"This is a 3,000 year history of one of Europe's most fascinating and ancient peoples. Situated south of the Caucasus mountains, historical Armenia has been a pivotal point between the forces of the east and of the west over most of its long history. That history has seen subjugation and conquest by several rival empires. Art, historical literature and textual analysis contribute to the author's consideration of the realities and ideas of power in antique and early medieval Armenian elite society, which had elements in common with early medieval Western European society. The contributions of Armenians and their culture to European history are also examined." "The book closes with a survey of Armenia under foreign rule, since the 1070s, most recently under the Ottoman Empire and as part of the Soviet Union, and with Armenians recent experience and expectation of an independent, though tiny, Armenia, the most plausible for nearly a thousand years."--BOOK JACKET.