Artavasdes I of Armenia

Artavasdes I of Armenia
Artavazd, King of Armenia
King of Armenia
Reign	Armenia: 159 BC – 123 BC
Predecessor	Artaxias I
Successor	Tigranes I
Born	187 BC
Died	115 BC
Dynasty	Artaxiad Dynasty
Father	Artaxias I
Mother	Queen Satenik

Artavasdes I of Armenia (also called Artavazd, Armenian: Արտավազդ Առաջին) reigned as King of Armenia from 159 BC to 123 BC and was the son of Artaxias I and Queen Satenik.

Artavasdes repelled several attempts by Parthians to invade Armenia but was eventually defeated by Mithridates, who annexed parts of Eastern Armenia and took his son, Tigranes the Great as hostage.

According to Professor Cyril Toumanoff, Artavasdes I can be identified with the Armenian king who, according to the medieval Georgian annals, interfered in Iberia at the request of local nobility and installed his son, Artaxias, on the throne of Iberia, thereby inaugurating the Iberian Artaxiad dynasty.