Kings of Armenia, Tigranes the Younger AR Tetradrachm. Tigranokerta, circa 71 BC. Diademed and draped bust to right, wearing Armenian tiara with five peaks and emblazoned with comet; bead and reel border around / Tyche of Artaxata seated to right on rock pile, holding palm branch, river god Araxes swimming to right below; BAΣIΛEΩΣ to right, TIΓPANOY to left, ΣΩ in exergue. Kovacs 132; AC 28 (Tigranes II); CAA 10 (Tigranes II); M&D 51 (Tigranes II); CNG 112, 311. 16.81g, 31mm, 11h.

Near Extremely Fine. Exceedingly Rare; only one other example found on CoinArchives.

From a private European collection.

Tigranes the Younger, son of Tigranes II, became co-ruler with his father in 77/6 BC when he was just 20 years old. Kovacs notes that this issue, naming a ‘King Tigranes’ and displaying a bust wearing an Armenian tiara decorated with a comet should in fact be viewed as coins of this Tigranes the Younger, struck alongside corresponding issues of Tigranes II during their joint rule. It marks a period of relative harmony in their otherwise unstable relationship, and indeed the numismatic evidence shows that the following year Tigranes the Younger was in Damascus and Shayegan (2011) suggests that it was here that he plotted with his father-in-law Phraates III to overthrow his father. This plot was abandoned when Armenia faced a threat from Roman forces and father and son united against their common enemy. Tigranes the Younger did however go on to betray his father to Pompey the Great in the hope that this would secure him sole rule of Armenia. This proved ultimately unsuccessful since he was only granted the rule of Sophene and even this was only for a brief time, as Pompey removed him after a few months due to suspicions over his Parthian connections.

As the references for the present coin attest, Kovacs is the only scholar who attributes this coin to Tigranes the Younger rather than his father; other academics claim that no coins of this ruler were struck at all. In defending his attribution, Kovacs highlights the distinctive features of the son’s coinage as being characterised in particular by ‘younger portraits’, and a comet upon his tiara rather than the standard eagle-flanked star.