Year 190 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asiaticus and Laelius. The denomination 190 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia or Armenia Major sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire, was a kingdom in the Ancient Near East which existed from 331 BC to 428 AD. Its history is divided into the successive reigns of three royal dynasties: Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid (52–428).
Tmorik was a region and system of defenses in the south of the Kingdom of Armenia. It was named after its main fortress, which was also known as Alki. It was built in ancient times as a bulwark against threats coming from Mesopotamia. Once a district of its own the province of Korchayk, it was later attached to the district of Kordrik, probably under the Arsacid dynasty. It is identified with the Tume or Tumurru mentioned in 13th–7th-century BCE Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions as one of the Nairi lands. It may be one of the lands mentioned by Strabo which were conquered by Artaxias I in the 2nd century BCE. Strabo refers to a land called Taronitis, which has alternatively been read as *Tamonitis and identified with Tmorik.
Artaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia, ruling from 189 BC to 160 BC. Artaxias was a member of a branch of the Orontid dynasty, the earlier ruling dynasty of Armenia. He expanded his kingdom on all sides, consolidating the territory of Greater Armenia. He enacted a number of administrative reforms to order his expanded realm. He also founded a new capital in the central valley of the Araxes River called Artaxata (Artashat), which quickly grew into a major urban and commercial center. He was succeeded by his son Artavasdes I.
Mithrenes was a Persian commander of the force that garrisoned the citadel of Sardis. According to Cyril Toumanoff, he was also a member of the Orontid dynasty, of Iranian origin. Waldemar Heckel, on the other hand, considers Mithrenes to be a Persian noble of unknown family background. After the battle of the Granicus Mithrenes surrendered voluntarily to Alexander the Great, and was treated by him with great distinction. Mithrenes was present in the Macedonian camp after the Battle of Issus, and Alexander ordered him to visit the captured family of Darius III and assure them that Darius was alive, before changing his mind and assigning the duty to Leonnatus instead. He fought for Alexander at Gaugamela, and ironically he was fighting against an army that included his father Orontes II. Afterwards, Alexander appointed him Satrap of Armenia.
Sophene was a province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in the south-west of the kingdom, and of the Roman Empire. The region lies in what is now southeastern Turkey.
The Artaxiad dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in 12 AD. Their realm included Greater Armenia, Sophene and, intermittently, parts of Mesopotamia. Their main enemies were the Romans, the Seleucids and the Parthians, against whom the Armenians conducted multiple wars. Under the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great, the Kingdom of Armenia reached its greatest territorial extent, extending for a brief period from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea.
The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire established an independent kingdom. Later, a branch of the Orontids ruled as kings of Sophene and Commagene. They are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the antiquity-era Kingdom of Armenia.
Sames I, was the Orontid king of Sophene and Commagene, ruling around 260 BC.
Xerxes was king of Sophene and Commagene from 228 BC to 212 BC. He was the son and successor of Arsames I.
Commagene was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynasty that had ruled over Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ancient city of Samosata, which served as its capital. The Iron Age name of Samosata, Kummuh, probably gives its name to Commagene.
The Satrapy of Armenia, a region controlled by the Orontid dynasty, was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC that later became an independent kingdom. Its capitals were Tushpa and later Erebuni.
Ptolemaeus was initially the satrap of Commagene, later becoming its first king in 163 BC. He belonged to the Orontid dynasty, founded by Orontes I. Ptolemaeus' father was King Orontes IV of Armenia, son of Arsames I.
Mithridates I Callinicus was a king of Orontid Armenian descent who lived during the late 2nd century BC and early 1st century BC. Mithridates was a prince, the son, and successor of King of Commagene, Sames II Theosebes Dikaios. Before his succession in 109 BC, he married the Syrian Greek Princess Laodice VII Thea, daughter of King Antiochus VIII Grypus and Ptolemaic princess Tryphaena, as a part of a peace alliance. Mithridates embraced Greek culture. Laodice bore Mithridates a son, Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, a prince and future king of Commagene. Mithridates died in 70 BC and Antiochus succeeded him.
Antiochus III Epiphanes was the ruler of the Kingdom of Commagene from 12 BC to 17 AD. He was the son and successor of King Mithridates III of Commagene and Iotapa, and of mixed Iranian, Armenian, Greek and Median descent – the last through his mother. His parents were first cousins.
The Kingdom of Sophene, was a Hellenistic-era political entity situated between ancient Armenia and Syria. Ruled by the Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed with Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Syrian, Anatolian and Roman influences. Founded around the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom maintained independence until c. 95 BCE when the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great conquered the territories as part of his empire. Sophene laid near medieval Kharput, which is present day Elazığ.
Orontes III was King of Armenia. In his reign he struggled for control of the Kingdom of Sophene with king Antiochus II Theos until being defeated in 272 BC and was forced to pay a large tribute which included 300 talents of silver and 1,000 horses and mules. Orontes III was subsequently murdered in 260 BC, whether at the instigation of King Antiochus II is not recorded. His son, Sames, continued to rule in Sophene.
Orontes IV was the son of King Arsames and is recorded as ruling Armenia from inscriptions found at the historic capital of the Orontid dynasty, Armavir. He was the founder of the city of Yervandashat. In his reign the religious site of Bagaran was founded. Large bronze statues in the Hellenistic style of the gods, Zeus (Aramazd), Artemis (Anahit) and Herakles (Vahagn) were brought there and set up in temples dedicated to them. He is also said to have founded a shrine at Armavir dedicated to Apollo (Mithra), a golden statue of four horses pulling a chariot with Apollo as god of the Sun. This was later destroyed by the Sassanid Persian army in the 4th century AD.
Artashat, Hellenized as Artaxata and Artaxiasata (Ἀρταξιάσατα), was a major city and commercial center of ancient Armenia which served as the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia from its founding in 176 BC to 120 AD, with some interruptions. It was founded during reign of King Artaxias I (Artashes), the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty. Its ruins are located in the Ararat Province of modern-day Armenia, on the left bank of the Araks River, at the site of the monastery of Khor Virap. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times from the 1st to the 5th centuries AD, before finally being abandoned.
Mithrobouzanes was the Orontid king of Sophene in the second half of the 2nd-century BC. His name (Μιθροβουζάνης) is the Greek transliteration of the Iranian name *MiΘra-bauǰ-ana-, meaning "Delighting Mithra." The Armenian equivalent to the name would be Me(h)ruzhan (Մեհրուժան). He was the son and successor of Zariadres.
