ABSTRACT
As the Seleucid empire declined in C2 bc, Armenia came under the influence of the emerging Parthian empire. Though Parthia’s rulers lacked the resources to impose direct control over it, many of them exercised an interventionist role there by propping up or disposing of local rulers. Yet sometimes Armenia’s rulers strongly asserted their independence. The most notable was Tigranes II, who came to power with the support of Parthia c. 100 bc, and then in alliance with his father-in-law Mithridates VI, king of Pontus, embarked on a programme of military expansion which resulted in his occupation of Cappadocia, the north-western end of Mesopotamia, Syria and eastern Cilicia. His Syrian enterprise helped finish off the Seleucid dynasty, and inadvertently pave the way for Pompey the Great’s creation of the Roman province of Syria in 64 bc. From this time on, Rome sought to extend its influence into and over Armenia, inevitably generating disputes and conflicts with Parthia for control of the region. The local rulers, or royal pretenders, often skilfully exploited the contest for their own advantage. Armenia’s sympathies and affinities probably lay more with Parthia than with Rome, but its rulers were flexible in their loyalties, depending on where they felt their best interests lay. Not that they always had a say in this. Military intervention was sometimes used by one or other of the great powers to place a king of their liking upon Armenia’s throne, by deposing the appointee or protégé of the other.
