Timeline

  • 870 BC: Kingdom of Uratu emerges under King Aramu I
  • 780s BC: Argisht I leads a successful campaign against the Hatti and Dsopk
  • 782 BC: Erebuni (modern Erevan) built as a fortress town by King Argishti I
  • 590 BC: Collapse of the Uratian Kingdom, territory taken by the Median empire
  • 585 BC: Ervanduni dynasty come to power in historic Armenia, rule as satrap in the former capital of the Uratian Kingdom
  • 550 BC: Collapse of the Median Empire due to rebellious vassals (including the Ervandunis) led by Cyrus II of Persia
  • 546 BC: Cyrus II conquers Armenia
  • 521 BC: Armenians rebel against Persian rule
  • 480 BC: Armenians serve in the Persian army sent against Greece
  • 368 BC: 10,000 Armenians serve in the Persian campaign against Cilicia
  • 333 BC: Armenians fight in the Persian army in the Battle of Issus against Alexander the Great
  • 331 BC: Armenians fight in the Persian army at the Battle of Gaugamela against Alexander the Great
  • 331 BC: Collapse of the Achaemenian Empire; First independent Armenian State
  • 323 BC: Death of Alexander the Great. Armenian territory nominally inherited by General Seleucus
  • 281 BC: Death of General Seleucus; Ervandunis consolidate power in Greater Armenia
  • 200s BC: Artashesian-Ervanduni War breaks out after the Seleucid king Antiochus III encourages Artashes and Zareh to rebel against the Ervanduni
  • 200 BC: End of the Ervanduni Kingdom. Antiochus III makes Artashes I king of Greater Armenia and a Seleuid vassal
  • 188 BC: Seleucids forced to withdraw from Asia Minor by the Peace of Apamea. Romans grant Artashes and Zareh sovereignty over Greater and Lesser Armenia
  • 187 BC: Death of Antiochus III
  • 180 BC: Artashes I signs a security treaty with Zareh I, but Lesser Armenian troops refuse to fight for Artashes
  • 168 BC: Artashes I launches invasion into Mespotamia, beginning war against Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes
  • 165 BC: Antiochus IV’s final attempt to invade Armenia and Parthia fails
  • 160 BC: Death of Artashes I; succeeded by his son Artavazd I
  • 110s BC: Persian Army defeats Artavazd I; succeeded by his brother Tigran I
  • 100s BC: Persian Army defeats Tigran I; Armenia forced to pay tribute
  • 96 BC: Rome and Parthia divide Seluecid territories and Armenia
  • 94 BC: Tigran II conquers Lesser Armenia
  • 92 BC: Tigran II allies with Mithradates VI against Kingdom of Cappadocia
  • 90 BC: Tigran II conquers territories he had previously surrendered to Parthia in exchange for his freedom
  • 69 BC: Roman Army conquers Lesser Armenia; During the Battle of Tigranakert Tigran II’s sons rebel against him. The Romans defeat Tigran II and he is forced to withdraw from Syria and Mesopotamia
  • 66 BC: Tigran II signs the Peace of Artashat, making himself a symbolic ruler and vassal to Rome
  • 55 BC: Death of Tigran II
  • 54 BC: Artavazd II succeeds his father and establishes closer ties to Rome; Roman General Marcus Licinius Crassus arrives in Syria intending to destroy Parthia
  • 50s BC: Parthians invade Armenia, intending to remove the Armenian Army as the last barrier between them and Rome. Artavazd II lends substantial military support to Crassus
  • 53 BC: Artavazd II allies with Orodos of Parthia against Crassus in the Battle of Carrhae
  • 36 BC: Artavazd II enters into a secret alliance with General Marc Antony
  • 34 BC: Marc Antony joins with the King of Media against Artavazd II
  • 33 BC: Marc Antony attacks Artashat and returns to Egypt with Artavazd II as a hostage. Artashes II escapes to Persia
  • 30 BC: Parthia supports Artashes II’s campaign to retake Armenia, but Parthian forces withdraw abruptly, allowing for the Roman Army to take control of the Armenia situation
  • 20 BC: Augustus sends Tiberius and Tigran (son of Artashes II) to Armenia; Tigran III becomes king
