The ancient history of the Armenians is closely related to that of the Hittites. The appearance of the former is coeval with the disappearance of the latter. The probability of a common origin is strong. Enough light has been shed on the history of the Armenian table-land prior to 700 B.C. to enable us to divide its political subdivisions into two great groups. The Vannic states of the kingdom of Urartu held sway in the northern ranges. Hittite dominance extended to the southern group of mountains. It may be assumed that the Armenians of the present day are direct descendants of these ancient populations, due allowance being made for the invasion of Iranian peoples who brought eastern culture to the land. The free inflow of this eastern element was impeded, however, by the highly dissected table-land of Armenia. It trickled westward without ever assuming the proportion of a flood. Hence the Armenian physical type is preserved with considerable purity beneath the shroud of Aryan culture. The Armenians call themselves Hai and trace their descent to a mythical mountain chief Haik. Hai-istan is the name of their native land in Armenian. The word Armenia itself is of Persian derivation and foreign to Armenian. A remote possibility of the connection of Hai with the old name Hit or Hatti may be advanced in view of the frequency with which the elision of the letter _t_ and the replacement of _d-t_ sounds by _y_ occur in Armenian.[234] The etymology of the name, however, still awaits more thorough elucidation. Although the relation between the Hittite and Armenian languages yet remains to be determined, and the secrets of the old Vannic language are not fully revealed, enough is known to prove Armenian an Aryan infiltration from the west. Herodotus refers to them in a natural manner as the Φρυγῶν ἄποικοι (VII, 73), “Phrygian colonists.” It is significant to note that this Greek appellation was bestowed on the Armenians at a time when western Asia was better known to the civilized countries of the world than it is at present. Modern research, however, places the inhabitants of the plateau of Anatolia and of the Armenian mountain land in the same racial type. Planted squarely on the scene of the secular conflict between the civilization of Europe and Asia, Armenia became the prey of the victor of the moment. But the united influence of site and configuration was more than once during this long struggle strong enough to confer independence on the Armenian. As a buffer between eastern and western empires the country enjoyed three distinct periods of native rule prior to the Ottoman conquest.