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Arzanene

Coordinates:38°00′00″N41°41′00″E/ 38.0000°N 41.6833°E/38.0000; 41.6833
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Map of the provinces of theKingdom of Armeniain 150, including Arzanene (Aghdznik)

Arzanene(Greek:Ἀρζανηνή) orAghdznik(Armenian:Աղձնիք,romanized:Ałjnik῾) was a historical region in the southwest of theancient kingdom of Armenia.It was ruled by one of the fourbdeashkhs(bidakhsh,vitaxa) of Armenia, the highest ranking nobles below the king who ruled over the kingdom's border regions.[1]Its probable capital was the fortress-city ofArzen.[2]The region briefly became home to the capital of Armenia during the reign ofTigranes the Great,who built his namesake cityTigranocertathere.[3]Arzanene was placed under the direct suzerainty of theRoman Empireafter thePeace of Nisibisin 298. It was briefly brought back under Armenian control c. 371 but was soon lost again following thepartition of Armeniain 387.[3]

Name[edit]

It is generally agreed the Greco-Roman name of Arzanene is derived from the city ofArzan(ArznorAghznin Armenian), which was probably the capital of the province. The name is identified with theAlziorAlšementioned inNeo-AssyrianandUrartianinscriptions and is of non-Armenian origin.[4][5]

Geography[edit]

Arzanene was located between the westernTigrisand the easternTaurus Mountains,covering an area of approximately 15,102 km2(6,000 sq mi).[1][2][a]It was located to the east of theBatman Riverand to the west of theBotan River(both tributaries of the Tigris).[2][5][6]The region was naturally divided between the mountainous part closer to the Taurus in the north, which had an extremely cold climate, and the flat part to the south, which had a warm and dry climate.[1]Arzanene was famous for its rivers and springs, as well as its iron and lead mines. Cattle-breeding, grape cultivation and winemaking were well-developed in the province.[1]The province had about seven fortresses.[2]

According the early medieval Armenian geographyAshkharhats’oyts’,Arzanene was divided into ten cantons orgawars(their capitals or main fortresses, where known, are listed adjacent to the canton name):[7]

  • Np’rkert:Np’rkert(laterMartyropolis)[b]
  • Aghdzn:Arzan
  • Kēt’ik
  • Tatik
  • K’agh:K’ghimar
  • Aznuadzor
  • Erkhet’k’
  • Gzeghkh:Gzeghkh
  • Salnoy Dzor:Salnodzor
  • Sanasunk’(Sasun):Sanasun

One of the recensions ofAshkharhats’oyts’includes an eleventh district,Saghu,which is likely an error.[2]HistorianSuren YeremianincludesAngeghtunamong the cantons of Aghdznik’, even though it is not listed as such in any of the manuscripts ofAshkharhats’oyts’(Cyril ToumanoffandRobert Hewsenconsider Angeghtun to have been a part ofTsop’k’/Sophene).[9]

As the domain of one of the fourbdeashkhsof Armenia, Arzanene can be divided into the core principality or "Arzanene proper" and thebdeshkhut’iwn(viceroyaltyormarch) of Arzanene, which likely included all of the ten cantons of Arzanene listed above (according to Hewsen, probably excluding Np’rkert) and some further territories to the south.[2]Josef Markwartand Toumanoff include the adjacent provinces ofMoxoene(Mokk’) andCorduene(or part of it) in the viceroyalty of Arzanene, although this is rejected by Hewsen.[10][7]The viceroyalty of Arzanene is also called thebdeshkhut’iwnof Aruastan in some Armenian sources (Persian:Arabistān,referring in this case to the area aroundNisibis), so it is referred to as the Arabian March by some historians.[7]

History[edit]

In the first half of the first millennium BCE, Arzanene may have been the location of the state of Alzi or Alše mentioned in Assyrian and Urartian cuneiform inscriptions.[3]It was conquered by theKingdom of Urartu(c. 9th–6th centuries BCE), then came under the control of theMedesand soon after passed to theAchaemenid Empire.Under Achaemenid rule, Arzanene was included in theSatrapy of Armenia.The PersianRoyal Roadpassed through the province. After the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire byAlexander the Greatin 330 BCE, Arzanene became a part of the Armenian kingdom ruled by theOrontid dynasty.The local princes of Arzanene claimed Assyrian royal origin, but in all likelihood they were originally a branch of the Orontid dynasty. During the reign ofTigranes the Great,under whom Armenia reached its greatest territorial extent, Arzanene became the center of his short-lived empire as the location of the new capital ofTigranocerta.[3]It was probably under Tigranes that thebdeshkhut’iwnof Arzanene was established to defend Armenia from an invasion from Mesopotamia.[11]The office of thebdeashkhof Arzanene continued to exist under theArsacid dynasty of Armeniaand after the region was lost by Armenia, until at least the mid-5th century.[3]