  • 2 BC: Augustus sends his army to conquer Partihia after Musa, Roman slave woman turned queen, poisons Phraates IV of Parthia
  • 10: Decline of the Artashesian dynasty; Rome rules Armenia for the remainder of the first century AD
  • 55: General Domitius Corbulo secures Syria and Lesser Armenia as client states; Vologeses I of Parthia declares Greater Armenia a vassal state
  • 58: Corbulo launches a full-scale invasion of Armenia
  • 62: Vologeses defeats Corbulo and forces him to withdraw from Armenia
  • 64: Rhandeia Compromise establishes joint Roman-Parthian suzereinty over Armenia
  • 66: Nero crowns Trdat, brother of Vologeses, King of Armenia, establishing the Arshakuni Dynasty
  • 72: Vespasian incorporates Lesser Armenia into the province of Cappadocia
  • 88: Death of Trdat I
  • 114: Trajan refuses to install a Parthian to the Armenian throne, violating the Rhandeia Compromise
  • 117: Vagharsh I takes the Armenian throne
  • 216: Roman military command imprisons Khosrov I of Armenia and installs a Roman governor, Theocrates, in Armenia; He is quickly overthrown. Armenian, rather than Parthian, Arshakunis regain control of Armenia. Parthia collapses. Sasanians now control Persia
  • 244: Sasanian king Shapur I defeats the Roman Army at the Battle of Massice; also captures Antioch and Caesarea
  • 250s: Shapur’s son Narseh deposes Trdat II, rules Armenia until 293
  • 278: Roman Emperor Probus and Narseh agree to partition Armenia; Romans install Khosrov II to rule the Western half of Armenia
  • 287: Sasanians assassinate Khosrov II
  • 293: Narseh leaves Armenia to assume Persian throne; Rome installs Trdat III on Armenian throne
  • 296-7: Narseh launches a campaign against Armenia and Rome; defeated by Trdat IV
  • 297: Peace of Nisibis; Sasanians recognize autonomy of Armenia under Roman suzerainty
  • 298-9: Trdat IV installed on Armenian throne
  • 301: Trdat converts to Christianity and makes it the official state religion
  • 313: Edict of Milan establishes religious toleration in the Roman Empire
  • 324: Constantine I founds Constantinople
  • 330: Death of Trdat the Great
  • 365: Council of Ashtashat condemns houses still observing pagan practice
  • 387: Treaty of Ekeghiats divides Greater Armenia between Theodosius I and Shapus II; Armenia ruled by two vassal kings
  • 389: Arshak III dies; Byzantium refuses to replace him with an Armenian; End of the Arshakuni Dynasty
  • 400s: Development of the Armenian alphabet within Persian Armenia
  • 428: Sasanians remove Artashes, ending the Armenian Arshakuni Kingdom
  • 428-652: MARZPANATE PERIOD
  • 428: Sasanans appoint Vehmihrshapuh as first marzpan (viceroy) of Armenia. He replaces Cathilicos Sahak with Syrian patriarchs
  • 447: Denshapuh, plenipotentiary of Yazdgird II, eliminates tax immunity for the church and raises taxes for all Armenians
  • 447: Council of Shahapivan passes resolutions regarding patriarchal domination within the home and responsibilities of the higher clergy
  • 450: Council at Artashat led by Cathilicos Hovsep I and marzpan Vasak Siuni drafts a statement establishing their loyalty both to the Persian king and Christianity. Byzantine Emperor Marcian stops Armenian rebellion before it begins. Serious conflicts between pro-Byzantine and pro-Persian factors in Armenia
  • 451: anti-Persian Vardan is defeated by Vasak Siuni at the Battle of Avarayr
  • 460-480: Armenian rebellions continue led by Varden’s nephew Sparapet Vahan Mamikonian
  • 481: Armenian army seizes Dvin and installs Sahak Bagratuni as governor
  • 485: Sparapet Vahan Mamikonian appointed as marzpan of Armenia; mother see transferring from Vagharshapat to Dvin
  • 527: Justinian reforms establish a military command in Byzantine Armenia
  • 531: Sasanian king Khosrov I Anushirvan signs a treaty of “perpetual peace” with Justinian I
