Interregnum: Artagigarta 57/6 BC - 54/3 BC

Artagigarta refers to an interim period during Artavasdes II’s early reign when Roman influence penetrated Armenia’s administration. Following Pompey’s eastern campaigns, and while Artavasdes was absent or incapacitated, the city of Artagigarta in Sophene fell under de facto Roman oversight. From 57/6 to 54/3 BC, coins were struck there not in the name of the Armenian king but as civic issues bearing Pompeian dates. This indicates that Roman authorities – perhaps local proxies loyal to Rome – governed Sophene in Artavasdes’s stead. Pompey’s victory over Tigranes the Great had set the stage, and when Artavasdes briefly aligned with Parthia around 54 BC (even seeking refuge at the Parthian court), Roman power moved in.

During this interregnum, Armenia Major effectively split: Sophene’s capital Artagigarta acknowledged Roman supremacy, minting coins that used Pompey’s 66 BC conquest as the year “0”. The imagery and inscriptions on these coins were pointedly non-royal, suggesting that no Armenian king sat on the throne of Sophene at the time. Instead, a Roman-approved governor or local lord likely administered the region. From the Armenian perspective, this was a time of crisis – a fragmenting of Artaxiad authority. Yet it was temporary. By 53 BC, Artavasdes II, having returned his loyalty to Rome after Crassus’s death, resumed issuing his own coinage. The Roman interregnum in Artagigarta thus ended with the restoration of Armenian royal control.