On the death of Artaxias (B.C.

20), Augustus, who was then in the East, had sent Tiberius into Armenia to arrange matters, and Tiberius had placed upon the throne a brother of Artaxias, named Tigranes.

Tigranes died in B.C.6, and the Armenians, without waiting to know the will of the Roman Emperor, conferred the royal title on his sons, for whose succession he had before his death paved the way by associating them with him in the government.

Enraged at this assumption of independence, Augustus sent an expedition into Armenia (B.C.

5), deposed the sons of Tigranes, and established on the throne a certain Artavasdes, whose birth and parentage are not known to us.