The Trade and Cities of Armenia
in Relation to Ancient World Trade*
* This material is presented solely for non-commercial educational/research purposes.
The Development of Trade and Cities
in the Reign of Tigran the Second
Armenia became a battlefield for the first time from 66 B. C. when she was drawn under Pompey into the Roman sphere of influence and as "a friend and ally of the Roman people", she was forced to participate in the wars of Rome against the Parthians. Before this time, under the Achaemenids and the Seleucids, her position was entirely different. During the Graeco-Persian wars of Alexander's conquest of the East and of the times of troubles under the Diadochoi, the provinces of Armenia remained outside the mainstream of these great world events and the [54] even tenor of their development was interrupted relatively rarely. It is partly as a result of these circumstances that we must explain the subsequent and rapid rise of the population in the most ancient period of the historical life of the Armenioi as well as the wealth and prosperity of their country noted by ancient sources. The great and even excessive increase in the number of the Armenioi, who had mingled with the local populations by the time of Tigran II, is entirely confirmed by the evidence of Strabo (B.C. 63 to A. D. 19) who has given us a detailed description of Ancient Armenia in the period of Tigran and his successors.
At the time of Herodotus and Xenophon, in the Vth century B. C., the territory occupied by the greater part of the Armenioi was relatively insignificant. The Armenioi occupied the south-western portion of Ancient Armenia and lived there for the most part along the Arsanias and its tributaries as well as further south near the upper courses of the Tigris. From the account of Strabo, it is evident that the Armenian population, which had spread from this district in all directions, occupied in his own time, not only almost all the provinces of vast historical Armenia, all the way to the Kura, but also formed an important part of the population of Adiabene and northern Mesopotamia (2). Consequently, during the IVth-IInd centuries, the Armenioi gradually spread, as a result of natural increase in the population and the absorption of foreigners whom they met, throughout the whole of the Armenian plateau and even beyond its limits.
Owing to a most favourable concurrence of exterior and interior circumstances, growth and expansion as well as intensive rise of population, Greater Armenia, which had become united with Sophene in a single political unit under the power of Tigran the Great, became in the first century B.C. a vast and forceful realm more powerful than the neighbouring small kingdoms such as Osrohene, Corduene, Adiabene, Media Atropatene, Albania and Iberia. For this reason it is entirely understandable that after she had concluded a treaty with Mithradates Eupator and protected her rear from the west, she could oppose her imperialism to that of the Parthians.
Taking advantage of dissensions which had broken out among the Parthian Arsacids, Tigran II took away from the Parthians the political sovereignty over the western provinces of their empire. As is well known, the outward imperialistic grandeur of the epoch of Tigran, based not only on favourable external circumstances but also on the incredible internal growth of Ancient Armenia during the preceding centuries, was but short lived. After their brutal defeat of Mithradates, Lucullus, and later Pompey, having devastated the kingdom of Pontus, turned their arms against Tigran, and the empire which he had created collapsed. Only Corduene and Mesopotamia were left under the dominion of Armenia.
[55] With the Roman advance to the Euphrates, Armenia found herself caught between the mighty Roman empire moving from the west and a strengthened Parthia, and she became for a long time the outpost of Roman military strength pushed out into the world of oriental Iranism. This highly unfavourable buffer position, which continued during the following centuries, sharply altered the direction of her subsequent political life and, as we shall see, had a negative influence on her internal and economic development.
After the Armeno-Parthian war, in approximately 84-83 B.C., Tigran also succeeded in making himself the master of all of upper Syria. Subsequently he conquered lower Cilicia (Cilicia Pedias) as well as the small kingdom of Commagene which lay to the east of it. In the seventies of the last century B. C., he occupied an important part of Phoenicia and Ptolemais and came into contact with the kingdom of Judea which apparently also recognized his overlordship. In this connexion the evidence of Appian (3A) that all of Syria to the border of Egypt was subject to Tigran, deserves attention.
