Artsakh (historical province)

Coordinates: 40°04′N 46°56′E / 40.067°N 46.933°E / 40.067; 46.933
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Artsakh (historic province)
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For the former republic, see Republic of Artsakh. For the instrumental folk song by Ara Gevorgyan, see Artsakh (song). For other uses, see Artsakh (disambiguation).
Artsakh
Արցախ
Province of
Antiquity, Middle Ages
• Conquered by Artaxias I
c. 189 BC
• Ceded to Caucasian Albania
387 AD
founded 1000 AD
Syunik
(left) and Artsakh (right) until the early 9th century

Artsakh (

Arab control.[1] In 821, it formed the Armenian principality of Khachen and around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, one of the last medieval eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.[2]

Name

Cuneiform inscriptions left by

Geography, the classical historian Strabo refers to an Armenian region which he calls "Orchistene", which is also believed to be a rendering of the name Artsakh.[4][7] Some early Armenian sources spell the name as Ardzakh (Արձախ).[8]

Many different proposed etymologies and interpretations of the name Artsakh exist.

David M. Lang connects Artsakh with the name of King Artaxias I of Armenia (190–159 BC), founder of the Artaxiad dynasty that ruled Greater Armenia.[10] Another scholar proposed that Artsakh consists of the elements art ("field" in Armenian) and aght (a Classical Armenian word for "black").[11]

Based on the putative attestations of Artsakh as Urtekhe and Orchistene, historian Babken Harutyunyan hypothesizes that the initial vowel in Artsakh was originally an "o" sound (the vowel sounds "o" and "u" are not distinguished in cuneiform) that later underwent a vowel shift to an "a" sound, which is typical of Indo-European languages.[12] On the basis of this assumption, linguist Lusine Margaryan proposes a connection with the Armenian word vortʻ (ortʻ in classical pronunciation, ortʻs in the accusative case), meaning grapevine, and the Hurro-Urartian suffix -ekhe/-akh (indicating placenames).[13] According to this hypothesis, the name Artsakh developed from the unattested form *Ortʻsakh and can be interpreted as meaning "place of grapevines, grape garden"․[13]

In the Middle Ages, Artsakh was occasionally referred to as "Little

Syunik" or "Second Syunik" after the neighboring province.[3] Medieval Armenian authors also referred to it as Khachʻen(kʻ) or, together with neighboring Utik, Arewelkʻ ("East" in Armenian), Arewelitsʻ or koghmankʻ ("the eastern regions").[8][4] The name Artsakh was repopularized among Armenians in the modern era, particularly with the emergence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.[14] Artsakh is used by Armenians as a synonym for Karabagh and is used in the official name of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh (also known as the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic).[15]

Geography

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

Artsakh was located on the easternmost edge of the

Lake Sevan.[21]

Important places in Artsakh (mostly fortified towns) included

Khachen
served for a considerable time as the center of Artsakh.

Cantons

According to the anonymous 7th-century Armenian work Ashkharatsoyts ("Geography") Artsakh comprised 12 cantons (gavars, variations on spelling exist):[23]

  • Myus Haband
  • Vaykunik
  • Berdadzor
  • Mets Arank
  • Mets Kvenk
  • Harchlank
  • Mukhank
  • Piank
  • Parzkank
  • Sisakan Vostan or Sisakan-i-Kotak
  • Kust-i-Parnes
  • Koght

The precise location of many of these cantons is not known for certain, and not all of these names are used by later Armenian authors.[6] Some versions enumerate 13 or 14 cantons.[24]

Status

It is not certain how Artsakh was administered as a sub-national political entity within Armenia.

Khachen in the center and Dizak in the south. Only in the 13th century did these two states merge into one – the Kingdom of Artsakh.[2]

Population

medieval culture of Artsakh
.

Anthropological studies show that the current Artsakh (Karabakh)

Armenian people, they represent a fusion of the mostly Indo-European natives of the Armenian Plateau(including Artsakh), and the Hurrians of the southernmost Armenian Plateau.[27][28][31][32][33] According to this theory, from earliest times the Armenian Plateau was inhabited by many ethnic groups. The ethnic character of Artsakh may thus have been originally more diverse than it is now.[32][34] It is worth noting that Strabo described Armenia (which then included also Artsakh and Utik) in the 1st century BC as "monolingual",[7] though this does not necessarily mean that its population consisted exclusively of ethnic Armenians.[14]

According to the

Artaxiad Armenia, Hewsen argues that some names of those tribes (mentioned by Greek, Roman and Armenian authors) demonstrate that some of them were not Armenian, nor Indo-European,[32] and that they assimilated into the Armenians over time.[31]

