All About Armenia
The Temple of Garni (Armenian: Գառնիի հեթանոսական տաճար, Gařnii het’anosakan tačar) is a reconstructed classical Hellenistic temple near Garni, Armenia. It is the only “Greco-Roman colonnaded building” in Armenia and the entire former Soviet Union. It is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia. Probably built by King Tiridates I in the first century …
During the reign of King Artashes I (reigned 190/189 BC – 160/159 BC) also referred to as King Artaxias I, a nation called the Alans united with all the people of the mountain country took possession half of Georgia, then they set out to invade the Kingdom of Greater Armenia. To defend his kingdom Artashes …
A fascinating lecture, given by Professor George Bournoutian at the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research Center regarding the rise of Tigran The Great and his rivalry with the Roman Empire. Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great (140 – 55 BC) was King of Armenia under whom the country became, for …
Artashat (aka Artaxata) was the capital of Ancient Armenia from 176 BCE and remained so for over 300 years of the kingdom’s history. Located just south of Armenia’s modern capital Yerevan, according to the ancient historian Plutarch, the city‘s original fortifications were planned by the Carthaginian general Hannibal. The city would need all the defences it could muster as it was …
This is not an Armenian coin, rather a Roman provincial coin honoring Otacilia Severa. She was the wife of Roman emperor Philip “the Arab”. The reason I am posting this, however, is that it was minted in a very important and strategically significant city called Zeugma in ancient Commagene, which was a fringe kingdom partly …
In 15 AD, after the Parthian Vonones I was deposed from his brief Armenian kingship and fled to Syria, the Armenian nobles and a sizeable military force in full pomp had ceremoniously convened at the foot of mount Niphates in support of Artabanus II of Parthia. He installed his son Orodes as governor of Armenia, …
The Mamikonians were a powerful clan group who were influential in Armenian political and military affairs from the 1st century BCE onwards. They rose to particular prominence from c. 428 CE to 652 CE in the half of Armenia ruled by the Sasanian Empire when marzpan viceroys represented the Persian king. One of the dynasty’s most famous figures is Vardan Mamikonian …
The Armenian Pantheon of Gods was erected by the king of Commagene, named Antiochus I Theos c. 86 BC – 38 BC, ruled 70 BC – 38 BC. Antiochus I Theos was the son of of King Mithridates I Callinicus and Queen Laodice VII Thea of Commagene from the Armenian Orontid Dynasty. Beyond the line …
The earliest Armenian geographic work is the seventh-century manuscript entitled Ashkharhatsuyts (Mirror of the World), penned most probably by the Armenian mathematician, scientist, and geographer Anania Shirakatsi (Anania of Shirak). This work was originally attributed to the fifth-century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, but research has shown that it most probably belongs to the pen of Shirakatsi. …
One of the greatest lies that the “Empire” had applied to Armenian literature over the centuries is that Mesrob Mashtots created or “rediscovered” Armenian letters a few centuries after Christ. The Crusades were more than just a battle between Christianity and Islam. That was a time when world history had changed for ever. Why did …
King Arsames I of Sophene (Ծոփք) was an Armenian vassal king during the Seleucids. He was descended from the Orontid dynasty who had ruled Armenia as satraps both under the Persians, and later under Alexander the Great, and then his Hellenistic successors. As the Seleucids grew weaker, His father Samos (275-255 BC) had proclaimed himself …
In the 14th -15th centuries BC the chieftains (kings) and nobles of the Hurri-Armenian tribe of Mitani (Mittani,Mitanni) living in the south of the Armenian Highland between Lake Van and the Zagros mountains could consolidate a number of the Hurri-Armenian tribes small and middle state formations and establish the State of Mitani which was the …
Shengavit settlement is a well explored monument of the early Bronze Age of the Armenian Highlands. It is situated in the south-western part of Yerevan, on the left bank of the Hrazdan , on the eastern mountainous bank of nowadays Yerevanian Lake. The exploration of Shengavit by the archaeologists began from 1936 (E.Bayburdyan, S. Sardaryan, …
A multi-disciplinary research project in the Aras Valley, Armenia, focuses on the remains of the Late Bronze/Early Iron Age settlement of Metsamor. The results challenge prior understandings of the settlement’s past and the role it played in the region, especially during the first centuries of the first millennium BC. The Aras Valley is located in …
Archaeologists discovered the unique bronze model of the Solar system dated back 12-11th centuries BC in Sevan basin Armenia, in the 1950s. This is one of the oldest geocentric Solar system models preserved till nowadays. One can find a diverse range of rock inscriptions and drawings of celestial bodies and stars all over the territory of Armenia. Astronomical …
Ancient Armenian calendar (“Hin Haykakan Tomar”) starts from the victory of Hayk Nahapet (Hayk the Patriarch) over Babylonian king Bel in 2,492 BC, thus marking birth of the Armenian nation. The Armenian History Museum preserves a unique bronze belt dated late 2000s – early 1000s BC with engravings of the Sun, the Moon, different animals, …
Yerevan is one of the oldest cities in the world. The archeological excavations made in its territory, show that the human lived here thousands years ago. It is important to note, that the territory of Yerevan has been inhabited uninterruptedly. The researches showed, that a lot of settlements had arised in different periods and for …
Armenia is one of the oldest centers of civilization. The centuries‐old traces of material culture, myths and legends, geographical and personal names reveal that Armenians are the natives of the Armenian Highland; they are indigenious who lived there since the dawn of humanity. Greek historians Herodotus (5th century B.C.), Xenophones (5 th century B.C.), Strabo …