Kingdom of Armenia

Armenians originate from three people groups: (a) Paeonian people of the Balkans, (b) the remnants of the Khayashan people, and (c) a mixture of “Urartians” with indigenous people of the Armenian highlands with their Indo-European dialect.

Armenia’s history dates back to the Kingdom of Urartu in the 9th century BC. In the 6th century B.C. this Kingdom was ruled by an Armenian dynasty.

Armenia was an independent kingdom down to about 645 BC and then an important vassal state with its own rulers, among many vassal kingdoms and satrapies of the Persian Empire. In 334 BC Alexander the Great overthrow the Persian Empire. In its turn, the Macedonian empire was vast but it fell apart after Alexander’s death.

The Seleucid dynasty claimed Syria, Persia and Armenia, but after series of rebellions, Armenia gradually achieved independence again, which as formally proclaimed in 190 BC under Artaxias, Prince of Major Armenia.

Between 95-65 BC, under King Tigran Mets (Tigranes the Great), the Kingdom reached its peak. In his time the Kingdom of Great Armenia was one of the most powerful kingdoms to the East of the Roman Empire. Its territories extended from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea and spanned the geographic landscape of the Caucasus, today’s Syria, Lebanon and parts of Turkey.

The Kingdom of Armenia remained geographically intact until 428 AD, when King Artašes IV was overthrown by his nobles and the Kingdom was turned into a Sasanian marzpanate and governor was installed. It remained thus until the Arab conquest of 639 AD, when Armenia was integrated into the Caliphate.
Kingdom of Armenia

Modern day Armenia