Armenians was divided between the Ottomans and the Safavid Empire in Iran. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire (at the height of its power), Mitanni (South-Western historical Armenia), and Hayasa-Azzi (1600–1200 BC). Soon after Hayasa-Azzi came Arme-Shupria (1300s–1190 BC), the Nairi (1400–1000 BC) and the Kingdom of Urartu (860–590 BC), who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal (669–627 BC), the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains (modern Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan).
Cappadocia (Roman province) Mithridates VI to retain his rule over Pontus. When Nicomedes IV died in 74 BC, he bequeathed the Kingdom of Bithynia to the Roman Republic. His death caused a power vacuum in Asia Minor, allowing Mithridates VI to invade and conquer the leaderless kingdom. With Mirthidates VI again having designs on Roman protectorates in Asia Minor, including Cappadocia, Rome launched the Third Mithridatic War to end the Pontic threat. Dispatching Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus to Asia, Rome drove Pontus and its ally Armenia out of Asia proper, reasserting Roman dominance over the Asian client kingdoms by 71 BC and conquering