Йоккха Эрмалойчоь

After the defeat of the Seleucid king Antiochus III (the Great) by Rome at the Battle of Magnesia (winter 190–189 bce), his two Armenian satraps, Artaxias (Artashes) and Zariadres (Zareh), established themselves, with Roman consent, as kings of Greater Armenia and Sophene, respectively, thus becoming the creators of an independent Armenia.

Статья «Bagratids»:
The partition of Armenia in 387 into an Iranian and a Roman vassal state, then the annexation of the Western kingdom by the Empire, and finally the abolition of the East Armenian Monarchy in 428, which ended the perennial tension between the Armenian Crown and the insubordinate dynastic princes who were its vassals, placed these princes in the necessity of choosing between the two rival imperial allegiances. The Bagratids proved successful in maneuvering between the two powers. They were immediate vassals of the emperor in Sper, in the years 387-532 (before Justinian I annexed it), whereas, in their Persarmenian princedoms, they were, from 428, like the rest of the East Armenian princes free at last from the local king’s overlordship, immediate vassals, under the supervision of an Iranian viceroy (marzpan), of the distant Great King. Partition and annexation did not, however, save Armenia from tension.
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Cautiously maneuvering, as they had always done, between, on the one hand, the caliphate, which was on the decline now and breaking up into a number of succession states, and, on the other, the empire, which was concentrating upon a struggle with these, the Bagratids monopolized the office of presiding prince and then, in 884, converted it into kingship. Recognition was easily obtained from caliph and emperor. The Armenian monarchy, abolished in 428, had been restored.

Статья «Arsacids»:
During one of the internal crises, the kingdom was divided in 384 between the pro-Roman Arsaces (Aršak) III and the pro-Iranian Chosroes (Xosrov) IV. With this fait accompli before them, the Emperor Theodosius I and the Great King Šāpūr III hastened to ratify in 387 the existence of two Armenian kingdoms, one, western, a Roman, and the other, eastern and vastly larger, an Iranian vassal. Arsaces III died in 390 and the western kingdom became a part of the Roman empire; but the eastern kingdom (Persarmenia) continued to exist. The crown, however, was fatally weakened; and, finally, the princes, weary of all immediate authority over them, deposed with Iranian connivance the last king, Artaxias (Artašēs) IV in 428 and brought about the abolition of the monarchy. Thereafter Armenia was a part of the Iranian empire, with the princes as its sovereign oligarchs, vassals of the distant great king, whose suzerainty expressed itself in the presence of his viceroy (marzpan) and in the obligation of fealty and military aid imposed on them.
An event of importance in the Arsacid period was the invention, on the threshold of the fifth century, of the Armenian alphabet by St. Maštocʿ (Mesrop). With this Armenian became the language of the educated; it was introduced into the liturgy; and national literature was born (under Hellenistic and Syrian influences). Armenia’s identity and individuality were thus saved and an absorption by either Byzantine or Iranian civilization was precluded.

Though the Christianization of Armenia in the third century and its rise to Armenian official religion shortly after 300 A.D. loosened the close ties between Iranians and Armenians, ties that had until then been close even in matters of creed, little changed in the political situation even under the Sasanians (who ruled over Iran from 224 A.D.), until the Armenian apple of discord was finally divided between Romans and Sasanians in 387 A.D.: Western Armenia came under the rule of the Romans and later the Byzantines, whereas the far greater eastern part of the country, the so-called “Great Armenia” or the “Persarmenia” of the Byzantine historiographers, came under Persian control and was fully annexed by Bahrām V Gōr some years later, in 428 A.D., and from then governed only by Sasanian margraves.

The dissatisfaction of the nakharars with Arshak II led to the division of Armenia into two sections, Byzantine Armenia and Persarmenia (c. 390). The former, comprising about one-fifth of Armenia, was rapidly absorbed into the Byzantine state, to which the Armenians came to contribute many emperors and generals. Persarmenia continued to be ruled by an Arsacid in Dvin, the capital after the reign of Khosrow II (330–339), until the deposition of Artashes IV and his replacement by a Persian marzpān (governor) at the request of the nakharars (428). Although the Armenian nobles had thus destroyed their country’s sovereignty, a sense of national unity was furthered by the development of an Armenian alphabet and a national Christian literature; culturally, if not politically, the 5th century was a golden age. (See Armenian literature.)

… Иран с этим мириться не желал, и началась очередная серия римско-иранских войн, одной из арен которых были закавказские страны. Завершились эти войны разделом Армянского царства в 80-х годах IV в. Большая часть последнего подпала под верховную власть Ирана, меньшая - Рима. В обеих частях страны остались цари из армянского рода Аршакуни. В римской части царская власть была вскоре (391 г.) упразднена, в иранской она была ликвидирована по просьбе армянской знати в 428 году. По условиям римско-иранского договора некоторые восточные области Армянского царства (приблизительно территория нынешней Республики Азербайджан к юго-западу от Куры) были переданы албанским царям, очевидно, за их услуги шахам.

That, for his part, Theodosius desired good relations with the Persians is shown by the friendly reception afforded the envoys who came in 384 to announce the accession of Shapur III. Around the same time or shortly thereafter civil war erupted in Armenia between the Roman-supported Arsak IV and a Persian nominee, Khusro III, who had been sent at the request of some of the nakbarars. After a brief threat of Roman—Persian hostilities the two powers agreed, probably in 387, to divide Armenia into Roman and Persian spheres of influence, not at this point delimited by a fixed border and each under its king, to whom the nakharars gave their allegiance. This arrangement, which led to the abolition of the Arsacid crown in both sectors by 428 and the emergence of a border at about the same time, greatly eased, though it did not eliminate, Roman—Persian tensions in the region.

