Artavasdes II of Armenia

Artavasdes II (ΑΡΤΑΒΑΖΔΟΥ Artabázēs) was king of Armenia from 55 BC to 34 BC. A member of the Artaxiad Dynasty, he was the son and successor of Tigranes the Great (95-55), who ascended the throne of a still powerful and independent state. His mother was Cleopatra of Pontus, thus making his maternal grandfather the prominent Pontus king Mithridates VI Eupator. Like his father, Artavasdes continued using the title of King of Kings, as seen from his coins. Artavasdes' name is the Latin attestation of an Old Iranian name *Ṛtavazdah-, identical to the Avestan Ašavazdah, presumably meaning "powerful/persevering through truth". It is attested in Armenian as Artavazd and in Greek as Artaouásdēs, Artabázēs, Artábazos, and Artáozos. In 54 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus, one of the Roman triumvirs, who had become proconsul of Syria, had been preparing to invade the Parthian realm. Artavasdes II, who was an ally of Rome, advised Crassus to take a route through Armenia to avoid the desert and offered him reinforcements of a further 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry. His reasoning was that the Parthian cavalry would be less potent in the Armenian highlands. Crassus refused the offer and decided to take the direct route through Mesopotamia. As Crassus' army marched to Carrhae (modern Harran, southeastern Turkey), the Parthian king Orodes II (57-37) invaded Armenia, cutting off support from Artavasdes II. Orodes II persuaded Artavasdes II to a marriage alliance between the crown prince Pacorus I (d. 38 BC) and Artavasdes II's sister. Crassus was shortly defeated and killed by the forces led by Orodes II's general Surena. While Orodes II and Artavasdes II were observing a play of The Bacchae of Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) at the Armenian court in honor of the wedding of Pacorus and Artavasdes II's sister, the Parthian commander Silaces announced the news of the victory at Carrhae, and put the head of Crassus at Orodes II's feet. The head was given to the producer of the play, who decided to use Crassus' actual severed head in place of the stage-prop head of Pentheus.