By medieval times, from at least the 9th century, the population of Artsakh had a strong Armenian national identity.[34] Its people spoke a local Eastern Armenian dialect, the Artsakhian dialect (today known as the Karabakh dialect), which was mentioned by 7th-century grammarian Stepanos Syunetsi in his earliest record of the Armenian dialects․[38]

History

Traditional views

The early Armenian historian

Stephen Orbelian and Movses Kaghankatvatsi.[41][42] The latter author identifies Aran as the founder of the original ruling dynasty of Caucasian Albania, the Aranshahiks.[43][42] Armenian historians such as Bagrat Ulubabyan and Asatur Mnatsakanyan interpret Khorenatsi's story about Aran and his descendants as an allegorical reflection of the historical Armenianness of the lands between the Kura and Arax rivers, i.e. Utik and Artsakh.[32][39]

Early history

In 1968, Soviet archaeologists discovered a fragment of a jawbone of a pre-

Khojaly, and Astghashen, where ancient burial mounds containing human and animal remains, tools, pottery and other objects have been discovered.[45] In general, archaeological remains in Artsakh reflect the competing influences from around 800 BC of the neighboring rival states of Urartu, Assyria, and Mannai.[citation needed] If Artsakh is to be identified with the Adakh/Urtekhini/Atakhuni of Urartian cuneiform inscriptions, then it was the target of military campaigns by two Urartian kings: Sarduri II and Rusa I.[46]

Classical Era

After the fall of Urartu (6th century BC), most of the region south of the Kura River came under the domination of the Medes, followed by the Achaemenian Persians until 331 BC when Alexander the Great invaded the region during his wars with the Achaemenids, upsetting its balance of power.[47] In Robert H. Hewsen's view, Artsakh and neighboring Utik became a part of the Kingdom of Armenia only after 189 BC, when the Artaxiad dynasty came to power in Armenia.[32] Strabo reports that King Artaxias I of Armenia (r. 189 – 159 BC) expanded his state in all directions at the expense of his neighbors, conquering the lands of Caspiane (previously ruled by the Medes) and "Phaunitis" (supposedly a copyist error for Saunities, i.e. Syunik), as well as, presumably, the lands lying in between Syunik and the Caspian Sea, i.e. Artsakh and Utik.[2][32] Many Armenian historians reject this view, arguing that Artsakh and Utik were ruled and populated by Armenians from the earliest days of the formation of the Armenian people.[4][8][32] It is possible that Artsakh had earlier been part of Orontid Armenia in the 4th–2nd centuries BC rather than under Median rule.[2]

Strabo mentions that the land of Orchistene, frequently identified with Artsakh, "furnishes the most cavalry" of the Armenian provinces.[7] In the Classical Armenian sources, Artsakh is described as a strategic and fortified region.[48][49] In the words of the historian Leo, judging from the Classical Armenian sources, Artsakh, along with Syunik, Utik, Sasun and other remote regions of Greater Armenia, was regarded as a "wild" or "barbarous" province when compared with the center of the kingdom, Ayrarat.[50]

Orontid Armenia, 4th–2nd centuries BC

In 301, Armenia was converted to Christianity under the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia. The Armenian historian Agathangelos mentioned the princes of Utik and Sodk (which probably comprised Artsakh) among the sixteen Armenian princes who escorted Gregory the Illuminator to Caesarea, where he would be enthroned the Patriach of Armenia.[51][non-primary source needed

]

Artsakh became a major stronghold for Armenian missionaries to proclaim the Christian Gospel to neighboring countries. In 310 St Grigoris, the grandson of Grigor the Illuminator, was ordained bishop of Iberia and Caucasian Albania in the monastery of Amaras, being just 15 years old at the time.[52] 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 had been built by Gregory the Illuminator and Grigoris himself. Hence St Grigoris became a patron saint of Artsakh. The historian Pavstos Buzand wrote that "... every year the people of that places and cantons gathers there [in Amaras] for the festive commemoration of his valor".[53]

In the 5th century, Christian culture flourished in Artsakh. Around 410 Mesrop Mashtots opened the first Armenian school at Amaras.[54] Later, more schools were opened in Artsakh.[55]

Loss to Caucasian Albania

The second half of the 4th century saw a series of wars between the Kingdom of Armenia and Sassanid Persia. After enduring 34 years of warfare, the Armenian nobility of Artsakh and most other provinces of Armenia revolted, refusing to support the Armenian king Arshak II anymore out of war-weariness.[49][56] According to Pavstos Buzand, after bringing Arshak's son Pap to the Armenian throne and defeating the Sassanid invaders with Roman assistance, the Armenian sparapet (supreme commander) Mushegh Mamikonian severely punished the rebelling Armenian provinces, Artsakh included, and brought them back under the control of the Armenian monarchy. Then, in 372 he attacked the Caucasian Albanians and took back from them the neighboring province of Utik, in the process reestablishing the Kura River as the boundary between Armenia and Caucasian Albania.[49]

