Ancient Armenia

Highlights of this period include the rise of ancient Armenia as an important state in Western Asia in the 4th century BC; a briefly held empire under Julius Caesar's contemporary the Great King Tigranes II ("the Great"); the kingdom's official conversion to Christianity in 301;[1] and the creation of the Armenian alphabet in the year 405.

[2] It concludes with the demise of the Armenian kingdom and the country's partition later in the 5th century, marking the beginning of Medieval Armenia.

During the Iron Age, in the region the ancient Assyrians called Urartu (called Bianili by the Urartians themselves),[3] various tribal confederations and kingdoms emerged; these groups included the Hayasa-Azzi, Shupria, Nairi, the Mushki, and possibly a group retroactively referred to as Armeno-Phrygians.

The Artaxiad dynasty (Armenian: Արտաշեսյան Artashesian) rose to power and replaced the Orontids as rulers of Armenia in 189 BC.

Tigranes' empire was short-lived, however, as it would be defeated by Rome, after which the succeeding kings of Armenia ruled as Roman clients.