TIGRANO'CERTA, for some time the capital of Armenia. was built by king Tigranes after be had extended his dominion over Meso potamia, Syria, and Phoenicia, about ne. 80. Artaxata, the old capital on the Araxes, was situated in the north and in the neighbourhood of the Caucasian nations. Tigranocerta was situated a short distance from the Upper Tigris, on the Nicephoritia, a river of considerable breadth, as 'I'acitue states. Sert or Sered, a small town, surrounded by ancient ruins, is generally supposed to bo on the site of Tigrano certa. Sert is situated on the Bithlis River, which is considered to bo identical with the Nicephorius. [Anstenis, vol. i. col. 516.1 According to Tacitus, Plutarch, and Appian, Tigranocerta had very strong fortifi cations; its suburbs contained gardens and fishponds. The town was inhabited partly by barbarians, and partly by Greeks, the inhabit ants of twelve Greek towns who were transplanted thither by Tigranea after ho had ravaged Cappadocia. Lucullus, in his campaign against
Mithridates and Tigraaes, laid siege to this key of Armenia before ho ventured to enter the defiles that lead to the central table-land of Armenia. The united kings hastened to relieve the town, but they were beaten, and Tigranocerta with immense treasures fell into the hands of the victor (6th October, ne. 69), who sent the greater part of the Greek inhabitants back to their homes is Cappadocia. Strabo says that, when Lucullus took Tigrauocerta, it was only half finished, and that after its destruction there was nothing but a little village on the spot However it soon became again a town, and iu the wars of Corbulo, A.D. 63, it was a considerable and well-fortified place. (Tecitus, 'Annals,' xv. 4.) The termination ceria, Kerte, Cirta, is a modification of the Phoeuicisn Cara, a city; Kird, or Jived, and gherd, its modern forms, occur in the names of several towns in Armenia and Persia.