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===Principality of Artsakh===
===Principality of Artsakh===
According to early medieval Armenian historiographers [[Movses Khorenatsi]] (5th c.), considered the father of Armenian historiography, and [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi]] (7th c.), the Armenian king Vagharshak established the royal houses of the Armenian counties. After the House of [[Syunik Province|Syunik]] (Sisakan), he founded "the viceroyalty of the great, glorious and populous north-east", which included Artsakh and Utik<ref name="Khorenatsi"/>. This two counties became the inheritance of Arran called the Aghu (meaning ''amiable'' in [[Armenian language|Armenian]]<ref>{{hy icon}} Dictionary of Modern Armenian (Ժամանակակից հայոց լեզվի բացատրական բառարան), volume I. Yerevan 1969, p. 45.</ref>), a Sisakan nobleman, who was a scion of [[Hayk]], the [[mythical]] ancestor of the Armenians, and belonged to the same line as the old Armenian kings Ara the Beautufil, Orontes I Sakavakeats and Tigranes Haykazn<ref name="Kaghankatvatsi">Kaghankatvatsi, 1.4, 1.15, 2.17.</ref>.
According to early medieval Armenian historiographers [[Movses Khorenatsi]] (5th c.), considered the father of Armenian historiography, and [[Movses Kaghankatvatsi]] (7th c.), the Armenian king Vagharshak established the royal houses of the Armenian counties. After the House of [[Syunik Province|Syunik]] (Sisakan), he founded "the viceroyalty of the great, glorious and populous north-east", which included Artsakh and Utik<ref name="Khorenatsi"/>. This two counties became the inheritance of Arran called the Aghu (meaning ''amiable'' in [[Armenian language|Armenian]]<ref>{{hy icon}} Dictionary of Modern Armenian (Ժամանակակից հայոց լեզվի բացատրական բառարան), volume I. Yerevan 1969, p. 45.</ref>), a Sisakan nobleman, who was a scion of [[Hayk]], the [[mythical]] ancestor of the Armenians, and belonged to the same line as the old Armenian kings Ara the Beautufil, Orontes I Sakavakeats and Tigranes Haykazn<ref name="Kaghankatvatsi">Kaghankatvatsi, 1.4, 1.15, 2.17.</ref>. Hayk and Sisak are thought to have been just [[eponym]]s and not real persons.<ref>Robert H. Hewsen. "The Primary History of Armenia": An Examination of the Validity of an Immemorially Transmitted Historical Tradition. History in Africa, Vol. 2. (1975), pp. 91-100</ref>


The tradition further states, that from this Arran originated the principalities of Artsakh (Tsawdek) and Utik Gardman and Gargark<ref name="Khorenatsi"/><ref name="Kaghankatvatsi"/>. The princely house which ruled this principalities was later called “Arranshahik” or “Erranshahik” in Armenian sources <ref name="Arakel"/>. Movses Khaghnaktavatsi referred to them as the ''"ancient native Armenian family"'' <ref name="Kaghankatvatsi"/>. The Arranshahiks were effectively linked with the Haykid house of Syunik and often the two are seen as one royal house <ref>{{fr icon}} [[Cyril Toumanoff]], ''Aranshahikids ou Haykids? Perniers rois de Siounie'', Handes Amsorya, Vienna 1976, p. 172.</ref>.
The tradition further states, that from this Arran originated the principalities of Artsakh (Tsawdek) and Utik Gardman and Gargark<ref name="Khorenatsi"/><ref name="Kaghankatvatsi"/>. The princely house which ruled this principalities was later called “Arranshahik” or “Erranshahik” in Armenian sources <ref name="Arakel"/>. Movses Khaghnaktavatsi referred to them as the ''"ancient native Armenian family"'' <ref name="Kaghankatvatsi"/>. The Arranshahiks were effectively linked with the Haykid house of Syunik and often the two are seen as one royal house <ref>{{fr icon}} [[Cyril Toumanoff]], ''Aranshahikids ou Haykids? Perniers rois de Siounie'', Handes Amsorya, Vienna 1976, p. 172.</ref>.

