Мelik (also transliterated as Meliq) (Armenian: Մելիք melikʿ; from Arabic: ملك‎ malik (king)) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as melikdoms encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhichevan, Sevan, Lori, Artsakh, Northwestern Persia and Syunik starting from the Late Middle Ages until the end of the nineteenth century. After the invasions of the Seljuk Turks, Mongols, Timurlenk and Turkmen tribes these families saw themselves as holding onto the last bastion of Armenian independence in the region.