Early Armenian migrations to Cilicia Cilicia under Tigranes the Great Armenian presence in Cilicia dates back to the first century BC, when under
Tigranes the Great, the Kingdom of Armenia expanded and conquered a vast region in the
Levant. In 83 BC, the
Greek aristocracy of
Seleucid Syria, weakened by a bloody civil war, offered their allegiance to the ambitious Armenian king. Tigranes then conquered
Phoenicia and Cilicia, effectively ending the
Seleucid Empire. The southern border of his domain reached as far as Ptolemais (modern
Acre). Many of the inhabitants of conquered cities were sent to the new metropolis of
Tigranakert (). At its height, Tigranes' Armenian Empire extended from the
Pontic Alps to
Mesopotamia, and from the
Caspian to the Mediterranean. Tigranes invaded as far southeast as the
Parthian capital of
Ecbatana, located in modern-day western
Iran. In 27 BC, the
Roman Empire conquered Cilicia and transformed it into one of its eastern provinces.
Mass Armenian migration under the Byzantine Empire After the 395 AD partition of the Roman Empire into halves, Cilicia became incorporated into the
Eastern Roman Empire, also called the
Byzantine Empire. In the sixth century AD, Armenian families relocated to
Byzantine territories. Many served in the Byzantine army as soldiers or as generals, and rose to prominent imperial positions. during the
Seljuk Empire. Cilicia fell to
Arab invasions in the seventh century and was entirely incorporated into the
Rashidun Caliphate. The formal annexation of Greater Armenia to the Byzantine Empire in 1045 and its conquest by the Seljuk Turks 19 years later caused two new waves of Armenian migration to Cilicia. But Philaretus's state began to crumble even before his death in 1090, and ultimately disintegrated into local lordships.
Rubenid dynasty Emergence of Cilician Armenia One of the princes who came after Philaretos' invitation was
Ruben, who had close ties with the last
Bagratid Armenian king,
Gagik II. Ruben was alongside the Armenian ruler Gagik when he went to
Constantinople upon the Byzantine emperor's request. Instead of negotiating peace, however, the king was forced to cede his Armenian lands and live in exile. Gagik was later assassinated by Greeks. In 1080, soon after this assassination,
Ruben organized a band of Armenian troops and revolted against the Byzantine Empire. He was joined by many other Armenian lords and nobles. Thus, in 1080, the foundations of the independent Armenian princedom of Cilicia, and the future kingdom, were laid under Ruben's leadership. The Armenians also helped the Crusaders; as described by
Pope Gregory XIII in his '''': To show their appreciation to their Armenian allies, the Crusaders honored Constantine with the titles of
Comes and
Baron. The friendly relationship between the Armenians and Crusaders was cemented by frequent intermarriages. For instance,
Joscelin I of Edessa married the daughter of Constantine, and
Baldwin, brother of Godfrey, married Constantine's niece, daughter of his brother
T'oros. In 1112, he took the castle of
Cyzistra in order to avenge the death of the last Bagratid Armenian king,
Gagik II. The assassins of Gagik II, three Byzantine brothers who governed the castle, were thus brutally killed. Around 1151, during Thoros II's rule, the head of the
Armenian Church transferred his see to
Hromkla. At the time,
Saladin of
Egypt defeated the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, which led to the
Third Crusade. Prince Levon II profited from the situation by improving relations with the Europeans. Cilician Armenia's prominence in the region is attested by letters sent in 1189 by Pope
Clement III to Levon and to Catholicos
Gregory IV, in which he asks Armenian military and financial assistance to the crusaders. Thanks to the support given to Levon by the
Holy Roman Emperors (
Frederick Barbarossa, and his son,
Henry VI), he elevated the princedom's status to a kingdom. On January 6, 1198, the day Armenians celebrate Christmas, Prince Levon II was crowned with great solemnity in the cathedral of Tarsus, in the presence of the Syrian Jacobite patriarch, the Greek metropolitan of Tarsus, and numerous church dignitaries and military leaders. While he was crowned by the
catholicos,
Gregory VI Abirad, Levon received a banner with the insignia of a lion from Archbishop
Conrad of Mainz in the name of
Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. By securing his crown, he became the first King of Armenian Cilicia as King
Levon I. The Rubenids consolidated their power by controlling strategic roads with fortifications that extended from the Taurus Mountains into the plain and along the borders, including the baronial and royal castles at
Sis,
Anavarza,
Vahka,
Vaner/Kovara,
Sarvandikar,
Kuklak,
T‛il Hamtun,
Hadjin, and Gaban (modern
Geben). In order to fend off the Seljuk threat, Constantine sought an alliance with
Bohemond IV of Antioch, and the marriage of Bohemond's son Philip to Queen Zabel sealed this; however, Philip was too "Latin" for the Armenians' taste, as he refused to abide by the precepts of the Armenian Church. Miniature from "Histoire des Tartars",
Hayton of Corycus, 1307. During the rule of Zabel and Het'um, the
Mongols under
Genghis Khan and his successor
Ögedei Khan rapidly expanded from
Central Asia and reached the Middle East, conquering Mesopotamia and Syria in their advance towards Egypt. The Mongol conquest was disastrous for Greater Armenia, but not Cilicia, as Het'um preemptively chose to cooperate with the Mongols. He sent his brother
Smbat to the Mongol court of
Karakorum in 1247 to negotiate an alliance. He returned in 1250 with an agreement guaranteeing the integrity of Cilicia, as well as the promise of Mongol aid to recapture forts seized by the Seljuks. Despite his sometimes-burdensome military commitments to the Mongols, Het’um had the financial resources and political autonomy to build new and impressive fortifications, such as the castle at Tamrut. In 1253, Het'um himself visited the new Mongol ruler
Möngke Khan at Karakorum. He was received with great honors and promised freedom from taxation of the Armenian churches and monasteries located in Mongol territory. According to Arab historians, during Hulagu's conquest of Aleppo, Het'um and his forces were responsible for a massacre and arsons in the main mosque and in the neighboring quarters and souks. They took control of Egypt and Palestine in 1250 and 1253, respectively, and filled the vacuum caused by the Mongol destruction of the pre-existing
Ayyubid and
Abbasid governments. The Mamluk leader
Baibars took the field in 1266 with the intention of wiping out the Crusader states from the Middle East. Het'um ransomed Levon for a high price, giving the Mamluks control of many fortresses and a large sum of money. The
1269 Cilicia earthquake further devastated the country. In 1269, Het'um I abdicated in favour of his son
Levon II, who paid large annual tributes to the Mamluks. Even with the tributes, the Mamluks continued to attack Cilicia every few years. In 1275, an army led by the emirs of the sultan invaded the country without pretext and faced Armenians who had no means of resistance. The city of Tarsus was taken, the royal palace and the church of Saint Sophia was burned, the state treasury was looted, 15,000 civilians were killed, and 10,000 were taken captive to Egypt. Almost the entire population of
Ayas, Armenian, and Frankish perished. The Mamluks, despite the above, continued to raid Cilician Armenia on numerous occasions. In 1292, it was invaded by
Al-Ashraf Khalil, the
Mamluk sultan of
Egypt, who had conquered the remnants of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in
Acre the year before.
