Armenian History

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Map of ancient Armenia.

The Armenian civilization had its beginnings nearly 5,000 years ago and during the 3rd millenium BC. In the centuries following, the Armenians withstood invasions and nomadic migrations, creating a unique culture that blended Iranian social and political structures with Hellenic-- and later Christian--literary traditions. For two millennia, independent Armenian states existed sporadically in the region between the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, until the last medieval state was destroyed in the fourteenth century.


The Armenians are an ancient people who speak an Indo-European language and have traditionally inhabited the border regions common to modern Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. They call themselves Hai (from the name of Hayk, a legendary hero) and their country Haiastan. Their neighbors to the north, the Georgians, call them Somekhi, but most of the rest of the world refers to them as Armenians, a term derived from the Armenian patriarch Aram Nahabed. Thus the Russian word is Armianin, and the Turkish is Ermeni.


The Ancient Period

Greater Armenia

Armenia has been populated since prehistoric times, and has been proposed as the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden. Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat, upon which Noah's Ark came to rest after the flood. (Gen. 8:4). Armenic Sumerian records written ca. 2,700 BC, tell us the story of the Great Flood and the rebirth of Life [the Tree of Life or the Garden [Partez - Paradise - the main motif in the Armenian-Hurrian Mitanni and Araratian reliefs] of Eden located in Armenia - the Land of Four Rivers. Archeologists continue to uncover evidence that Armenia and the Armenian Highlands was the earliest site of human civilization. The earliest record identified with Armenians, is from an inscription which mentions Armani together with Ibla, as territories conquered by Naram-Sin (2300 BC) identified with an Akkadian colony in the Diarbekr region. To this day the Assyrians refer to Armenians by this form Armani. Another mention by Thutmose III of Egypt, mentions the people of Ermenen in 1446 BC, and says in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars" (Thutmose was the first Pharoah to cross the Euphrates to reach the Armenian Highlands).[1] To this day Kurds and Turks refer to Armenians by Ermeni. From 10,000 BC to 1000 BC, Indo-European tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were commonly produced in Armenia and traded in neighbouring lands where those metals were less abundant. Several Armenian states speaking the Indo-European language flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including Aratta (Haik Nahabed's time), mentioned in Armenic Sumerian records (3rd millennium BC), the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power), Mitanni (Aram Nahabed's time) and Hayasa-Azzi (15th - 12th cc BC), and in the Iron Age the Nairi (12th - 9th cc BC) and the Kingdom of Ararat (Ara the Beautiful's time) (9th - 6th cc BC). Each of the aformentioned Armenian tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I.

Indo-European (Aryan) migrations pointing off the starting point: Armenia.

Scholars V.V.Ivanov and Tamaz Gamreklide place the Indo-European (Aryan) homeland in Armenian Highland, postulating the Armenian language as an in situated development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language. The first major state in the region was the kingdom of Aratta. The word Armani - an early form of Armen-Armin [Armen or Arman denotes the national affiliation, as with many cultures standing for the particular nation thus, the God AR being the primary deity in the Indo-European pantheon - thus AR MAN denotes -- Men of Ar or Children of Ar, again initially AR standing for ARAREL-ARARICH [hence Ar-Ar-At the Place of ARAR] -- Create-Creator, also Sun, Light, Life and Love.

The modern Armenian name for the country was Hayk, or Hayastan. Haya, combined with the suffix '-stan' (land). Hayk was one of the great Armenian leaders after whom the The Land of Hayk was named. He is said to have settled at the foot of Mount Ararat, traveled to assist in building the Tower of Babel, and, after his return, defeated the Babylonian king Bel (believed by some researchers to be Nimrod) in 2492 BC near the mountains of Lake Van, in the southwestern part of historic Armenia (present-day eastern Turkey). One of Hayk's most famous scions, Aram, considerably extended the borders of his country, transforming it into a powerful state of Mitanni (Nahrin from Armenian Nar, Nareh, Narin-eh). Since then, Greeks and Persian began to call the country Armenia, i.e. the country of Aram. Nairi (Nahrin), meaning "land of rivers", used to be an ancient name for Armenia and Armenians, used by Assyrians and Egyptians.

