T H E    A R M E N O - R O M A N    T R E A T Y
  

'Adeo vt omnes imperii virga sive bacillvm vere svperivs inflexvm sit.'
[So that every wand or staff of Empire is forsooth curved at top.]
-- DE SAPIENTIA VETERVM [6, PAN, SIVE NATVRA]

Written by Gevork Nazaryan

After Lucullus' defeat, the Romans fully realized that they were dealing with a formidable foe and in order to win they needed to prepare for a prolonged military campaign. Huge cohorts were put together, including new recruits from throughout Roman provinces. The pro consul Pompey was placed in charge of the military expedition. At the same time the Romans negotiated with the Parthians to open the second front in the south. Tigran the Young, who by this had married the daughter of the Parthian king Hrahat [Phraates] III, was still trying to overthrow his father with the help of both the Romans and the Parthians. The treasonous son personally led the Parthian troops against Greater Armenia, reaching the gates of Artašat in 67. The Armenian Cavalry was able to save the city by surprising the Parthian camp that had besieged the city. The Partian were crushed at the gates of  Artašat, however the western frontier was now considerably weakened, thus making it possible for the Roman legions to conquer Pontus. King Mithridates, fled to Crimea, never to see his Pontic Kingdom again. Tigran the Young, led the remainder of the Parthian forces to pro consul Pompey. The Parthian King Hrahat III, organized another incursion into the south of the Empire. The King of Kings, now faced not two, but three fronts -- some of the Armenian naxarars, especially from the Tsop'k' and Korduk' provinces joining the forces of the enemy. Of course, he knew that the pretensions of the external enemies like the Romans and the Parthians were to be expected, but when his own son and nobles were turning against him from within, that was nothing short of a stab in the back. Tigran's only hope for the continuity of the Artaxiad bloodline was his youngest son -- Artavazd -- who would later prove himself to be a true hero. Tigran the Young led the Roman invaders through the passages and secret routes that made their advance very rapid. When the Roman legions reached the gates of Artašat, in 66 BC, the Parthians had overran most of the south and some high ranking naxarars revolted and had proclaimed themselves "kings" of their administrative provinces. At this point the wise Emperor knew that his personal glory was to be secondary when it came to the long term interests of his country and people. Without placing value on his own life, the King of Kings rode to the military camp of Pompey, stationed at the gates of Artašat. Pompey, was unable to believe his eyes, when he saw the long-time foe, unarmed and without his body guards. The gamble that Tigran was hoping for had paid off. Pompey was indeed taken by Tigran's courage. The Emperor  told Pompey that he understood the situation and told him, "the gods of providence are on your side now." Tigran offered a "lasting peace," by willing to give in exchange Cappadocia, Syria, Phoenicia, Iberia, Albania, Adiabenē and other kingdoms and territories. Although, this was a blow that sealed the fate of the Empire, nevertheless Great Armenia in of itself, according to the Treaty of Artašat was to remain a sovereign nation. Furthermore, Tigran included in the treaty an article under which the Romans would officially cancel their ill-fated treaty with the Parthians, who were looking forward with the Roman help, in seizing southern territories of Greater Armenia. Pompey was more than willing to agree. The pro consul knew that the senate would rejoice after hearing the news that an agreement was reached with the old foe -- without significant loss of Roman legionnaires -- something that was still remembered from the campaigns of the Lucullus just a few years earlier. Meanwhile Tigran the Young, blinded by his ambitious and malicious drive for power -- was enraged when he heard about the treaty and the fact that there will be no "new King" on the Armenian throne -- the King of Kings, Tigran the Great would retain his throne and with it the haled title of the Emperor. Now Tigran the Young rebelled against Pompey. The traitor to his father, his nation and his people was promptly arrested by the Roman general and sent to Rome as -- not an Armenian -- but -- a Parthian captive representing his father-in-law, King Hrahat III.

