Tigranes the Great ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 95 to 55 BC. He formed a close alliance with Mithridates VI, Eupator and King of Pontus, to secure each other's flanks from the expansion of Rome. Tigranes' troops, commanded by his generals, entered Mesopotamia and annexed the northern dynastic kingdoms under Parthian rule, turning them into his vassals. One invasion was followed by another in what became a growing imperial war of conquests. Those victories enabled Tigranes to take the Achaemenid proud title of "King of Kings", after which he conquered the crumbling Seleucid kingdom and the lands as far south as Phoenicia. Around 70 BC, Tigranes reached the summit of his fame and glory