In 298 AD, the entirebdeshkhut’iwnof Arzanene came under the suzerainty of theRoman Empireas a result of thePeace of Nisibis.[3]However, the 5th-century Armenian historianFaustus of Byzantium(Book 3, Chapter 8) still speaks of thebdeashkhof Arzanene as a vassal of the king of Armenia in the 330s, which Toumanoff accepts as evidence that the Romans had effectively left Arzanene under Armenian suzerainty.[12]In the 330s,bdeashkhBakur of Arzanene attempted to defect to theSasanian Empire,but was killed in battle and the province consequently remained under Roman (or Roman-Armenian) control.[3][12]The emperorJovianwas forced to give up suzerainty over Arzanene to the Persians according to thepeace treatysigned in 363 afterJulian's failed Persian expedition.[13]Faustus of Byzantium (Book 5, Chapter 16) names Arzanene among the provinces reconquered for Armenia byMushegh Mamikonianc. 371, during the reign of KingPap.[3]After thePeace of Aciliseneof 387, Arzanene was divided between Rome and the Sasanian Empire (with most of it going to the Persians), and until 591 the Roman-Sasanian border passed through the western part of the province.[3]During theArmenian rebellion of 450–451against the Sasanian Empire, the Armenian rebels appealed to thebdeashkhof Arzanene as a foreign ruler; this is the last time that anybdeashkhof Arzanene is mentioned in the classical sources.[14]By 591, all of Arzanene had been annexed by theByzantine Empire.On the ruins ofTigranocerta,the Romans built a new city namedMartyropolisor Np’rkert.[1]In c. 640, the Arab generalIyad ibn Ghanminvaded Arzanene from Syria.[7]Following theArab conquest of Armenia,manyArabtribes settled in Arzanene, especially in the lowlands.[1]TheArmenianpopulation remained in the mountainous parts of the region until theArmenian genocidein 1915.[1]

Arzanene was later a small Arab emirate under theZurarid dynastyin the 9th century. In the 10th century the area fell underHamdanidcontrol. Hamdum, an Arab chief, conquered Arzanene andAmidaround 962. In 963 a sister of Hamdum, whose name is not given in the original sources, governed the region for ten years. After 1045 it fell successively under Byzantine,Seljuk,MongolandOttoman Turkishcontrol. For many years the Armenians ofSasunmaintained a semi-independent status and fought the Ottoman authorities; well known battles are theSasun Resistance (1894)and Sasun resistance in 1915.

Population[edit]

The exact ethnic composition of Arzanene is not known. According toNicholas Adontz,its population was mixed "Armeno-Syrian."[3]Pliny the Elderrefers to a people called the Azoni, which Robert Hewsen believes to be a misspelling of *Arzoni, apparently referring to the people of Arzanene as if forming a distinct ethnic group.[3]In Hewsen's view, Armenians must have settled in Arzanene early on but "it is likely that the basic population had remained essentiallysemitic-speaking."[3]Under Arab rule Arzanene became heavily settled byArabandKurdishtribes, but a significant Armenian element (according to one source, an absolute majority of Armenians)[5]remained there until theArmenian genocide.[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Yeremian gives the larger figure 17,532 sq. km. as the approximate area of the Aghdznik, as he includes the canton ofAngeghtunwithin the province.[2]
  2. ^According to Hewsen, the canton ofNp’rkertmay have been included in Arzanene only after Byzantine administrative reorganization after 591; before thisNp’rkertwas a part ofMets Tsop’k’/Sophanene.[8]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgEremyan 1975.
  2. ^abcdefgHewsen 1992,p. 157, n. 45.
  3. ^abcdefghijklHewsen 1992,p. 158, n. 45.
  4. ^Marciak 2017,p. 222.
  5. ^abcHakobyan, Melikʿ-Baxšyan & Barsełyan 1998,p. 180.
  6. ^Marciak 2017,p. 38.
  7. ^abcdeHewsen 1992,p. 159, n. 45.
  8. ^Hewsen 1992,p. 161, n. 45.
  9. ^Hewsen 1992,p. 161, n. 47.
  10. ^Toumanoff 1961,p. 31, n. 140.
  11. ^Hewsen 1992,pp. 158, 161, n. 45.
  12. ^abToumanoff 1961,p. 30.
  13. ^Toumanoff 1961,p. 4.
  14. ^Toumanoff 1961,p. 31.

Sources[edit]

  • Comfort, Anthony Martin (14 May 2009).Roads on the frontier between Rome and Persia: Euphratesia, Osrhoene and Mesopotamia from AD 363 to 602(Ph.D.). University of Exeter.hdl:10036/68213.
  • Eremyan, S.(1975)."Ałjnik῾".Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran.Vol. 1. Erewan. p. 258.{{cite encyclopedia}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Frye, R. N.(1960)."Arzan".InGibb, H. A. R.;Kramers, J. H.;Lévi-Provençal, E.;Schacht, J.;Lewis, B.&Pellat, Ch.(eds.).The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.Volume I: A–B.Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 679–680.OCLC495469456.
  • Hakobyan, Tʿ. X.; Melikʿ-Baxšyan, S. T.; Barsełyan, H. X. (1998)."Ałjnik῾".Hayastani ew harakicʿ šrǰanneri tełanunneri baṙaran[Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories] (in Armenian). Vol. 1.Erewani Hamalsarani Hratarakčʿutʿyun.pp. 180–181.
  • Hewsen, Robert H.(1992).The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions.Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag.ISBN3-88226-485-3.
  • Marciak, Michał(2017).Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West.BRILL.ISBN978-90-04-35072-4.
  • Toumanoff, Cyril(1961). "Introduction to Christian Caucasian History: II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period".Traditio.17.Cambridge University Press: 1–106.doi:10.1017/S0362152900008473.JSTOR27830424.S2CID151524770.(registration required)

38°00′00″N41°41′00″E/ 38.0000°N 41.6833°E/38.0000; 41.6833

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