Armenian Kingdom

  General Description  
The founder of the dynasty was Artaxias I who ascended as King of Greater Armenia in 188 BCE. ^[1]
Although Armenia had a strong Iranian culture, particularly with religion, it was greatly influenced by Hellenistic Greek culture and religion, although it was one of the regions that had not been conquered by them. Some of the contemporary Armenian coins describe the kings as ‘Philhellenes’; lovers of Greek culture. ^{[2] [3]}
Artaxiad Armenia was at its peak power during the reign of Tigranes the Great (95-55 BCE). Tigranes was able to unifiy the country’s various autonomous regions, which were governed by the nakharars, and brought central control to the kingdom. ^[4] His empire, though only this large for a short time, stretched “from the Caucasus mountains and Media in the northeast to Lebanon in the southwest.” ^[5]
During the reign of Tigranes the Great the ongoing wars between the Roman and Parthian Empires led to the demise of the Artaxiad dynasty. Tigranes had allied himself (officially through marriages) with Mithridates the Great, King of Pontus in Anatolia and as the Romans won victories and conquered the surrounding regions, they eventually forced Tigranes to surrender. The Romans, under Pompey, allowed Tigranes to remain on the throne, but reduced the Armenian territory and forced him to become a Roman ally, hence leaving the Armenian kingdom as a buffer between the Roman and the Parthian Empires.
Tigranes son and successor, Artavasdes II, remained an ally to the Romans. However, upon Mark Antony’s rule of Rome’s eastern territories, he invaded Armenia, captured Artavasdes II and had him executed, while then placing his own son, Alexander Helios, on the Armenian throne. Artavasdes’ son Artaxias II, again allied with the Parthians and took back the throne. After a rule of ten years, he was murdered and the Armenian kingdom broke out in civil war led by two factions, pro-Roman and pro-Parthian. Though the Artaxians remained in power, the region became a Roman protectorate under emperor Augustus and the dynasty eventually died out completely with the final Roman overthrow in 12 CE. ^[6]
Overall, there is a general lack of information about the social and cultural nature of the Armenian Empire, and a lot of the information is taken from Roman sources and Armenia numismatic evidence. ^[7]

[1]: Hovannisian 2004: 47. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU

[2]: “Artaxias I,”. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7V7RMBLQ

[3]: Hovannisian 2004: 50. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU

[4]: “Artaxiad Dynasty,” https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/IVLMP6Q8

[5]: Hovannisian 2004: 64. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU

[6]: Hovannisian 2004: 58-62. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/8B4DBDFU

[7]: Bournoutian 2003: 36. https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/645FKRNL