Tigranakert of Artsakh

Tigranakert of Artsakh

Fragment of Tigranakert's city wall
Location within the Azerbaijan
Location	Agdam, Azerbaijan
Coordinates	40°03′55″N 46°54′21″E
History
Builder	Tigranes the Great
Founded	2nd–1st century B.C.
Site notes
Excavation dates	2005–present
Website	Тigranakert.com

Tigranakert (Armenian: Արցախի Տիգրանակերտ, Arts'akhi Tigranakert) is a ruined Armenian city dating back to the Hellenistic period, located in the Agdam District of Azerbaijan.

It is one of several former cities in the Armenian plateau with the same name, named in honor of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great (r. 95–55 B.C.), with the name Artsakh referring to the historical province of Artsakh in the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. Some scholars, such as Robert Hewsen and Babken Harutyunyan, have posited that this particular Tigranakert may also have been founded by Tigranes the Great's father, Tigranes I (r. ca. 123–95 B.C.), however. It occupies an area of about 50 hectares and is located approximately four kilometers south of the Khachinchay River.

It came under the occupation of Armenian forces after the First Nagorno-Karabakh war and was made part of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh until November 2020 when it was handed over to Azerbaijan as part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement.

History

Exhibition hall at the Tigranakert Museum

Primary sources first make mention of Tigranakert in the seventh century, stating that there were actually two such cities with the same name in the province of Utik. Archaeologists and historians have managed to date the founding of the first one to the 120s-80s B.C., during the reign of either King Tigranes I, or his son and successor King Tigranes the Great. Robert Hewsen has questioned the attribution to Tigranes II, as no coins or inscriptions bearing his name have been uncovered yet and the identification of the remains rests on the local name for the site. The ruins of the second Tigranakert have yet to be uncovered, although it is believed to have been located in the district of Gardman.

After the demise of the first Tigranakert in the early Middle Ages, the name of the city was preserved and used continuously in local geographic lore as Tngrnakert, Tarnakert, Taraniurt, Tarnagiurt, and Tetrakerte. It was de facto under the control of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh as part of its Askeran until being handed over to Azerbaijan, along with the rest of the area around Agdam as a part of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire agreement.

Excavations

Excavations at Tigranakert began in March 2005, when it was first discovered, and are currently ongoing under the directorship of Dr Hamlet L. Petrosyan of the Armenian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. Archaeologists have uncovered two of the main walls of the city, as well as Hellenistic-style towers and an Armenian basilica dating to fifth to seventh centuries. In 2008, the excavation team began to face funding issues, although the authorities of the Republic of Artsakh promised to allocate 30 million drams to continue further research.

In June 2010, a museum dedicated to the study and preservation of artefacts unearthed from Tigranakert's ruins was opened in the adjacent Shahbulag Castle, near the former city of Aghdam.

Gallery

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  Tigranes the Great (95 – 55 BC), ruler of the Kingdom of Armenia.
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  Part of the city defense wall
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  So-called Lower Borough of the city of Tigranakert
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  Part of the Lower Borough
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  Tigranakert city walls
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  Tigranakert city walls
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  Tigranakert citadel
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See also

• Tigranocerta
• Tigranakert (Nakhijevan)
• Tigranes the Great

External links

• Tigranakert of Artsakh: (in Armenian), (in Russian).
• Zareh Tjeknavorian (Director) (2007). Tigranakert: An Armenian Odyssey. Yergir Union and Naregatsi Film Center.
• Tigranakert of Artsakh on CNN