The ancient Kingdom of Armenia was an independent monarchy from 331 BC to AD 428. The peak of the kingdom's power and its integration in Hellenistic culture under Tigranes and his son Artavasdes is also referred to as Armenian Empire. After the fall of the Achaemenid Empire, the former Satrapy of Armenia was divided in about 120 clan territories ruled by nakharars. These were united under Artaxias I, the founder of the Artaxiad Dynasty, after whom the early phase of the kingdom is also known as Artaxiad Armenia (Armenian: Արտաշեսյանների Թագավորություն Artashesianneri Tagavorutyun).

Armenia reached its greatest size and influence under King Tigranes II (r. 95-55 BC) stretched from the Mediterranean Sea northeast to the Kura River. The Artaxiads were overthrown by the Romans in AD 12, resulting in a period of turmoil and civil war. Two Roman client kings were installed, Tigranes V and Tigranes VI. After AD 54, the kingdom came to be ruled by the Arsacid Dynasty after which it is also known as Arsacid Armenia (Armenian: Արշակունիների Թագավորություն Arshakunineri Tagavorutyun). In AD 387, Armenia was divided into Byzantine Armenia in the west and Persian Armenia in the east. Persian Armenia remained under the rule of Arsacid client kings until AD 428.

Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ (Ottoman Turkish: خواجه معمار سنان آغا; Modern Turkish: Mimar Sinan, pronounced [miːˈmaːɾ siˈnan]) (c. 1489/1490 – July 17, 1588) was the chief Ottoman architect (Turkish: "Mimar") and civil engineer for sultans Suleiman the Magnificent, Selim II, and Murad III. He was responsible for the construction of more than three hundred major structures and other more modest projects, such as his Islamic primary schools (sibyan mektebs). His apprentices would later design the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul and help design the Taj Mahal in the Mughal Empire.

The son of a stonemason, he received a technical education and became a military engineer. He rose rapidly through the ranks to become first an officer and finally a Janissary commander, with the honorific title of ağa. He refined his architectural and engineering skills while on campaign with the Janissaries, becoming expert at constructing fortifications of all kinds, as well as military infrastructure projects, such as roads, bridges and aqueducts. At about the age of fifty, he was appointed as chief royal architect, applying the technical skills he had acquired in the army to the "creation of fine religious buildings" and civic structures of all kinds. He remained in post for almost fifty years.

The Balyan family (Armenian: Պալեաններ) was a dynasty of famous Ottoman imperial architects. They were of Armenian ethnicity. For five generations in the 18th and 19th centuries, they designed and constructed numerous major buildings, including palaces, kiosks, mosques, churches and various public buildings, mostly in Constantinople. The nine well-known members of the family served six sultans in the course of almost a century and were responsible for the westernization of the architecture of the then-capital city.

Until the 17th century, architects serving in the Ottoman Empire were either Muslim or converted to Islam later in life.^{[citation needed]} Most probably as a result of the reform movement,^[specify] architects from non-Muslim minorities gained popularity, and among them the Western-educated Balyan family has a distinct place in the history of the empire's architecture. But in historical resources, it is debated that their architectural identity may sometimes be confused with contractor or project administrator. It is difficult to define who among the family members was an "architect," "contractor" or "administrator."