The great and vast empire of Tigran, formed of a varied mixture of diverse tribes, dialects, and cultures, could naturally not be considered a cohesive, stable and lasting empire. Under the overlordship of Tigran were united districts with a tribal-clan patriarchal structure as well as semi-feudal countries and Hellenistic kingdoms writh their characteristic institutions. The neighbouring countries which had recognized the power of Tigran, the "king of kings", were apparently compelled to pay him a [56] definite tribute and to send auxiliary troops in time of war. At the same time, each of these kingdoms and each of the autonomous Armenian principalities kept its former laws and its peculiar institutions.
The leading role in this vast Armenian empire of Tigran was undoubtedly played by the Armenian landed aristocracy which formed his chief support both in his victorious campaigns and in governmental and public affairs. And in fact, his brother Guras was appointed to the responsible position of governor of Nisibis, while the ruler of the whole of Syria entrusted to the Armenian prince Bagarat.
In one of my preceding works (4) I thought it likely that already under Artaxias I the beginnings and foundations of a feudal system were inherent in Armenia. We know that Pliny the Elder (A. D. 23-79) already bears witness to the fact that Armenia in his time was divided into 120 prefectures which he calls strategies i.e. "military districts" (4A). These strategies which in all likelihood already existed under Tigran II, must be thought as consisting for the most part of Naxarar lands in which the landed aristocracy played the leading economic and political role, as has been shown Adontz (5). As for production, in my opinion, the predominant part there was taken not so much by slaves as by semi-free and free peasants.
Plutarch speaks of four basilei or bdeshx who were in constant attendance on Tigran the Great (6). It is supposed that these bdeshx were the descendants of the hereditary dynasts of the vast border lands of the Armenian plateau. It must be noted that, in addition to the term nobiles, Tacitus uses many other terms to designate the Armenian and Parthian nobility, namely, proceres, proceres gentium, primores gentium and megistanes. As has been shown in detail by Adontz, under these terms are understood the former clan leaders who had become tribal or territorial rulers of peoples or provinces (7). These rulers, called megistanes in one of the accounts of Tacitus, are definitely said to have their own landed estates and to live in fortified castles found everywhere, both in the plains and the highlands, according to this same account. We must suppose that it is from these very territories belonging to dynasts and megistanes that the 120 strategies formally indicated by Pliny were composed. In peace time, the ancient Armenian nobility, just like the warrior aristocracy of the Slavs and the Germans gave itself over to hunting and feasting (8).
Thus, as we can see, all that we can find in the written testimonies ancient sources concerning the domestic life of pre-Arsacid Armenia are the traits characteristic of medieval barbarian states and evident traces a later Naxarar-feudal order. For this reason we may conclude that by the time of Tigran the Second, Armenia already had a social structure of transitional type, between a clan organization and a feudalism showing the peculiarities of the Naxarar system of the Arsacid period.
[57]
A number of indications found in ancient sources show that Tigran himself, who was married to Cleopatra the daughter of Mithradates and was surrounded by Greek philosophers and rhetoricians, intended to transform Armenia by spreading Hellenistic culture far and wide in it and by developing commerce, handicrafts and industries. The achievement of this goal was to be furthered by populating the country with urban, commercial, and industrial settlers. For this reason enormous numbers of colonists, for the most part city-dwellers, were transported there from the conquered southern kingdoms and settled together with their property in the newly founded capital of Tigranocerta as well as in the other centers of Ancient Armenia.
In his Roman History, Th. Mommsen considers this forced migration an unusual phenomenon and compares it to the Babylonian captivity of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar (9). We must, however, bear in mind that such migrations were a frequent occurrence in the kingdoms of the Hellenistic period and also under the Sasanids and the Byzantine emperors.
With the conquest of Mesopotamia, Commagene and Syria, Tigran held in his hands both the transit route through Artaxata and also the main land-highways for international trade, which ran through southern and northern Mesopotamia to Zeugma and thence to Antioch and the shore of the Mediterranean. In Antioch were minted the beautiful gold coins bearing Tigran's name and effigy, a small number of which have come clown to us and are preserved in museums.
