Tigranes II of Armenia (King of Armenia c.95-56 BC, ruler in Syria 83-69 BC), AR Tetradrachm, 15.90g, Antioch. Diademed, draped bust right, wearing Armenian tiara ornamented with star between two eagles / BASILEWS TIGRANOU, Tyche of Antioch seated right on rocks, holding palm-branch, before her swims the river-god Orontes, monogram on rocks, all within wreath. Bedoukian 36.
This extraordinarily high quality coin comes from one of the many eastern kings to vex the Roman Empire in their long history. Tigranes the Great, for a time, held a vast amount of territory, stretching from Syria and the coast of the Mediterranean to the foot hills of the Caucasus Mountains and the coast of the Caspian Sea.
Tigranes fought against the expanding Romans to protect his boarders and though he lost to the Roman general Lucullus at the battle of Tigranocerta, he continued to resist both the Romans and the Persians in defense of his kingdom. He ultimately made an uneasy and embarrassing peace with Pompey Magnus which allowed him to keep his kingdom, now much reduced, until this death in 55 BC.
It has been suggested that the star on his crown may be an early representation of Halley’s Comet, which appeared in 87 BC.