User:Kentronhayastan/Origin of the Armenians

This page is about the origin of the ethnic group and their country. For the origin of the name, see Name of Armenia. For the origin of the Armenian language, see Proto-Armenian language.

The origin of the Armenians is a topic about the emergence of the Armenian people and the country called Armenia. The earliest universally accepted reference to the people and the country dates back to the 6th century BC Behistun Inscription, followed by several Greek fragments and books. The earliest known reference to a geopolitical entity where Armenians originated from is dated to the 13th century BC as Uruatri in Old Assyrian. Historians and Armenologists have speculated about the earlier origin of the Armenian people, but no consensus has been achieved as of yet. Linguistically, Armenians have been speaking an Indo-European language for as long as it has been attested since the 5th century AD, and genetic studies show that Armenian people are indigenous to historical Armenia, showing little signs of admixture since around the 13th century BC.

Genetic origins

Recent studies have shown that Armenians are indigenous to the Armenian Highlands and form a distinct genetic isolate in the region. Analysis of mitochondrial ancient DNA of skeletons from Armenia and Artsakh spanning almost 8,000 years, including DNA from Neolithic, Bronze Age, Urartian, classical and medieval Armenian skeletons, have revealed that modern Armenians have the least genetic distance from them compared to other neighbouring peoples in the region. Armenians are also one of the genetic isolates of the Near East who share affinity with the Neolithic farmers who expanded into Europe beginning around 8,000 years ago. There are signs of considerable genetic admixture in Armenians between 3000 BC and 2000 BC, but they subside to insignificant levels from 1200 BC until today.

Analysis of Ancient DNA

In a study published in 2017, the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from present-day Armenia and Artsakh spanning 7,800 years was analyzed and combined with 206 mitochondrial genomes of modern Armenians and previously published data of seven neighboring populations (482 people).

	Samples
Neolithic	3
Chalcolithic	1
Kura-Araxes	6
Trialeti-Vanadzor	5
Lchashen-Metsamor	29
Urartians	4
Classical/Medieval Armenians	4
Modern Armenians	206

Coalescence-based analyses suggest that the population size in the region rapidly increased after the Last Glacial Maximum around 18,000 years ago. During the Bronze and Iron ages, many complex societies emerged from distinctive cultures such as Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor, Sevan-Artsakh, Karmir-Berd, Karmir-Vank, Lchashen-Metsamor, and Urartian. No changes in the female gene pool can be documented, which supports a cultural diffusion model in the region.

The study sampled 44 ancient human skeletons from Armenia and Artsakh according to established aDNA guidelines, from a total of 19 archaeological sites from large parts of Armenia as well as Artsakh. Based on contextual dating of artifacts, their ages are estimated to be between 300 to 7,800 years old, which covers seven well-defined cultural transitions.

The study shows that the lowest genetic distance in this dataset is between modern Armenians and the ancient individuals, followed closely by Georgians, compared to other peoples in the region such as Turkish people, Persians, and Azerbaijanis.

Affinity with Neolithic Farmers

According a study published in 2015, in which a genome-wide variation in 173 Armenians was analyzed and compared to 78 other worldwide populations, Armenians form a distinct genetic cluster linking the Near East, Europe, and the Caucasus.

The genetic landscape in the Near East had more affinity to Neolithic Europe than the present populations do. Armenians seem to share a similar affinity to those Neolithic farmers as do other genetic isolates in the Near East, such as Cypriots, Jews, and Christians. 29% of Armenian ancestry seems to originate from an ancestral population that is best represented by Neolithic Europeans. This suggests that they may derive from a people who inhabited the Near East during the Neolithic expansion of Near Eastern farmers into Europe beginning around 8,000 years ago.

An earlier study from 2011 has also shown a prevalence of Neolithic paternal chromosomes associated with the Agricultural Revolution. Collectively, they comprise 77% of the observed paternal lineages in the Armenian Plateau – 58% in Sasun and an average of 84% in Ararat Valley, Gardman and Lake Van.

Admixture During the Bronze Age

Bronze Age demographic processes had a major impact on the genetics of populations in the Armenian Highlands. Armenians appear to originate from a mixture of diverse populations occurring from 3000 BC to 2000 BC. This period coincides with the Kura-Araxes culture, the appearance of Hittites in Anatolia, and major population migrations after the domestication of the horse and the appearance of chariots. It also coincides with the legendary foundation of the Armenian nation in 2492 BC. According to the "A genetic atlas of human admixture history" published by Hellenthal et al. in 2014, admixture is not inferred or is uncertain.

