Garni is rich in history. The area was first occupied in the 3rd millennium BC along easily defensible terrain at one of the bends of the Azat River. In the 8th century BC the area was conquered by the Urartian King Argishti I.The fortification at Garni was erected probably sometime in the 3rd century BC as a summer residence for the Armenian Orontid and Artaxiad royal dynasties.Later around the 1st century BC the fortress of Garni became the last refuge of King Mithridates of Armenia,
where he and his family were assassinated by his son-in-law and nephew Rhadamistus. The fortress was sacked in 1386 by Timur Lenk. In 1679 an earthquake devastated the area destroying the temple. The Temple of Garni is the only standing Greco-Roman colonnaded building in Armenia and the former Soviet Union. Built in the Ionic order in the village of Garni, Armenia, it is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia.