  • 578: Khosrov I reestablishes control over Persian Armenia; Byzantine general Maurice attacks Southern Armenia; 10,000 Armenians deported to Cyprus
  • 591: Armenia partitioned with Persian shah Khosrov II Parviz
  • 637: Sasanian Empire collapses after the fall of its capital, Ctesiphon
  • 639: Theodore Rshtuni reunites Byzantine and Persian Armenia
  • 640: First invasion of Armenia by Arabs; capture of Dvin
  • 650: Armenia ruled by the Ummayad caliphate centered at Damascus
  • 652: Peace signed with Vaspurakan and other nakharars
  • 701: Ummayads formally annex Armenia
  • 705: Ummayads invade Tayk,then Nakhijevan, culminating in a massacre of nakharars
  • 719: Ecclesiastical council summoned at Dvin to deal with heresy and the Paulician rebellions
  • 725-6: Ecclesiastical council summoned at Manzikert to reconcile the Armenian and Syrian churches
  • 747-50: Armenians rebel against Abbasids
  • 750: Armenia ruled by the Abbasid caliphate centered at Baghdad
  • 774-5: Armenians rebel against Abbasids; rebels are massacred
  • 806: Ashot Msaker awarded title of “Prince of Armenia
  • 826: After Ashort’s death, his son Bagarat Bagratuni is named “prince of princes”
  • 852: Turkish general Bugha invades Armenia and kills Bagarat
  • 861: Assassination of Caliph Zafar al-Mutawakkil
  • 862: Ashot, Bagarat’s son, named “prince of princes
  • 872: Emperor Basil I attacks Tephike, destroying the Paulician army
  • 884 – 1065: BAGRATUNI MONARCHY
  • 884: Caliph crowns King Ashot I. Basil I also sends him a crown
  • 890: Death of Ashot I; caliphate delivers crown to Smbat I
  • 893: Smbat I signs bilateral treaty with Leo VI, but it did not guarantee military support
  • 895: Ahmad Shaybani, son of a Mesopotamian emir, conquers Amid and Taron
  • 898: Muhammad Afshin leads an invasion of Armenia; Treaty requires heavy taxes and hostages in the court of Azerbaijan
  • 903: Prince Ashot of Siunik rejects the Bagratuni Monarchy; his rights and privileges are nullified; Yusuf ibn Abu Saj Devdad invades Armenia. Peace required acknowledgement of Yusuf’s superiority and direct taxes paid to him
  • 908: Yusuf crowns Gagik Artsuni king of Vaspurkan and “King of All Armenians.” Together they invade Armenia
  • 914: Smbat I surrenders and is beheaded in Dvin
  • 920s: Ashot II retakes Armenian lands lost to Yusuf
  • 961: Ashot III makes Ani the new capital
  • 964: John Tzimisces conquers Cilicia
  • 969: Fatimid Caliphate emerges in Egypt
  • 982: Persian Sallarid emir Abul Haijan attacks Ani
  • 995: Byzantine and Fatimid armies clash over Aleppo
  • 1019: Basil II demands the cities of Ani and Kars, then invades Georgia
  • 1021-2: Cathilicos Petros I Getadardz sent to negotiate peace. Bequeaths the Armenian crown and royal domain to Byzantine Emperor
  • 1041: Hovhannes-Smbat and Ashot IV die. Byzantium demands Armenia, but instead Gagik II succeeds
  • 1044: Gagik II summoned to Constantinople for negoatiations
  • 1045: Cathilicos Petros I Getadardz surrenders Ani and the treasures of the Armenian Church to the Byzantine Army
  • August 16, 1064: Seljuk Turks capture Ani
  • 1064: Byzantine Army captures Kars
  • 1065: Seljuk Turks capture Kars; Gagik surrenders his kingdom to Byzantium in return for safety
  • 1071: Seljuk Turks decimate Byzantine Army at the Battle of Manzikert
  • 1074: Muslim Armenians begin to play a role in Fatimid Egypt
  • 1079: Gagik II murdered while imprisoned in Cilicia
  • 1080s: Ruben rebels against Byzantine rule and conquers Cilicia
  • 1098: First Crusader State established at Edessa
  • 1099: Fatimid Muslim Armenian forces led by Abu’l-Qasim al-Afdal defeated by Crusaders
  • 1130s: Prince Raymond tries to extend Antioch’s power into Cilicia
  • 1136: Raymond holds Prince Levon captive at Antioch, demanding Mamistra, Adana, and Sarvandikar
  • 1137: Antioch recognizes Byzantine supremacy