In 387, according to the terms of the Peace of Acilisene, the Armenian kingdom was partitioned between the Roman and Sasanian empires. Caucasian Albania, as an ally of the Sassanids at the time, gained Armenian territories the right bank of the river Kura up to the Arax, including Artsakh, Gardman and Utik.[57]

Following the

Mardakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh),[61] an Albanian church assembly was held, in the presence of the nobility and princes (azgapetk) of Artsakh and the king Vachagan the Pious, to adopt the Constitution of Aghven, which would arrange relations between the nobility (landlords), clergy and village people.[62]

Medieval Period

Political map of the Caucasus c. 900.
Hasan Jalal Dawla
(1214–1261)

In the 7th–9th centuries, the

Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) and the following Treaty of Gulistan.[2]

See also

Notes

Notes

  1. ^ Ulubabyan believes "Gargar" to be an error in place of Gugark. Ulubabyan and Yeremyan identify Tsawdēkʻ with the canton of Sodk southeast of Lake Sevan, near Artsakh, although others place it farther away in southwestern Armenia.

References

  1. ISBN 0-226-33228-4
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e Hewsen 2001, pp. 118–121.
  3. ^
    OCLC 31970952. Archived
    from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2022-07-27. [...] Artsakh sometimes called Little Siunik or Second Siunik, [...]
  4. ^
    Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (in Armenian). Vol. 2. Yerevan. pp. 150–151. Archived from the original on 2022-11-13. Retrieved 2022-07-14. The name is mentioned in Urartian inscriptions as 'Ardakh', 'Urdekhe', 'Atakhuni'. The Greek historian Strabo mentions it as 'Orkhistine'...{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  5. ^ Hakobyan, T. Kh.; Melik-Bakhshyan, St. T.; Barseghyan, H. Kh. (1986). "Արցախ" [Artsʻakh]. Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան [Dictionary of toponymy of Armenia and adjacent territories] (in Armenian). Vol. 1. Yerevan State University. p. 506. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12. Some assume that Tsavdekʻ and the lands of Urdukhe and Atakhani mentioned in cuneiform inscriptions are synonyms of Artsakh, which is unlikely.
  6. ^
    ISBN 5-8079-0960-7. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2022-08-06. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  7. ^
    Geography, 11.14 Archived 2022-07-14 at the Wayback Machine
    .
  8. ^ a b c d Margaryan, Lusine (2020). "«Արցախ» և «Ղարաբաղ» տեղանունների ստուգաբանության հարցի շուրջ" [On the issue of the etymology of the placenames 'Artsakh' and 'Gharabagh'] (PDF). Banber Matenadarani (29): 349–350. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2022-07-12.
  9. ^ Margaryan 2020, p. 354.
  10. ISBN 978-0-04-956010-9
    .
  11. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (1972). "The Meliks of Eastern Armenia: A Preliminary Study". Revue des Études Arméniennes. New Series. IX: 288. James H . Tashijian... derives the Armenian name from ard (sic, i.e. art) «field» and aghd (sic, i.e. ałt), a classical Armenian word for «black»...
  12. ^ Harutyunyan, B. H. (1994). "Արցախի, Հայոց Արևելից կողմերի և Ղարաբաղի տարածքի հարցի շուրջը" [On the question of the territory of Artsakh, Eastern region of Armenia and Kharabagh]. Patma-Banasirakan Handes (1–2): 265. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  13. ^ a b Margaryan 2020, p. 352.
  14. ^
    ISBN 5-94628-118-6
    .
  15. S2CID 54576963. Archived
    from the original on 30 October 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2020. Today, most Armenians use the term Artsakh interchangeably with the term Karabakh in Armenian, Russian and English.
  16. ^ Hewsen 1972, p. 308.
  17. ISBN 5-550-00407-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  18. Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Publishing
    . p. 41.
  19. ^ Hewsen 2001, p. 63.
  20. ISBN 5-8084-0221-2
    .
  21. ^
    ISBN 0-89130-642-0
    .
  22. ^ Hewsen 2001, p. 62.
  23. ^ a b Hewsen 2001, pp. 100–103.
  24. ^ Alishan 1993, p. 9.
  25. ^ Alishan 1993, p. 8.
  26. ^ Hewsen 1984, p. 48.
  27. ^ a b Этническая одонтология СССР (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka. 1979. p. 135.
  28. ^ a b Bunak B. Anthropological makeup of the Caucasus / / Vestn. State. Museum of Georgia. T. XIII. 1946.
  29. ^ a b "A genetic atlas of human admixture history". World ancestry. Archived from the original on 2019-09-02.
