Origins Prior to the 9th century BC, the geographic region known as the
Armenian Highlands was inhabited by Proto-Armenian and other tribes which did not yet constitute a unitary state or nation. The first state to rule over a significant part of the Armenian Highlands was the
Kingdom of Urartu, also known as the Kingdom of Van or Ararat and called Biainili in the
Urartian language used by its rulers. The kingdom
competed with Assyria over supremacy in the highlands of Ararat and the
Fertile Crescent. Both kingdoms fell to
Iranian invaders from the east (the
Medes, followed by the
Achaemenid Persians) in the 6th century BC. Its territory was reorganized into a
satrapy called
Armenia. The
Orontid dynasty ruled as satraps of the Achaemenid Empire for three centuries until the empire was defeated by
Alexander the Great's
Macedonian Empire at the
Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, a
Macedonian general named
Neoptolemus obtained Armenia until he died in 321 BC and the Orontids returned, not as satraps, but as kings.
Orontid dynasty Orontes III and the ruler of
Lesser Armenia, Mithridates, recognized themselves independent, thus elevating the former Armenian satrapy into a kingdom, giving birth to the kingdoms of Armenia and Lesser Armenia. Orontes III also defeated the
Thessalian commander Menon, who wanted to capture
Sper's gold mines. Weakened by the
Seleucid Empire which succeeded the Macedonian Empire, the last Orontid king,
Orontes IV, was overthrown in 201/200 BC and the kingdom was taken over by a commander of the
Seleucid Empire,
Artaxias (Artashes) I, who is presumed to have been related to the
Orontid dynasty himself.
Artaxiad dynasty 's Armenian Empire, superimposed on a contemporary map of the region The
Seleucid Empire's influence over Armenia had weakened after it was defeated by the
Romans in the
Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC. A Hellenistic Armenian state was thus founded in the same year by
Artaxias I alongside the Armenian kingdom of
Sophene led by
Zariadres. Artaxias seized
Yervandashat, united the
Armenian Highlands at the expense of neighboring tribes and founded the new royal capital of
Artaxata near the
Araxes River. According to
Strabo and
Plutarch,
Hannibal received hospitality at the Armenian court of Artaxias I. The authors add an apocryphal story of how Hannibal planned and supervised the building of Artaxata. The new city was laid on a strategic position at the juncture of trade routes that connected the
Ancient Greek world with
Bactria,
India and the
Black Sea which permitted the Armenians to prosper.
Tigranes the Great saw an opportunity for expansion in the constant civil strife to the south. In 83 BC, at the invitation of one of the factions in the interminable civil wars, he entered Syria, and soon established himself as ruler of Syria—putting the
Seleucid Empire virtually at an end—and ruled peacefully for 17 years. During the zenith of his rule, Tigranes the Great extended Armenia's territory outside of the Armenian Highland over parts of the Caucasus and the area that is now south-eastern
Turkey,
Iran,
Syria and
Lebanon, becoming one of the most powerful states in the
Roman East.
Roman rule holding a crown on the Armenia King's head Armenia became a
Roman client kingdom in 66 BC, after the final defeat of Armenia's ally,
Mithridates VI of Pontus by Pompey at the
Battle of the Lycus.
Mark Antony invaded and defeated the kingdom in 34 BC, but the Romans lost
hegemony during the
Final War of the Roman Republic in 32–30 BC. In 20 BC,
Augustus negotiated a truce with the
Parthians, making Armenia a
buffer zone between the two major powers. Augustus installed
Tigranes V as king of Armenia in AD 6, but ruled with
Erato of Armenia. The Romans then installed
Mithridates of Armenia as client king. Mithridates was arrested by
Caligula, but later restored by
Claudius. Subsequently, Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Parthia, with both major powers supporting opposing
sovereigns and
usurpers. The Parthians forced Armenia into submission in AD 37, but in AD 47 the Romans retook control of the kingdom. In AD 51 Armenia fell to an
Iberian invasion sponsored by Parthia, led by
Rhadamistus.
Tigranes VI of Armenia ruled from AD 58, again installed by Roman support. The period of turmoil ends in AD 66, when
Tiridates I of Armenia was crowned king of Armenia by
Nero. For the remaining duration of the Armenian kingdom, Rome still considered it a client kingdom
de jure, but the ruling dynasty was of Parthian extraction, and contemporary Roman writers thought that Nero had
de facto yielded Armenia to the Parthians.
Arsacid dynasty Under
Nero, the Romans fought a campaign (55–63) against the
Parthian Empire, which had invaded the Kingdom of Armenia, allied with the Romans. After gaining Armenia in 60, then losing it in 62, the Romans sent the
Legio XV Apollinaris from
Pannonia to
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo,
legatus of
Syria. In 63, strengthened further by the legions
III Gallica,
V Macedonica,
X Fretensis and
XXII, General Corbulo entered into the territories of
Vologases I of Parthia, who then returned the Armenian kingdom to
Tiridates, king Vologases I's brother. An agreement was reached at the
Treaty of Rhandeia in 63, according to which members of the Parthian Arsacid dynasty would rule Armenia as client kings of Rome. Another campaign was led by Emperor
Lucius Verus in 162–165, after
Vologases IV of Parthia had invaded Armenia and installed his chief general on its throne. To counter the Parthian threat, Verus set out for the east. His army won significant victories and retook the capital.
Sohaemus, a Roman citizen of Armenian heritage, was installed as the new
client king. But during an epidemic within the Roman forces, Parthians retook most of their lost territory in 166. Sohaemus retreated to Syria, and the
Arsacid dynasty was restored to power in Armenia. After the fall of the Arsacid dynasty in Persia, the succeeding
Sassanid Empire aspired to reestablish Persian control. The Sassanid Persians occupied Armenia in 252. However, in 287,
Tiridates III the Great was brought to power by the Roman armies. After
Gregory the Illuminator's spreading of Christianity in Armenia, Tiridates accepted Christianity and made it his kingdom's official religion. The date of Armenia's conversion to Christianity is traditionally held to be 301, preceding the Roman Emperor
Constantine the Great's conversion and the
Edict of Milan by a dozen years.In 387, the Kingdom of Armenia was split between the
Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire. Western Armenia first became a
province of the
Roman Empire under the name of
Armenia Minor, and later
Byzantine Armenia;
Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until, in 428, the local
nobility overthrew the king, and the Sassanids installed a
marzban (
governor) in his place, beginning the
Marzpanate period over
Persian Armenia. Those parts of historical Armenia remained firmly under Persian control until the
Muslim conquest of Persia, while the Byzantine parts remained until being conquered, also by invading Arabic armies, in the 7th century. In 885, after years of Roman, Persian, and Arab rule, Armenia regained its independence under the
Bagratuni dynasty. ==Army==