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Tigranes the Great
Tigranes II or Tigranes the Great ruled as the king of Armenia from c. 95 to c. 56 BCE. Expanding in all directions, at its peak, Tigranes' Armenian Empire stretched from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Not before or since would Armenians...
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Ten Ancient Persia Facts You Need to Know
Ancient Persian culture exerted a powerful influence throughout the Near East, and beyond, for over a thousand years between c. 550 BCE - 651 CE and many aspects of their culture continued to influence others afterwards and up through the...
Article
Twelve Great Women of Ancient Persia
Women in ancient Persia had more rights and greater freedom than any other ancient civilization including, according to some scholars, even ancient Egypt which is famous for its respect for the feminine principle in religion as well as daily...
Definition
Marcus Licinius Crassus
Marcus Licinius Crassus (115-53 BCE) was perhaps the richest man in Roman history and in his eventful life he experienced both great successes and severe disappointments. His vast wealth and sharp political skills brought him two consulships...
Definition
Edessa
Edessa (modern Urfa), located today in south-east Turkey but once part of upper Mesopotamia on the frontier of the Syrian desert, was an important city throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages. A city within the Seleucid Empire, then capital...
Definition
Commagene
The Kingdom of Commagene (163 BCE - 72 CE) was a Hellenistic political entity, heavily influenced by Armenian and ancient Persian culture and traditions, established in southwestern Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) by Ptolemaeus of Commagene...
Definition
Tigranocerta
Tigranocerta (Tigranakert) was a city in the southwest of ancient Armenia founded and made capital by Tigranes the Great in 83 BCE. Famous for its riches and fine buildings, as well as its mix of Hellenistic and Persian culture, the city...
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Stag Rhyton
This exquisite gilded silver rhyton (wine drinking horn) terminates in the forepart of a naturalistically rendered stag. Incorporating stylistic elements of Achaemenid and Seleucid traditions, it was made in Parthia (northwestern Iran, ca...
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Adur Burzen-Mihr
Artist's impression of the Adur Burzen-Mihr, a Zoroastrian fire temple located in ancient Parthia. At the time of the Sasanian Empire it was one of the three "Great Fires", which were the most important temples in Zoroastrianism.
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Tetradrachm of Mithridates II
Silver Tetradrachm of Mithridates II of Parthia (r. 124-91 BCE). Seleukia-on-the-Tigris, Babylonia. Parthian Empire. c. 123–88 BCE. (Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)