Tigranes IV with Erato c. 2 BC- 1 AD

The Roman experiment under Artavasdes III collapsed within three years. Rallying support in Media Atropatene, Tigranes IV and Erato returned in 2 BC, accompanied by Parthian auxiliaries and disaffected Armenian nobles. Artavasdes III was driven out, and the former rulers resumed the diadem amid popular acclaim. Augustus, pre-occupied in the West and wary of another costly campaign, accepted the fait, but demanded visible proof of loyalty.

Tigranes complied with remarkable political theatre. A new bronze series from Artaxata couples his bust with that of Augustus; the obverse legend now reads ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΜΕΓΑΣ ΝΕΟΣ ΤΙΓΡΑΝΗΣ (“Great New King Tigranes”), while the reverse adds ΦΙΛΟΚΑΙΣΑΡ (“Friend of Caesar”). The addition of ΝΕΟΣ (“new”) proclaimed a reformed monarch: still “Great King,” yet consciously aligned with Rome.

The compromise did not outlive the king. Cassius Dio records that Tigranes IV fell in battle in AD 1, fighting “barbarian” tribes—probably Iberian or Albanian raiders—on Armenia’s northern frontier. Erato, unable to sustain sole rule against the Roman–Parthian tug-of-war, abdicated a few months later. At the request of the Armenian nobility Augustus appointed Ariobarzanes II of Media Atropatene as the next client king, effectively ending the native Artaxiad line.