All About Armenia
Tigranes II or Tigranes the Great ruled as the king of Armenia from c. 95 to c. 56 BCE. Expanding in all directions, at its peak, Tigranes’ Armenian Empire stretched from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Not before or since would Armenians control such a huge swathe of Asia. Tigranes would only be checked once his kingdom became enmeshed in the ambitions …
Metsamor is one of the more impressive prehistoric monuments in Armenia, but it is one that I found it rather difficult to get to grips with. It lies 20 miles west of Yerevan and is today best known by most Armenians as the site of their controversial atomic power station – built 1980 but still …
Tiridates I (Trdat I) ruled as the king of Armenia from 63 to either 75 or 88 CE). Considered the founder of the Arsacid dynasty proper, his reign got off to a rocky start with invasions from Rome and Parthia but, once crowned in a lavish ceremony in Rome conducted by Nero himself, the Armenian king would rule for a relatively peaceful and …
It is of considerable interest to trace where the ancient Sumerians emerged from because of their primary contribution to human civilization. It was suggested that Sumerians appeared in Southern Mesopotamia around five and half thousand years ago carrying with them the seeds of civilization. It was also suggested that they migrated from the west coast …
Ancient Armenia, located in the south Caucasus area of Eurasia, was settled in the Neolithic era but its first recorded state proper was the kingdom of Urartu from the 9th century BCE. Incorporated into the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great in the 6th century BCE, the Orontid dynasty ruled as Persian satraps, a function they performed for their next overlords the Macedonians and Seleucid Empire into the …
In 2016, Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) received a grant from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies to complete a grant project that would entail the writing and publishing of content on topics related to ancient and early medieval Armenian history and culture. Generous funding from the National Association for Armenian …
The year is 1595 BC. Babylon. … It was an unbearable hot summer day, typical of Mesopotamia. The sun seemed to stand stock-still in the zenith. People sheltered themselves in the shade waiting for the evening hours; hoping that a stray gale from the remote mountains in the North might reach this damned city, which …
The ancient gods humans worshipped have common origins all across the world. They were ubiquitious. They were not figments of human imagination, nor folk tales. They were ancient divine beings of unknown (terrestrial or extraterrestrial) origin who gave and ordained life, spirituality and protection to the common people and mortals on the planet. The only …
The Artaxiad (Artashesian) dynasty ruled ancient Armenia from c. 200 BCE to the first decade of the 1st century CE. Founded by Artaxias I, the dynasty would ensure Armenia enjoyed a sustained period of prosperity and regional importance. One of several important Artaxiad rulers was Tigranes the Great, who greatly expanded his kingdom before its ultimate defeat to …
So called sity of “Şanlıurfa” is the ancient city of EDESSA, the capital of the ancient Armenian Kingdom of Kaputkets – Cappadocia – ancient Greek / modern. Turkey / – the ancestral domain of the Armenian king Abgar V, who corresponded with Jesus Christ. By the way, the word “Karakhan-tepe” is etymologically analogically to the …
The Shengavit Settlement (Armenian: Շենգավիթ հնավայր, Shengavit’ hənavayr) is an archaeological site in present-day Yerevan, Armenia located on a hill south-east of Yerevan Lake. It was inhabited during a series of settlement phases from approximately 3200 BC cal to 2500 BC cal in the Kura Araxes (Shengavitian) Period of the Early Bronze Age and irregularly …
Findings of rock carvings in Armenia show that the creation of rock-art in Armenia began in the Neolithic period, reaching its peak during the Bronze Age. In 2015. a paper, written by Tokhatyan K.S., who’s a researcher at the Institute of History of National Academy of Science of Armenia, translated from Armenian by G. D Vardumyan, …
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, …