True Face of the King Of Kings [UPDATED]

The King of Kings in Armenian history refers to Tigranes II (also known as Tigranes the Great). He was one of the most successful kings in world’s history (yet remains fairly unknown to western audiences). He conquered the entire Mesopotamia, subdued the Parthians and challenged the greatest power of his time the Roman Empire. Tigranes invaded territories as far away as Ecbatana and took the title King of Kings which, at the time, according to their coins, even the Parthian kings did not assume. He was called “Tigranes the Great” by many historians and writers, such as Plutarch. The “King of Kings” never appeared in public without having at least four kings attending him. Cicero, referring to his success in the east, said that he “made the Republic of Rome tremble before the prowess of his arms.” [1] According to the Greek historian Strabo :

“When he acquired power, he recovered these (seventy) valleys, and devastated the country of the Parthians, the territory about Ninus (Nineveh), and that about Arbela. He subjected to his authority the Atropatenians , and the Goryaeans; by force of arms he obtained possession also of the rest of Mesopotamia and, after crossing the Euphrates, of Syria and Phoenicea.” [2]

Charles Rollin, in his Ancient History, says:

Tigranes, to whom Lucullus had sent an ambassador, though of no great power in the beginning of his reign, had enlarged it so much by a series of successes, of which there are few examples, that he was commonly surnamed “King of Kings.” After having overthrown and almost ruined the family of the kings, successors of the great Seleucus; after having very often humbled the pride of the Parthians, transported whole cities of Greeks into Media, conquered all Syria and Palestine, and given laws to the Arabians called Scenites, he reigned with an authority respected by all the princes of Asia. The people paid him honors after the manners of the East, even to adoration. [3]

Under King Tigranes II the Great, Armenia thrived and became the strongest state east of the Roman Republic. He expanded Armenia to its greatest historic boundaries.

But maybe the most fascinating about his history is the fact that he only ascended to the throne of Armenia at the age of 45 after escaping bondage from the Parthians. In a time when people rarely made it to their 60ies, Tigranes still fought in battle at the age of 75 against Roman legions. He remained on the throne of Armenia until he died of old age at the age of 85.

There is no doubt that this ancient king of forgotten history was a fascinating character to say the least. The images of his appearance however have survived mostly on coins minted in his honor. Tigranes’ coin consist of tetradrachms and copper coins having on the obverse his portrait wearing a decorated Armenian tiara with ear-flaps. Some folk legends in Armenian tradition recount some of his facial features as follows:

King Tigranes was a slender and handsome man with fair curly hair and a sincere look in his eyes. He lived humbly and during all manners of celebrations and feasts behaved in an exemplary fashion. He never gave in to excesses. He loved honest servants, conducted fair trials, never envied the best and never despised those below him. His care and protection were extended to all. [4]

There is however one problem with the images on his coins. Although they often posses certain distinctive features, most of these coins depict rather different faces. I’ve always wandered which of these coins depict his true face. While one could reasonably extrapolate that probably the most detailed coins that focus mainly on his face (as opposed to the symbolic tiara) would be closest to his true appearance (see bellow 3 examples), we can never really know for sure.

So I thought to myself, what face would appear if I blend as many faces from coins as I can find into one image? Thus creating an average face composed of depictions on as many different coins as I can find. So I gathered 45 images of coins with a depiction of Tigranes the Great (see bellow) and started to blend them using photoshop.

subject-coin

We observe that on average hes eyes are quite large, he has a prominent nose with a very small gap at the nasal bridge and a strong chin. His mouth has thick lips with a slight overbite. All of these features are quite typical in Armenian faces.

Now I have to admit that the title was a bit misleading, this is in no way proof of any sorts of his true appearance, as his true appears could be more or less like any of the coins or maybe none of them. Nevertheless, it’s interesting to see this average face emerge from over 40 different faces immortalized on ancient coins.

UPDATE

At the request of Artak Asloyan in the comment section bellow I’ve decided to reconstruct the entire bust by combining the most detailed coins and the average face that emerged from blending all the coins here above. The coins used for the reconstruction are:

And this is the final result, hope you guys like it!

And HERE is one with only the average face without the overlay of the 3rd detailed coin. But I like the one above more, still don’t want to deprive you of all the results. Enjoy!