Corbulo Captures Artaxata and Tigranocerta

Nero chose a soldier’s solution for Armenia. He gave the command to Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, a hard disciplinarian who built strength from drills and spades. Corbulo crossed from Cappadocia toward Artaxata under cover of engines. Iranica, reading Tacitus and Dio, summarizes the moment: “Artaxata surrendered without resistance but was sacked and burned down” [14].

The next year, 59, he took Tigranocerta. The advance married Roman engineering to patience—Corbulo bridged the Euphrates under artillery cover, bolt-throwers clacking as timbers slid into place, and moved camps like chess pieces. Tacitus frames the escalatory spark: “Tigranes…had ravaged the Adiabeni…too extensively and continuously for mere plundering raids,” giving Parthia a casus belli even as Rome secured Armenia [7][8].

Corbulo installed Tigranes, a client with Roman backing. The message from Antioch to Ctesiphon was clear: Rome would decide who wore Armenia’s diadem, and it could reach into cities beyond a single campaign season [7].

But the black plume over Artaxata also signaled the cost of miscalculation. The Arsacids would answer. In 62, a complacent lieutenant—Lucius Caesennius Paetus—would prove how quickly fortunes reversed when method yielded to overconfidence [7][8].