Tigranes V c. 6-12 AD (Kov 181-186)

Tigranes V (BNP [6]) was the grandson of Herod the Great and the son of Alexander I and Glaphyra who was the daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia. The Cappadocian lineage made Tigranes marginally acceptable to the Armenians. There is little recorded of Tigranes's reign except that it may have been interrupted by Vonones the Parthian who was driven out of Babylonia by Artabanus around AD 12, and then claimed kingship in Armenia. However, it is unlikely that Vonones appeared in Armenia before AD 16. In any case Vonones as a Roman client may have been accommodated in Artaxata while Tigranes controlled the greater part of the kingdom. Indeed, Tigranes's coins are not found in Armenia Major but in Sophene (see above under Sophene) and Commagene. The last mention of Tigranes V is his execution on a charge of maiestas (treason) in AD 36 when he was fifty years old (Braund 1984, 44).

The coins of this reign are fairly abundant and the types for the four denominations, Herakles, eagle, elephant, and elephant head, suggest that Tigranes's territory may have been home to a substantial Roman military presence.36 His tiara is interesting in this regard. The traditional decoration on the Armenian tiara of the star (normally eight- pointed) or star flanked by eagles (as on the coins of Tigranes the Great and his son Artavasdes II) is replaced with four eagles (or three on the smaller denominations). In addition, the title megas suggests that Tigranes V controlled more than one kingdom (Sophene, Commagene, and Armenia all seem possible). His coins are attributed to Artagigarta based on their find spots.

Kovacs, Frank L. “Armenian Coinage in the Classical Period” CNS 10, Classical Numismatic Group, Lancaster, 2016, pp. 30.