Research Notes:

The decisive phase in the struggle for Armenia began with the accession of the Parthian king Vologeses (Valagaš) I ca. 51. Resuming the policy of Artabanus II but without flinching before obstacles, he resolved to place one of his brothers, Tiridates, on the throne of Armenia. Thanks to the unpopularity of Rhadamistus, he had no difficulty in occupying Artaxata and Tigranocerta (Tacitus, Annals 12.50.1-2). The Iberian king, however, escaped. In 52 Tiridates was able to establish himself at the capital. In the face of this Parthian coup, the emperor Nero and his advisers decided to intervene. An expedition under the command of Cnaeus Domitius Corbulo was mobilized. Notwithstanding the withdrawal of the Parthian troops, Tiridates, who cherished his royal vocation, remained at Artaxata (see P. Asdourian, op. cit., p. 89 n .1). In the spring of 58 Corbulo marched into Armenia at the head of some 30,000 men. His main targets were Artaxata and Tigranocerta. After Tiridates had fled, Artaxata surrendered without resistance but was sacked and burned down (Tacitus, Annals 13.41.1-3; Dio Cassius 62.20.1). In the spring of the following year, 59, it was the turn of Tigranocerta to open its gates to the Romans. (On this point, the account of Frontinus, Strategmata 2.9.5, differs considerably from that of Tacitus, Annals 14.24.5-6. On the whole campaign see E. Egli, "Feldzüge in Armenien, von 41-63," in M. Büdinger, Untersuchungen zur römischen Kaisergeschichte I, Leipzig, 1868, pp. 265-363, esp. pp. 321f.; J. G. C. Anderson, in CAH X, 1934, pp. 760f.; L. Dillemann, Haute Mésopotamie, pp. 268-71; K. Gilmartin, Historia 12, 1973, pp. 594f.).

In the wake of Corbulo's successes, Nero designated Tigranes V (or VI), a descendant of Herod the Great and nephew of Tigranes IV (see above) formerly detained in Rome as a hostage, to be Armenia's next king. He was not well received because the Arsacids still had many supporters (Tacitus, Annals 14.26.1-2). Moreover he rashly ventured on raids into Adiabene, a Parthian dependency. The complaints of the aggrieved king of Adiabene, Monobazes, and the reproaches of Tiridates who was intent on regaining his throne, together sufficed to persuade Vologeses to take up arms (Tacitus, Annals 15.1.1-5). At the same time Vologeses solemnly crowned Tiridates in the presence of the Parthian assembly of nobles, thereby formally making his brother his vassal. (There is reason to suppose that the ceremony, which Tacitus briefly describes, was normal practice at investitures of vassal kings of Arsacid descent.) Armenia was placed third in the hierarchy of the Parthian monarchy's dependencies, the second rank having already been assigned to Atropatene, whose king was Pacorus, the brother of Vologeses and Tiridates (Tacitus, Annals 15.1-4).

Having made up his mind to support his brother's cause, the Parthian king quickly sent forces under Monaeses and King Monobazes against Tigranocerta, where Tigranes V had established himself under the protection of a Roman garrison. When their siege of the town failed, Vologeses agreed to an armistice, which apparently included a secret clause requiring both parties to withdraw their troops (Tacitus, Annals 15.5.46; Dio Cassius 62.20.3-4, see K. H. Ziegler, Die Beziehungen zwischen Rom und dem Partherreich, Wiesbaden, 1964, pp. 69-70). It was a shaky truce, and hostilities soon recommenced. The Romans under a new commander in chief, Paetus, were surrounded in their camp at Rhandeia (Erand) on the Arsanias river and forced to capitulate (Tacitus, Annals 15.14-16; Dio Cassius 62.21.1-4). Paetus misreported this defeat as a victory. The Parthians were in fact not fully in control of the situation. It was again time for negotiations. A Parthian embassy to Rome (Spring 63) remained without practical results. But shortly after his return to Armenia the Roman general Corbulon (restored to the command of the army of the east) received the envoys of Vologeses and Tiridates. It was agreed to hold a conference at the same spot where Paetus had capitulated (Tacitus, Annals 15.28.2-3). During the talks on the future of Armenia, Tiridates made much of the nobility of his lineage but consented to travel to Rome and "bring to Caesar a new glory, that of a supplicant Arsacid" (Tacitus, Annals 15.28.5-6 and 29.1-2). A few days later, the Roman camp was the scene of a ceremony in which, before the onlooking Parthian cavalrymen and Roman legionaries, the Arsacid prince laid his crown at the feet of a statue of Nero (Tacitus, Annals 15.29.3-5 and 30.12). Under the treaty which was then signed at Rhandeia, investiture of Armenia's kings was to be reserved to Rome's emperors. Nevertheless Armenia had become an Arsacid fief, because the actual choice of its kings lay with the Parthian monarch. The situation has rightly been described as a "co-suzerainty" (Ziegler, op. cit., pp. 75f.). ¹

