Battle of Tigranocerta

Date	October 6, 69 BC
Location	Tigranocerta, Armenia
Result	Roman victory

Belligerents

Roman Republic

Armenia

Commanders and leaders

Lucullus
Legatus Fannius
Legatus Sextilius
Legatus Hadrianus

Tigranes the Great
Taxilés
Mancaeus

Strength

40,000 men consisting of:
24,000 infantry
3,300 Roman and 10,000 Gallic and Thracian cavalry
Bithynian infantry

80,000–100,000 men consisting of:
Adiabenians, Corduenians, Iberians, Medians
20,000–25,000 Armenians

Casualties and losses

Unknown, estimated light

Unknown, estimates given from 10,000 to 100,000

The Battle of Tigranocerta (Armenian: Տիգրանակերտի ճակատամարտը, Tigranakerti tchakatamartə) was fought on October 6, 69 BC between the forces of the Roman Republic and the army of the Kingdom of Armenia led by King Tigranes the Great. The Roman force was led by Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus, and Tigranes was defeated. His capital city of Tigranocerta was lost to Rome as a result.

The battle arose from the Third Mithridatic War being fought between Roman Republic and Mithridates VI of Pontus, whose daughter Cleopatra was married to Tigranes. Mithridates fled to seek shelter with his son-in-law, and Rome invaded the Kingdom of Armenia. Having laid siege to Tigranocerta, the Roman forces fell back behind a nearby river when the large Armenian army approached. Feigning retreat, the Romans crossed at a ford and fell on the right flank of the Armenian army. After the Romans defeated the Armenian cataphracts, the balance of Tigranes' army, which was mostly made up of raw levies and peasant troops from his extensive empire, panicked and fled, and the Romans remained in charge of the field.

Tigranes' expansion into the Near East led to the creation of an Armenian empire that stretched almost across the entire region. With his father-in-law and ally securing the empire's western flank, Tigranes was able to conquer territories in Parthia and Mesopotamia and annex the lands of the Levant. In Syria, he began the construction of the city of Tigranocerta (also written Tigranakert), which he named after himself, and imported a multitude of peoples, including Arabs, Greeks, and Jews, to populate it. The city soon became the king's headquarters in Syria and flourished as a great center for Hellenistic culture, complete with theaters, parks and hunting grounds.

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