[9] Either the son or nephew of Artavasdes I, Tigranes was given as a hostage to Mithridates II of Parthia after Armenia came under Parthian suzerainty.

Armenia came into direct conflict with Rome after Mithridates VI was forced to seek refuge in Tigranes' court.

Tigranes chose to surrender and was allowed to retain the heartland of his kingdom as a Roman buffer state, while all of his conquests were annexed.

[12] Tigranes remained a hostage at the Parthian court until c. 96/95 BC, when Mithridates II released him and appointed him as the king of Armenia.

[15] Tigranes' daughter Ariazate had also married a son of Mithridates II, which has been suggested by the modern historian Edward Dąbrowa to have taken place shortly before he ascended the Armenian throne as a guarantee of his loyalty.

[16] When he came to power, the foundation upon which Tigranes was to build his Empire was already in place, a legacy of the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty, Artaxias I, and subsequent kings.

Tigranes agreed to extend his influence in the East, while Mithridates set to conquer Roman land in Asia Minor and in Europe.

[20] ...At first he had served as a hostage among the Parthians; then by their means he returned to his country, in compensation for which service they obtained seventy valleys in Armenia.

[23] He then conquered Phoenicia and Cilicia, effectively putting an end to the last remnants of the Seleucid Empire, though a few holdout cities appear to have recognized the shadowy boy-king Seleucus VII Philometor as the legitimate king during his reign.

At its height, his empire extended from the Pontic Alps (in modern north-eastern Turkey) to Mesopotamia, and from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean.

"[25] ...For though he had started on his career with small and insignificant expectations, he had subdued many nations, humbled the Parthian power as no man before him had done, and filled Mesopotamia with Greeks whom he removed in great numbers from Cilicia and from Cappadocia, and settled anew.

He also removed from their wonted haunts the nomadic Arabians, and brought them to an adjacent settlement, that he might employ them in trade and commerce.Many were the kings who waited upon him, and four, whom he always had about him like attendants or body-guards, would run on foot by their master's side when he rode out, clad in short blouses, and when he sat transacting business, would stand by with their arms crossed.

Mithridates VI of Pontus had found refuge in Armenian land after confronting Rome, considering the fact that Tigranes was his ally and relative.

After having overthrown and almost ruined the family of the kings, successors of the great Seleucus; after having very often humbled the pride of the Parthians, transported whole cities of Greeks into Media, conquered all Syria and Palestine, and given laws to the Arabians called Scenites, he reigned with an authority respected by all the princes of Asia.

On October 6, 69 BC, Tigranes' much larger force was decisively defeated by the Roman army under Lucullus in the Battle of Tigranocerta.

[31] The long campaigning and hardships that Lucullus' troops had endured for years, combined with a perceived lack of reward in the form of plunder,[17] led to successive mutinies among the legions in 68–67.

Frustrated by the rough terrain of Northern Armenia and seeing the worsening morale of his troops, Lucullus moved back south and put Nisibis under siege.

[36] Tigranes decided not to meet the invasion in the field but instead ensured that his capital, Artaxata, was well defended and withdrew to the hill country.

Phraates soon realized that Artaxata would not fall without a protracted siege, the time for which he could not spare due to his fear of plots at home.

Pompey allowed him to retain his kingdom shorn of his conquests as he planned to have Armenia as a buffer state[38][39] and he took 6,000 talents/180 tonnes of silver.

[43][44] The eldest son, Zariadres, according to Appian and Valerius Maximus rebelled against Tigranes and was killed during a battle (possibly late 90s BCE).

[51] The reasoning behind it is that if Tigranes the Younger did indeed lead a campaign in 82 BCE, then he and hence his two older brothers (and possibly two sisters) would be too old to be Cleopatra's children.

[53] He also considered likely that the reason for the rebellion of Tigranes's son Zariadres was the birth of Artavasdes who was declared the heir by virtue of being born to a king and not a prince.

"[71] In Armenian folk tradition, he was identified with the Iranian hero Fereydun (Thraetaona), the slayer of the dragon Azhi Dahaka.

[75][74] On the contrary, René Grousset praised him as "a great yet underrated monarch who undoubtedly deserves much more admiration from history" than Mithridates, who brought about the downfall of his empire, while "Tigranes ensured the survival of his people for eternity.

[74] Theo van Lint argued that while he was not able to consolidate his territorial gains, the forty year peace he established had the "important effect of developing Greater Armenia and the network of clan relationships that would prove crucial for the preservation of Armenian identity in subsequent periods.

"[77] Vahan Hovhannisyan similarly argued that he turned the Armenian people into a nation, which "survived for 500 years with the momentum he provided.

"[78] The historian Leo believed that while he established complete national independence, Tigranes behaved like an "Asian despot" and "arrogance blinded him.

[92] In visual arts, Tigranes has been depicted by Yervand Kochar in 1940 (gouache on paper)[94] and in a 1959 mural crafted by Van Khachatur inside the Matenadaran in Yerevan, symbolizing Armenia's Hellenistic period.

[98] Three statues of Tigranes have been erected in Armenia, including at the President's Residence (2000), in Yerevan's Nor Nork District (2004), and in the city of Vagharshapat (2016).