Revision as of 07:15, 1 October 2008

For the republic, see Artsakh Republic

Artsakh (Armenian: Արցախ) was the tenth nahang (province) of the Kingdom of Armenia,[1][2][3][4] and from 387 A.D., a part of Caucasian Albania. It covered what is now mostly the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.[5][6]. In medieval Armenian sources Artsakh is also known under the names Lesser Syunik and Tsavdek[7].

Geography

Part of a series on the
History of
Artsakh
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Early Modern Age
Modern Age

Artsakh covered the north-eastern range of the Armenian Highland and was mostly mountainous and afforested [8]. Artsakh was bounded by the following Armenian provincs:[9] Utik to the east and to the northeast, and Syunik to to the southwest. In early period it included also the southeastern shore of the Sevan Lake (the canton Sodk). The river Arax formed the southern boundary. Main cities and towns of Artsakh were Sodk (Tsavdek), Tigranakert, Parrisos, Tsar and Duetakan. Artsakh was known as a strategical and fortified region in medieval Armenian sources [10][11][12]. According to anonymious 7th century Armenian Geography, the 10th province of Armenia comprised of 12 cantons (gavars) [9]:

  1. Vaykunik,
  2. Mues Haband,
  3. Berdadzor,
  4. Mets Kuank,
  5. Mets Arrank,
  6. Harchlank,
  7. Mukhank,
  8. Piank,
  9. Parzkank,
  10. Sisakan Vostan,
  11. Qusti Parrnes,
  12. Koght.

Etymology

According to David M. Lang, the "ancient name of Artsakh probably recalls the name of King Artashes I (190-159 BC), founder of the Artaxiad dynasty."[13]. The name today is used mostly by Armenians to refer to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Population

According to the historian Robert H. Hewsen, ancient chronicles provide the names of some tribes that populated the regions of Artsakh and Utik in ancient times. These were Utians, Mycians, Caspians, Gargarians, Sakasenians, Gelians, Sodians, Lupenians, Balas[ak]anians, Parsians and Parrasians. Robert H. Hewsen believes that these tribes were "certainly not of Armenian origin", and "although certain Iranian peoples must have settled here during the long period of Persian and Median rule, most of the natives were not even Indo-Europeans".[14] However, Herodot made mention of only Alarodians, Moshkens and Saspeyrs as the inhabitants of the 18th satrapy of Medes, i.e. the eastern Transcaucasia, which included also Artsakh [15][16].

According to the Encyclopedia Iranica, Armenians have lived in Artsakh and Utik already in the 7th century BC, though the same article also states that "the Armenians in the strict sense must then have lived in areas between Cappadocia, the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the lake of Van".[17]

Strabo described the Armenian Kingdom in the 2nd century BC (Artsakh and Utik included) as "monolinguial" [18]. However this does not mean that the population of the Armenian kingdom consisted only of ethnic Armenians, as Strabo did not conduct any linguistic studies in Armenia and this could not be expected from an ancient author.[19]

The Armenian population of Artsakh spoke a local dialect of the Armenian language, today known as the Karabakh dialect [20]. Although, it is not known when exactly this dialect arised, the medieval Armenian grammarian Stepanos Syunetsi made a record of the Artsakhian dialect in the 7th century [21].

Ancient Period

Little is known of the ancient history of the region, primarily because of the scarcity of historical sources. Today the historical ownership of Artsakh, present-day Nagorno-Karabakh, is hotly disputed between Azeris and Armenians, both of whom lay historical claims to this territory.

The toponiem Artsakh first appeared in the form "Urtekhe" in Urartian cuneiform writings found in the southeastern shore of the Sevan Lake, where the king Sarduri II (764-735BC) recorded his conquests to the east thus: "I penetrated till the Artsakhian [land]" ("Ku-tu bé pa-re kukUrte-hi-i-ni") [22].

