Armenia is one of the oldest countries in the world with a recorded history of about 3500 years. Its oldest known ancestors are the Hayasa-Azzi tribes. By the end of the second millennium B.C., the tribe was joined by another Indo-European ethnic group, called the Armens. They migrated to the Armenian highland from the Northern Balkans and the mixture of the two eventually produced the Armenian people as they are known today.

The existence of the two major tribes in the Armenian people is best exemplified by the fact that Armenians call themselves “Hay”, pronounced “high”, and their homeland Hayastan, after the Hayasa-Azzi, while others call them Armenians and their homeland Armenia, after the Armens.

The first important state of the Armenian highland was the Kingdom of Ararat, also known by its Assyrian name Urartu, and was formed in 11th century B.C. Although Armenians mainly populated it, a non-Armenian ruled the kingdom. In 782 B.C., Urartian King, Argishti I, founded the city of Erebuni, which is today’s Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.

Another major city that King Argishti I founded was the city of Argishti-Khinili, which was named after him. In the late 7th century B.C., the Kingdom of Ararat fell, but after several decades it was revived under the Armenian Yervanduni Dynasty.

Armenia under the Yervanduni Dynasty began a demise, but was brought back to its full independence in 190 B.C. under King Artashes I. He founded the Artashisian Dynasty, which began to expand and reached its peak under the reign of Tigran II, also known as Tigran the Great. Under Tigran II, Armenia rose to its highest point of power and became the strongest state in Asia Minor.

After Tigran II’s death, Armenia was reduced to its ethnic Armenian territory and found itself in the middle of a long war campaign between Rome and Persia. Both superpowers were trying to have Armenia as their ally to gain political superiority in Asia Minor.

In the middle of the first century A.D., a new royal dynasty emerged. The Arshakounian Dynasty was established in Armenia and was related to the royal family of Persia. At this time, Armenia and Persia had a long period of peace and cooperation, but in 251 A.D. the Sassanid Dynasty came to power in Persia. This was bad news for Armenia because the Sassanids adopted an anti-Armenian policy and tried to eliminate their state and nation. They forced their Zoroastrian religion upon the Armenians as a way of De-Christianizing them.

One-person rose in revolt to this action and that was King Trdat III. In 301 A.D., he declared Christianity as Armenia’s state religion and made them the first Christian state in the entire world.

By the end of the 4th century, the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia officially established their influence in Armenia. The Arshakounian Dynasty was dissolved in the year 428, leaving the Eastern part Armenian to be annexed to Persia and the Western under Byzantine rule.

At this point, both empires were still trying to convert the Armenians to their Zoroastrian religion, but the prince at the time, Vartan Mamigonian, wasn’t going to let that happen. In the year 450, Vartan rose to revolt and caused the Battle of Avarayr. He unfortunately lost his life in the battle, but his nephew Vahan took over and continued the revolt. Victory was on the side of the Armenians and Persia eventually gave up their effort to convert them and Armenia still held it’s Christian state.

Map provided by Armenica.org

Map provided by Armenica.org

Photograph provided by Armenica.org

Map provided by Armenica.org

Map provided by Armenica.org