Now, before you roll your eyes and flash back to that horribly boring freshman history class you were forced to take, work with me! Im the one who has to live with a few cold hard truths on a daily basis: when it comes to history, there is always more to learn and almost everything is more interesting than it may initially seem.

Take, for example, that the Armenia of today bears little resemblance to the Armenia of antiquity. And before a few intricately designed, and delicately struck Armenian Crusader State coins arrived freshly recovered from a small patch of land being cleared for farming, I really hadnt thought much about the Armenia of antiquity.

Of course, at this point you may be asking yourself, Who does?

Well, as it turns out, the ancient state of Armenia had a profound effect on two empires you may be more familiar with: the Greeks and the Romans, and, consequently, the world in which we live right now. Unlike the Armenia of today, which is land-locked between Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Turkey to the west and Iran to the south, by the first Century BC, the ancient Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia controlled vast tracks of the Levant region including most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, southern Turkey, northwestern Iraq and the Sinai Peninsula.

In 83 BC, the Greek aristocracy took note of this expansion, and of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great. These Greeks were hanging on to Seleukid Syria by the skin of their teeth. The Romans were annexing countries and empires like we acquire properties in the first few rounds of Monopoly, and the Greeks knew that they were on the path to becoming the next Boardwalk or Park Place. So, they decided join Tigranes, who conquered Phoenicia and Cilicia, and ended the Seleukid Empire. Confused? Just think: now Tigranes and his new Greek buddies own 250 miles or so of prime coastal real estate right along the Mediterranean from what is now southern Turkey to Alexandretta.

And it probably wont surprise you to hear that the newly-formed Cilician Armenia spent the next 1,000 years or so fighting all comers. Which brings us back to those pesky Romans. Despite the fact that Cilician Armenia was able to conquer lands from northeastern Turkey to Mesopotamia; from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, they were no match for the Roman military machine. In 27 BC, the Roman Empire conquered Cilicia and transformed it into yet another eastern province. And when the Roman Empire split in two in 395 AD, Cilicia was incorporated into the newly formed Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire.

Next came seven centuries of wars. From the Byzantines, to the Turks, to the Muslim Turks to the State of Antioch to the south, Cilician Armenia was under attack on every border. But one thing remained the same. Whether they were conquered, or conquerors, the Armenians were leaders military leaders and provincial rulers who maintained both political and military power in a part of the world that is, to this day, an often violent hotbed of political and religious strife.

Which brings us to 1080 AD, and the story of those Armenian Crusaders coins that are now sitting on my desk. By 1080 AD, a band of Armenian troops, fortified by Armenian lords and nobles, staged a coup against the Byzantine Empire and founded the independent Kingdom of Cilician Armenia. Once again, the Armenians were in complete control of some of the most valuable real estate in the known world.

Real estate that was about to play a key role in world events.

On November 27,1095, Pope Urban II decided to help out Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who was requesting an army of western volunteers to help drive invading Turks from Byzantine held territory. But the Pope and Roman Catholic Europe was ready to go one step further the recapturing of Jerusalem and the Holy Land and the liberation of eastern Christians from Islamic rule.

And that one step further would, by necessity, take the Crusaders right through Cilician Armenia. Now, the Armenian leadership was Christian. In fact, their king at the time was named Constantine, in honor of the Roman Emperor who made Christianity the state religion. So when the Frankish crusader leader Godfrey de Bouillon came knocking, every leadership instinct bred and born in Constantine told him that this was the moment a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to eliminate the last thorns in his side and solidify his new kingdom.

Those thorns? The Turks and those same Byzantines who had appealed to the Pope for help.

Political and military expediency being what it is, Godfrey and Constantine became instant fast friends and allies despite the Byzantines request for help from the Pope. The Crusaders were happy to help their new friends give the Byzantines and Turks the boot, and to establish the friendly Crusader states of Antioch, Edessa and Tripoli as supportive, non-threatening-to-Cilician-Armenia neighbors. In exchange, the Armenians became the Crusaders staunchest supporters. In fact, Pope Gregory XIII, looking back in time from the early 1500s said of Cilician Armenia:

Among the good deeds which the Armenian people have done towards the church and the Christian world, it should especially be stressed that, in those times when the Christian princes and the warriors went to retake the Holy Land, no people or nation, with the same enthusiasm, joy and faith came to their aid as the Armenians did, who supplied the Crusaders with horses, provision and guidance. The Armenians assisted these warriors with their utter courage and loyalty during the Holy wars.

The coins of this Crusader state are stunning. Now conserved, they are a rich toned copper with the Crusaders Cross declaring to the world their new alliance. Medieval script adorns the edges, evoking the names of the Armenian kings of antiquity.

But beyond these quarter-sized coins, Cilician Armenia speaks to our modern world in many ways. The influence of western Crusader nobles was so potent that Armenia became a center of European culture and influence in the Middle East. Titles, jousts and tournaments became popular, and French Christian names became common. This western influence created trade and cultural exchanges that survives today.

But what Armenia gave the West is even more interesting to me, and it may be to you, too: your classic fairy-tale type castles. Yep, Crusaders returning to Europe brought with them centuries of Eastern architectural traditions learned at the feet of Armenian masons and builders. Featuring curved walls and round towers perched on dizzying heights, if you love a wonderfully romantic round-towered French or German castle, you have Cilician Armenia to thank for it. And those turreted, fortified castles changed European warfare and impacted the creation and leadership of modern European states. Hmm pretty interesting…