Two thousand years ago, the Armenian king Tigran the Great ruled a realm that stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. He styled himself “King of Kings,” minted coins bearing the legend “Basileus Basileon,” and built a new capital, Tigranocerta, which contemporaries described as one of the most magnificent cities of the East.
In this video we trace how the Artaxiad dynasty grew from a modest kingdom on the Araks River into an empire that stood up to Rome. We cover the alliance with Mithridates VI, the capture of Antioch in 83 BC, the defeat at Tigranocerta in 69 BC at the hands of Lucullus, and the surrender that Pompey accepted in 66 BC.
We also explore ancient Erebuni, founded in 782 BC on the site of modern Yerevan, the cities of Artashat and Artaxata, and how Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion around 301 AD.
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