Cyrus interrogeant le roi d'Arménie, Noël Coypel

Orontes I Sakavakyats was a legendary king of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

, who was the personification of the

Orontid dynasty The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after t ...

In historiography

Orontes appears in both in the ''

Cyropaedia The ''Cyropaedia'', sometimes spelled ''Cyropedia'', is a partly fictional biography of Cyrus the Great, the founder of Persia's Achaemenid Empire. It was written around 370 BC by Xenophon, the Athenian-born soldier, historian, and student of Soc ...

'' of the Greek soldier and historian

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...

(died 354 BC) and the '' History of Armenia'' of the 5th-century Armenian historian

Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late a ...

(died 490s AD). In the ''Cyropaedia'' Orontes is unnamed, whilst in the ''History of Armenia'' he is given the name of Orontes.

Xenophon

According to the ''Cyropaedia'' of Xenophon, the unnamed "king of Armenia" had agreed to provide troops and pay yearly tribute to the Median king Astyages after being defeated by him. When Media was invaded by the Chaldaeans during the reign of Astyages' son and successor

Cyaxares Cyaxares (Median: ; Old Persian: ; Akkadian: ; Old Phrygian: ; grc, Κυαξαρης, Kuaxarēs; Latin: ; reigned 625–585 BCE) was the third king of the Medes. Cyaxares collaborated with the Babylonians to destroy the Assyrian Empire, a ...

, the "king of Armenia" refused to help to him as he was obliged. As a result, Cyrus, who was the son of Astyages' daughter Mandana, quickly led an expedition into Armenia. The "king of Armenia" sent his family, including his younger son Sabaris as well as the treasury to the mountains. They were, however, captured by the Persian commander Chrysantas. The Armenians panicked at the approach of Cyrus, who captured their "king".

Tigranes Tigranes (, grc, Τιγράνης) is the Greek transliteration of the Old Iranian name ''*Tigrāna''. This was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia. The name of Tigranes, which was theophoric in nature, was u ...

, the elder son of the "king" and "who had been Cyrus' companion once on a hunt" returned from a journey abroad and convinced Cyrus to pardon the "king" and reinstall him. This account by Xenophon, which was not mentioned by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

(died 425 BC), was considered "pure fabrication" by the

Iranologist Iranian studies ( fa, ايران‌شناسی '), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It ...

Alireza Shapur Shahbazi ) , image = Shahbazi 3.jpg , image_size = 220px , alt = , caption = , birth_date = , birth_place = Shiraz, Iran , death_date = , death_place = Washington D.C., United ...

. Xenophon was known for creating ancient heroes by basing them on contemporary figures. Tigranes was most likely based on the Persian hyparch Tigranes, who was the son-in-law of Struthas and lived in the same period as Xenophon. According to Shahbazi, the title of "king of Armenia" should not be taken seriously, as Xenophon also refers to the leader of

Hyrcania Hyrcania () ( el, ''Hyrkania'', Old Persian: 𐎺𐎼𐎣𐎠𐎴 ''Varkâna'',Lendering (1996) Middle Persian: 𐭢𐭥𐭫𐭢𐭠𐭭 ''Gurgān'', Akkadian: ''Urqananu'') is a historical region composed of the land south-east of the Caspian ...

ns and satrap of Bactria as "kings".

Movses Khorenatsi

The ''History of Armenia'' of Movses Khorenatsi was composed to serve as a "national" history of Armenia from the era of the giants to

Arsacid The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquer ...

rule. According to the book, Eruand (Orontas/Aroandes/Orontes) "the Short-lived" was the father and predecessor of Tigranes. Scholarship has long agreed that the story is a mixture of history and various legends. Eruand "the Short-lived" was a personification of the

, the predecessors of the Artaxiad dynasty, whose most distinguished ruler was

Tigranes the Great Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great ( hy, Տիգրան Մեծ, ''Tigran Mets''; grc, Τιγράνης ὁ Μέγας ''Tigránes ho Mégas''; la, Tigranes Magnus) (140 – 55 BC) was King of Armenia under whom the ...

().

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakavakyats, Orontes I Legendary Armenian people