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The Last King in the Artashisian Dynasty (20 B.C. to 2 A.D.)

Tigran III ruled between 20 and 12 B.C. before he was succeeded by Tigran IV (12-1 B.C.) The reign of these last kings in the Artashisian dynasty was characterized by various civil wars which weakened Armenia.



The national party, which was supported by the Persians, demanded the creation of a completely independent Armenia, an issue which was against Roman interests and influence. The Romans, on their part, supported a small group of Armenian noble families, who more or less had been bought by Rome and whose leaders had been educated and fostered in Rome. The struggle between these two camps created several conflicts in Armenia, which on a number of occasions resulted in armed revolts against those princes who showed too clearly their submission to Rome.

The Period between the Dynasties of Artashisian and Arshakounian (2 to 53 A.D.)

After the death of Tigran IV, who was the last king in the Artashisian dynasty, Augustus sent one of his stepsons, Caius Caesar, together with an army to Armenia, so that the Medes king, Ariobarzane, who at the time was ruler of Atropatene (present-day Tabriz), would hand over the Armenian throne to him. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that the Armenians accepted him because of his outstanding beauty and bravery.



However, the coronation of Caius Caesar as the Armenian king did not go as smoothly as the Romans had hoped . The fact that he was appointed as the Armenian king by Rome raised loud protests from the Armenian princes who were against any Roman influence over Armenia. Caius Caesar was forced to fight back the revolt, was badly wounded during one of the battles and died a few months later.

Discontent grew in Armenia, specially since Caius Caesar, who personally was an honest person (according to Ferrero he was like most of the nobility's children, who were born rich thanks to the plundering of their parents, but had a natural contempt towards bribery and theft) was surrounded by young, inexperienced, corrupt and self-indulgent Romans who milked the public. One of these young men closest to Caius Caesar was Marcus Lollius who was so busy collecting taxes and fees from his subjects that he totally ignored the most important questions regarding the eastern policy. However, Caius Caesar excluded him from his circle when he found out where Lollius' interests lay.

Ariobarzane I ruled from AD 2 - 11 and was succeeded by his son Ariobarzane II (also known as Artavazd V). But his coronation began once more with disturbances. Dion Cassius wrote: "The next year the Armenians came to blows with each other and did not have anything better to do but fight one another."

However justified the hostility from the national party towards Rome might have been one must nevertheless confirm that it had also been corrupted by time. The Armenian princes, who were supported by different neighbouring countries, began to forget their original goal and their national feelings faded away. Armenia stepped back into a feudal age, with ruling masters who were arch-enemies of any concept which involved a king and were now only interested in sacrificing everything for their own goals. They hated the idea of obeying a lawful strong ruler and constantly wanted to get rid of the central power in order to be their own masters, something which meant higher status, even if this resulted in obeying a foreign master. 29