KINGS OF ARMENIA. Tigranes VI, second reign, 66/7. Tetrachalkon (Bronze, 19 mm, 5.75 g, 1 h), Arados, CY 325 = 66/7. Jugate heads of Tigranes VI, wearing a tiara decorated with three eagles and tied with a diadem, and his wife, wearing a Phrygian cap, to right; all within wreath of olive and ivy. Rev. [B]AΣIΛEΩΣ / TIΓPANOY - [M]EΓAΛOY - T[EK] The city-goddess of Arados seated left on a horizontal rudder, holding cornucopiae. Kovacs 200. Very rare and in exceptional condition for the issue. Boldly struck with two incredibly detailed portraits and undoubtedly among the finest known. Slightly rough and the reverse a bit weak, otherwise, good very fine.



Tigranes VI hailed from a distinguished lineage, with his grandfather none other than Herod the Great, and his paternal grandmother being Glaphyra, daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia. Additionally, his uncle was Tigranes V, who reigned as king of Armenia during the time of Augustus. This noble ancestry held great promise for Tigranes. At the outset of the Roman-Parthian War of 58-63, he was crowned King of Armenia by Nero. Despite initial Roman successes, a Parthian counteroffensive effectively subdued part of the Roman army, leading to Tigranes' expulsion from Armenia in 62. He relinquished his throne to the Parthian candidate, Tiridates I, yet maintained a presence in Sophene and the Peraia of Arados in Syria. Nero intended to reinstate Tigranes, but the eruption of the first Jewish-Roman War in 66 delayed these plans. Little is known of Tigranes' fate thereafter, except for his sole coinage, likely minted in the Aradian Peraia or on the island itself. These coins feature portraits of Tigranes and his wife, whose name remains unknown, on the obverse, and the city goddess on the reverse, and is dated to 66/67, the first year of the Jewish revolt.