Particular attention was given to the territories of international exchange which we have mentioned. Tigran's own brother Guras, who defended the city of Nisibis against Lucullus, was the governor of Mygdonia through which passed the northern branch of the indicated transit route, as we have mentioned above (10). The governor, or more exactly the strategos, of the former Seleucid kingdom was Bagadates (= Arm. Bagarat) and his capital was the most important commercial center of Syria, the former capital of the Seleucids, Antioch (11). To the Scenite Arabs, who had been moved from Mesopotamia and Osrohene, Tigran entrusted the collection [58] of transit duty on goods crossing the Euphrates, for the most part near Zeugma (12).
After having organized his realm, which spread from the Caspian to the Mediterranean, Tigran began to build his capital Tigranocerta, which was to become the political, cultural and economic centre of the new state. The former capital Artaxata and the Seleucid capital Antioch apparently could not serve this purpose since they stood on the borders of the empire. Antioch was also inconvenient as a permanent residence because from there Tigran lost contact with Greater Armenia, which was the foundation and main support of his power and military successes.
Greek and Roman historians, who describe Lucullus' campaign in Armenia and the capture of Tigranocerta, give us quite detailed information concerning the new capital. According to the description of Appian (13), Tigranocerta was surrounded by a wall 50 cubits high which was so wide that stables for horses were built within it. Not far outside the walls of the city, stood the royal palace around which were laid out parks for hunting and ponds for fishing. Near there was also found a fortified castle.
Evidently under the influence of the description just given, Mommsen and Reinach compared Tigranocerta with ancient Nineveh and Babylon (14). Lehmann-Haupt likewise supposed that Tigranocerta resembled Assyrian cities in type and plan (15). In my opinion this comparison is not altogether correct. We know that neither Nineveh nor Babylon resembled cities founded in the Hellenistic period in either type or plan. They were composed of an immense area containing groups of houses between which stretched fields, lawns, gardens and orchards. The principal occupation of their inhabitants was agriculture and not commerce or handicraft. Nineveh, as the prophet Jonah relates, occupied an area of three days' journey (15A); Babylon, according to the evidence of Herodotus, was surrounded by a double concentric wall 480 stades, i. e. about 85 kilometers in circumference (16). But Tigranocerta, which was besieged in 69 B. C. by the relatively small army of Lucullus, was undoubtedly of modest size. In all likelihood, both in its plan and its mercantile and manufacturing character, it differed but little from the usual type of Hellenistic cities.
In order to populate the new city with a suitable urban population, Tigran forcibly transported to it the inhabitants of the devastated cities of Cappadocia and Commagene which he had conquered (ca. 77 B. C.) (17). According to Strabo,
... Tigranes, the Armenian, put the people in bad plight when he overran Cappadocia, for he forced them (the population of Mazaca) one and all, to migrate into Mesopotamia; and it was mostly with these that he settled Tigranocerta. But later, after the capture of Tigranocerta, those who could returned home (18).[59] In another passage of his Geography Strabo notes that Tigran settled the "peoples... of twelve Greek cities", in his new capital (18). Appian sets at 300,000 the number of inhabitants who were forcibly removed from Cappadocia and Cilicia (20). Plutarch mentions in addition the forced transfer to Tigranocerta of the population of the devastated districts of Adiabene, Assyria and Corduene (21). The same author informs us that Tigranocerta contained much wealth and magnificent buildings since everyone, both noble and ordinary inhabitants, supported the king from ambition and contributed to the growth and embellishment of the city (22).