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In AD 51, Vologeses I assumed the throne of Persia and openly challenged Rome by seeking to obtain the throne of Armenia for his younger brother Trdat (Tiridates). The opportunity presented itself when the son of the Iberian king invaded Armenia and captured the fortress of Garni from his uncle, who was the Roman-appointed ruler. The Iberian aggression and looting, combined with Roman mismanagement, not only angered the Armenians but also prompted Vologeses to invade Armenia and capture Artashat and Tigranakert. The arrival of winter, however, forced the Parthians to retreat, and the Iberian prince returned to wreak havoc on the Armenian population, who eventually rebelled against Roman rule altogether. The Parthians were then able to occupy Armenia and install Trdat as king. ²

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King Vologases I (51-80 A.D.) strove to make the governing of his empire a true family enterprise. Elevated to the throne with the help of his brothers, Pacorus and Trdat/Tiridates, Vologases handed Media to Pacorus and delegated Armenia to Trdat in 52 A.D. The ensuing conflict with Rome was resolved only in 63 A.D. by the Treaty of Rhandia, by which all parties agreed to the elevation of Trdat I to the Armenian throne. The treaty established Roman-Parthian cosuzerainty over Armenia, with the privilege of nomination to the throne extended to the Arsacids, and the right of investiture reserved for the Romans. With this understanding recognised internationally, the Armenians had found themselves a new leader around whom they could rally. The monarchy once again enjoyed a period of consolidation, and King Sanatruk II (88-109) peaceably succeeded his father. ³

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Tiridates I (Trdat I) ruled as the king of Armenia from 63 to either 75 or 88 CE). Considered the founder of the Arsacid dynasty proper, his reign got off to a rocky start with invasions from Rome and Parthia but, once crowned in a lavish ceremony in Rome conducted by Nero himself, the Armenian king would rule for a relatively peaceful and highly prosperous two decades. When exactly his reign ended is disputed due to conflicting ancient sources, but he was (probably) succeeded by his son Sanatruk II who continued with his father’s success in balancing Armenia on the diplomatic tightrope it seemed destined to forever occupy between the region’s two superpowers.

Succession

Tiridates I of Armenia was the brother of the Parthian king Vologases I (aka Vagharsh, r. c. 51- up to 80 CE, dates disputed) who invaded Armenia in 52 CE for the specific purpose of setting Tiridates on the throne. The Roman Empire was not, though, content to passively permit Parthia into what they considered a buffer zone between the two great powers. Further, an embassy arrived in Rome which represented the pro-Roman faction in Armenia and they asked for direct assistance. Consequently, Roman emperor Nero (r. 54-68 CE) sent an army under his best general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo in 54 CE to restore Roman influence in the region.

First, Corbulo was given the task of securing both Syria and the small kingdom of Sophene (Dsopk) to beef up Rome’s presence in the region and remind Parthia who they were up against. Then, when Parthia declared Armenia a vassal state in 58 CE, Corbulo moved northwards and attacked Armenia itself. By the time the Romans arrived in Tiridates’ kingdom, Vologases had been forced to withdraw to deal with internal troubles in Parthia but Tiridates remained at the Armenian capital of Artaxata (Artashat). Tiridates was actually supported by most of the Armenian people who were more sympathetic to Parthia than to Rome for historical and cultural reasons.

Corbulo proved again to be a very capable field commander and with logistical support from Roman ships on the Black Sea, he took and destroyed the two most important cites - Artaxata and Tigranocerta. By 60 CE he could claim to rule over all of the kingdom of Armenia and Tiridates was forced to flee back to his brother in Parthia. In the same year, Tigranes V, who had impressive royal connections being the grandson of Herod the Great, was set on the throne as a pro-Roman monarch, but he would only last until the Parthians sent an army to besiege him in what was left of Tigranocerta. Thereafter, Tigranes disappears from the pages of history after the briefest of cameo appearances in the Armenian king lists.