Hromkla was also sacked, forcing the
Catholicossate to move to
Sis. Het'um was forced to abandon
Behesni,
Marash, and
Tel Hamdoun to the Turks. In 1293, he abdicated in favor of his brother T'oros III, and entered the monastery of Mamistra.
Campaigns with Mongols (1299–1303) to accompany Kutlushah on the 1303 attack on Damascus. In the summer of 1299, Het'um I's grandson,
King Het'um II, again facing threats of attack by the Mamluks, asked the Mongol khan of Persia,
Ghâzân, for his support. In response, Ghâzân marched towards Syria and invited the Franks of
Cyprus (the King of Cyprus, the
Templars, the
Hospitallers, and the
Teutonic Knights), to join his attack on the Mamluks. The Mongols took the city of Aleppo, where they were joined by King Het'um. His forces included Templars and Hospitallers from the kingdom of Armenia, who participated in the rest of the offensive. The combined force defeated the Mamluks in the
Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar, on December 23, 1299. It is considered to be the last major Mongol invasion of Syria. When Ghazan died on May 10, 1304, all hope of reconquest of the Holy Land died in conjunction. Het'um II abdicated in favour of his sixteen-year-old nephew
Levon III and became a
Franciscan friar; however, he emerged from his monastic cell to help Levon defend Cilicia from a Mamluk army, which was thus defeated near
Baghras. In 1307, both the current and former kings met with
Bularghu, the Mongol representative in Cilicia, at his camp just outside
Anazarba. Bularghu, a recent convert to Islam, murdered the entire Armenian party.
Oshin, brother of Het'um, immediately marched against Bularghu to retaliate and vanquished him, forcing him to leave Cilicia. Bulargu was executed by
Oljeitu for his crime at the request of the Armenians. Oshin was crowned new king of Cilician Armenia upon his return to Tarsus.
Demise of Cilician Armenia on his throne with the
Hospitallers. "Les chevaliers de Saint-Jean-de-Jerusalem rétablissant la religion en Arménie", 1844 painting by
Henri Delaborde. (1375) appears heavily fortified within green walls, with its ports and flags ( ) clearly visible.
Decline and fall with the Lusignan dynasty There had always been close relations between the Armenians and the
Lusignans, who, by the 12th century, were already established in the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Had it not been for their presence in Cyprus, the kingdom of Cilician Armenia may have, out of necessity, established itself on the island. In 1342, Levon's cousin Guy de Lusignan, was anointed king as
Constantine II, King of Armenia. Guy de Lusignan and his younger brother
John were considered pro-Latin and deeply committed to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church in the Levant. As kings, the Lusignans attempted to impose Catholicism and the European ways. The Armenian nobles largely accepted this, but the peasantry opposed the changes, which eventually led to civil strife. From 1343 to 1344, a time when the Armenian population and its feudal rulers refused to adapt to the new Lusignan leadership and its policy of Latinizing the Armenian Church, Cilicia was again invaded by the Mamluks, who were intent on territorial expansion. Frequent appeals for help and support were made by the Armenians to their co-religionists in Europe, and the kingdom was also involved in planning new crusades. Amidst failed Armenian pleas for help from Europe, the
fall of Sis to the Mamluks, followed by the fortress of Gaban in 1375, where
King Levon V, his daughter Marie, and her husband Shahan had taken refuge, put an end to the kingdom. The title has also been claimed indirectly by the House of Savoy by claiming the title King of Jerusalem and a number of other thrones.
sanjak of
Adana Vilayet, retained a substantial Armenian population until the
Armenian genocide.
Dispersion of the Armenian population of Cilicia Although the
Mamluks had taken over Cilicia, they were unable to hold it. Turkic tribes settled there, leading to the conquest of Cilicia led by
Timur. As a result, 30,000 wealthy Armenians left Cilicia and settled in Cyprus, still ruled by the Lusignan dynasty until 1489. In 1909, Cilician Armenians were
massacred in Adana. Descendants of the remaining Cilician Armenians have been dispersed in the
Armenian diaspora, and the
Holy See of Cilicia is based in
Antelias,
Lebanon. The lion, emblem of the Cilician Armenian state, remains a symbol of Armenian statehood to this day, featured on the
Coat of arms of Armenia. == Cilician Armenian society ==