Judging from the evidence of the sources, Tigranocerta, following the example of other capitals, was to become one of the centres of Hellenistic science, art and literature. Amphicrates, the famous writer and rhetorician of the period was invited to Armenia when he was driven from Athens (23). Metrodorus of Scepsis, a famous philosopher and statesman from the kingdom of Pontus, called by Pliny "misoromaeus" (the hater of the Romans) (23A), was one of the closest advisers of Tigran and wrote a history of him which has unfortunately not reached us (24). In Tigranocerta, according to Plutarch, was found a company of actors who had been invited by Tigran for the inauguration of the theatre he had built (25). We can judge the depth of the influence of Hellenism and the Greek language on the upper classes of society from the fact that Tigran's son and heir Artavazd wrote, in Greek, tragedies, speeches, and historical works some of which, according to Plutarch, had survived to his own time (26).
It is entirely understandable that this extensive Hellenization of the upper classes, which had already begun in Armenia under the Erwandians, was to have an influence on the evolution of religious concepts in Armenia. The national religion of Armenia, which in its formation had greatly been influenced by Iranism, acquired a strong flavour of Hellenism, as has justly been pointed out by Gelzer (27). Here, too, a combination of Greek and local gods took place, the so-called theocracy (27A) in which, as we know, all of the peoples of the Hellenistic world participated. The national Armenian gods were identified with the Olympian gods: Ahura-Mazda with Zeus, Mihr with Hephaistos, Anahit with Artemis, Nanea with Athena, Astghik with Aphrodite, Tir with Apollo, and Vahagn with Herakles (28). To this same Erwandian era belongs the appearance and the placement in the great Armenian religious centres of Greek statues, a dim memory of which has been preserved in the History of Movse's Xorenats'i (29).
In the opinion of Reinach, Armenia, with the passage of time, would have become Hellenized by this process exactly like her neighbours Pontus and Cappadocia.
It is hardly open to doubt that had the Armenian empire endured, it would rapidly have become Hellenized similarly to Pontus and Cappadocia. The Greek element which was so strong in Syria [60] and Mesopotamia would have acted as a powerful ferment and could have transformed the remaining kernel in its own likeness. The Greeks felt this, and they submitted without murmur to the crude and haughty despotism of Tigran, considering it as the inevitable period of transition preparing the new victory of their civilzation."With the collapse of Tigran's empire, the process of Hellenization could no longer continue with its former strength. After her defeat near Tigranocerta, Armenia lost most of her conquests as well as her contact with the more civilized provinces of the Hellenistic south. In addition, the new capital of Tigranocerta, which was to serve as a commercial, industrial and spiritual centre, was devastated by the armies of Lucullus and deserted to a great degree. For this reason it is understandable that Hellenism did not take root deeply in the cultural and social life of Armenia and that its influence in the following period was superficial in the extreme.
Strabo testifies to the destruction of Tigranocerta in 69 B.C.,
... Lucullus, who had waged war against Mithridates, arrived before Tigranes finished his undertaking and not only dismissed the inhabitants to their several home-lands but also attacked and pulled down the city, which was still only half finished, and left only a small village (31).We can conclude, however, from the evidence of later historians, that in the first century A. D., Tigranocerta, in spite of the removal of its qualified merchant and artisan population, was not a small village as Strabo states but one of the important cities of Ancient Armenia. According to the evidence of Tacitus, during the Roman-Parthian war under Corbulo and Trdat [Tiridates], it was a fairly large city with high walls. Part of these walls were washed by the relatively wide Nicephorium river, while the rest were surrounded by a deep ditch (32). According to the account of the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium [P'awstos Biwzandats'i], during the war between Shapuh [Sapor] II and Arshak [Arsaces] (A. D. 364-367), "the great city of Tigranocerta" which existed in Armenia under the rule of the bdeshx, was taken and destroyed by Shapuh II (33).
Scholars have greatly differed in their opinion as to the exact location of Tigranocerta. This is explained by the fact that the disagreement is already to be found in the ancient sources. The oldest among them, Strabo, locates Tigranocerta in Mygdonia (34), Ptolemy, in Corduene (35), Eutropius however, and the Armenian writer Faustus of Byzantium, in Arzanene (31). Tacitus states definitely that Tigranocerta was 37 Roman miles (= ca. 5i kilometers) distant from Nisibis (37). Following this indication which coincides with the oldest testimony of Strabo, most scholars have located [61] Tigranocerta south of the Massian Plateau and of the Tigris, in the vicinity of Nisibis (38).