Archaeological evidence reflects the competing influence from around 800 BC of the neighboring rival states Urartu, Assyria, and Mannai. After the fall of Urartu (6th c. BC), Artsakh, as well as most of the region south of the Kura, came under the domination of the Medes and Achaemenian Persians. Between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC the area was part of Orontid Armenia [23][24]. In 189 BC, when the kingdom of Greater Armenia was established, Artsakh was conquered from Medes and included in the new Armenian state[14].

File:Tigran Tetra.jpg
A tetradrachm of Tigranes the Great King of Armenia (95 BC-55 BC), founded in Artsakh.

Strabo, Clavdius Ptolemeus and Plinius Secundos all write that at this time, the border between Albania and Armenia was along the river Kir or Kura. At the same time Strabo also writes that the river of Kura flows through Albania.[25] However the frontier along the Kura was repeatedly overrun, to the advantage sometimes of the Albanians, sometimes of the Armenians.[26]

Principality of Artsakh

According to early medieval Armenian historiographers Movses Khorenatsi (5th c.), considered the father of Armenian historiography, and Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th c.), the Armenian king Vagharshak established the royal houses of the Armenian counties. After the House of Syunik (Sisakan), he founded "the viceroyalty of the great, glorious and populous north-east", which included Artsakh and Utik[24]. This two counties became the inheritance of Arran called the Aghu (meaning amiable in Armenian[27]), a Sisakan nobleman, who was a scion of Hayk, the mythical ancestor of the Armenians, and belonged to the same line as the old Armenian kings Ara the Beautufil, Orontes I Sakavakeats and Tigranes Haykazn[28]. Hayk and Sisak are thought to have been just eponyms and not real persons.[29]

The tradition further states, that from this Arran originated the principalities of Artsakh (Tsawdek) and Utik Gardman and Gargark[24][28]. The princely house which ruled this principalities was later called “Arranshahik” or “Erranshahik” in Armenian sources [15]. Movses Khaghnaktavatsi referred to them as the "ancient native Armenian family" [28]. The Arranshahiks were effectively linked with the Haykid house of Syunik and often the two are seen as one royal house [30].

Strabo mentioned Artsakh (Orchistene) as one of Armenian provinces (along with others such as Phavneni and Kombiseni), which "furnishes the most cavalry". From a 5th century Armenian "Miitery List" it is known that in the early middle ages Artsakh supplied the Armenian army with 1.000 solders [7].

Christianity

In 301 the Kingdom of Armenia was converted to Christianity. The Armenian historian Agathangelos mentioned the princes of Artsakh and Utik among the sixteen Armenian princes, who escorted Grigor the Illuminator to Cesaria, where he would be enthroned the High Priest of their land[31].

Artsakh became a major stronghold for Armenian missionaries to spread the Christianity in the neighboring countries. In 310 St Grigoris, the grandson of Grigor the Illuminator, was ordained bishop of Iberia and Albania in the monastery of Amaras, being just 15 years old [32]. After his martyrdom by the Mazkutian king on the field of Vatnean (near Derbent), his disciples conveyed his body back to Artsakh and buried him in Amaras, which has been built by Grigor the Illuminator and Grigoris himself. Hence St Grigoris became a patron saint of Artsakh. “And every year the people of that places and cantons gathers there [in Amaras] for the festive commemoration of his valor” [33].

Armeno-Persian wars

The second half of the 4th c. saw a series of wars between Armenia and Persia. After it lasted 34 years, most of the Armenian counties, incl Artsakh, refused to support the Armenian king Arshak II anymore because of war-weariness[11]. At this time, Albania had a close relationship with Sassanid Iran. In 371 AD, Roman and Sassanid armies clashed in the Dzirav field. In this battle, Albanians supported Sassanids, and Armenians supported Romans. Following the defeat of the Sassanid and Albanian armies, the Armenian strategist (sparapet) Mushegh Mamikonian punished severely the rebelled Armenian provinces, incl Artsakh, and subjected them to the king’s rule. Then in 372 he attacked Albanians and took back from them the neighboring province of Utik and made the Kura the border between Armenia and Albania, “as it has been earlier”. [11].

