The earliest proto-state in Armenia seems to have come into existence by 2100 BC. This state was called Haiastan or Haiasa, after a mythical patriarchal figure called Haik. Other names for the Armenian region include Uratu or Arartu, which is the name given in Assyrian cuneiform and the Old Testament. The Assyrians also called the region Nairi, or "country of rivers," due to the association of the region with the rivers Tigris, Euphrates, Araks and Kura.¹ A similar culture-hero, Aram, led to the Greeks and Persians calling the region Armenia (the country of Aram).

Early cities in Armenia include Van and Artaxata.

The Armenian King Tigranes I (565—520 BC) was an ally of Cyrus the Great; shortly thereafter the Behestun Stone, found in Iran, mentions Armenia in the list of countries Darius I controlled.² Armenia remained a subordinate kingdom until c.190 BC when Prince Artashes, the governor of Greater Armenia, united the shattered Armenian lands, establishing the Atashesian dynasty. He built the city of Artashat as his new capital.³ Vagharshak, who came to throne in 149 BC, moved the Armenian capital to the city of Armavir.

Tigranes the Second, sometimes known as Tigranes the Great, became king in 95 BC. He briefly extended the Armenian borders from Caspian Sea to Egypt, subduing provinces in Syria, Cappadocia and Mesopotamia and Palestine in 83 BC and conquering the Seleucid Empire. This expansion, combined with an alliance with Mithridates of Pontus, drew both Persian and Roman responses.

In 65 BC the Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus went to war with the Armenian King. Sextilius the legate, with sixteen hundred horse, and about as many heavy and light arms, defeated the Armenian general Mithrobarzanes, and Lucullus went to Tigranocerta and besieged Tigranes there. The Romans, despite being outnumbered, defeated a sally by the defenders and after taking Tigranocerta defeated Tigranes and Mithridates in the battle of Artaxata.⁴ Internal dissention allowed the Armenians to regain much lost ground, however. The Parthians also attacked but were repelled. In 64 BC Tigranes signed a peace treaty with Rome. Marcus Antonius captured the next Armenian King, Artavazd, shackled him and took him to Egypt as a present for Cleopatra. Artavazd was executed for refusing to greet Cleopatra, and Armenia became a vassal state of the Roman Empire.⁵

Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Persia. Wars were fought between the two ancient superpowers over Armenia between 37-47, 55-63 and 162-165. A century later in 252 the Sassanid Persians conquered Armenia until the Romans re-conquered the region in 287.

In 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.⁶

In 384 the kingdom was split between the Byzantine Empire and the Persians. Western Armenia became a province of the Roman Empire under the name of Armenia Minor; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until 428, when the local nobility overthrew the king and the Persians installed a governor in his place.

---

Endnotes

1. Yuri Babayan, "Armenian History Chapter I: The Origins," http://www.armenianhistory.info/origins.htm (accessed October 9, 2006).
2. Yuri Babayan, "Armenian History Chapter II: Between Persia and Rome," http://www.armenianhistory.info/between.htm (accessed October 9, 2006).
3. Ibid.
4. Plutarch, "The Life of Lucullus," http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lucullus*.html (accessed October 10 2006).
5. Yuri Babayan, "Armenian History Chapter II: Between Persia and Rome," http://www.armenianhistory.info/between.htm (accessed October 9, 2006).
6. New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia, "Armenia," http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01736b.htm (accessed October 10, 2006).