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Armenia

Highland country of the Achaemenid empire, in revolt in 521 BCE

In the game: Level 3: The Lie

Armenia was a mountainous country north of Assyria, called Armina in Darius's inscriptions. It rose against Darius in 522-521 and was won back by commanders he sent, not by the King himself. The Behistun inscription is the main source for these campaigns.

In the game: The game names Armenia only in the Chronicle and in the event article on the war there, where Dadarshish and Vaumisa fight the rebels. It has no level, building or mechanic of its own.

A country in Darius's lists

In the record

Armenia appears as Armina in the Behistun inscription, which lists it among the lands that belonged to Darius. The inscriptions treat it as one of the King's countries. They do not give its borders.

DB §6

The rebellion of 521

In the record

In the Behistun account Armenia rebelled in the troubles that followed the death of Cambyses and Darius's seizure of the throne. Darius says he sent out his own men against the rebels while he himself was in Media. The text gives the name of no Armenian rebel leader.

DB §26-30

Dadarshish and Vaumisa

In the record

Darius names two commanders, both his servants. Dadarshish, an Armenian, fought three battles against the rebels and Vaumisa, a Persian, fought two more, some in Assyria. The inscription dates each battle by day, month and place, and records that Darius's side won. The victories are told as the King's own, won through his officers.

DB §26-30

Herodotus on the Armenians

Ancient account

Herodotus does not describe this revolt. He lists Armenia as a tribute-paying province of Darius, and he says the Armenians were settlers from Phrygia. He also describes the Royal Road crossing Armenia. The royal inscriptions do not confirm the Phrygian origin.

Herodotus 3.93; 5.52; 7.73

The battle sites and the single version

Disputed

Several battle sites named at Behistun lie in or near Armenia and Assyria, and modern scholars have not agreed on where all of them were. The campaign is known almost only from Darius's own text, which was written to justify his rule. How long the fighting lasted, and how serious the revolt was, rest on that one version.

P. Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander, 2002