However, war between the Sassanid Persians and Romans continued, and in 387 AD, according to the peace treaty between the two powers, the Armenian kingdom was partitioned between them. Albania, as an ally of the Sassanids, gained all the right bank of the river Kura up to the Araxes, including Artsakh and Utik.[26] Subsequently, Armenian medieval historians of 5th - 7th centuries (such as Movses Khorenatsi and Movses Kaghankatvatsi) referred to the area between the Kura and Araxes rivers as the "Aghvank", which however was obviously distinguished from “the other side of Kura”[34] The chronicler Matthew of Edessa called it “Aghvank, which is called the Deep Armenian Land”[35]

Medieval Period (5th - 14th cc.)

In the 5th century Christian culture flourished in Artsakh. In c. 410 Mesrop Mashtots opened in Amaras the first Armenian school [36]. Later more schools were opened in Artsakh[37]

Revolts against Persian rule

However in 450, a royal edict required the Christian Armenians, Iberians and Albanians to adopt Mazdaism. The Albanians sought help from the Armenians, who came in revolt under Vartan Mamikonian’s leadership. In a battle near the city Khaghkhagh in Utik the Persians were defeated by Vartan’s army and took flight[26]. Following the inconclusive Battle of Avarayr (451), where the Christian Armenian army clashed with the Sassanid army, many of the Armenian nobles retreated to impassable mountains and forests in several provinces, including Artsakh, which became a center for resistance against Sassanid Iran [38].

At the same time the the capital of the Albanian marzpanate moved from Kabala to the former Armenian city Partav in Utik[26]. The religious center of the Albanian state also moved here. However, although Artsakh and Utik were part of Albania in the 5th c., the culture of these regions was essentially Armenian[39]. Furthermore, the Armenian rulers of Artsakh began to play a considerable role in the affairs of Albania [40] In 498 in the settlement named Aghuen (in present-day Mardakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh[41]), an Albanian church assembly was held, in the presence of the nobility and princes of Artsakh and the king Vachagan the Pious, to adopt the Constitution of Aghven, which would arrange relations between the of nobility (landlords), clergy and village people [42].

In the 8th century, Albania, along with the whole of the Caucasus, was conquered by the Arabs. Albanians living in the lowlands converted to Islam, and were eventually absorbed by Turkic tribes that invaded the area since 11th century.

The name for the area in later periods (10th century onward) was called Khachen, named after the Khachin principality; the Byzantine emperor Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos addressed letters "to prince of Khachen - to Armenia", being the residence of the Armenian prince Sahl Smbatyan.

The name Karabakh for the first time is mentioned since XIV century in the Georgian chronicle of XIV century "Kartlis Tshovreba" (ქართლის ცხოვრება, i.e "Life of Georgians").

