Lesser Armenia - Byzantine Lesser Armenia

Byzantine Lesser Armenia

After the division of Armenia by Eastern Roman Empire and Sassanid Persian Empires in 384, Lesser Armenia, along with western regions of Greater Armenia, became part of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire.

In 536, the emperor Justinian I reorganized the provincial administration, and First and Second Armenia were renamed Second and Third respectively, while some of their territory was split off to the other Armenian provinces.

The borders of the Byzantine part of Armenia were expanded in 591 into Persarmenia, but the region was the focus of decades of warfare between the Byzantines and the Persians (Byzantine-Sassanid Wars) until the Arab conquest of Armenia in 639.

After this, the part of Lesser Armenia remaining under Byzantine control (in a lesser extent) became part of the theme of Armeniakon.