Starting from around 1200 BC, during the Late Bronze Age collapse, around the time the Nairi tribal confederation and Urartu begin appearing in historical records, signs of admixture decrease to insignificant levels. It seems that widespread destruction and abandonment of major cities and trade routes caused the Armenians' isolation from their surroundings, and their adoption of a distinct culture and identity early on in their history genetically isolated them from major admixture throughout the following millennia.

Modern Genetic Structure

The Middle Eastern population's genetic landscape appears to have been continuously changing since the Bronze Age. There is a sub-Saharan African gene flow around 850 years ago in Syrians, Palestinians, and Jordanians consistent with previous reports of recent gene flow from Africans to Levantine populations after the Arab expansions. There is also an East Asian ancestry in Turks from admixture occurring around 800 years ago coinciding with the arrival of the Seljuk Turks to Anatolia from their homelands near the Aral sea. The introduction of these populations don't seem to have affected Armenians significantly. Around 500 years ago, a genetic structure within the population appears to have developed, which coincides with a period when the Armenian people were divided between the Ottoman Empire and the successive Iranian empires.

Most Common Haplogroups in Armenians

Y-DNA (male)	mtDNA (female)
R1b1 (25%)	H (29%)
J2 (23%)	U (16%)
G (12%)	J (12%)
J1 (12%)	HV (10%)
E1b1b1 (8%)	T (8%)
T (6%)	K (7%)
I2 (5%)	N (4%)
L (3%)	I (4%)
R1a (3%)	X (3%)
Q1 (2%)	W (3%)
R2a (1%)	R (3%)
F	V (1%)
A	F
	C

Earliest Attestations

Armenia and the Armenians were attested multiple times at the end of the Iron Age and the onset of Classical Antiquity.

Behistun Inscription

See also: Behistun Inscription

An Armenian tribute bearer (Behistun Inscription)

The earliest record of what can unambiguously be identified as Armenian dates back to the trilingual Behistun Inscription, authored sometime after c. 522 BC, in reference to a country and the people associated with it. The following table breaks down the attestation in the three languages it was written in:

Attestation of "Armenia" and "Armenians" in the Behistun Inscription

	Old Persian		Elamite		Babylonian Akkadian
	Country	People	Country	People	Country	People
Cuneiform	𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴	𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴𐎹
Transliteration	a-r-mi-i-n(a)	a-r-mi-i-n-y(a)	ḫar-mi-nu-ia	ḫar-mi-nu-ia-ip	KURú-ra-áš-ṭu	LUú-ra-áš-ṭa-a-a
Translation	Armenia	Armenians	Armenia	Armenians	Urartu	Urartians

The inscriptions chronicle Darius the Great's battles and conquests during the first Persian Empire. Multiple Armenian people were mentioned in them:

Relief of Arakha: "This is Arakha. He lied, saying: ‘I am Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabonidus. I am king in Babylon’."

• Dadarsi (or Dādṛšiš/Dadrshish), a satrap and commander who served Darius and quelled rebellions, including several in Armenia.
• Arakha (or Araḫa), 126th king of Babylon who rebelled against Darius (he claimed to be Nebuchadnezzar IV son of Nabonidus).
• Khaldita (or Ḫaldita), the supposed biological father of Arakha.
• Various other unnamed Armenian rebels, hosts, armies, and leaders who rejected Darius' authority in Armenia.

In the Babylonian Akkadian version, these people are referred to as Urartians.

Hecataeus

See also: Hecataeus of Miletus

The earliest known attestation in the Greek language is from a fragment attributed to Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus, which in some sources is dated to prior to the Behistun Inscription. In it, he mentions the Chalybes people in Pontus, past the Thermōdōn River, with Armenians as their southern neighbors:

Χάλυβες, περὶ τὸν Πόντον ἔθνος ἐπὶ τῷ Θερμώδοντι, περὶ ὧν Εὔδοξος ἐν πρώτῳ ... Καὶ Χάλυβοι παρ ̓ Ἑκαταίῳ· «Χαλύβοισι πρὸς νότον Ἀρμένιοι δμουρέουσι.»

— Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 525–500 BC), Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum ...: Apollodori Bibliotheca cum fragmentis, Volume 1, p. 13, no. 195

Xerxes I

See also: Xerxes I and XV Inscription

Xerxes I was king of Achaemenid Persia following the reign of his father, Darius the Great who authored the Behistun Inscription. Xerxes authored an inscription in the Achaemenid province of Armenia sometime between 486–465 BC, located in modern-day Van, Turkey. The inscription is also written three languages – in Old Persian, Elamite, and in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian – and is the last known encounter of the name Urartu/Urashtu in reference to the Armenia.

Herodotus

See also: Herodotus and The Histories

Herodotus mentions the Armenian people multiple times in his book The Histories:

Next to the Cilicians, are the Armenians, another people rich in flocks, and after the Armenians, the Matieni, […]

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, Chapter 49 (c. 440 BC)

Herodotus also lists the ethnic groups in the Persian army, and claims that Armenians are settlers from Phrygia. However, this is an etiological tag added by the ethnographer responsible for the list who felt an obligation to explain where each of the ethnic groups came from – the ancient Armenians themselves seem to have no knowledge of their ancestors' migration from Phrygia.

The Phrygian equipment was very similar to the Paphlagonian, with only a small difference. As the Macedonians say, these Phrygians were called Briges as long as they dwelt in Europe, where they were neighbors of the Macedonians; but when they changed their home to Asia, they changed their name also and were called Phrygians. The Armenians, who are settlers from Phrygia, were armed like the Phrygians. Both these together had as their commander Artochmes, who had married a daughter of Darius.

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, Chapter 73 (c. 440 BC)

This passage was often cited to explain the origin of the Armenians and the introduction of Indo-European in the region in the form of a Proto-Armenian langauge, but modern studies show that Armenian as close to Indo-Iranian as it is to Graeco-Phrygian.

Xenophon

See also: Xenophon and Cyropaedia

In his book about Cyrus, the first Emperor of Persia, Xenophon writes about a conversation between Cyrus and the King of Armenia regarding a past war between Armenians and the Medes led by Astyages (events prior to the ones mentioned in the Behistun Inscriptions):

When everything was in order, he began his examination: “King of Armenia,” said he, “I advise you in the first place in this trial to tell the truth, that you may be guiltless of that offence which is hated more cordially than any other. For let me assure you that being caught in a barefaced lie stands most seriously in the way of a man's receiving any mercy. In the next place,” said he, “your children and your wives here and also the Armenians present are cognizant of everything that you have done; and if they hear you telling anything else than the facts, they will think that you are actually condemning your own self to suffer the extreme penalty, if ever I discover the truth.”

“Well, Cyrus,” said he, “ask what you will, and be assured that I will tell the truth, let happen what will as a result of it.”

“Tell me then,” said the other, “did you ever have a war with Astyages, my mother's father, and with the rest of the Medes?”

“Yes,” he answered, “I did.”

“And when you were conquered by him, did you agree to pay tribute and to join his army, wherever he should command you to go, and to own no forts?”

“Those are the facts.”

— Xenophon, Cyropaedia, book 3, chapter 1, sections 9–10 (c. 370 BC)

Strabo

See also: Strabo and Geographica

In reference to a time ancient to him, Strabo mentions Armenia facing Syria (Ancient Greek for Assyria) and ruling the whole of Asia (probably meaning Western Asia) until its authority was diminished by the time of Astyages of the Median Empire (r. 585–550 BC) at the hand of Cyrus of the Persian Empire (r. 559–530 BC), after which it maintained its "ancient dignity":

In 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 by Cyrus and the Persians, although it continued to preserve much of its ancient dignity; and Ecbatana was winter residence for the Persian kings, and likewise for the Macedonians who, after overthrowing the Persians, occupied Syria; and still today it affords the kings of the Parthians the same advantages and security.

— Strabo, Geographica, Book 11, chapter 13, section 5 (between c. 20 BC–23 AD)

Armina / Harminuya / Urashtu

Armenians

Armenians (Cilicia)

Pontus

↓ Thermōdōn River

Chalybes

Cilicians

Matieni

Historiography

Historians and Armenologists have attempted to explain the origin of the Armenian people, but nothing conclusive has been discovered as of yet. The current consensus is that the Armenian people emerged as the result of amalgamation between the various peoples who inhabited the mountainous region known in the Iron Age by various forms of the name Urartu (a.k.a., Uruatri, Urashtu, and Ararat). The process of amalgamation is presumed to have been accelerated by the formation of Urartu and completed in succeeding Armenian realms.

