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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Joseph Sarkissian, post: 2412359, member: 78162&quot;]Armenia was rarely part of Byzantium, but always a pivoting point and a battleground between the Byzantine and the Persian empire. Whoever the Armenian kings or princes sided with, they had the advantage. The second Armenian Kingdom, the Arsacid dynasty, between 1st and 4th cent. AD, faced off with the Sassanids of Persia, as they tried to assimilate her into their empire. Armenia reacted by declaring Cristianity as a state religion and cutting off Zoroastrian ties with Persia. The third Armenian kingdom, the Bagratids, established in 886, after a few centuries of Arab invasions, now in a face-off with Byzantium, as the latter tried to assert its influence over Armenia through Christianity. Well, Armenia reacted by rejecting the council of Chalcedon decrees, and cut off its relations with the Roman and Greek churches. Byzantium finally annexed Armenia in 1045, a historically suicidal and disastrous move, removing the only buffer and obstacle to the freshly brewing Turkic invasions from the East. We all know history after this. Seljuqs, Mongols and Ottomans followed, and Constantinople fell in 1453. </p><p>The Cilician kingdom 12-14th cent AD was an offshoot of the Armenian kingdoms during the Mongol rule of Armenia major in the East, (Mongols tolerated the Cilician kingdom due to its clever diplomacy) and supported by the Crusades. The Mamelukes took over for a while just before the arrival of the Ottomans and the fall of Constantinople.</p><p>&nbsp;Sorry, TRIED to keep it short <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie104" alt=":yawn:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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