POMPEY: PRO-CONSUL OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

 Tigran the Great, after the Treaty of Artašat in 66 BC, albeit with the loss of great territories throughout his Empire, kept Great Armenia in of itself a powerful nation. The rebellious naxarars -- that played a significant role in forcing Tigran to sign the treaty were in their turn subdued. The potential strength and wealth of the nation was kept in tact -- a factor that helped Armenia stay the course for the many centuries to come. Also, the provinces of Lesser Armenia, to the east of the river Euphrates, became part of Greater Armenia. After the Treaty of Artašat, Tigran the Great reigned for eleven more years -- a peaceful and economically booming period for the nation. Tigran, cut back the number of troops, -- dismantling the war machine and channeling the resources into agriculture and trade -- geared at attracting major merchant caravans and ensuring them safe passage through the routes and roads of Armenia to the markets of the West. This had an immensely positive effect on the economy of Armenia and a large portion of the population became prosperous. In 55, the King of Kings, Tigran the Great whose Dynastic Artaxiad Royal Family insignia was the Two Eagles -- facing East and West -- and the Eight-Pointed star [8 being the number of solar Regeneration and Renewal -- in an unbroken tradition of ancient Ar-Menian royal heraldic insignia of Mitanni] crossed the abyss into the great beyond -- Returning to The One..

 D R A M    O F    T H E    K I N G    O F    K I N G S
 
 M    E    T    S    N           T    I    G    R    A    N

H I S    L I V I N G    L E G A C Y . . .

 ...A recent ABC News article [[May 19, 2004]] noted that according to the Armenian and Italian researchers the "Symbol on his crown that features a star with a curved tail may represent the passage of Halley's comet in 87 BC...Tigranes' [court astrologers] could have seen Halley's comet when it passed closest to the Sun on Aug. 6 in 87 BC according to the researchers, who said the comet would have been a 'most recordable event' -- heralding the New Era of the brilliant King of Kings.

The enlightened ruler peacefully passed away at the age of 85 years old. History proved him to be a great military and political leader, a brilliant tactician and a wise diplomat, and most importantly a builder -- Man of Culture, Beauty and Civilization. It is precisely this multidimensional combination that made him one of the great titans of human history. He left an everlasting  mark on the shape and development on the history of Armenia and the Armenian people. To this very day he is still revered and honored by the Armenians as one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- national heroes. Tigran was not a tyrant who wanted to subjugate others -- but quite to the contrary -- like Alexander the Great before him, a Man of culture and Wisdom, like his son Artavazd II -- a dedicated Mithraic High Priest

MITHRAS.  H E A L E R.  R E C O N C I L E R.  SAVIOR.

of the Mehian Mystery Temples [of Mihr or Mher]  and an adept Pythagorean -Eleusinian...who glorified and worshipped among other Ideals of the philosophical Ancients -- Youth, Beauty, Strength, Cleanliness, Goodness, Grandeur, Health, Vigor, the Positive Dynamism of the Creative Spirit in Man --Natural Order and Harmony... and striving for the never-ending Quest towards ever great levels of human Excellence and ultimately Spiritual Perfection... -- a finite mortal...with an Infinite immortal Vision... with the guidance of Providence wanting to create a Civilization based on the eternal natural laws of the Universe according to the noble Idea of a -- High Culture...

M     I     T     H     R     A     S             T    A    U    R    O    C    T    O    N    O    S
ONE OF THE SURVIVING STATUES [2ND CENTURY] OF THE SAVIOR MITHRAS
ERECTED BY ARMAN WARRIOR CASTE IN CAPITAL ROME.

 The contact and interaction between Armenian nobility [especially Cilician Armenians -- whose professional merchant marine fleet criss-crossed the high seas landing in all of the major ports of the Mediterranean Sea and was renowned throughout the ancient world -- it was the Mithraic Cilician Armenian marines who flew the Skull and Cross Bones flag -- of Life and Death -- on their ships -- the tradition survived well into the Middle Ages giving rise to the Templar legend of the Skull of Sidon honoring the ancient Arman bloodline...the birthplace of That Man... AR-Man Philosopher-Teacher Pythagoras...Python...Vishap-Vish[nu]-Fish [EA]...Buddha-Goras... primordial source Armani-Mit[r]anni-Orion] and Roman soldiers, generals, proconsuls and senators during the Armeno-Roman Alliance would soon lead to the fusion of the Armenian Mithraic Solar Cult to the four corners of the Roman Empire including the capital Rome where it became the primary cult of the Roman Aristocracy, the philosophers and literary men, as well as the proconsuls and generals along with the

