page_title: History of Azerbaijan
section_title: Caucasian Albania, the Parthians, and the Sassanian conquest
hierarchical_section_title: History of Azerbaijan / Antiquity / Caucasian Albania, the Parthians, and the Sassanian conquest
caption_attribution_description: English: Mis qab, Xınıslı, Qafqaz Albaniyası
context_page_description: The history of Azerbaijan covers the topics related to the history of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the Azerbaijanis, and the regions historically, ethnically and geographically considered Azerbaijani.
  During Median and Persian rule, many Caucasian Albanians adopted Zoroastrianism and then switched to Christianity prior to coming of Muslim Arabs and more importantly Muslim Turks. The Turkic tribes are believed to have arrived as small bands of ghazis whose conquests led to the Turkification of the population as largely native Caucasian and Iranian tribes adopted the Turkic language of the Oghuz and converted to Islam over a period of several hundred years.
  Following the Russo-Persian Wars of 1813 and 1828, the Qajar Empire was forced to cede all its Caucasian territories to the Russian Empire and the treaties of Gulistan in 1813 and Turkmenchay in 1828 finalized the borders between Czarist Russia and Qajar Iran.
  The area to the North of the river Aras, among which the territory of the contemporary republic of Azerbaijan were Iranian territory until they were occupied by Russia in the course of the 19th century.
context_section_description: The Albanian kingdom coalesced around a native Caucasian identity to forge a unique state in a region of vast empire-states. However, in the 2nd or 1st century BCE the Armenians considerably curtailed the Albanian territories to the south and conquered the territories of Karabakh and Utik, populated by various Albanian tribes, such as Utians, Gargarians and Caspians. During this time the border between Albania and Armenia was along the river of Kura.
  As the region became an arena of wars when Romans and Parthians began to expand their domains, most of Albania came, very briefly, under the domination of Roman legions under Pompey and the south being controlled by the Parthians. A rock carving of what is believed to be the eastern-most Roman inscription survives just south-west of Baku at the site of Gobustan. It is inscribed by Legio XII Fulminata at the time of emperor Domitian. Caucasian Albania subsequently came fully under Parthian rule.
  After the division of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia in 387 CE the Albanian kings regained control over the provinces of Uti and Artsakh (lying south of the Kur), when Sasanian kings rewarded Albanian Arsacid rulers for their royalty to Persia.
  Medieval Armenian historians, such as Movses Khorenatsi and Movses Kaghankatvatsi, write that Albanians converted to Christianity in the 4th century CE by the efforts of Gregory the Illuminator of Armenia. Albanian king Urnayr accepted Christianity and was baptised by Gregory the Illuminator. Urnayr also declared Christianity as his kingdom's official religion. However Christianity spread in Albania only gradually, and a large part of Albanians and Persians remained Zoroastrian until the Islamic conquest.
caption: Sassanid silver plate excavated in Shamakhi, (Azerbaijan State Museum of History)
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3054", "Image ImageLength": "2969", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 500D", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5.1 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2014:04:15 00:10:48", "Image Artist": "by Hajizade", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "312", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1282", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10645", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2014:04:14 12:01:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2014:04:14 12:01:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "39/8", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "93/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "47", "EXIF SubSecTime": "56", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "56", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "56", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3054", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2969", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "4752", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "3168", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1132", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "792000/149", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3168000/593", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "56f302bae39334556814c1201592f4a3"}