Syria
The Kingdom of Armenia was at its greatest extent under Tigranes the Great, married to Cleopatra, daughter of Mithridates VI of Pontus. After the death of Mithridates II of Parthia in 88 BCE, Tigranes took advantage of the fact that the Parthian Empire had been weakened by Scythian invasions. According to Strabo, he subjected to his authority the Atropatenians (Azerbaijan), and the Goryaeans (the Upper Tigris); by force of arms he obtained possession also of the rest of Mesopotamia and, after crossing the Euphrates, of Syria and Phoenicea. At its height Tigrane's empire extended from the Pontic Alps in modern north-eastern Turkey to Mesopotamia, and from the Caspian to the Mediterranean.
Pompey routed the opposing forces in Sicily and then in 81 BC he crossed over to the Roman province of Africa, where he defeated Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and the Numidian king Hiarbas. Pompey remained in Spain between five and six years 76–71 BC. Fair and generous terms extended his patronage throughout Hispania and into southern Gaul. While Crassus was facing Spartacus late in the Third Servile War (the Gladiator War and The War of Spartacus by Plutarch) in 71 BC, Pompey returned to Italy with his army. Between 73 and 71 BC, a band of escaped slaves — originally a small cadre of about 70 escaped gladiators which grew into a band of over 120,000 men, women and children — wandered throughout and raided the Roman province of Italia with relative impunity under the guidance of several leaders, including the famous gladiator-general Spartacus. The able-bodied adults of this band were a surprisingly effective armed force that repeatedly showed they could withstand the Roman military, from the local Campanian patrols, to the Roman militia, and to trained Roman legions under consular command. In his march toward Rome he came upon the remains of the army of Spartacus and captured five thousand Spartacani who had survived Crassus and were attempting to flee. Pompey cut these fugitives to pieces, and therefore claimed for himself, in addition to all his other exploits, the glory of finishing the revolt. His attempt to take credit for ending the Servile war was an act that infuriated Crassus.
On October 6, 69 BCE Tigranes was defeated by the Lucullus' Roman army after a heated battle at Tigranocerta. Non-Armenian guards of Tigranocerta had betrayed Tigranes during the battle by opening the gates of city to the Romans. Because of his failures, he was recalled to Rome and replaced by Gnaeus Pompey. Tigranes defeated his younger son (also named Tigranes) who had been supplied an army by the Parthian king, Phraates III, who was then forced to seek protection with the Roman general, Pompey. Tigranes the Great then managed to recover much of his former territory, and Mithridates returned to Pontus with 8,000 men. In 66 BCE Pompey advanced into Armenia with the younger Tigranes and Tigranes the Great, now almost 75 years old, surrendered at Acre. Tigranes continued to rule Armenia as an ally of Rome until his death in 55 BCE.
The name Syria comes from the ancient Greek name for the land of Aram at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea between Egypt and Arabia to the south and Cilicia to the north, stretching inland to include Mesopotamia, and having an uncertain border to the northeast that Pliny the Elder describes as including from west to east Commagene, Sophene, and Adiabene. By Pliny's time, however, this larger Syria had been divided into a number of provinces under the Roman Empire but politically independent from each other: Judaea (or "Judea" and later renamed Palestine in AD 135—the region corresponding to the modern states of Israel and Jordan and the Palestinian territories) in the extreme southwest, Phoenicia corresponding to Lebanon, with Damascena to the inland side of Phoenicia, Coele-Syria (or "Hollow Syria") south of the Eleutheris river, and Mesopotamia.
In 301, Armenia became the first country in the world to adopt Christianity as its official state religion, while a number of Christian communities have been established in Armenia since 40 CE. The Marzpanate of Armenia lasted until the 630s, when Sassanid Persia was destroyed by the Arab Caliphate.