A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

8. TIRIDATES III., king of Armenia, the son of Chosroes. His father was assassinated by the emissaries of Sapor I., king of Persia, who made Armenia a province of the Persian empire, and placed a certain Artavasdes on the throne, about A. D. 258. Tiridates, who was then an infant, was saved by the fidelity of a servant and carried to the Romans, by whom he was educated with great care. (Moses Choren. 2.71, 73, 74. [*](* Zonaras speaks (12.21) of Tiridates as king of Armenia at this time, and says that after he fled to the Romans, his children joined the Persians ; but this is clearly a mistake, for the subsequent narrative shows that the account of the Armenian historian is correct. See Gibbon, C. X. note 134.)) After he had lived under the protection of the Roman emperors for nearly thirty years, he was restored to the throne of his ancestors at the commencement of the reign of Diocletian. Although Tiridates displayed the greatest energy and courage, he was unable long to retain possession of his kingdom against the overwhelming power of the Persian monarchy. He was expelled from Armenia by Narses, and Was obliged to take refuge a second time at the court of the Roman emperors. This led to a war between Rome and Persia, in which Narses was completely defeated and obliged to submit to a humiliating peace, A. D. 298. One of the conditions of this peace was the restoration of Tiridates to the Armenian throne. [SASSANIDAE, p. 717a.] (Moses Choren, lib. ii.)