Academics have also considered the etymological roots of the stems Armen- and Hay-, from which derive the modern exonym and endonym of Armenia and Armenians, in order to propose candidates for groups (i.e., Proto-Armenians) who may have contributed to the Armenian ethnogenesis. These propositions are purely speculative and are largely based on geographic proximity, similarity between names, linguistics, and extrapolations made from known historical events of the time.

Further information: Name of Armenia

The following peoples and polities have all been suggested to have contributed to the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people.

Prehistoric Cultures

Main articles: Shulaveri-Shomu culture, Kura-Araxes culture, and Trialeti culture

There is evidence of Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age cultures in lands historically and presently inhabited by Armenian people, dating to about 4000 BC. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 at the Areni-1 cave complex have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe, skirt, and wine-producing facility.

From 2200 BC to 1600 BC, the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture flourished in Armenia, southern Georgia, and northeastern Turkey. It has been speculated that this was an Indo-European culture. Other possibly related cultures were spread throughout the Armenia Highlands during this time, namely in the Aragats and Lake Sevan regions.

Armani & Subartu

Main articles: Armani and Subartu

Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name "Armenia" may have possibly been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions Armani (or Armânum) together with Ibla, from territories conquered by Naram-Sin (2300 BC) identified with an Akkadian colony in the current region of Diyarbekir; however, the precise locations of both Armani and Ibla are unclear. Some modern researchers have placed Armani (Armi) in the general area of modern Samsat, and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people. Today, the Modern Assyrians (who traditionally speak Neo-Aramaic, not Akkadian) refer to the Armenians by the name Armani. Thutmose III of Egypt, in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BCE), mentioned as the people of "Ermenen", claiming that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars". Armenia is possibly connected to Mannaea, which may be identical to the region of Minni mentioned in The Bible. However, what all these attestations refer to cannot be determined with certainty.

Hittites & Hayasa

Main articles: Hittites and Hayasa-Azzi

Hittite inscriptions deciphered in the 1920s by the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer testify to the existence of a mountain country, the Hayasa and/or the Azzi, lying around Lake Van. Several prominent authorities agree in placing Azzi to the north of Ishuwa. Others see Hayasa and Azzi as identical.

Records of the time between Telipinu and Tudhaliya III are sketchy. The Hittites seem to have abandoned their capital at Hattusa and moved to Sapinuwa under one of the earlier Tudhaliya kings. In the early 14th century BC, Sapinuwa was burned as well. Hattusili III records at this time that the Azzi had "made Samuha its frontier." The modern Georgian name for Armenians "Somkheti" may ultimately derive from Samuha.

Phrygians & Mushki

Main articles: Armeno-Phrygian and Mushki

A theory that had been popular was that the introduction of the Armenian language (and thus Armenians) into the Armenian Highlands was through the Phrygians and a related peoples known as the Mushki, as Paleo-Balkan-speaking settlers retroactively named Armeno-Phrygians, who had already settled in the western parts of the region prior to the establishment of Urartu, and became the ruling elite under the Median Empire, followed by the Achaemenid Empire. According to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture:

The Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrian (and Urartians), Luvians [Luwians] and the Proto-Armenian Mushki who carried their IE [Indo-European] language eastwards across Anatolia. After arriving in its historical territory, Proto-Armenian would appear to have undergone massive influence by the languages it eventually replaced. Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.

This theory was largely influence by Herodotus' claim that Armenians were Phrygian settlers. It has recently been disproved on historiographic, linguistic, and genetic grounds. One of the earlier problems is that the Assyrians referenced the Armenians and the Mushki as separate groups, and the Armenians never identified themselves as Mushki (although the -k in Mushk(i) is believed to be an Armenian plural marker, which suggests Armenians were aware of the Mushki).

Linguistically, some modern studies show that assertions about the proximity of the Greek and Phrygian (Mushki) languages with Armenian are not confirmed in the language material and that Armenian is as close to Indo-Iranian as it is to Greek and Phrygian.

Urartu

Main articles: Mitanni, Nairi, and Urartu

Nairi was the Assyrian name (KUR.KUR Na-i-ri, also Na-'i-ru) for a confederation of tribes in the Armenian Highlands, roughly corresponding to the modern Van and Hakkâri provinces of modern Turkey. Nairi has sometimes been equated with Nihriya, known from Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Urartian sources. However, its co-occurrence with Nihriya within a single text may argue against this.