  30. ^ a b "Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus". Current Biology. June 29, 2017. Archived from the original on 2020-02-04. To shed light on the maternal genetic history of the region, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from present-day Armenia and Artsakh spanning 7,800 years and combined this dataset with 206 mitochondrial genomes of modern Armenians. We also included previously published data of seven neighboring populations (n = 482). Coalescence-based analyses suggest that the population size in this region rapidly increased after the Last Glacial Maximum ca. 18 kya. We find that the lowest genetic distance in this dataset is between modern Armenians and the ancient individuals, as also reflected in both network analyses and discriminant analysis of principal components.
    [...]
    A total of 19 archaeological sites are represented, covering large parts of Armenia as well as Artsakh (Figure 1), and estimated to be between 300–7800 years old based on contextual dating of artifacts. This time span is accompanied by at least seven well-defined cultural transitions: Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor 2, Lchashen-Metsamor, Urartian and Armenian Classical/Medieval (Figure 1).
  31. ^ a b Hewsen 2001, p. 58.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h Hewsen, Robert H. "Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians" in Samuelian, Thomas J. (Ed.), Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity, Chico: 1982, pp. 27–40.
  33. PMID 26486470
    . Our tests suggest that Armenians had no significant mixture with other populations in their recent history and have thus been genetically isolated since the end of the Bronze Age, 3000 years ago.
  34. ^ a b Hewsen 2001, pp. 10, 58.
  35. ^ Schmitt, R. (December 15, 1986). "ARMENIA and IRAN i. Armina, Achaemenid province". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 417–418. Archived from the original on 2022-07-11. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  36. PMID 26486470
    .
  37. ISBN 978-0700714520
    .
  38. ^ Hewsen 2001, pp. 85–86.
  39. ^ a b c Ulubabyan 1994, p. 16.
  40. ^ a b Moses Khorenats'i (1978). History of the Armenians. Translated by Thomson, Robert W. Cambridge, Massachusetts & London: Harvard University Press. pp. 139–140.
  41. ^ (in Armenian) Stepanos Orbelian, History of the House Sisakan (Պատմութիւն Տանն Սիսական), transl. A. A. Abrahamian, Yerevan: Sovetakan Grogh, 1986, pp. 73, 278.
  42. ^ a b The History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movsēs Dasxuranc'i. Translated by Charles Dowsett. London: Oxford University Press, 1961, pp. 3–4, 7, 24.
  43. ^ Cyril Toumanoff. Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press 1963, pp. 257–258.
  44. ISBN 99930-2-078-8
    .
  45. ^ Ulubabyan 1994, p. 18.
  46. ^ Ulubabyan 1994, pp. 12–13.
  47. ^ Balayan 2005, p. 32.
  48. ^ The History of Caucasian Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci. Translated by C. J. F. Dowsett, London 1961. 1.17, 2.11 2.14.
  49. ^
    Pavstos Buzand
    , The Epic Histories Attributed to P'awstos Buzand, English transl. by N. Garsoian, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1983. IV.50; V.12.
  50. ^ Leo (1966). "Հայոց պատմություն․ առաջին հատոր" [History of Armenia, Volume One]. Երկերի ժողովածու․ առաջին հատոր [Collected Works, Volume One] (PDF) (in Armenian). Yerevan: Hayastan. p. 146. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-05-23. Retrieved 2022-07-14.
  51. ^ Agathangelos, The Conversion of Armenia, 795–796.
  52. ^ Pavstos Buzand, III.5.
  53. ^ Pavstos Buzand, III.6.
  54. National Geographic Magazine
    . March 2004.
  55. ^ Movses Kaghankatsvatsi, 1.18.
  56. ^ Hewsen 2001, p. 73.
  57. ^ Chaumont, M. L. (December 15, 1985). "ALBANIA". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. I, Fasc. 4. pp. 806–810. Archived from the original on 2022-01-09. Retrieved 2022-07-10.
  58. ^ Babian, Archbishop Gorun (2001). The Relations between the Armenian and Georgian Churches: According to the Armenian Sources, 300–610. Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, Antelias, Lebanon: Kevork Melidi Netsi Literary Award. p. 60.
  59. Jeghishe
    , About Vartan and the Armenian War. Translation and notes by Ye. Ter-Minasian. Yerevan 1989, sec. 6, p. 252-258.
  60. ^ Minorsky, Vladimir (1958). A History of Sharvan and Darband in the 10th-11th Centuries. Cambridge: Heffer and Sons.
  61. ^ Leo (1947). Հայոց պատմություն [History of Armenia] (in Armenian). Vol. II. Yerevan: Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Institute of History. p. 156.
  62. ^ Movses Kaghankatvatsi, 1.26
  63. ^ "ԱԲԲԱՍՅԱՆՆԵՐ | History of Armenia". Historyarmenia.org. 2011-02-22. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2012-05-06.

40°04′N 46°56′E / 40.067°N 46.933°E / 40.067; 46.933

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