PE&RS October 2014 - page 927

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING October 2014 927
“People first settled what is now Armenia
in about 6000 B.C. The first major state
in the region was the kingdom of Urartu,
which appeared around Lake Van in the 13th centu-
ry B.C. and reached its peak in the 9th century B.C.
Shortly after the fall of Urartu to the Assyrians,
the Indo-European-speaking proto-Armenians mi-
grated, probably from the west, onto the Armenian
Plateau and mingled with the local people of the
Hurrian civilization, which at that time extended
into Anatolia (present day Asian Turkey) from its
center in Mesopotamia. Greek historians first men-
tioned the Armenians in the mid-sixth century B.C.
Ruled for many centuries by the Persians, Armenia
became a buffer state between the Greeks and Ro-
mans to the west and the Persians and Arabs of
the Middle East. It reached its greatest size and
influence under King Tigran II, also known as Ti-
granes or Tigran the Great (r. 95-55 B.C.). During
his reign, Armenia stretched from the Mediterra-
nean Sea northeast to the Mtkvari River (called
the Kura in Azerbaijan) in present-day Georgia.
Tigran and his son, Artavazd II, made Armenia a
center of Hellenic culture during their reigns. By 30
B.C., Rome conquered the Armenian Empire, and
for the next 200 years Armenia often was a pawn
of the Romans in campaigns against their Central
Asian enemies, the Parthians. However, a new dy-
nasty, the Arsacids, took power in Armenia in A.D.
53 under the Parthian king, Tiridates I, who de-
feated Roman forces in A.D. 62. Rome’s Emperor
Nero then conciliated the Parthians by personally
crowning Tiridates king of Armenia. For much of
its subsequent history, Armenia was not united un-
der a single sovereign but was usually divided be-
tween empires and among local Armenian rulers”
(Library of Congress Country Studies, 2014).
“The local religious scene in Armenian villages attracted
Christianmissionaries as early as AD 40, including the apostles
Bartholomew and Thaddeus. According to lore, King Trdat III
Republic of
declared Christianity the state religion in AD 301. His moment
of epiphany came after being cured of madness by St Gregory
the Illuminator, who had spent 12 years imprisoned in a
snake-infested pit, now located under Khor Virap Monastery.
A version preferred by historians suggests that Trdat was
striving to create national unity while fending off Zoroastrian
Persia and pagan Rome. Whatever the cause, the church
has been a pillar of Armenian identity ever since. Another
pillar of nationhood arrived in 405 with Mesrop Mashtots’
revolutionary Armenian alphabet. His original 36 letters were
also designed as a number system. Armenian traders found
the script indispensable in business. Meanwhile, medieval
scholars translated scientific and medical texts from Greek
and Latin. Roman and Persian political influence gave way to
new authority when western Armenia fell to Constantinople
in 387 and eastern Armenia to the Sassanids in 428. The
Arabs arrived around 645 and pressure slowly mounted from
Baghdad to convert to Islam. When the Armenians resisted
they were taxed to the point where many left for Roman-
ruled territories, joining Armenian communities in a growing
diaspora. Better conditions emerged in the 9th century when
the Caliph approved the resurrection of an Armenian monarch
in King Ashot I, the first head of the Bagratuni dynasty. Ani
(now in Turkey) served as capital for a stint. Various invaders
including the Seljuk Turks and Mongols took turns plundering
and at times ruling and splitting Armenia. By the 17th century