Why did the Persians try to invade Armenia more than they did

>>3262819

Many Zoroastrians there. The Armenian nobility is basically Iranian. Close proximity.

>>3262819
>try

I always find modern Armenia's relatively good relations with Iran amusing. Its like the Turks beat them so hard they went crying to anyone who was even slightly less abusive, ie Russia and Persia.

>>3262819
Armenians were seen as kinsmen by the Persians in the same way they saw other Iranian people as part of the family of Aryans. On top of that, even when Armenia became nominally majority Christian, there was always a rather huge number of Armenian Zoroastrians there. And historically even around the time of the Achaemenids if not the Medes before them, the Iranians have had a large influence on their culture.

>>3262905
I mean, this isn't really true in the context you are saying here. Armenia was always seen as a country/nation/state/people that had a lot in common with the Iranians. It produced a lot of good horse breeds, Armenians always had major influence and standing in the Achaemenid, Arsacid, and Sassanian dynasties and many powerful Armenian Zoroastrians were part of the Wuzargan. You could also find that Armenians were the largest ethnic group in the Iranian empires military after Iranians themselves.

Even going into the Safavid, Afrashid, and Qajar period they had decent relations.

>>3262819
First of all they considered Armenia to be Eran, unlike most other roman-held territories in the Middle East that belonged to the Aneran category.

Second, look at the fucking map. If you attack the persians it's either from Armenia or from Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia saw as much war as Armenia if not more.

Oh, if we're talking about the early sasanians (like Shapur I in the OP), it's also important that Armenia was under the rule of the Arsacid Dynasty (same as Parthian Empire) and therefore actively hostile.