Editing Caucasus (section)

===Antiquity===
[[Kura–Araxes culture]] from about 4000 BC until about 2000 BC enveloped a vast area of approximately 1,000&nbsp;km by 500&nbsp;km, and mostly encompassed, on modern-day territories, the Southern Caucasus (except western Georgia), northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as Syria.

Under [[Ashurbanipal]] (669–627 BC), the boundaries of the [[Assyrian Empire]] reached as far as the Caucasus Mountains. Later ancient kingdoms of the region included [[Armenia]], [[Caucasian Albania|Albania]], [[Colchis]] and [[Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity)|Iberia]], among others. These kingdoms were later incorporated into various [[Iran]]ian empires, including [[Medes|Media]], the [[Achaemenid Empire]], [[Parthia]], and the [[Sassanid Empire]], who would altogether rule the Caucasus for many hundreds of years. In 95–55 BC, under the reign of the Armenian king [[Tigranes the Great]], the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] included Kingdom of Armenia, vassals Iberia, Albania, Parthia, [[Atropatene]], [[Mesopotamia]], [[Cappadocia]], [[Cilicia]], [[Syria]], [[Nabataean kingdom]], and [[Judea]]. By the time of the first century BC, [[Zoroastrianism]] had become the dominant religion of the region; however, the region would go through two other religious transformations. Owing to the strong rivalry between Persia and [[Roman Empire|Rome]], and later [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]]. The Romans first arrived in the region in the 1st century BC with the annexation of the kingdom of Colchis, which was later turned into the province of [[Lazica|Lazicum]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Theodor Mommsen, William Purdie Dickson, Francis Haverfield |title=The provinces of the Roman Empire: from Caesar to Diocletian |pages=68}}</ref> The next 600 years was marked by a [[Roman–Persian Wars|conflict]] between Rome and [[Sasanian Empire|Sassanid Empire]] for the control of the region. In western Georgia the eastern Roman rule lasted until the Middle Ages.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=W.E.D |title=A history of the Georgian people |year=1932 |pages=123}}</ref>
[[File:Imperio Armenio.gif|upright=1.35|thumb|[[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] at the peak of its might at the beginning of the 1st century B.C.]]