Prior to the Bronze Age collapse, the Nairi tribes were considered a force strong enough to contend with both Assyria and Hatti. The Battle of Nihriya, the culminating point of the hostilities between Hittites and Assyrians for control over the remnants of the former kingdom of Indo-European Mitanni, took place there, c. 1230 BC.

Nairi was incorporated into Urartu during the 10th century BC. In fact, the first kings of Urartu referred to their kingdom as Nairi instead of the native self-appellation Bianili.

Urartu (/ʊˈrɑːrtuː/), which corresponds to the biblical mountains of Ararat, is the name of a geographical region commonly used as the exonym for the Iron Age kingdom also known by the modern rendition of its endonym, the Kingdom of Van, centered around Lake Van in the historic Armenian Highlands (present-day eastern Anatolia).

Assyrian inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (c. 1274 BC) first mention Uruartri as one of the states of Nairi, a loose confederation of small kingdoms and tribal states in the Armenian Highland in the 13th to 11th centuries BC which he conquered. Uruartri itself was in the region around Lake Van. The Nairi states were repeatedly subjected to further attacks and invasions by the Assyrians, especially under Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1240 BC), Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 BC), Ashur-bel-kala (c. 1070 BC), Adad-nirari II (c. 900 BC), Tukulti-Ninurta II (c. 890 BC), and Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC).

Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the 9th century BC as a powerful northern rival of Assyria, which lay to the south in northern Mesopotamia and northeast Syria. The Nairi states and tribes became a unified kingdom under king Aramu (c. 860–843 BC), whose capital at Arzashkun was captured by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser III. Roughly contemporaries of the Uruartri, living just to the west along the southern shore of the Black Sea, were the Kaskas known from Hittite sources.

The written language that the kingdom's political elite used is referred to as Urartian, which appears in cuneiform inscriptions in Armenia and eastern Turkey. It is unknown what language was spoken by the peoples of Urartu at the time of the existence of the kingdom, but there is linguistic evidence of contact between the proto-Armenian language and the Urartian language at an early date (sometime between the 3rd—2nd millennium BC), occurring prior to the formation of Urartu as a kingdom.

The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but went into gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC. The geopolitical region would re-emerge as Armenia shortly after. Being heirs to the Urartian realm, the earliest identifiable ancestors of the Armenians are the peoples of Urartu.

Urartologist Paul Zimansky speculated that the Urartians (or at least the ruling family) may have emigrated northwest into the Lake Van region from their religious capital Musasir (Ardini). According to Zimansky, the Urartian ruling class were few in number and governed over an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse population. Zimansky went so far as to suggest that the kings of Urartu might have come from various ethnic backgrounds themselves.

Presence of the Armenian Language

The presence of a population who spoke proto-Armenian in Urartu prior to its demise is subject to speculation, but the existence of Urartian words in the Armenian language suggests early contact between the two languages and long periods of bilingualism. It is generally assumed that proto-Armenian speakers entered Anatolia around 1200 BC, during the Bronze Age Collapse, which was three to four centuries before the emergence of the Kingdom of Urartu. The presence of Armenian speakers in the Armenian Highlands prior to the formation of the Kingdom of Urartu is supported by a reference to "the king of Uiram" in an 11th-century BCE list of lands conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I.

An alternate theory suggests that Armenians were tribes indigenous to the northern shores of Lake Van or Urartu's northern periphery (possibly as the Hayasans, Etuini, and/or Diauehi, all of whom are known only from references left by neighboring peoples such Hittites, Urartians and Assyrians). While the Urartian language was used by the royal elite, the population they ruled may have been multi-lingual, and some of these peoples would have spoken Armenian.

An addition to this theory, supported by the official historiography of Armenia and experts in Assyrian and Urartian studies such as Igor M. Diakonoff, Giorgi Melikishvili, Mikhail Nikolsky, and Ivan Mestchaninov, suggests that Urartian was solely the formal written language of the state, while its inhabitants, including the royal family, spoke Armenian.This theory primarily hinges on the fact that the Urartian language used in the cuneiform inscriptions were very repetitive and scant in vocabulary (having as little as 350–400 roots). Furthermore, over 250 years of usage, it shows no development, which is taken to indicate that the language had ceased to be spoken before the time of the inscriptions or was used only for official purposes.