THE  RUINS  OF  MITHRĆVM  IN  SOLI [CITY OF THE SUN] CILICIAN ARMENIA

D   I   V   I       F   I   L   I   V   S   --   S   O   N      O   F      G   O   D
CONTEMPORARY BUST OF EMPEROR AUGUSTUS GAIUS JULIUS OCTAVIUS
 [B. 63 BC - 14 AD]. FRIEND OF THE SON OF
KING OF KINGS, ARTAVAZD II,  FELLOW MITHRAIC DEVOTEE
PONTIFEX MAXIMUS [SUPREME HIGH PRIEST] OF THE GOD OF LIGHT AND GOODNESS
AUGUSTUS WAS ALSO BESTOWED BY THE ROMAN SENATE THE TITLE --
P A T E R    P A T R I Ć...FATHER OF THE NATION.
AMONG THE GREATEST UNDERTAKINGS OF
EMPEROR AUGUSTUS WAS THE ERECTION OF THE THEATRE
OF APOLLO, THE HOROLOGIUM [HUGE SUN DIAL] AND THE GREAT MAUSOLEUM
WHERE THE EMPERORS ASHES WERE KEPT IN THE TOMB.

A PANEL FROM THE ARA PACIS [ALTAR OF PEACE]. THE ALTAR WAS
DEDICATED IN 9 BC. GODDESS EARTH [AYA-GAIA-MAYA-MARYA]
WITH HER CHILDREN AND SYMBOLS OF FERTILITY.
NOTE THE SACRED PATTERN MADE UP OF NINE INTERWOVEN
COSMIC WHEELS WITHIN TWO TREE OF LIFE/PILLARS.

THE VIRGIN VESTAS WERE THE DEVOTEE HIGH PRIESTESSES
THAT PRESIDED OVER THE MITHRAIC MYSTERIES IN ARMENIA
AND LATER THROUGHOUT THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
THE EMPEROR HIGH PRIEST PRESIDING OVER THE CEREMONIES WAS
CALLED PONTIFEX MAXIMUS OR ARA MAXIMA [SUPREME ARA --
AFTER THE SUN GOD], A TITLE THAT WAS TAKEN AND
CONTINUED BY THE ROMAN POPES/PONTIFFS.

VESTAS PERFORMING THE MITHRAIC RITES [PAINTING BY HECTOR LE ROUX].
ONLY DIVINE FEMALES WERE ABLE TO CONNECT WITH THE
ETERNAL REALM OF THE UNCONSCIOUS. PAULICIAN-CATHAR SPIRITUAL
LEADER WAS THE VISIONARY PERFECTA [KATAR...A NAME GIVEN
TO ARMENIAN GIRLS TO THIS VERY DAY AND ACCORDING TO FOLKLORE
GIVEN TO THOSE BABIES THAT ARE BORN UNDER A LUCKY STAR AND
SHOWING EXUBERANT AMOUNT OF VITALITY AND GLOWING BEAUTY...]

L. PISO FRVGI

warrior elite and soldiery-- who set up Mithraic Temples or [pl.] Mithrća [sing. Mithrćvm] throughout the Roman Empire [London was an important center of worship and Mithrća were most numerous throughout Germany], most notably in the important settlements and military outposts. The Slayer of the Bull's solar power was symbolically represented by the red Armenian Cap and the circle halo -- symbolic of the inner light or the aura of the sun within -- the Divine Spark of the Creator burning bright within the real temple -- the human body...
 

COIN OF ARTAVAZD IV [4-6 AD] ONE OF THE LAST
ROYALS OF THE ARTAXIAD HOUSE
WHO WERE SUCCEEDED BY THE ARSACID DYNASTY.

