Mithridates VI Eupator (111-63 B.C.), King of Pontus (the area to the
north of Armenia, on the shore of the Black Sea), had engaged in two
wars against Rome. He was defeated for the third time in 71 B.C. by the
Roman army, headed by Lucullus. Mithridates fled to Armenia and asked
for asylum at the court of his son-in-law, Tigran.
Tigran had managed to stay neutral in the war. Lucullus wanted to get
Mithridates at any price and take him to Rome as a trophy and proof of
his major victory. Hence he sent a delegation to the court of Tigran II
and demanded the extradition of Mithradates.
Tigran refused to comply with Roman demands, since Mithridates was his
guest and it would have gone against the principles of hospitality to
surrender him to the enemy. However, at the same time Tigran made it
clear that he wished for continued peace and friendship between Rome
and Armenia, and assured the delegates that he did not have any plans
to expand westward, neither towards Asia Minor nor Pontus.
War between Rome and Armenia was inevitable. Only the Roman Senate had
the authority to declare it. But the Senate was doubtful, since the
war against Pontus had been going on for eighteen years and Romans were
afraid that history would repeat itself in Armenia. Besides that, Rome
had regarded Armenia as a friendly major power who indirectly acted as
an ally against their former enemy, the Seleucids of Syria, but also
as a shield against their potentially greatest enemy, Persia.
Therefore, Armenia had proven herself as a shield for the West.
With the Senate unable to decide whether to start a war against
Armenia or not, Lucullus took matters into his own hands and begin
preparations for war himself. Thus, he violated the laws of the Roman
Republic which gave the Senate the exclusive right to make decisions on
warfare and foreign policy.
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.
The Roman general left a legion behind in Pontus in order to maintain
the order and began to march towards Melitene (Malatia) with the rest
of his army in the spring of 69 B.C. Without declaring war, Lucullus
marched over the high land and crossed 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 go all the way to Arghana and then move on
to finally surround Tigranakert.
Tigran was completely surprised by the beginning of the war and by
what he probably termed a treacherous attack. After the defeat of a
cavalry army of 3,000 he sent to contain Lucullus, Tigran left
Tigranakert and hurried to Mush to gather his forces. Meanwhile, the
royal palace, highly-walled and well-defended, withstood the Roman
siege.
Tigran marched his army from Mush through the Taurus Mountain towards
Tigranakert and was able to cover the distance between the two cities,
which lay 200 kilometers apart, within ten days. There are different
accounts about the size of the two armies, but most claims by Roman
historians that Tigran’s army had between 200,000-300,000 soldiers are
definitely exaggerated. It may be assumed that Tigran’s army had around
80,000 men, which doubled the size of Lucullus’ army.
Lucullus left 6,000 of his men behind to continue the siege of
Tigranakert, while he, together with the rest of his army, began to
march towards the Armenian army.
Mithridates had sent one of his best commanders, Taxiles, to Tigran's
aid. He suggested that Tigran should refrain from a direct
confrontation and let his light cavalry irritate Lucullus' army with
sporadic attacks, thereby cutting off contact between the main forces
and their supply and ammunition. This way he would starve Lucullus'
army – a move that came to be the classical and successful strategy of
the Persians. But Tigran, who had noticed the numerical inferiority of
the Roman army, answered: "If these are supposed to be an army and are
here to fight, then they are too few; if they are messengers to discuss
peace, then they are too many."
Since the ground on the other side of the river, where Tigran had his
camp, was too steep, Lucullus had chosen to move his army downstream
and had taken position in a flat area by the side of the river. The
Armenian king thought that the Romans were retreating. However, as soon
as the Romans came to a suitable place further down by the river, they
crossed it. The Armenian army, mostly composed by non-Armenian forces,
had taken position on the opposite side of the river. Tigran was in
the core and personally lead the famous heavily armored Armenian
cavalry, which was positioned at the rear end of the right flank. This
was a fatal mistake, since it exposed such a heavy-moving unit to a
grave danger.
The skillful Lucullus realized that if he could take out the famous
Armenian cavalry, then he would paralyze the entire Armenian force.
Therefore he attacked the Armenian army from the side with his special
cavalry and from the rear with two infantry legions. The Armenian
infantry was made for attacking and not for defense. In order to
regroup and to make more maneuvering space, the army forces started to
rotate to the only side which was free from attack, i.e. to the left,
where Tigran's other forces were positioned, and this resulted in total
chaos in the entire Armenian army. This was the seed for a
catastrophic defeat for Tigran.
The battle ended with the fall of Tigranakert shortly afterwards. The
city was plundered and looted; Lucullus was able to capture the
enormous treasures of the Armenian court, and also 10,000,000 cubic
meters of wheat to provide his hungry army with food.
Despite the defeat, Tigran chose to continue the war and put together a
new army; the harsh Armenian winter and the continuous attacks of the
army finally triggered a mutiny in the Roman troops and forced Lucullus
to withdraw from Armenia in 68 B.C. The Roman general was recalled by
the Senate.
