in Melid by 1200 BCE. The Neo-Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I (1115–1077 B.C.) forced the kingdom of Malidiya to pay tribute to Assyria. The Neo-Assyrian king Sargon II (722–705) sacked the city in 712 BC. At the same time, the Cimmerians and Scythians invaded Anatolia and the city declined. Some occupation continued on the site into the Hellenistic and Roman periods—a smithy with four ovens has been excavated from the Roman period. There was a long gap in occupation between the mid-7th century and renewed use of the site in the late 12th or early 13th century. Archeologists first began to excavate the site of Arslantepe in the 1930s, led by French archaeologist Louis Delaporte. Since 1961 an Italian team of archaeologists, led by Marcella Frangipane in the early 21st century, has been working at the site. From the 6th century BC, Melid was ruled by the Armenian Orontid Dynasty, who were subjects of the Achaemenid Empire. After periods of Achaemenid and Macedonian rule, Melid (Malatya) was part of the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. Melitene during the Roman Empire Diodorus Siculus wrote that Ptolemaeus of Commagene attacked and captured the Melitene from the Kingdom of Cappadocia, but couldn't keep it for long since Ariarathes V of Cappadocia marched against him, with a strong army, and Ptolemaeus withdrew. The Kingdom of Cappadocia, ruled by the House of Ariobarzanes (95–36 BC), became a Roman client in 63 BC. After the Kingdom's annexation by the Roman Empire in 17 AD, the settlement was re-established as Melitene in 72 AD on a different site, as the base camp of Legio XII Fulminata (which continued to be based there until at least the early 5th century according to Notitia Dignitatum). The legionary base of Melitene controlled access to southern Armenia and the upper Tigris. It was the end point of the important highway running east from Caesarea (modern Kayseri). The camp attracted a civilian population and was probably granted city status by Trajan in the early 2nd century AD, with the rank of Municipium. It is known for being a prolific source of imperial coins minted from the 3rd to the early 5th centuries. Procopius wrote admiringly of the temples, agoras and theatres of Melitene, but no evidence of them now remains. It was a major center in the province of Armenia Minor ( Pokr Hayk,) created by Diocletian from territory separated from the province of