A complimentary theory, suggested by Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov in 1984, places the Proto-Indo-Europeanhomeland (the location where Indo-European would have emerged from) in the Armenian Highlands (see: Armenian hypothesis), which would entail the presence of proto-Armenians in the area during the entire lifetime of the Urartian state. The Armenian hypothesis supports the theory that the Urartian language was not spoken, but simply written, and postulates that the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language.

Appearance of Armenia

Main articles: Satrapy of Armenia and Orontid dynasty

The Urartian confederation united the disparate peoples of the highlands, which began a process of intermingling of the peoples and cultures (including possibly Armenian tribes) and languages (potentially including proto-Armenian) within the highlands. This intermixing would ultimately culminate in the emergence of the Armenians as the dominant polity and culture of the Armenian Highlands, and as the direct successors and inheritors of the Urartian domain.

The Orontid dynasty, also known by their native name Eruandid or Yervanduni, was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Ararat). The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Median invasion in the 6th century BC.

Members of the Orontid dynasty ruled Armenia intermittently during the period spanning the 6th century BC to at least the 2nd century BC, first as client kings or satraps of the Median and Achaemenid empires who established an independent kingdom after the collapse of the Achaemenid empire, and later as kings of Sophene and Commagene who eventually succumbed to the Roman Empire. The Orontids are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (321 BC–428 AD).

Little is known about the origins of the Orontid dynasty. Some historians believe that the Orontid kings were of Armenian or Urartian origin. In addition, historians believe the dynasty may have had Iranian origin through a possible relation to the Achaemenids, either through marriage or blood.

The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of a masculine name of Iranian origin; Երուանդ Eruand in Old Armenian. The name is only attested in Greek (Gr.:Ὀρόντης). Its Avestan connection is Auruuant (brave, hero) and Middle Persian Arwand (Modern Persian اروند Arvand). Some have suggested a continuity with the Hittite name Arnuwanda. Various Greek transcriptions of the name in Classical sources are spelled as Orontes, Aruandes or Ardoates. The presence of this dynasty is attested from at least 400 BC, and it can be shown to have ruled originally from Armavir and subsequently Yervandashat. Armavir is called the "first capital of the Orontid dynasty" — a few Greek language inscriptions have been found, but the penetration of Hellenistic culture in Armavir seems to have been limited.

The precise date of the foundation of the Orontid Dynasty is debated by scholars to this day but there is a consensus that it occurred after the destruction of Urartu by the Scythians and the Medes around 612 BC.

Religion

Main article: Armenian mythology

The earliest religious beliefs of Armenians are believed to have been a blend of Indo-European, Mesopotamian, and native Anatolian beliefs. Native gods and goddesses worshipped included Ar (Arev, Areg), Angegh, Astghik, Ayg, Vanatur, and others.

During Median and Persian domination, Iranian religious influences began to mix with native Armenian beliefs, leading to the worship of new, syncretic deities such as Mihr, Aramazd, Vahagn, and Anahit.

Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion in 301, partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems, becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36 years before Constantine the Great was baptised. Prior to this, during the latter part of the Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian country.

Folklore

According to the legend of Hayk in Armenian historiographic tradition, the legendary founder of Armenia, in either 2492 BC or 2107 BC Hayk fought against Belus, the Babylonian God of War to establish the very first Armenian state. The location is traditionally believed to be at modern-day Çavuştepe in Turkey along the Engil river. In the same tradition, the endonym Hayk’ (Հայք from Classical Armenian) is believed to have derived from the name of Hayk (Հայկ) himself.

Historically, this event could coincide with the destruction of Akkad by the Gutian dynasty of Sumer in 2115 BC, a time when Hayk would have left with the “more than 300 members of his household” as told in the legend, and also during the beginning of when a Mesopotamian Dark Age was occurring due to the fall of the Akkadian Empire in 2154 BC which may have acted as a backdrop for the events in the legend making him leave Mesopotamia.

Armenian tradition also has an eponymous ancestor, Aram, a lineal descendant of Hayk, son of Harma and father of Ara the Beautiful (according to classical Armenian historian Moses of Chorene). A much older Aram, the son of Shem, is also mentioned from the Book of Genesis, Historian Flavius Josephus, and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as being the sovereign over "all the land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of 'Arara." Aram is sometimes equated with Arame of Urartu, the earliest known king of Urartu.