  • 1138: Byzantine Army captures Vakha, takes Levon prisoner
  • 1142: Levon’s son Toros escapes captivity to organize Cilician Armenians against Byzantium
  • 1144: Zangi seizes Edessa
  • 1146: Nur al-Din, Zangi’s son, defeats Antioch
  • 1147: Catholicosate seat transferred from Tsovk to Hromkla, within territory governed by Edessa
  • 1152: Toros defeats Andronicus Comnenus and Prince Oshon of Lampron at the Battle of Mamistra
  • 1154: Zengids advance towards Damascus and Egypt
  • 1155-6: Toros allies with Reynald of Chatillon against Byzantine forces in Cyprus and Cilicia
  • 1158: Manuel I Comnenus captures parts of Cilicia
  • 1169: Salah ad-Din removes the last Fatimid Caliph; Death of Toros
  • 1170: Mleh, Toros’ brother, emerges as leader of Cilicia
  • 1172-3: Mleh defeats Byzantine Army at Adana, Mamistra, and Taurus; Establishes Sis as the political center of Cilicia
  • 1174: Death of Nur al-Din
  • 1175: Mleh assassinated by the Hetumians
  • 1185-7: Salah al-Din expands Ayyubid territory to Damascus, Aleppo, Diarbekir, Mayyafarqin, Hattin, Acre, Galilee, Samaria, and Jerusalem
  • 1187: Salah al-Din defeats King Guy de Lusignan at the Battle of Hattin
  • 1194: Levon forces an agreement for Bohemund III’s withdrawal from Baghras and the return of Rubenian territories
  • 1198: Levon I crowned first king of Armenian Cilicia; accepted crowns from Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus and HRE Henry VI
  • 1204: Crusaders sack Constantinople
  • 1215: Fourth Crusade attacks Ayyubid power in Egypt
  • 1216: Levon I places his grandson Raymond in control of Antioch
  • 1219: Raymond overthrown by Antiochene nobility; Seljuk Turks invade Armenian Cilicia; Death of Levon I
  • 1224: Philip of Antioch (husband of Levon’s daughter Zabel) is murdered
  • 1233: Seljuk Turks invade Cilicia
  • 1243: Mongolians defeat the Seljuks at the Battle of Kose Dagh
  • 1245-6: Seljuk Turks invade Cilicia
  • 1247: Hetum I begins negotiations for an alliance with the Mongols
  • 1248: Hetum I sends a delegation to the Crusaders at Cyprus to discuss Cilicia’s role in the upcoming effort to liberate Syria and Egypt from Muslims
  • 1250: Mamluks overthrow Ayyubid Dynasty
  • 1254: Qaraqorum treaty between Hetum I and Great Khan Mongke
  • 1259: Mongol empire weakens with the death of Mongke
  • 1260: Mamluks defeat Mongels under Hulago at the Battle of Ayn Jalut
  • 1269: Hetum I abdicates the throne after several military and diplomatic disasters
  • 1274: Levon II requests military aid against the Muslims at the Council of Lyon; His request is ignored
  • 1274-6: Mamluks invade Armenian Cilicia
  • 1285: Treaty between Levon II and Mamluk Sultan Sayf al-Din Qalawun; Levon must pay huge sums of money
  • 1289: Death of Levon II
  • 1292: Mamluks attack Hromkla and capture the Cathilicos
  • 1293: Hetum II abdicates the throne
  • 1295: Hetum II returns to power
  • 1297: Smbat usurps the throne while Hetum II is in Constantinople; Imprisons his brothers in Caesaria
  • 1298: Constantine of Gaban removes Smbat from power; Malik al-Mansur invades Cilicia
  • 1302: Mamluks resume attacks on Cilicia
  • 1307: Hetum II and Levon III are murdered en route to Anazarba
  • 1317: Oshin confiscates Hospitaller property in Cilicia
  • 1320: Murder of Oshin
  • 1323: Levon IV signs a treaty with the Mamluks at Cairo
  • 1331: Levon IV sends envoys to Europe, hoping to revive crusader missions
  • 1336: Collapse of the Mongol Ikhanate; Sultan Nasir orders the invasion of Cilicia
  • 1375: Mamluks capture the last Lusignan kings of Armenian Cilicia, ending the kingdom
  • 1386: Timur Leng’s forces march on Georgia
  • 1399: Timur Leng invades again
  • 1405: Death of Timur Leng
  • 1441: Cathilicosate returns to Echmiadzin
  • 1453: Ottomans capture Constantinople
  • 1461: Mehmed II appoints Bishop Hovakim of Bursa as patriarch for all Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire
  • 1547: Cathilicos Stephanos pleads with the papacy and HRE Charles II to help free Armenia from Muslim domination
  • 1590: Safavid Shah Abbas gives eastern Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia to Sultan Murad III in a peace treaty
  • 1639: Treaty of Zuhab between Sultan Murad IV and Shah Safi I grants Iraq and the Armenian plateau to the Ottomans
  • 1641: First Armenian book printed in New Julfa
  • 1660: Armenian merchants present the Almazi Throne to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. In return he grants them a silk monopoly
  • 1666: Oskan prints the first Armenian Bible in Amsterdam
  • 1678: Cathilicos Hakob Jughayets solicits papal aid in freeing Armenia from Muslim domination
  • 1722: Fall of the Safavid Empire, emergence of the Qajars; Peter the Great launches a military campaign into the Caucasus
  • 1724: Partition of Transcaucasia; Ottomans control Armenia
  • 1735: Peter the Great abandons his Caucasus troops
  • 1768-74: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1771: First press in Armenia established in Echmiadzin
  • 1783: Treaty of Georgievsk establishes Russian protectorate over Eastern Georgia
  • 1787-92: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1794: Persian Army launches attack to reclaim Tiflis and Eastern Armenia
  • 1796: Persia regains Tiflis and Eastern Armenia after lots of bloodshed
  • 1800: Paul I declares Georgia’s annexation to the Russian Empire
  • 1801: Alexander I proclaims direct incorporation of Georgia and Northern Armenia
  • 1804-13: Russo-Persian War; Armenians fight alongside the Russians
  • 1804: Russian Army takes Erevan and Gumri
  • 1806-12: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1807: Finkenstein treaty between France and Persia against Russia
  • 1813: Persia surrenders everything North of the Arax and Kura rivers under the Treaty of Gulistan
  • 1826-8: Russo-Persian War
  • 1827: Russia seizes Sardarabad, Nakhijevan, Erevan and Tabriz
  • 1828: Treaty of Turkmenchai establishes Russian control over all of Eastern Armenia
  • 1828-9: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1829: Mass migration to Russian Armenia follows the Treaty of Adrianople; establishment of the Armenian Oblast’
  • 1836: Nicholas I requires that the Armenian Church conduct foreign business through the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
  • 1839: Sultan Abdul Mejid declares equality within the Ottoman Empire in the Hatt-I Sherif of Gulhane
  • 1847: Armenian Spiritual Council and Supreme Council established
  • 1856: Sultan Abdul Mejid continues reforms with the Hatt-I Humayun
  • 1862: Zeitun Rebellion
  • 1863: Ratification of the Armenian National Constitution
  • 1876: Ottoman Constitution reinforces democracy
  • 1877-8: Russo-Turkish War
  • 1878: Sultan Abdul-Hamid suspends the Ottoman Constitution; Treaty of San Stefano grants more Armenian land to Russia, but that land is returned to the Ottomans by the Treaty of Berlin
  • 1894: massacres of Armenians begin in the region of Sasun
  • 1895: massacres continue in Trebizond, Urfa, and Erzerum
  • 1896: massacres continue in Diarbekir, Arabkir, Kharpet, and Kayseri
  • 1903: Nicholas II confiscates Armenian Church property
  • 1905: Armenian revolutionary movements join in the first Russian Revolution; Nicholas II returns the confiscated church property
  • 1909: Young Turk revolution forces Abdul-Hamid to abdicate and reinstates the Ottoman Constitution
  • 1912: persecution of Armenian revolutionaries in Russia
  • 1913: military regime established in Ottoman Empire

[Compiled by Annie Mosher; source: Simon Payaslian, The History of Armenia (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); Razmik Panossian, The Armenians (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006)]