The Armenians are an ancient people who speak an Indo-European language and have traditionally inhabited the border regions common to modern Armenia, Iran, and Turkey.

They call themselves hai (from the name of Hayk, a legendary hero) and their country Haiastan.

Their neighbors to the north, the Georgians, call them somekhi, but most of the rest of the world follows the usage of the ancient Greeks and refers to them as Armenians, a term derived according to legend from the Armen tribe.

Thus the Russian word is armianin, and the Turkish is ermeni.

The Ancient Period People had first settled what is now Armenia in about 6000 BCE.

The first major state in the region is the kingdom of Urartu, which had appeared around Lake Van in the thirteenth century BCE and reached its peak in the ninth century BCE.

Shortly after the fall of Urartu to the Assyrians in the early sixth century BCE, the Indo-European-speaking proto-Armenians migrate, probably from the west, onto the Armenian Plateau and mingle with the local people of the Hurrian civilization, which at this time extends into Anatolia (present-day Asian Turkey) from its center in Mesopotamia.

Greek historians first mention the Armenians in the mid-sixth century BCE.

The Middle East: 609–598 BCE

Babylonian Ascendancy and the Final Defeat of Assyria

Following the dramatic collapse of Assyria in 610 BCE, the remnants of the Assyrian forces rally under their final ruler, Ashur-uballit II, in the city of Carchemish. In a desperate attempt to preserve Assyrian power, Ashur-uballit allies himself with the Egyptian pharaoh, Necho II, whose forces had previously secured a quick victory over the Kingdom of Judah at Megiddo. After capturing Kadesh on the Orontes, the Egyptians move northward to join their Assyrian allies.

Together, the Egyptian and Assyrian armies cross the Euphrates and besiege Harran, Ashur-uballit’s recently lost stronghold. The siege fails disastrously, forcing Necho’s army to retreat toward northern Syria. With this failure, Ashur-uballit disappears from historical records, marking the definitive end of the Assyrian Empire.

Nebuchadnezzar II and the Neo-Babylonian Empire

With Assyria's downfall imminent, the Babylonian king, Nabopolassar, delegates military command to his capable son, Nebuchadnezzar II (Nabu-kudur-usur). Nebuchadnezzar decisively engages the combined Egyptian-Assyrian forces at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, decisively defeating them and scattering their remnants. The Babylonians pursue the fleeing Egyptians, inflicting further losses at Hamath and decisively driving them out of Syria. This battle extinguishes the last significant Assyrian resistance, consolidating Babylonia’s dominance over the entire region.

Poised to extend his conquest into Egypt itself, Nebuchadnezzar halts abruptly upon learning of his father’s death, returning swiftly to Babylon to secure the throne. His accession initiates the height of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, characterized by extensive urban renewal, monumental architecture, and significant cultural advancements.

Cultural and Technological Developments

During this era, the Babylonians refine their scientific and mathematical knowledge, as evidenced by sophisticated cuneiform tablets from around 600 BCE. These tablets include complex multiplication, reciprocals, square roots, and algebraic tables, demonstrating advanced mathematical techniques. This expertise notably informs Babylonian astronomy, underscoring the deep integration of mathematics and science in Babylonian culture.

With Assyrian dominance gone, the language of the region also shifts. The Hieroglyphic Luwian script, previously recorded on official seals and monuments, disappears from the historical record, marking a significant linguistic and cultural transition.

Decline of Urartu and Emergence of Armenia

To the north, the powerful kingdom of Urartu, centered around Lake Van and the highlands of what is now eastern Turkey and Armenia, abruptly vanishes around 600 BCE. Historical records suggest that Urartu, significantly weakened by earlier Scythian and Median incursions, is either conquered or peacefully transformed by an emerging local Armenian dynasty, likely the early Orontid Dynasty. Greek and Armenian sources confirm that Armenian prince Paruyr Skayordi, allied with the Medes, plays a critical role in dismantling Assyrian power. These events ultimately give rise to an independent Armenian political identity that fills the vacuum left by Urartu’s disappearance.

Thus, the period from 609 to 598 BCE marks a decisive transition in Middle Eastern history, as the Neo-Babylonian Empire rises to prominence, Egyptian ambitions falter, Assyrian power fades completely, and new cultural identities begin to solidify.

The Urartians, centered around eastern Anatolia around Lake Van and in the region of present Armenia, in the environs of Yerevan, suddenly disappear from history around 600, to be replaced almost immediately, in the same area of eastern Anatolia, by the Armenians.

According to Urartian epigraphy, Sarduri III (645–635 BCE) was followed by three kings—Erimena (635–620 BCE), his son Rusa III (620–609 BCE), and the latter's son Rusa IV (609–590 or 585 BCE).

Late during the 600s BCE (during or after Sardur III's reign), Urartu was invaded by Scythians and their allies—the Medes.

In 612 BCE, the Median king Cyaxares, together with Nabopolassar of Babylon and the Scythians, conquered Assyria after it had been badly weakened by civil war.

Many Urartian ruins of the period show evidence of destruction by fire.

This would indicate two scenarios—either Media subsequently conquered Urartu, bringing about its subsequent demise, or Urartu maintained its independence and power, going through a mere dynastic change, as a local Armenian dynasty (later to be called the Orontids) overthrew the ruling family with the help of the Median army.

Ancient sources support the latter version: Xenophon, for example, states that Armenia, ruled by an Orontid king, was not conquered until the reign of Median king Astyages (585– 550 BCE) – long after Median invasion of the late seventh century BCE.

Similarly, Strabo (first century BCE to first century CE) wrote that "[i]n ancient times Greater Armenia ruled the whole of Asia, after it broke up the empire of the Syrians, but later, in the time of Astyages, it was deprived of that great authority ..."

Medieval Armenian chronicles corroborate the Greek and Hebrew sources.

In particular, Movses Khorenatsi writes that Armenian prince Paruyr Skayordi helped the Median king Cyaxares and his allies conquer Assyria, for which Cyaxares recognized him as the king of Armenia, while Media conquered Armenia only much later—under Astyages.

The Middle East: 597–586 BCE

Babylonian Consolidation under Nebuchadnezzar II

During this critical decade, Nebuchadnezzar II decisively asserts Babylonian dominance throughout the territories once ruled by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, effectively reshaping the political landscape of western Asia. Through relentless military campaigns, he systematically suppresses resistance among smaller kingdoms and vassal states, solidifying Babylonian hegemony.

One of his most notable acts occurs in 587 BCE when he conquers the Hebrew Kingdom of Judah. After a prolonged siege, Jerusalem is captured, the Temple is destroyed, and many of Judah’s leaders, intellectual elite, and skilled artisans are forcibly relocated to Babylon. Despite the harshness of this displacement—known historically as the Babylonian Captivity—the surviving documents indicate that the exiled Judahites are relatively well-treated, permitted to establish communities and practice their religion and traditions within Babylonia.

Median Empire under Cyaxares

In parallel to Babylonian expansion, Cyaxares, ruler of the Median Empire, has solidified his control over significant portions of the fallen Assyrian Empire. His territories now encompass western Iran, northern Mesopotamia, and parts of eastern Anatolia, forming a substantial rival empire to that of Babylonia. From his capital at Ecbatana (modern-day Hamadan), Cyaxares governs a diverse and expansive realm, bringing stability and promoting trade and cultural interactions throughout his domains.

Thus, the period from 597 to 586 BCE sees the consolidation of two dominant powers—Babylonia and Media—who divide and administer the vast territories of the former Assyrian Empire, setting the geopolitical stage for future conflicts and alliances.

The legendary King Vahe of Armenia, the last offspring of the Hyke dynasty, revolts against Alexander the Great and falls in battle, fighting for Darius the Great of Persia, according to the fifth century poet and historian Moses of Chorene (or Khoren), who is traditionally regarded as the author of the most significant mediaeval Armenian history.

