Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Tigranes

TIGRANES, or Dikran, a name borne by several kings of ancient Armenia. According to the legend of the Armenians, the first of these kings was the Tigranes who in Xenophon's romance appears as the schoolfellow of Cyrus, and to him they ascribe the foundation of Tigranocerta (Dikranagerd) on the Tigris. But in reality, as classical writers relate, this city was built by the first historical Tigranes of Armenia, variously known as Tigranes II. and Tigranes I., for whose history see Persia, (vol. xviii. p. 595 sq.) His son Tigranes is known by his rebellion against his father (Persia, ut supra). Tigranes III. (II.), grandson of Tigranes II. (I.), had a short reign, which he owed to a revolution at home and the favour of Augustus. He came to the throne in 20 B.C., having previously been an exile at Rome. Tigranes IV. (III.) was seated on the throne by the Parthians (Persia, p. 600). For Tigranes V. (c. 60 A.D.), a great-grandson on his mother's side of Herod the Great, see Persia, vol. xviii. p. 602.

TIGRIS,^[1] the shorter of the two large rivers rising in

1. The Tigris is the Hiddekel of the Bible, the Diklat or Idiklat of the cuneiform monuments. The old Persian form Tigrâ ("swift as an arrow"), whence Tigris, seems to be connected etymologically with