H. Kiepert, who subsequently agreed with Mommsen, first supposed that Tigranocerta stood north of the Tigris on the site of the ancient city of Arzanas whose ruins are found not far from the modern Sgherd [Seert] (39). In the opinion of Kiepert the distance between Nisibis and Tigranocerta given in the Annals of Tacitus, "septem et triginta (thirty-seven)" Roman miles might have been altered in copying, and he proposed its alteration into "centum et triginta (one hundred and thirty" Roman miles (40). Under this hypothesis, the position of Tigranocerta, according to Tacitus, would have been north of the Tigris.
It must be noted that the Nicephorium river, which washed the walls of Tigranocerta (40A), is mentioned by Pliny as a tributary of the Tigris on the left hand side (41). Consequently the evidence of Pliny agrees with the indication of Eutropius and Faustus of Byzantium that Tigranocerta stood on left bank of the Tigris in Arzanene. These data are also confirmed by the ancient map of Ptolemy and by another geographical map, known as the Tabula Peutingeriana. On these maps Tigranocerta is located not south but north of the Tigris.
The valuable and clear indications of the sources cited as to the northern location of Tigranocerta were profitably put to use only recently. In 1899 the neighbourhood of Sgherd and Farkin [Miyafarkin] were thoroughly investigated by the German scholars W. Belck and K. Lehmann. The results of these investigations concerning the position of Tigranocerta were published by them in German periodicals (42) and given in greater detail in the special work of Lehmann entitled Armenien einst und jetzt (43). Having made use of the ancient sources concerning the topographical peculiarities of the site of Tigranocerta and of the place where the decisive battle between Lucullus and Tigran had taken place in 69 B. C., Lehmann came to the conclusion that Tigranocerta was to be identified not with the ancient city of Arzanas but with the later city of Miyafarkin-Martyropolis. It is interesting that already in the forties of the preceding century, the same opinion was emitted as a mere guess by the German field-marshal von Moltke, probably on purely strategic grounds (44).
At the present time, almost all Armenists are in agreement with the conclusions of Lehmann. The convincingness and reliability of these conclusions are undoubtedly reinforced by the extremely important testimony of the Armenian historian Faustus who relates that St. Epiphanius built at Tigranocerta a chapel with the appellation of the martyrs (45). According to another account, the city of Miyafarkin possessed an innumerable collection of relics of martyrs collected by the bishop Marutha. Scholars correctly suppose that these accounts are to be connected with the later [62] Greek name of the city, Martyropolis (the city of the martyrs) and consequently conclude that ancient Tigranocerta continued to exist at a later date under the name of Martyropolis (46).
That ancient Tigranocerta is indeed to be found at the present-day Farkin is now confirmed by new data as to the position of the stations of Zanserio and Cymiza on the Tabula Peutingeriana both of which undoubtedly lay north of Tigranocerta. As I have shown in my work, The Main Roads of Ancient Armenia (17), the station of Cymiza is to be identified with the modern Kildiz. The distorted name of the station Cymiza should be corrected into Cyldiza (CGLDIZA instead of CGMIZA, LD = M). This station was located on the way from Tigranocerta to Artaxata at a distance of precisely 50 Roman miles, or about 70 kilometers, from Tigranocerta-Miyafarkin as this is shown on the Tabula Peutingeriana.
The choice of site for the residence of "the king of kings" was very successfully made. The modern Miyafarkin lies in the exact centre of the empire of Tigran, it has a favourable strategical position and stands near the Royal Highway of the Achaemenids which was also convenient for international trade. As may be seen from the preceding discussion, the problem as to the location of Tigranocerta may now be considered as solved.
