The original Galatians were a body of Gauls that invaded Asia Minor about 277 B.C. It had formed part of Brennus’ army, but separated from him, crossed into Asia Minor, and ravaged its western portion. Attalus of Pergamus defeated this people in 239 and compelled them to settle in Galatia, where they maintained an independent existence and gave the Romans much trouble in the wars against Antiochus. But an army was sent directly against them, and they were completely subjected to Rome, 189 B.C. At first the native chiefs held power under tetrarchs. This system did not hold, and soon there was only one ruler. One of the single tetrarchs, Deiotarus, was styled King by the Roman Senate for the assistance given in the Mithridatic wars. Galatia was afterwards united with Lycaonia, Isauria, and their adjoining districts under a king named Amyntas, and when he died (25 B.C.) the country became a Roman province.
LYCAONIA
The Lycaonian tribes inhabited the interior of Asia Minor in a district bounded by Galatia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Phrygia, and Pisidia. The country is first mentioned by Xenophon. The people seem to have been a wild and lawless race of freebooters, practically independent of the Persian and Macedonian empires. They became, however, subjects of the king, Amyntas, who ruled in Galatia, and at his death passed with the latter country into the Roman Empire.
ISAURIA
Isauria lay to the west of Lycaonia. It does not appear in the early history of Asia Minor, but its people were undoubtedly similar in manners and customs to the Lycaonians. Their sole prominence in ancient history is due to the fact that they took so active a part in the war of Rome against the Cilician pirates that P. Servilius, the proconsul, found it necessary to pursue them into their own country and reduce them to submission, which earned him the title of Isauricus.
PONTUS
Pontus lay in the northeast corner of Asia Minor, bordering on Armenia and Colchis. It was originally that part of Cappadocia known as “Cappadocia on the Pontus,” and its existence as a separate territory did not begin probably until after the time of Alexander the Great. Under the Persian empire the province was governed as a satrapy, although virtually independent. Finally the satraps began to call themselves kings. The first was Ariobarzanes, about the middle of the fourth century B.C. His successor, Mithridates II, the first really independent monarch, began his reign 337 B.C. Then came a line of kings mostly called Mithridates, who managed to rule independent of the Macedonian monarchs, and extended their dominions along the shores of the Euxine or Black Sea. When Sinope fell (183 B.C.), captured by Pharnaces I, Bithynia became the western boundary of the land, and under Mithridates VI “the Great” nearly the whole of Asia Minor acknowledged the sceptre of the powerful monarch. Pontus plays a part in world history only in the wars of Mithridates and Rome, a full account of which struggle will be found in the history of the latter country. When Pompey finally subdued Mithridates (65 B.C.), Pontus was confined to its original limits, and afterwards united with Bithynia as a Roman province. Mark Antony placed the government of a portion of the province in the hands of a Greek rhetorician named Polemon, whose descendants continued to rule until the time of Nero, when it was finally annexed to the empire.
ARMENIA
This was the Urartu of the Assyrian inscriptions, the Ararat of the Bible. It seems originally to have been one of the countries of Nairi, and gradually gained superiority over the others. It extended northward from Lake Van, between the Upper Euphrates and Media. The Assyrians began their assaults on Urartu at the time of Tiglathpileser I (ca. 1100 B.C.). Asshurnazirpal marched through its southern districts, but made no attempt to annex it to his dominions. Shalmaneser II laid the first plan for conquest. In 860 and 857 he invaded Urartu while Arame was king, defeating that monarch and bringing his dynasty to an end. A new house came to the throne, founded by Sarduris I, son of Lutipris. He immediately extended his borders by conquest and strengthened his kingdom, so, when the Assyrians came again in 850, 833, and 829, they went home without making any real progress in the north and west. Shalmaneser III (782-773) made six ineffectual campaigns against Urartu, which was now a real menace to the Assyrian empire. Argistis of Urartu wrested considerable territory from the Assyrians, and his successor, Sarduris II, continued the conquest of adjacent territory, and, forming a coalition of northern princes, started on a conquest of Syria. At this moment the prospects of Armenia becoming a great world-power were very bright, but Tiglathpileser III, of Assyria, having the same ambitions, encountered Sarduris and badly defeated him. The boundaries of Urartu were gradually narrowed to their original limits by the Assyrian conqueror about 735 B.C. The capital, Turuspa (Van), was besieged, but not taken; the spirit of Urartu was now completely broken. Ursa or Rusas succeeded Sarduris. Sargon II, of Assyria, had many conflicts with him, and when his son, Argistis II, came to the throne, he had only a small territory around Lake Van left to rule over. Tigranes I was the contemporary of Cyrus. After the fall of Assyria Armenia became a portion of the Persian empire. Alexander the Great conquered it with the defeat of King Vahi, but the Macedonian yoke was thrown off in 317 B.C. Ardvates was chosen king, but at his death the Seleucidæ again gained possession. When Antiochus the Great was defeated by the Romans, Artaxias, the governor of Greater Armenia, made himself independent. It was with this prince that the exiled Hannibal found refuge. Zadriades, in Lesser Armenia, followed the example of Artaxias, and his descendants maintained their position until the time of Tigranes II, when this country was annexed to Greater Armenia.