Бірінші ғасырдағы Армения патшасы Тиридат I

1st century king of Armenia

Tiridates I (, Tīridāt; Τιριδάτης, Tiridátes) was King of Armenia beginning in 53 AD and the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His early reign was marked by a brief interruption towards the end of the year 54 and a much longer one from 58 to 63. In an agreement to resolve the Roman–Parthian conflict in and over Armenia, Tiridates I (one of the brothers of Vologases I of Parthia) was crowned king of Armenia by the Roman emperor Nero in 66; in the future, the king of Armenia was to be a Parthian prince, but his appointment required approval from the Romans. Even though this made Armenia a client kingdom, various contemporary Roman sources thought that Nero had de facto ceded Armenia to the Parthian Empire. In addition to being a king, Tiridates I was also a Zoroastrian priest and was accompanied by other magi on his journey to Rome in 66. In the early 20th century, Franz Cumont speculated that Tiridates was instrumental in the development of Mithraism which ultimately became the main religion of the Roman Army and spread across the whole empire. Furthermore, during his reign, he started reforming the administrative structure of Armenia, a reform which was continued by his successors, and which brought many Iranian customs and offices into it.

Tiridates was the youngest son of Vonones II, who was king of Media Atropatene, and then later the Parthian Empire. Tiridates had two elder brothers named Pacorus (the eldest) and Vologases. Tiridates' name means "given by Tir". Tir is the Zoroastrian angel (Yazad) of literature, science and art based on the Avestan Tishtrya and was equated with the Greek Apollo by way of the process of interpretatio graeca.

It has been suggested that the visit of Tiridates I, an event that greatly impressed contemporaries, was adapted by Christians to become the story of the adoration of the Christ Child by the Three Magi. The Christian legend changed Rome into Bethlehem, the birthplace of the Ruler of the coming Kingdom of God, and replaced Tiridates I with that contemporary king who was already connected with Christianity through the Acts of St. Thomas: Gondophares, otherwise known as Kaspar.

Nero closed the gates of the Temple of Janus in the Roman Forum, which were never shut save in times of universal peace, claiming that peace prevailed at the time throughout the Roman world. This was a considerable victory for Nero politically, and he became very popular in the eastern provinces of Rome and with the Armenians and Parthians. The immediate dividend of the peace was Rome's ability to divert legions from Syria to Judea, which broke into open warfare culminating in the First Jewish–Roman War just one year after Tiridates' coronation. The peace between Parthia and Rome lasted 50 years, until the emperor Trajan invaded Armenia in 114. When Tiridates I returned to Armenia, he took with him a great number of skilled artisans for the reconstruction of Artaxata which he renamed "Neronia" in honor of the emperor. He also embellished the royal residence at nearby Garni with colonnades and monuments of dazzling richness, and added a new temple. Trade between the two continents also grew, allowing Armenia to secure its independence from Rome. The name of Legio XII Fulminata discovered carved on a mountain in Gobustan (in modern Azerbaijan), attests to the presence of Roman soldiers by the shores of the Caspian Sea in 89, farther east than any previously known Roman inscription. It is known that Tiridates' great nephew, Axidares, the son of Pacorus II, was King of Armenia by 110.

Tiridates I is one of the principal characters in George Frideric Handel's opera Radamisto and Reinhard Keiser's opera Octavia.

. Girolamo Cardano Nero: An Exemplary Life Inkstone 2012.