Tigranes the Great: Armenia's Forgotten Superpower

Long before the Roman Empire crushed Armenia between the millstones of geopolitics, an Armenian king briefly made his kingdom the most powerful state in the Near East. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the astonishing career of Tigranes II—better known as Tigranes the Great—who at his height ruled an empire stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. They trace his rise from a hostage prince to a king who conquered the Seleucid Empire, built a magnificent capital at Tigranocerta, and took the title 'King of Kings'. But his ambition brought him into conflict with Rome's Lucius Licinius Lucullus and later Pompey the Great. Lucas explains the dramatic Battle of Tigranocerta in 69 BCE, where Tigranes' polyglot army faced Roman discipline—and lost. He also discusses the diplomatic tightrope Tigranes walked between Rome and his father-in-law Mithridates VI of Pontus, the eventual collapse of his empire, and the legacy of a ruler who, for a fleeting moment, made Armenia the heart of an empire. For anyone who thinks Armenia was always a pawn, this episode reveals a king who almost changed the course of history. #TigranesTheGreat #Tigranocerta #ArmenianEmpire #KingOfKings #Lucullus #Pompey #Mithridates #SeleucidEmpire #RomanRepublic #BattleOfTigranocerta #ArtaxiadDynasty #HellenisticPeriod #AncientArmenia #HistoryOfArmenia #CaucasusHistory #EmpireBuilding #AncientWarfare #FexingoHistory #ArmenianHistory #MountArarat Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo