Armenians in the Persian Empire
Encyclopedia
Persian Armenia or Persarmenia (Armenian
: Պարսկահայաստան Parskahayastan) corresponds to the Persian territory in which Armenians
have lived until the Arab conquest of Persia. The size of Persian Armenia varied over time. It sometimes simply referred to as Eastern Armenia. According to George A. Bournoutian, professor of Armenian history, "prior to the third century A.D., Iran had more influence on Armenia's culture than any of its other neighbours. Intermarriage among the Iranian and Armenian nobility was common."
, King of the Persians, took control of the Median empire and conquered Asia Minor
and Mesopotamia
. Cyrus' son continued his father's campaign in Egypt
. Eventually, Armenia
became a dependency of Persia.
The Armenian
contingents, cavalry and infantry, had taken part in Cyrus the Great
's conquest of Lydia
in 546 and of Babylonia
in 539. A rebellion of ten subject nations — one of them Armenia — broke out against Persia during the reign of Darius the Great (522–486).
languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. The name Armenia had been used for the first time, when Darius wanted to describe his conquests in the Armenian Highland
s. The shahanshah speaks of bloody battles against the Armenians
, and cites the names of three important battles.
The Armenians thus stayed under Persian rule from 519 to 330 B.C. Those years are considered to be relatively peaceful; trade flourished. Herodotus
claimed that the Armenians had to pay 50 'talents' and thousands of horses per year to the Persians. When he speaks of Xerxes the Great' invasions to Greek land, he mentions that the Armenian forces rallied with Xerxes, and that they resembled and spoke like the Persians
.
Alexander the Great later conquered the Achaemenid Empire
, and the Artaxiad dynasty
established an independent Armenian kingdom in 190 B.C.
as state religion in 301. Armenia was divided between Sassanian Persia and the Roman Empire
. The former established control in Eastern Armenia after the fall of the Arsacid
Armenian kingdom in 428.
began to view Christianity in the Northern lands as a political threat to the cohesiveness of the Persian empire. The dispute appears to be based on Persian military considerations of the time given that according to Acts 2:9 in the Acts of the Apostles there were Persians, Parthians and Medes (all Iranian tribes) among the very first new Christian converts at Pentecost and Christianity has had a long history in Iran as a minority religion, dating back to the very early years of the faith. Nevertheless, the conversion to Christianity by Armenians in the North was of particular concern to Yazdegerd II. After a successful invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, Yazdegerd began summoning Armenian nobles to Ctesiphon
and reconverted them to Zoroastrianism
(a faith many Armenians shared with Persians prior to Christianity). This upset the Armenian population , and under the leadership of Vartan Mamikonian an army of 66,000 Armenians rebelled against the Sassanian empire. Yazdegerd quickly subdued the rebellion at the Battle of Avarayr.
, which guaranteed Armenia more freedom and freedom of religion (Christianity
) under Sassanid rule. Ultimately the disputing parties were able to come to terms making Armenians the first people to adopt Christianity as their national faith.
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
: Պարսկահայաստան Parskahayastan) corresponds to the Persian territory in which Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
have lived until the Arab conquest of Persia. The size of Persian Armenia varied over time. It sometimes simply referred to as Eastern Armenia. According to George A. Bournoutian, professor of Armenian history, "prior to the third century A.D., Iran had more influence on Armenia's culture than any of its other neighbours. Intermarriage among the Iranian and Armenian nobility was common."
Armenians and the Achaemenid Empire
After the fall of the Median empire In 550 B.C. Cyrus the GreatCyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
, King of the Persians, took control of the Median empire and conquered Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
and Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. Cyrus' son continued his father's campaign in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
. Eventually, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
became a dependency of Persia.
The Armenian
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
contingents, cavalry and infantry, had taken part in Cyrus the Great
Cyrus the Great
Cyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
's conquest of Lydia
Lydia
Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....
in 546 and of Babylonia
Babylonia
Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...
in 539. A rebellion of ten subject nations — one of them Armenia — broke out against Persia during the reign of Darius the Great (522–486).
Behistun inscriptions
In the Behistun inscriptions, Darius I talks of his multiple victories. The inscription includes three versions of the same text, written in three different cuneiform scriptCuneiform script
Cuneiform script )) is one of the earliest known forms of written expression. Emerging in Sumer around the 30th century BC, with predecessors reaching into the late 4th millennium , cuneiform writing began as a system of pictographs...
languages: Old Persian, Elamite, and Babylonian. The name Armenia had been used for the first time, when Darius wanted to describe his conquests in the Armenian Highland
Armenian Highland
The Armenian Highland is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East...
s. The shahanshah speaks of bloody battles against the Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
, and cites the names of three important battles.
The Armenians thus stayed under Persian rule from 519 to 330 B.C. Those years are considered to be relatively peaceful; trade flourished. Herodotus
Herodotus
Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...
claimed that the Armenians had to pay 50 'talents' and thousands of horses per year to the Persians. When he speaks of Xerxes the Great' invasions to Greek land, he mentions that the Armenian forces rallied with Xerxes, and that they resembled and spoke like the Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
.
Alexander the Great later conquered the Achaemenid Empire
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, and the Artaxiad dynasty
Artaxiad Dynasty
The Artaxiad Dynasty or Ardaxiad Dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in AD 12. Their realm included Greater Armenia, Sophene and intermittently Lesser Armenia and parts of Mesopotamia...
established an independent Armenian kingdom in 190 B.C.
Armenians and the Sassanian Empire
The Armenians chose ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
as state religion in 301. Armenia was divided between Sassanian Persia and the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. The former established control in Eastern Armenia after the fall of the Arsacid
Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty...
Armenian kingdom in 428.
Vartan Mamikonian
As conflict between the Romans and Sassanids escalated about three centuries after the birth of Jesus, Yazdegerd IIYazdegerd II
Yazdegerd II was the fifteenth Sassanid King of Persia. He was the son of Bahram V and reigned from 438 to 457....
began to view Christianity in the Northern lands as a political threat to the cohesiveness of the Persian empire. The dispute appears to be based on Persian military considerations of the time given that according to Acts 2:9 in the Acts of the Apostles there were Persians, Parthians and Medes (all Iranian tribes) among the very first new Christian converts at Pentecost and Christianity has had a long history in Iran as a minority religion, dating back to the very early years of the faith. Nevertheless, the conversion to Christianity by Armenians in the North was of particular concern to Yazdegerd II. After a successful invasion of the Eastern Roman Empire, Yazdegerd began summoning Armenian nobles to Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
and reconverted them to Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
(a faith many Armenians shared with Persians prior to Christianity). This upset the Armenian population , and under the leadership of Vartan Mamikonian an army of 66,000 Armenians rebelled against the Sassanian empire. Yazdegerd quickly subdued the rebellion at the Battle of Avarayr.
Aftermath
The military success of the Persians ensured that Armenia would remain part of the Sassanian empire for centuries to come. However, Armenian objections did not end until the Nvarsak TreatyNvarsak Treaty
The Nvarsak Treaty was signed between the Armenian general Vahan Mamikonian and the representatives of the Persian shah Peroz I at Nvarsak in 484....
, which guaranteed Armenia more freedom and freedom of religion (Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
) under Sassanid rule. Ultimately the disputing parties were able to come to terms making Armenians the first people to adopt Christianity as their national faith.
See also
- History of ArmeniaHistory of ArmeniaArmenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat. The original Armenian name for the country was Hayk, later Hayastan , translated as the land of Haik, and consisting of the name Haik and the suffix '-stan' ....
- Timeline of Armenian historyTimeline of Armenian history- Earliest :*6000-4000 BC: Neolithic cultures of the South Caucasus, such as the Shulaveri-Shomu culture.*4000 BC: The Book of Genesis identifies the land of Ararat as the resting place of Noah's Ark after the "great deluge" described there....
- Parthian relations with the Armenians
- Marzpanate PeriodMarzpanate PeriodMarzpanate period refers to the period in Armenian history after the fall of the Arshakuni Dynasty of Armenia in 428, when Marzpans , nominated by the Sassanid Persian King, governed the eastern part of Armenia...
- MelikMelikМelik , from malik ) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as melikdoms encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhchivan, Sevan, Lori, Artsakh, Tabriz and Syunik starting from the Late Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century...
- Erivan khanateErivan KhanateThe Khanate of Erivan , was an administrative territory that was established Safavid Persia in the early 17th century. It covered an area of roughly 7,500 square miles, and corresponded to most of present-day central Armenia, most of the Iğdır Province of present-day Turkey, and the Sharur and...
- Karabakh khanateKarabakh khanateThe Karabakh khanate was a semi-independent khanate on the territories of modern Azerbaijan and Armenia established in about 1750 under Persian suzerainty in Karabakh and adjacent areas. The Karabakh khanate existed until 1805, when the Russian Empire gained control over it from Persia...
- Nakhichevan khanate
- Blue Mosque, YerevanBlue Mosque, YerevanThe "Blue Mosque" was built by Iran, and is also known as the "Persian Mosque," "Gök Jami", . The mosque is in Yerevan, Armenia. The Yerevan region was under various Muslim rulers since the incursions of Timur in the 14th century...
- Islam in ArmeniaIslam in ArmeniaIslam in Armenia consists mostly of temporary residents from Iran and other countries. There is no native population reported as Muslim.In 2009, the Pew Research Center estimated that less than 0.1% of the population, or about 1,000 people, were Muslims....
- Armenians in IranArmenians in IranIranian-Armenians , sometimes called Persian-Armenians, are Iranian citizens of Armenian origin. Their number is about 100,000. However, recent estimates put the numbers between 40,000-80,000 due to emigration. They mostly live in Tehran and Jolfa district, Isfahan...
- Iran–Armenia relations