Artavasdes I

Artavasdes is the second known king from the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia. He appears to have been the son of Artaxias I and may have been the father of Tigranes I. Towards the end of his reign, he found himself under attack from the Parthian king Mithradates II, lost control of Nisibis (if it had ever been Armenian), and was forced to render his grandson as hostage to the Parthians: Tigranes II the Great, who must have been about twenty years old. It is possible that Artavasdes was able to put a son Artaxias on the throne in the West-Caucasian kingdom of Iberia (modern Georgia).