We know from the report of the Armenian historian, Movse's Xorenats'i, that a literary composition in verse concerning Tigran existed in his time; at the base of this work undoubtedly lay an oral poem or ancient epic. From this literary source, Movse's borrowed his history of Tigran whom he, and probably his source also, incorrectly considered to be a contemporary of Cyrus and Astyages. In his history of Tigran, Movse's Xorenats'i also gives in passing a brief description of the period and speaks of the wealth and freedom of life in Armenia,
Having put himself at the head of all men, and having shown his strength, he (Tigran) exalted our people and made us who were under the yoke of others the oppressors of many and the leviers of tribute. He multiplied the amount of gold, silver, precious stones collected and the multicoloured garments of various weaves for both [63] the men and the women. In this clothing the ugly, having become fair, seemed beautiful, and the fair, god-like, according to the ideas of those times. The infantry found itself on horseback; the slingers generally became skilled archers; club carriers were armed with sword and shield; those who were (formerly) unprotected were covered by shields and metal armour. The sight of this army gathered together and covered with bright and shining armour was sufficient to put the enemy to flight. Tigran, the bringer and keeper of peace, fed men of all ages with honey and oil (48).If certain tendentious exaggerations and rhetorical embellishments are set aside, we probably find in this account the record of memories handed clown by word of mouth as to the material prosperity of Armenia in the period of Tigran.
We know that ancient writers also testify to the enormous wealth of Armenia and particularly of the capital, Tigranocerta. According to the account of Plutarch, at the capture of Tigranocerta, Lucullus seized in addition to other riches 8,000 talents in minted coins (49) (about 48 million francs according to Reinach) (50). In addition to this, at the time of the conclusion of peace with Pompey, Tigran was forced to pay to him a contribution of 6,000 talents (36 million francs according to Reinach) (51). These large sums obtained by Rome as loot or tribute show that, in the period of Tigran Armenia had at its disposal the enormous wealth of which the memory was preserved in Armenian tradition. These riches were acquired at the time of the campaigns of conquest and continually increased through a heavy influx of foreign capital from the conquered countries. The building on such a large scale of such a vast and grandiose city as Tigranocerta can be explained by the existence of extensive capital. Material prosperity was expressed, according to the indications of ancient writers, by the erection of palaces and other sumptuous edifices, in the progress of the arts and of Hellenistic culture as well as in the development of luxury in the way of life of the ruling classes. But all of this naturally formed but the facade of life which also possessed another side.
In the empire of Tigran, as in his victorious campaigns, the leading role was played by the landed nobility, the dynasts and megistanes. A large part of the wealth of the conquered nations evidently found its way into their hands. They were the first to create for themselves a free life, to dress elegantly and to build mansions. Having grown wealthy, the landed nobility had every opportunity of increasing its estates. Since it was the foundation of Armenia's military might and held extensive lands and estates, it could consolidate its power and seems to have become stronger than in the preceding period. As a result of this strengthening of the class of landed proprietors, the process of formation of a bound peasant population must also have accelerated. Consequently we may suppose that [64] the influx of foreign capital and the consolidation of the privileges of landed aristocracy must have greatly harmed the juridical and economic position of the peasant population who lived on these estates. The statement of Movse's Xorenats'i that "Tigran fed men of all ages with honey and oil", is evidently a rhetorical hyperbole which is correct only insofar as the ruling class is concerned.
The information we possess from Armenian and classical authors concerning towns, people, trade, and handicraft in pre-Bagratid Armenia is extremely fragmentary and scant. We are forced to draw conclusions from incidental references made by historians. In Movse's Xorenats'i and Fausus of Byzantium we find curious accounts as to the extensive Jewish population of Armenia, which, they assert, was transferred from Palestine by Tigran the Great and settled in Artaxata, Erwandashat, Armavir, Vardgesawan, Van and other commercial centres. It has been supposed that the sources for this information must have been oral accounts and probably ancient historical and poetical songs rendered into prose by Movse's Xorenats'i (52).