In 62 CE Parthia won victory against a Roman army (significantly, perhaps, no longer commanded by Corbulo), but in 63 CE the Romans and Corbulo returned and their threat was sufficient for the Treaty of Rhandia to be drawn up (named after the site in western Armenia). It was now agreed that Parthia had the right to nominate Armenian kings, Rome the right to crown them, and both powers would rule equally over Armenia with the king as their representative. Nero was thus given the privilege of crowning Tiridates in Rome in a lavish spectacle that did much to show the power and global reach of the Roman Empire.

The Coronation of Tiridates

In 66 CE, then, Tiridates symbolically presented his crown to an effigy of Nero and then travelled to the great city of Rome to receive it back again from the hands of the emperor. Taking a land route, an impressive entourage, which included the soon-to-be king’s wife (wearing a golden helmet and face mask instead of a veil), his children, extended family and 3,000 courtiers, nobles, priests and bodyguards from Armenia, Parthia and Rome, plodded westwards. When Nero had offered to meet the travel expenses he had perhaps not imagined quite such a guest list. It was no surprise either that when the whole troupe arrived in Naples after nine months on the road, they were late. A round of gladiator and athletic games opened the festivities before the actual coronation in the Forum of Rome. There, kneeling before the emperor, Tiridates had to recite what would become the familiar eastern formula of submission:

Master…I have come to thee, my god, to worship thee as I do Mithras. The destiny thou spinnest for me shall be mine, for thou art my Fortune and my Fate. (Payaslian, 29)

Nero replied:

You have done well by coming here to enjoy my presence in person. What your father has not left to you and what your brothers did not preserve for you, I do accord to you, and I make you King of Armenia, so that you, as well as they, may know that I have the power to take away and to grant kingdoms. (Kurkjian, 78)

The king was then crowned and allowed to sit on a throne next to Nero, albeit a slightly lower one than the Roman emperor’s. The celebrations then continued in the Theatre of Pompey which Nero, true to form, had decked out completely in glittering gold and Tyrian purple canopies as a flamboyant imperial bonus. The Romans loved a spectacle and Tiridates’ coronation certainly gave them one; indeed, thereafter, the day of the celebration carried the epithet “golden”. When the party was over Nero gave Tiridates a parting gift of 2 million sesterces and sent him on his way to rebuild Armenia.

A Prosperous Reign

With such a flurry of ancient sources gushing over Tiridates’ coronation, it is rather disappointing that we know so little of the rest of his reign. We do know that the Romans next placed a handful of garrisons in the area to ensure the Treaty of Rhandia was adhered to but generally, there was, as planned by all three sides, a sustained period of peace.

The kingdom’s prosperity, based on natural resources, agriculture and trade permitted Tiridates to build a new summer residence at Garni. A magnificent fortified complex built from white limestone, it boasted all the amenities of any palace anywhere in the Classical world. There were Roman baths, gardens, courtyards, mosaic-floored rooms and even a full-scale Roman temple for the king when in residence (which still stands today). An inscription from Garni reveals that Tiridates was now calling himself “the Sun” and “Supreme Ruler of Armenia”. Other notable projects of the period included the rebuilding of Artaxata after its destruction by Corbulo and which Roman writers record was renamed Neronia in honour of the king’s great benefactor. A temple north of that city was dedicated to the god Tir. Finally, a number of estates were set aside by the king for pilgrims to pay homage to some of his relatives, after all, he was the Sun god Helios now. The agricultural production and consequent tribute from these sites also gave a handy boost to the royal treasury.

Notwithstanding the good times, there would soon be a reminder of Armenia’s status as a client kingdom. Roman emperor Vespasian (r. 69-79 CE) made absolutely sure that no more territories in the region would fall to the Parthian ruling dynasty by annexing the kingdoms of Commagene and Lesser Armenia in 72 CE. In the same year (or perhaps the next) the nomadic Alani people temporarily invaded Armenia but Tiridates remained unscathed. There was perhaps also an Armenian invasion of Iberia (modern Georgia) but details are lacking in the now silent historical record.

Successor & Arsacid Dynasty

Tiridates I is considered the founder of the long-ruling Arsacid dynasty (Arshakuni) which would last until 428 CE. The dynasty had actually had its first king in 12 CE with the succession of Vonon (Vonones) but the instability of the Armenian throne and many short-reigning monarchs after Vonon has resulted in some historians taking Tiridates, with his more stable regime and that of his successors, as the true founder of the dynasty. When Tiridates died he was (probably) succeeded by his son Sanatruk II who would rule until 109 CE. ⁴