According to Strabo, in the 2nd century BC, Armenians conquered from the Medes the lands of Siwnik and Caspiane, and the lands that lay between them, including Utik, that was populated by the people called Utis, after whom it received its name. Modern historians agree that "Utis" were a people of non-Armenian origin, and the modern ethnic group of Udi is their descendants. After the Armenian conquest in the 2nd century BC Utik also had some Armenian population. The province was called Otena in Latin sources and Otene in Greek sources. According to the Armenian geographer Anania Shirakatsi's Ashkharatsuyts, Utik was the 12th among the 15 provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia, and belonged, at the time, to the Caucasian Albania. According to Ashkharatsuyts, Utik consisted of 8 cantons : Aranrot, Tri, Rotparsyan, Aghve, Tuskstak, Gardman, Shakashen, and Uti. The province was bounded by the Kura River from north-east, river Arax from south-east, and by the province of Artsakh from the west. Greco-Roman historians from the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD state that Utik was a province of Armenia, with the Kura River separating Armenia and Albania. But the Armenian-Albanian boundary along the river Kura, confirmed by Greco-Roman sources, was often overrun by armies of both countries. According to Strabo, Armenia, which in the 6th century BC had covered a large portion of Asia, had lost some of its lands by the 2nd century BC. At the same time Strabo wrote: "According to report, Armenia, though a small country in earlier times, was enlarged by Artaxias and Zariadris". Around 190 BC, under the kingArtashes I, Armenia conquered Vaspurakan and Paytakaran from Media, Acilisene from Cataonia, and Taron from Syria. Some have suggested that Utik was among the provinces conquered by Artashes I at this time, though Strabo doesn't list Utik among Artashes' conquests. King Urnayr of Caucasian Albania invaded Utik. But in 370 AD, the Armenian sparapet Mushegh Mamikonyan defeated the Albanians, restoring the frontier back to the river Kura. In 387 AD, the Sassanid Empire helped the Albanians to seize from the Kingdom of Armenia a number of provinces, including Utik. In the middle of the 5th century, by the order of the Persian kingPeroz I, the king Vache of Caucasian Albania built in Utik the city initially called Perozapat, and later Partaw and Barda, and made it the capital of Caucasian Albania. Starting with the 13th century, the area covered by Utik and Artsakh was called Karabakh by non-Armenians.
Population
In ancient times, the area was inhabited by "Utis", after whom it was named. Early Armenian chronicles state that the local princes of Utik descended from the Armenian noble family of Sisakan and spoke Armenian. Utik had been one of the provinces of Greater Armenia, the population of which is referred to by the name Udini in Latin sources, and by the name Outioi in Greek sources. However, Ancient Greco-Roman writers placed Udis beyond Utik, north of the Kura River. Pliny the Elder calls "Utis" a Scythian tribe and also mentions so called utidors. Due to this a drift of ethnonym or more complex ethnogenetic processes are possible.
