- Artavasdes II of Armenia
Infobox Monarch
name =Artavasdes II
title =King
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reign =Armenia : 53 BC - 34 BC
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predecessor =Tigranes II
successor =Artaxias II
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father =Tigranes the Great
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date of death =31 BC
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place of burial =|King Artavasdes II ( _hy. Արտավազդ Երկրորդ) ruledArmenia from 53 to 34 BC. He succeeded his father,Tigranes the Great . Artavasdes was an ally ofRome , but when Orodes II ofParthia invaded Armenia following his victory over the Roman generalMarcus Licinius Crassus at theBattle of Carrhae in 53 BC, he was forced to join the Parthians. He gave his sister in marriage to Orodes' son and heir Pacorus. [Plutarch , "Crassus" 19; 22; 33.]In 36 BC the Roman general
Mark Antony invaded Armenia and Artavasdes again switched sides, but abandoned the Romans once they had left Armenia to conquer Media Atropatene. [Plutarch, "Antony" 37-39;Cassius Dio , "Roman History" 49.25]In 34 BC Antony planned a new invasion of Armenia. First he sent his friend
Quintus Dellius , who offered a betrothal of Antony's six year old sonAlexander Helios to a daughter of Artavasdes, but the Armenian king hesitated. [Cassius Dio, "Roman History" 49.39.2] Now the triumvir marched into the Roman western Armenia. He summoned Artavasdes to Nicopolis, allegedly to prepare a new war against Parthia. But the king did not come. So the Roman general quickly marched to the Armenian capitalArtaxata . He arrested the king and went with him some time around because he hoped to obtain by the help of his hostage the great treasures in the Armenian castles. But now Artaxias, the eldest son of the captured king, was elected as successor. After a lost battle Artaxias fled to the Parthian king. Finally Antony took Artavasdes toAlexandria . [Cassius Dio, "Roman History" 49.39.3 - 49.40.1]The Armenian king and his family, who were bound with golden chains, had to follow Antony in his triumphal procession.
Cleopatra VII of Egypt expected the triumvir on a golden throne, but Artavasdes refused to render homage to the Egyptian queen byProskynesis . [Cassius Dio, "Roman History" 49.40.3-4; Velleius, "Roman History" 2.82.4; Plutarch, "Antony" 50.6-7] In the past he had been an enemy of his namesake, king Artavasdes II of Media Atropatene, who had become an ally of Antony. After theBattle of Actium (31 BC) the Armenian king was executed bybeheading on the behalf of Cleopatra. She sent his head to Artavasdes of Media to secure his help. [Cassius Dio, "Roman History" 51.5.5; Strabo, "Geography", book 11, p. 532]According to
Plutarch , Artavasdes was an accomplished scholar who composed Greek tragedies and histories. [Plutarch, "Crassus" 33]Notes
References
*1911
*Plutarch , "Life of Crassus".
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