A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

(Τιγράνης).

1. A son of the Armenian king who was conquered by Cyrus the Elder. According to Xenophon he had been a schoolfellow of Cyrus, and by his intercession with that monarch, procured the pardon of his father, whose fidelity he thenceforth guaranteed. His name is afterwards repeatedly mentioned in the Cyropaedeia among the friends and attendants of the Persian king (Xen. Cyrop. 3.1, 2, 5.1, 3, 8.3.25, 4.1.) In the Armenian historians Tigranes assumes a much more conspicuous character, and is represented as bearing an important part in the overthrow of the Median kingdom, and the defeat of Astyages. He appears to have become a sort of national hero, and his exploits are recounted at length by Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. 1.23-29), but they are in all probability fabulous.