See also

External link

References

  1. ^ According to Strabo, Albania was bounded on the east by the Caspian, and on the north by the Caucasus. On the west it joined Iberia, while on the south it was divided from the Greater Armenia by the river Cyrus. See Geography 11.5, and also Pliny the Elder. The Natural History 6.11
  2. ^ Template:Ru icon History of the Ancient World. vol. iii. Moscow, 1989, p. 286.
  3. ^ Template:Hy icon Ulubabyan, Bagrat. «Արցախ» (Artsakh). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. ii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1976, pp. 150-151.
  4. ^ Template:Ru icon Anania Shirakatsi. Geography Guide (VII c). СПб.,1877
  5. ^ Harvard international Review
  6. ^ Encyclopedia Columbia
  7. ^ a b Nicholas Adontz, Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Yerevan 1987, p. 253, 326; 282.
  8. ^ Arakel Babakhanian (Leo), Collected Works, volume IX. Yerevan 1989, pp. 246-250. ISBN 5-550-00407-0.
  9. ^ a b Anania Shirakatsi. Geography
  10. ^ Movses Kaghankatvatsi, History of Aghuank, critical text and introduction by Varag Arrakelian. "Matenadaran" Institute of old manuscripts after Mesrob Mashtots. Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, 1.17, 2.11 2.14.
  11. ^ a b c Pavstos Buzand, The Epic Histories Attributed to P'awstos Buzand, transl. by N. Garsoian, Cambridge, MA, 1983. IV.50; V.12.
  12. ^ Arakel Babakhanian (Leo), Collected Works, volume III. History of Armenia. New Era. Yerevan 1973, p. 32-33.
  13. ^ Lang, David M.The Armenians: a People in Exile. London: Unwin, 1988, p. x. ISBN 0-0440-0289-9.
  14. ^ a b Hewsen, Robert H., Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians, in: Samuelian, Thomas J. (Hg.), Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity, Chico: 1982, 27-40.
  15. ^ a b Arakel Babakhanian (Leo), Collected Works, volume II. History of Armenia. Middle Ages. Yerevan 1967, p. 143-145.
  16. ^ Herodot, 3.94.
  17. ^ Encyclopedia Iranica. Armenia and Iran.
  18. ^ Strabo, Geography, 11.14.4-5
  19. ^ V. A. Shnirelman. Memory wars. Myths, identity and politics in Transcaucasia. Academkniga, Moscow, 2003 ISBN 5946281186
  20. ^ H. Petrosian, S. Galstian, T. Karagulian, Linguistic dictionary. Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences, Language Institute named after H. Acharian, Yerevan 1975, p. 204.
  21. ^ Template:Ru icon Адонц Н., «Дионисий Фракийский и армянские толкователи», Спб., 1915, с. 187.
  22. ^ Bagrat Ulubabyan, Studies in the history of Armenian eastern provinces (V-VII cc.), Yerevan 1981, p. 5.
  23. ^ Hewsen, Robert H, The Kingdom of Artsakh, in T. Samuelian & M. Stone, eds. Medieval Armenian Culture. Chico, CA, 1983, map 19: Orontid Armenia
  24. ^ a b c Template:Hy icon Movses Khorenatsi. History of the Armenians, 5th Century (Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար). Gagik Sarkisyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, 2.44-45; 1.13, 2.8. ISBN 5-5400-1192-9.
  25. ^ Strabo. Geography. 11.3.1
  26. ^ a b c d Encyclopedia Iranica. M. L. Chaumont. Albania.
  27. ^ Template:Hy icon Dictionary of Modern Armenian (Ժամանակակից հայոց լեզվի բացատրական բառարան), volume I. Yerevan 1969, p. 45.
  28. ^ a b c Kaghankatvatsi, 1.4, 1.15, 2.17.
  29. ^ Robert H. Hewsen. "The Primary History of Armenia": An Examination of the Validity of an Immemorially Transmitted Historical Tradition. History in Africa, Vol. 2. (1975), pp. 91-100
  30. ^ Template:Fr icon Cyril Toumanoff, Aranshahikids ou Haykids? Perniers rois de Siounie, Handes Amsorya, Vienna 1976, p. 172.
  31. ^ Agathangelos, The Conversion of Armenia, 795-796.
  32. ^ Pavstos Buzand, III.5.
  33. ^ Pavstos Buzand, III.6.
  34. ^ Movses Kaghankatvatsi, 1.29; 1.30;
  35. ^ Matheos Urrhaetsi, History of Armenia. Yerevan 1973, p. 151.
  36. ^ Viviano, Frank. “The Rebirth of Armenia,” National Geographic Magazine. March 2004.
  37. ^ Movses Kaghankatsvatsi, 1.18.
  38. ^ Jeghishe, ‘’About Vartan and the Armenian War’’. Translation and notes by Ye. Ter-Minasian. Yerevan 1989, sec. 6, p. 252-258.
  39. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians, in: Samuelian, Thomas J. (Hg.), Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity, Chico: 1982, 34.
  40. ^ V. Minorsky, A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th-11th centuries, Cambridge (Heffer and Sons), 1958
  41. ^ Arakel Babakhanian, History of Armenia, volume II. Yerevan 1947, p. 156.
  42. ^ Movses Kghankatvatsi, 1.26

Historical sources

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