MONTHLY LECTURE

The coinage of Tigranes II

Prof. Dr. Achim Lichtenberger, University of Münster

The lecture dealt with the coinage of the Armenian king Tigranes II in the 1st century BC, who built his kingdom into a great power. Tigranes introduced silver coins and adapted his motifs strategically, locally in western regions such as Antioch and Damascus, while in the Armenian heartland he presented himself as King of Kings. His coins show how he combined a universal claim to power with pragmatic local policy.