Orontid dynasty in the context of "Satrapy of Armenia"

The Kingdom of Greater Armenia or simply Greater Armenia or Armenia Major (Armenian: Մեծ Հայք Mets Hayk; Latin: Armenia Maior), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire under Tigranes II, was an Armenian 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 (331–200 BC), Artaxiad (189 BC – 12 AD), and Arsacid (52–428).

The root of the kingdom lies in the Satrapy of Armenia of the Achaemenid Empire of Iran, which was formed from the territory of Urartu (860–590 BC) after it was conquered by the Medes in 590 BC. The satrapy became a kingdom in 321 BC during the reign of the Orontid dynasty after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great, which was then incorporated as one of the Hellenistic kingdoms of the Seleucid Empire.

Commagene (Ancient Greek: Κομμαγηνή) was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Orontids, a dynasty of Iranian origin, that had ruled over the Satrapy of 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.

Commagene has been characterized as a "buffer state" between Armenia, Parthia, Syria, and Rome; culturally, it was correspondingly mixed. The kings of the Kingdom of Commagene claimed descent from Orontes with Darius I of Persia as their ancestor, by his marriage to Rhodogune, daughter of Artaxerxes II who had a family descent from king Darius I. The territory of Commagene corresponded roughly to the modern Turkish provinces of Adıyaman and northern Antep.

The Artaxiad dynasty (also Artashesian) ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in 12 AD. It was founded by Artaxias I, who claimed kinship with the previous ruling dynasty of Armenia, the Orontids. 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 (r. 95–55 BC), the Kingdom of Armenia reached its greatest territorial extent, extending for a brief period from the Caspian to the Mediterranean Sea.

Hydarnes (Old Persian: 𐎻𐎡𐎭𐎼𐎴, romanized: Vidṛna), also known as Hydarnes the Elder, was a Persian nobleman, who was one of the seven conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo-Smerdis. His name is the Greek transliteration of the Old Persian name Vidṛna, which may have meant "he who knows the guilt/wrong".

He was seemingly good friends with Aspathines, who invited him to join the conspiracy, which included the noblemen Intaphernes, Otanes, Gobryas, Megabyzus, and the Achaemenid prince Darius, who was its leader. For his services, Hydarnes was seemingly given the Achaemenid satrapy of Armenia as a semi-hereditary fief, since his descendants governed it until the Hellenistic period. Orontes I (died 344 BC), the ancestor of the Orontid dynasty, was descended from Hydarnes. According to some Persepolis tablets, Hydarnes served as the satrap of Media under Darius.

Armavir (Old Armenian: Արմաւիր; also called Armaouira in antiquity) was a large commercial city and the capital of ancient Armenia during the reign of the Orontid dynasty. Its ruins are located 1 kilometer west of the modern Armenian village of Armavir.

The Kingdom of Sophene (Armenian: Ծոփք, romanized: Tsop’k’, Ancient Greek: Σωφηνή, romanized: Sōphēnḗ), 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.