Faustus, telling of the ruin of Armenia after the peace conclud with the Persians by the emperor Jovian (A. D. 363), relates that among the prisoners taken from the cities of Armenia, from Artaxata, Vagharshapat, Erwandashat, Zarehawan, Zarishat and Van were approximately 100,000 Jewish families (53),
All of this mass of Jews who were taken prisoners and brought out of Armenia had been transferred from Palestine by the Armeni king Tigran the Great after he had captured and brought to Armenia in ancient times the high priest of the Jews, Hyrcanus (54).Movse's Xorenats'i, in addition to the taking of the Jews together with the high-priest Hyrcanus (55), also tells of a first capture of the Jews at the time of Tigran's invasion of Palestine and his siege of the city of Ptolemais,
... after this Tigran went to the country of Palestine to take revenge of Cleopatra at Ptolemais for the crime of her son Dionysius against his father. He took prisoner a multitude of Jews and besieged the city of Ptolemais (56).In another passage Movse's relates,
Tigran, the middle one of the Arshakuni [Arsacids], settled in Vardgesawan all of the Jews of the first captivity, and at that place was (subsequently) formed a large merchant settlement. Vagharsh [Valarces] has now surrounded it with a wall and a high fortification and called it Vagharshapat or Nor K'aghak' [New City] (57).
[65] There are evident anachronisms and errors in the passages cited. For example, Hyrcanus cannot have been taken prisoner by Tigran II who died in 56 B. C. From the entirely reliable account of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, we know that the high-priest of the Jews, Hyrcanus, was taken prisoner in 40 B.C. and settled not in Armenia but in Babylon (58). In spite of the evident anarchronisms and other inaccuracies of the abovementioned sources, scholars believe that the actual fact of the transfer to Armenia of the Hellenized population of Judea, Phoenicia and Syria is not open to doubt. Such transfers are more than likely not only during the time of Tigran II's conquering expeditions, but also under his successor Artavazd (55-33 B. C.). We know that after the defeat of Crassus in 53 B.C., the Parthians together with their allies the Armenians carried on protracted wars against Syria, and that in 40 B.C., as was already said above, they invaded Judaea and carried off a multitude of prisoners among whom was the high-priest Hyrcanus. A part of these prisoners was most probably allotted to the Armenian allies who operated with the Parthians in these expeditions. Hence it is entirely possible that in addition to "Jews of the first captivity" transferred to Armenia by Tigran II, there were also Jews of a second captivity, who were settled in Armenia not in the time of Tigran, as we are told by Faustus and Movse's Xorenats'i, but under his successor Artavazd (59).
On the basis of the reports of Faustus and Movse's Xorenats'i as to the numerous Semitic population of the cities and commercial centres listed above, we may, in my opinion, believe that, during the period of Tigran and later under the Arsacids, the leading role in the commerce of Ancient Armenia was played not by the Armenians themselves, but by foreign settlers who were primarily Jews and Syrians. We can judge the extent of Semitic influence in the commercial life of Ancient Armenia from the fact that the most common Armenian terms relating to trade such as gaghut'—colony, shuka— market, xanut'— shop, hashiv— bill and others, are taken from Syrian.
The settlement of Jews and Syrians in the commercial centres of Armenia in the period under consideration undoubtedly had a great importance and was apparently accompanied by a noticeable progress in both the commercial and the industrial development of the country. The spread of a monetary economy in Armenia must also have been assisted by the increase in the financial wealth of the country and the appearence, in large amounts, of gold, silver and bronze coins which Tigran II had minted according to the former Seleucid pattern. The striking of an individual currency was continued, as wre know, under the successors of Tigran as well. According to Pakhomov, coins of Tigran the Great, for the most part tetradrachms, are very numerous in the province of Erevan and are [66] also to be found in the district of Naxijewan, in the south-western border sections of Azerbaidjan and a single example has been found in Zugdidi district of Mingrelia (60).
The period of Tigran, as may be seen from all we have said, was a period of considerable economic progress and of great material upsurge in Armenia.
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