Kingdom of Armenia | ||||||||||||
Satrapy, Kingdom, Empire, Province | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
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 (154,441 sq mi) | ||||||||||
• | 69 BC | 750,000 km² (289,577 sq mi) | ||||||||||
• | 301 AD | 350,000 km² (135,136 sq mi) | ||||||||||
• | 428 AD | 120,000 km² (46,332 sq mi) | ||||||||||
Population | ||||||||||||
• | 69 BC est. | 20,000,000 | ||||||||||
Density | 26.7 /km² (69.1 /sq mi) | |||||||||||
• | 301 AD est. | 3,000,000 | ||||||||||
Density | 8.6 /km² (22.2 /sq mi) | |||||||||||
Currency | Taghand | |||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Today part of |
Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia Iran Iraq Israel Palestine Lebanon Syria Turkey |
|||||||||||
Redgate, Anne Elizabeth (2000). The Armenians. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 7. ISBN . |
Top: standard of the Artaxiad dynasty
Bottom: standard of the Arsacid dynasty
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 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.