Rev I the Just (189-216). L 58; RL I 50. ? Son of the King of Armenia (Vologases II, 180-191) and of the sister of Amazaspus II, wrested the throne from his maternal uncle (L 57) and reigned, traditionally, for 27 years. — With Vologases (Valarshak) II, the Arsacids became at last firmly established on the Armenian throne: they reigned thereafter, with but slight interruptions, until the end of the Armenian Monarchy in 428. That this consolidation of the Arsacids in Armenia should have been accompanied by the acquisition of the Iberian throne for one of their princes, can hardly be regarded as unexpected. Rev married a Roman lady named Sephelia (L 58).75

c. 387 Peace of Akilisene; Roman-Persian partition of Armenia into an eastern kingdom and a western; Armenia loses all of its border provinces to Iberia, Albania, or Persia.
390 Rome annexes the western kingdom on death of King Arshak
395 Death of Emperor Theodosius I; partition of Roman Empire, of which the eastern half is later known as the Byzantine Empire.
401-417 Reign of King Vramshapuh; reconciliation and collaboration of church and state in Armenia.
C. 406 Invention of the Armenian alphabet by St. Mesrop Mashtots1.
408 Theodosius II founds the Byzantine fortress of Theodosiopolis on the site of the Armenian village of Karin or Karnoy K‘aghak‘ (now Erzurum).
410 Council of Nisibis.
428 Termination of the Armenian monarchy; Persian viceroy assigned to Duin.

After the partition arranged by the Peace of Akilisene of 387, the map of Armenia remained virtually constant for two centuries, the only major changes being those undertaken by the emperor Justinian during his administrative reforms of Byzantine Armenia in the 530s (map 65).
In this long period, Greater Armenia—known as Persarmenia to the Romano- Byzantine empire—now consisted of a number of regions. (1) The first of these was the great block of territory in the center of the country known as Ayrarat, that is, the plain of the river Arax (Erasxajor), the royal domains of the Arsacid kings. Later, after the termination of the monarchy in 428, this unit would break up, its northern districts passing to the various branches of the house of Kamsarakan (Abeleank1, Gabeleank1, Hawnunik', and Arsarunik*), itself, as we have seen, a junior branch of the Arsacid royal line; …

But Arab power was waning, and the later Abbasid caliphs were unable to maintain their hold over Caucasia, while the Byzantines, distracted by the Bulgars, were in no position to advance into the area at Arab expense. Under these circumstances, the growing power of Asot V Bagratuni led to the emergence of a new Armenian kingdom. Loyal to the caliph, supported by the Armenian Church, encouraged by the weakness and divisions of the other dynasts in Caucasia, and strengthened by marital alliances with the rulers of Iberia, Vaspurakan, and Siwnik', Asot achieved such an ascendancy in Armenia that when his Armenian nobles asked the caliph to recognize him as their king (in 884 or 885), the caliph quickly acceded and Asot was crowned by the katholikos George II (877-897) in the cathedral of Bagaran, which Asot had made his capital. Impressed and unable to take action to thwart this move, the Byzantine emperor Basil I (867-886) also sent Asot a crown, granting him the somewhat vague title arkhon ton arkhontes ‘ruler of rulers’, which in Armenia was accepted as the equivalent of ‘king of kings’. In this way, the Armenian monarchy, extinct since 428, was revived, with Asot Bagratuni inheriting the roles of the earlier Armenian kings, the Byzantine presiding princes, and the Arab viceroys, together with the hegemony over the other princes that all three of these positions had entailed, as well as the overlordship of the princes of Iberia and Albania that the last had implied. With the reestablishment of the kingdom, Armenia entered its “silver age,” one of the most brilliant periods in its economic and cultural history.

Представитель этой династии Оронт (по-армянски Ерванд) признал власть Александра, но во время борьбы диадохов в 316 году до н. э. Айраратское паччахьалла стало самостоятельным. Столицей царства был город Армавир, расположенный на месте урартского Аргиштихинили. В 220 году до н. э. Айраратская область была захвачена Антиохом III и некоторое время спустя присоединена к собственно Армении, которая отныне начала называться Великой. Таким образом, к концу III в. почти все армянские земли оказались под властью Селевкидов.

… Все это не помешало Антиоху III в 201 г., имея за спиной удачно завершенный восточный поход и победоносную войну с Египтом, устранить Ксеркса при посредничестве Антиохиды и обратить Софену в селевкидскую провинцию. Аналогичная судьба постигла в это же время государство Айрарат и его правителя - последнего Ерванда: Антиох III стремился укрепить свой тыл перед запланированным западным походом в Европу.

… Perhaps most significant of all is the observation of Strabo that the unification of various districts under Artashes and Zareh had led the population of Greater Armenia and Sophene to "speak the same language". The Armenization of the entire area was progressing apace.

The line of the Orontids of Greater Armenia came to an end in the 2nd century BCE, with the rise of the next Armenian dynasty, the Artaxiads, who were installed by the Seleucid Antiochus III, but proved themselves to be very able dynasts. Not only did the greatest of them, Tigranes II (the Great, r. 95– c. 55 BCE) expand the territory of Armenia considerably (but fleetingly) at the expense of the Parthians, but the Artaxiads are also widely seen as culturally significant in building up an Armenian territorial and cultural identity.

There was probably some local diversity in Armenian religion, though attempts by the Artaxiads to impose political unity involved religious centralisation as well.