Greek historians first mentioned the Armenians in the mid-fifth century B.C. Ruled for many centuries by the Persians, Armenia became a buffer state between the Greeks and Romans to the west and the Persians and Arabs of the Middle East. It reached its greatest size and influence under King Tigran II, also known as Tigranes or Tigran the Great (r. 95-55 B.C.). During his reign, Armenia stretched from the Mediterranean Sea northeast to the Mtkvari River (called the Kura in Azerbaijan) in present-day Georgia (see fig. 5). Tigran and his son, Artavazd II, made Armenia a center of Hellenic culture during their reigns.


Early Christianity

Mesrop Mashtots statue in Oshakan Village



Armenian Empire

The Empire of King Tigran Mets. (c) 2005,

From 87 to 85, Tigran's Army victoriously entered Armenian Mesopotamia [Northern Mesopotamia], the province of Korduk', Migdonia and Adiabenē, which were previously under the control of the Parthians. The kingdoms of Osroyenē and Atrpatakan [Atropatene] also pledged their loyalty and support to Tigran the Great. In 85, the Parthians officially recognized him as the supreme ruler of the East. Tigran took the haled title of King of Kings, from the Parthian monarch, and honorably held it to the end of his life.

In 83, after a bloody strife for the throne of Syria, governed by the Seleucids, the Syrians decided to choose Tigran as the protector of their kingdom and offered him the crown of Syria. Tigran was crowned the same year with the support of the local aristocracy. Tigran conducted an "open" policy of free trade within the Hellenistic metropolitan polis' [cities] of the vast Armenian Empire, granting autonomy to those important cities, who could mint their own currency and were judged according to the local laws and customs. The Syrian mints also issued coins depicting the Emperor, King of Kings Tigran the Great. According to Justin, Tigran reigned for eighteen years on the Syrian throne.

During this period, the Armenian forces advanced and conquered the kingdoms of Commagene [mostly Armenian in its demographic composition] and Cilicia [also containing a sizable Armenian community]. Once in Syria, Tigran was confronted with another foe, Queen Alexandra, ruler of Palestine. Josephus noted "She [Queen Alexandra] was a sagacious woman…she increased the army the one half, and procured a great body of foreign troops, till her own nation became not only very powerful at home, but terrible also to foreign potentates." [Wars, I.v.3; Antiq. XIII.xvi.4].

The Armenian troops quickly advanced and took the city of Acre [Ptolemais] in Phoenicia. Tigran's Army successfully besieged the onetime seat of the Seleucid capital -- Seleucia-on-Tigris. Josephus in his Antiquities wrote that Queen Alexandra "presented Tigranes, with many valuable gifts, and also ambassadors…" The Queen pledged her loyalty by offering all of Phoenicia to the King of Kings.

After the successive campaigns on the eastern sea shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and conquests in Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, the Armenian warriors gained a reputation and respect not only throughout the Near East, but the Roman domain as well. The famous Greek historian Strabo wrote: "They fight on foot and on horseback, both in light and heavy armor. The horses are also protected with armor. They use javelins and bows and wear breastplates, shields, and coverings'; [XI.xiv.12] And..."They have a passion for riding and take good care of their horses..."

While Plutarch wrote that the Armenian archers could kill from 200 meters with their deadly accurate arrows. The Romans admired and respected the bravery and the warrior spirit of the Armenian Cavalry -- the hardcore of Tigran's Army. The Roman historian Sallustius Crispus wrote that the Armenian [Ayrudzi - lit. horsemen] Cavalry was "remarkable by the beauty of their horses and armor" Horses in Armenia, since ancient times were considered as the most important part and pride of the warrior. It was the horse and the wagons [as well as the iron weaponry], that made possible the vast migrations of Indo-European peoples from Armenia (Aratta).


Indo-European (Aryan) family tree


The Middle Ages



Between Russia and Turkey


Russian Influence Expands



National Self-Awareness






The Young Turks

Armenians being deported.




World War I and Its Consequences


Postwar Realignment




Into the Soviet Union


The Communist Era


Stalinist Restructuring



Communism after Stalin



The New Nationalism





Nagorno-Karabakh and Independence

Armenian armies in Artsakh.


Karabakh as a National Issue



The Karabakh Crisis Escalates, 1989




A New Political Climate










Postindependence Armenia






See also


  1. Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) Thutmose III, University of Michigan, 2006, ISBN 978-0472114672

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