Ayrarat

Այրարատ
Province ofthe ancient kingdom of Armenia
Capital	Artashat
History
•Artaxias Ideclaring himself independent	189 BC
•Arab conquest of Armenia	650 AD

Ayrarat(Armenian:Այրարատ) was the central province of theancient kingdom of Armenia,located in the plain of the upperAras River.Most of the historical capitals of Armenia were located in this province, includingArmavir,Yervandashat,Artashat,Vagharshapat,Dvin,Bagaran,Shirakavan,KarsandAni(the current capital ofArmenia,Yerevan,is also located on the territory of historical Ayrarat).

Name

The nameAyraratis clearly connected withUruatri/Urartuand the biblicalArarat,and perhaps also with theAlarodiansmentioned byHerodotus.It is not used by any of the classical Greek and Roman authors who write about Armenia, which suggests that it was a purely local name used to refer to the central lands of Armenia.Robert H. Hewsendoes not rule out the possibility that Armenians applied the name to the great plain surroundingMount Masisafter converting to Christianity in the early fourth century and identifying the biblical Ararat with Masis.If this is the case, then Ayrarat may be identical with theAraxēnon Pedion( "Araxesplain ") mentioned byStrabo.

The ultimate etymology of the names Urartu, Ayrarat, and Ararat is not known for certain. In the Armenian tradition, Ayrarat and theArarat plainare associated with the legendary Armenian kingAra the Handsome.

The province is also referred to in Armenian sources as theMijnashkharh Hayotsʻ( "central province of Armenia" ) or as theGlukh erkrin Hayotsʻ( "head province of Armenia" ).During theArsacidperiod, Ayrarat referred to, in its narrowest sense, the royal domain consisting of the Ararat plain and its adjacent districts.The author of the seventh-century geographyAshkharhatsʻoytsʻused the term Ayrarat to refer to a much larger territory.The name Ayrarat gradually fell out of use after the fall of theBagratid Kingdom of Armeniaand the conquest of Armenia by theSeljuksin the eleventh century.

Districts

Map of Ayrarat according toAshkharhatsʻoytsʻ

The seventh-centuryAshkharhatsʻoytsʻattributed toAnania Shirakatsidepicts Ayrarat as a very large province with 22 districts, but this is probably based on the new administrative divisions created after the Byzantine-Persian partition of Armenia in 591.

• Shirak
• Aragatsotn
• Nig
• Varazhnunik
• Vostan Hayots
• Vanand
• Masyats-Votn
• Kogovit
• Basean
• Bagrewand
• Chakatk
• Abeghyan
• Havnunik
• Arshanunik
• Tsaghkotn
• Arats
• Urtsadzor
• Vostan Dvna
• Kotayk
• Mazaz

See also

• List of regions of old Armenia

Bibliography

• Eremyan, S.(1975)."Ayrarat".In Hambardzumyan, Viktor (ed.).Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia(in Armenian). Vol. 1. Erevan. pp. 352–353.{{cite encyclopedia}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Eremyan, S. T.(1963).Hayastaně ěst Ashxarhatsʻoytsʻ-i[Armenia according to the Ashkharhatsʻoytsʻ] (in Armenian). Erevan: Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Publishing.
• Hakobyan, Tʻ. Kh.;Melikʻ-Bakhshyan, St. T.; Barseghyan, H. Kh. (1986)."Ayrarat".Hayastani ev harakitsʻ shrjanneri teghanunneri baṛaran[Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories] (in Armenian). Vol. 1. Yerevan State University. pp. 239–240.
• Hewsen, R. H.(1987)."Ayrarat".InYarshater, Ehsan(ed.).Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume III/2: Awāʾel al-maqālāt–Azerbaijan IV.London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 150–151.ISBN978-0-71009-114-7.
• Hewsen, Robert H.(1992).The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhacʻoycʻ): The Long and the Short Recensions.Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. pp. 210–220.ISBN3-88226-485-3.
• Petrosyan, Armen (2007)."The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review".Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies.16:25–66.