 These symbols were later adopted and used by Christian artists who depicted Christ-Krist-Krišna [the Son of Sun] and important saints with the aura of illumination. Among other adoption of rites from the Mystery was the important celebration holy day of Mithras the day of the [Re]birth of the Sun of Righteousness from the darkness [ignorance] of the cave -- December 24/25 [Winter Solstice] -- became Christmas Day -- the Day of the Birth of the Son [Sun] taken over from the cult of the dying [and

A  R  E G  -  A  K  N. THE LUMINESCENT SUN GOD RIDES THE QUADRIGA -- THE FOUR-HORSE
CELESTIAL CHARIOT MOVING AS ASTRAL LIGHT THROUGH THE 12 HOUSES OF ZODIAC.
FROM THE SOURCE 10 [DECADE = 8x8=64] -- DIMENSIONAL PRIMORDIAL
PERFECT UNIVERSE. THE 10-SPOKE COSMIC WHEEL SPINS AGAINST TIME.
R  E  T  U  R  N  I  N  G    T O   T H E    S O U R C E . . .

THE ARMENIAN KING IN COMMUNION
[JOINED HANDS] WITH ORION [SYMB. REPRESENTED
WITH A MAN WITH THE UPRAISED CLUB.
STELLA FROM THE NEMRUT PANTHEON.

M I T H R Ć V M -- SIX  [VISIBLE] COLUMNS IN FRONT LEADING TO THE SEVENTH [RAY]
ENTRY POINT... EIGHT [HIDDEN] COLUMNS ON SIDE PLANES OF THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT.
[SEE  BELOW...]

SACRED DISK THE 12-FOLD DIVISION OF THE 12 HOUSES OF THE ARMAN ZODIAC
LEADING TO THE SUN...DEPICTED AS THE SUN KING
WITH THE ARMENIAN ROYAL TIARA...
FLAMING CORONA [CROWN] IS ON THE HEAD
AS RAYS AND DIVINE AURA OF THE SOLAR ENERGY...
CROWNING THE ILLUMINATED MIND.
THE DIVINE EMBODIMENT OF SOLAR MASCULINE POWER ON EARTH.
 

resurrecting...rising and setting Sun] God. With the exception of Marcus Aurelius and possibly one or two others all the Roman Emperors after Antaninus were devotees of Mithras. This profoundly shaped the Western world -- many of the Solar elements became part of the competing much more -- egalitarian proletariat based -- Christian religion that would later replace Mithraism and its natural aristocratic-hierarchic [meritocracy -- for natural not "birth" aristocracy based on a spontaneous order] worldview. The torch of Mithraism would not be completely extinguished it will again be kept lit and held high by the Armenian Kataryals and Parfait in French [the Perfected Ones -- Catharoi in Greek and Perfecti in Latin...] -- the Paulicians [T‛ondrakec‛i P‛aylikians...Children of the Sun] who as the renowned historian Edward Gibbon, in his monumental multivolume work The Rise and Decline of the Roman Empire, rightly noted: "SHOOK THE EAST...AND ENLIGHTENED THE WEST..."

G A R N I  THE FIRE TEMPLE OF THE SUN GOD  M I T H R A S
THE ARMENIAN ARISTOCRACY CARRIED THE SOLAR CULT
TO THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

'Virtus Junxit Mors Non Separabit...'
[Whom Virtue Unites, death Will Not separate...]

 ...Only the Great King's body was set ablaze on the huge pyre set up by his inner circle -- the Four Viceroys [bdešx] led by his Son Artavadz [who succeeded his father as Artavazd II] and the Captains of the Royal Bodyguards. But his immortal Spirit -- through his great deeds -- lives. That Spirit and Immortal Legacy and Vision did not leave this world -- it is part and parcel of these very pages [the reference is not only to this Chapter of the Enlightenment Chronicle -- but to the Whole] that you now have in front of your eyes dear reader.

The Philognostic King forged a synthesis of the great Civilizations of the East and the West -- after all the Human Civilization in and of itself -- like the New Rising Sun -- was born approximately 12,000 years ago in the East -- in -- and immediately bordering -- Armenian Highland -- the Beginning of All -- gradually moving towards the West]. That Spirit of  changing the World for the better -- in accordance with these high principles was, is and always will be Sublime -- it transcends the everyday mundane, the profane and the vulgar, it is the Ideal...it is... Infinity.