a buffer state between the competing empires of the Romans and Parthians.

Tigranes 'heir Artavasdes II maintained the alliance with Rome and gave General Marcus Licinius Crassus helpful advice on his campaign against the Parthian advice, which went unnoticed and thus led to Crassus' defeat at the Battle of Carrhae . When Mark Antony became administrator of the Roman eastern provinces, he began to question the loyalty of Artavasdes, who married his daughter to the heir to the Parthian throne. 35 BC BC he invaded Armenia and sent Artavasdes into captivity to Egypt, where he was later executed. Antonius put his six-year-old son on the throne with Cleopatra VII. Alexander Helios . Artavasdes' son Artaxias II received help from the Parthians, took back the throne and massacred the Roman garrison in Armenia, but was murdered after ten years of rule. The kingdom fell apart because of a civil war between pro-Roman and proparthan parties until it finally became a protectorate under the emperor Augustus . The Artaxid dynasty sank into chaos long before the Arsacids succeeded them as new rulers.

Artaxic kings of Armenia

(Note: some of the dates are approximate or doubtful)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hovannisian pp. 47-48
  2. ↑ Grousset pp. 90-91
  3. ↑ This section: Hovannisian pp. 50-52
  4. ↑ This section: Hovannisian pp. 58-62
  5. ↑ Hovanissian p. 62

literature

  • Richard G. Hovannisian: The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times: Vol. I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Palgrave Macmillan Publisher, 2004, ISBN 1403964211 .
  • René Grousset : Histoire de l'Arménie des origines à 1071 . Verlag Payot, 1947 (re-edited in 1995), ISBN 2228889121 .

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