Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)

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The Kingdom of Greater Armenia (Armenian: Մեծ Հայք Mets Hayk‘), or simply Armenia (Հայք, Hayk‘) was a kingdom in the Ancient Near East from 189 BC to 428 AD, starting with the reign of Artaxias I and ending with the abolition of the Arsacid dynasty by the Sasanians. The origins of the kingdom lied in the Satrapy of Armenia of the Achaemenid Empire of Iran, which was formed from the territory of Urartu (860–590 BC) after it was conquered by the Medes in 590 BC. The satrapy became autonomous after 331 under the Orontid dynasty after the conquests of 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—Greater Armenia 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...

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