Tayk

Historical regions of Greater Armenia

Arshakuni Armenia in 150

Map showing Tayk of the house of Mamkionians.

Tayk (Armenian: Տայք, Armenian pronunciation: [tajkʰ] Taykʿ), was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 ashkars (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:

• Kogh
• Berdats por
• Partizats por
• Tchakatk
• Bokha
• Vokaghe
• Azordats por
• Arsiats por

In these lands was a proto-Armenian confederation, Hayasa-Azzi, in the 2nd millennium BC. It was probably the Diasuni and Diauehi of Assyrian and Urartian sources, of which the name was likely related etymologically. From the 2nd century BC to the 9th century AD Tayk was a part of Armenian kingdoms or "autonomies": Greater Armenia, Marzpan Armenia and Bagratid Armenia.

In the 999 A.D., Tayk or Tao became part of the Georgian Bagratid principality of Tayk-Kharjk or Tao-Klarjeti. The Tayk province covered contemporary Turkish districts of Yusufeli (Kiskim) in Artvin Province and Oltu, Olur (Tavusker), Tortum and Çamlıkaya (Hunut) to the north of İspir in Erzurum Province. To its southwest is found the ancient region of Sper. After World War I, the Armenia and Georgia contested the region, with particular conflict over Oltik. As a result, in 1920, after Ruso-Turkish attacks, Armenia lost the region of Oltik, which become a part of Turkey.

Sources

• Arutyunova-Fidanyan, Viada A., Some Aspects of the Military-Administrative Districts and Byzantine Administration in Armenia During the 11th Century, REArm 20, 1986-87: 309-20.
• Garsoian, Nina. The Byzantine Annexation of the Armenian Kingdoms in the Eleventh Century, 192 p. In: The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, vol. 1, edited by Richard G. Hovannisian, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1977.
• Hewsen, Robert. Armenia. A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, Pp 341.
• Tayk - Tayots Ashhar (Тайк - Тайоц ашхар)

See also

• List of regions of ancient Armenia
• Bana cathedral
• Tao