Greater Armenia (antiquity)

Kingdom of Armenia
Satrapy, Kingdom, Empire, Province
331 BC–428 AD
Left: standard of the Artaxiad dynasty Right: standard of the Arsacid dynasty
Armenia its greatest extent under Tigranes the Great, 69 BC (including vassals)
Capital		Armavir (331–210 BC) Yervandashat (210–176 BC) Artashat (176–77 BC; 69–120 AD) Tigranocerta (77–69 BC) Vagharshapat (120–330) Dvin (336–428)
Languages		Armenian (native language) Greek Aramaic Iranian (Parthian and Pahlavi)
Religion		Armenian polytheism and Zoroastrianism: 3rd century BC – 301 AD Christianity (Armenian Church) : from 301 AD
Government		Monarchy
King, King of Kings
•	321–317 BC	Orontes III
•	422–428	Artaxias IV
Historical era		Antiquity, Middle Ages
•	Satrapy of Armenia is formed	c. 533 BC
•	Orontes III	331 BC
•	Battle of Rhandeia	61 AD
•	Christianity national religion	301 AD
•	Western Armenia conquered by Byzantium	387
•	Armenia conquered by Persia	428 AD
Area
•	321 BC	400,000 km2 (150,000 sq mi)
•	69 BC	300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi)
•	301 AD	350,000 km2 (140,000 sq mi)
•	428 AD	120,000 km2 (46,000 sq mi)
Currency		Taghand
Preceded by Succeeded by Satrapy of Armenia Byzantine Armenia Persian Armenia
Today part of		Armenia  Azerbaijan  Georgia  Iran  Iraq  Israel  Palestine  Lebanon  Syria  Turkey
Redgate, Anne Elizabeth (2000). The Armenians. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 7. ISBN .

The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia (Armenian: Մեծ Հայք Mets Hayk;Latin: Armenia Maior), was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 321 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into successive reigns by three royal dynasties: Orontid (321 BC–200 BC),Artaxiad (189 BC–12 AD) and Arsacid (52–428).

The root of the kingdom lies in one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia called Armenia (Satrapy of Armenia), which was formed from the territory of the Kingdom of Ararat (860 BC–590 BC) after it was conquered by the Median Empire in 590 BC. The satrapy became a kingdom in 321 BC during the reign of the Orontid dynasty after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, which was then incorporated as one of the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Seleucid Empire.

Under the Seleucid Empire (312-63 BC), the Armenian throne was divided in two – Armenia Maior and Sophene – both of which passed to members of the Artaxiad dynasty in 189 BC. During the Roman Republic's eastern expansion, the Kingdom of Armenia, under Tigranes the Great, reached its peak, from 83 to 69 BC, after it reincorporated Sophene and conquered the remaining territories of the falling Seleucid Empire, effectively ending its existence and raising Armenia into an empire for a brief period, until it was itself conquered by Rome in 69 BC. The remaining Artaxiad kings ruled as clients of Rome until they were overthrown in 12 AD due to their possible allegiance to Rome's main rival in the region, Parthia.