Arsames I apparently takes control of Commagene, Sophene and Armenia in the year 260 BCE after the death of his grandfather Orontes III, king of Armenia, and his father Sames, king of Commagene.

Quite why they both die in the same year is not recorded, though it looks suspicious.

It is known the Seleucid Empire was always trying to overthrow the Armenian dynasties who still ruled the lands their forebears had in the time of the Achaemenid Empire.

Ziaelas of Bithynia finds refuge at the court of king Arsames, and upon the death of king Nicomedes I of Bithynia Ziaelas returns to take the kingdom in 254 BCE.

Antiochus III had by 212 BCE invaded the domain of Xerxes, king of Armenian Sophene, and defeated him after laying siege to the city of Arsamosata.

Xerzes acknowledges Seleucid suzerainty and pays Antiochus tribute.

Shortly afterwards Antiochus arranges for Xerxes to marry his sister, Antiochis.

This move seems to show the power or influence Xerxes has in the region.

However within the same year she arranges to have her new husband assassinated, thinking that Antiochus III will be able to take control of Sophene.

Whether Xerxes had still ruled Commagene by the time of his assassination is not known.

Antiochus has many military campaigns to take command of and so rather than ruling Sophene he seems to have preferred to place Sophene under the rule of Xerxes’ son, Abdissares (Zareh).

The Armenians had taken refuge in the Lake Van region in the seventh century BCE, apparently in reaction to Cimmerian raids.

Their country was described by Xenophon around 400 BCE as a tributary of Persia.

A united Armenian kingdom that stretches from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea had been established by the first century BCE as a client of the Roman Empire to buffer the frontier with Persia.

Armenia, ruled for many centuries by the Persians, has become a buffer state between the Greeks and Romans to the west and the Persians and Arabs of the Middle East.

It reaches its greatest size and influence under King Tigran II, also known as Tigranes or Tigran the Great (r. 95-55 BCE).

Armenia during his reign stretches from the Mediterranean Sea northeast to the Mtkvari River (called the Kura in Azerbaijan) in present-day Georgia.

Tigran and his son, Artavazdes II, make Armenia a center of Hellenic culture during their reigns.

More than a thousand years have elapsed between the time of the Bronze Age state of Hayasa-Azzi until that of Artaxias I, during which time the Hayasas, the Armens, the people of Nairi and other ethnic elements have integrated, become one nation, speak a common language, and live together in the country that had become known, from the sixth century BCE, as Armenia.

The kingdom of Armenia by the end of the third century BCE comprised around one hundred and twentydynastic domains ruled by nakharars, loosely united under the Orontid kings of Greater and Lesser Armenia.

Even though Alexander the Great had not conquered Armenia, Hellenistic culture has strongly impacted Armenian society.

When Antiochus the Great wrestled Armenia from Orontid rule, he appointed Artaxias as strategos.

Following his monarch's defeat by the Romans at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BCE, Artaxias and his co-strategos Zariadres revolt and, with Roman consent, begin to reign autonomously with the title of king; Zariadres over Sophene/Lesser Armenia and Artaxias over Greater Armenia and According to Strabo and Plutarch, Artaxias also founds the Armenian capital Artashat (Artaxata) with the aid of the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who was being sheltered from the Romans within Artaxias’ court when Antiochus III could no longer protect him.

The population of the previous Yervanduni (Orontid) capital of Yervandashat is transferred to Artashat (Artaxata) on the Araks River near Lake Sevan.

Over a dozen stone boundary markers have been discovered on the territory of modern Armenia from the time of the reign of Artashes with Aramaic inscriptions; before their discovery, the existence of these stones was attested by Moses of Chorene.

In these inscriptions, Artaxias claims descent from the Yervanduni (Orontid) Dynasty: King Artaxias, the son of Orontid Zariadres.