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But Lucullus denied him that wish and war between Rome and Armenia was inevitable. If it had not been for the personal prestige of Lucullus, war between these two countries might not have begun at all after such a short time and during the prevailing circumstances.

In reality it was the Senate in Rome that alone had the authority to decide whether to declare war against a completely new and powerful nation of a political and expansive nature such as Tigran's Armenia. But the Senate had its doubts about starting a new war against such a strong nation which furthermore was relatively far away from the domain of the Roman Empire. The war against Pontos had been going on for 18 years and the Romans were afraid that the history would repeat itself in Armenia.

Besides that, the Roman Empire had until that time regarded Armenia as a friendly major power who indirectly acted as an ally against their former enemy, the Seleucids, but also as a shield against their potentially greatest enemy, the Arsacid Persia. As Mommsen points out, one of Armenia's hunger for power was the driving back of the Arsacids into Asia. 49 Thereby, Armenia had proven herself as a shield or a dam for the West, a factor which some Romans had discovered.

With the Senate unable to decide whether to start a war against Armenia or not, Lucullus took matters into his own hands and begin the preparations for war himself. Thereby Lucullus violated the laws of the Roman Empire which gave the Senate the exclusive right to make decisions on warfare and foreign policy. One may consider this single decision as the first step towards the dictatorship that Pompey, Caesar and Augustus later instigated when they in their turn defied the Senate. Alone they ruled the empire and entirely changed its history..

The First War between Lucullus and Armenia, 69 B.C.



Shortly after receiving Tigran's response, Lucullus began to prepare his army, a task that took him the entire winter of 70-69 B.C.. In contrast the Armenians did not seem to be bothered much with preparation. One reason could be the overriding characteristic of the great Asian leaders: self-assurance and pride. Tigran may have thought: "They would never dare." Or maybe he was informed about the indecision in the Roman Senate and presumed that a general would not act on his own without the approval of the Senate.

Lucullus had five legions under his command which were stationed in Asia Minor. It is estimated that each legion had originally had 6 000 soldiers, but that number had been greatly reduced after the war against Pontos and now each of his legions had about 3 000 men.

Lucullus left a legion behind in Pontos in order to maintain law in the region and, in the spring of 69 B.C., began with the rest of his army to march towards Melitene. During the march he is supposed to have proclaimed in Napoleonic fashion "Tigran, king of kings, master over Syria and Palestine… He kills the successors of the Seleucid kings and takes their women and girls as slaves. 52

The Euphrates River, which flowed on the eastern side of Melitene, constituted the natural eastern border of Armenia. Behinds the highland of the Taurus Mountains, there was a difficult passage. If the Armenians had taken position there it would have been much more difficult for the enemy to proceed onto Armenian territory. Without declaring war, Lucullus marched over the high land and passed through the Taurus Mountains, before the Armenians had had a chance to set up a defensive position in the pass. The Roman army was able to come all the way to Arghana and then continue on to the Tigris Delta (present-day Diyarbakir) and finally surround Tigran's capital, Tigranakert.