Battle of Tigranocerta
Near Silvan, Diyarbakır Province, Turkey
What happened
A Roman army under Lucullus fought the much larger army of King Tigranes the Great of Armenia. Lucullus was besieging Tigranes' new capital, Tigranocerta, when the Armenian army arrived. The Romans pulled back behind a river, crossed at a ford and struck the Armenian flank. Once the heavily armoured Armenian cavalry was beaten, most of Tigranes' army fled.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It ended Armenian power over much of the Near East. Historians often study it because Lucullus beat a far larger army.
What came next
The Romans took Tigranocerta. Three years later Tigranes surrendered to Pompey and kept his kingdom as an ally of Rome.
Did you know?
Plutarch says Tigranes joked about the Romans: 'If they come as ambassadors, they are too many; if as soldiers, too few.'
Timeline
- 95 BCETigranes becomes king of Armenia.
- 6 October 69 BCERome wins at Tigranocerta.
- 66 BCETigranes surrenders to Pompey.
- 55 BCETigranes dies.