Ancient capital of Armenia, site of the modern city of Yerevan.

Artaxata was founded around 190 BC by Artashes (Artaxas) I at the entrance to the plainlands of the River Araxes, at a point where the watercourse forms a near peninsula. The site is said to have been chosen and developed on the advise of Hannibal:

"It is related that Hannibal, the Carthaginian, after the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans, coming to Artaxas, king of Armenia, pointed out to him many other matters to his advantage, and observing the great natural capacities and the pleasantness of the site, then lying unoccupied and neglected, drew a model of a city for it, and bringing Artaxas thither, showed it to him and encouraged him to build. At which the king being pleased, and desiring him to oversee the work, erected a large and stately city, which was called after his own name, and made metropolis of Armenia." (Plutarch's Life of Lucullus)

Tigran II was defeated by Lucius Lucullus in 68 BC at the Battle of Artaxata, and the city remained a hotly contested military target for the next two centuries. Artaxata was occupied by Syrian legions under the Roman general Cnaeus Domitius Corbulo in 58 BC as part of the short-lived first conquest of Armenia, and destroyed in 163 AD when Statius Priscus reconquered Armenia.