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ARMENIA (Ancient country) ARMENIA
Armenia (Armenia: Eth. Armenios, Armenius, Armeniacus). There is so
much difficulty in fixing the natural limits of the country designated by this
name, that its political boundaries have been exposed to continual changes
If taken in the most comprehensive sense, the Euphrates may be considered
as forming the central line of the country known to the ancients as Armenia. E.
of this river it extended as far as the Caspian Sea, and again W., over a part
of what is usually considered as Asia Minor. The former of these two great portions
was almost universally known as Armenia Major, and the latter went under the title
of Armenia Minor.
The native and Byzantine historians make use of many subdivisions,
the names of which they mention; but the Greek and Roman geographers confine themselves
to those two great divisions originally made, it would seem, by the successors
of Alexander the Great. (Ptol. v. 7. § 13; Plin. vi. 9.)
In the Scriptures there is no allusion to Armenia by name; though
we meet with the following Hebrew designations, referring to it either as a whole,
or to particular districts. (1.) Togarmach a name which not only appears in the
Ethnographic table in Genesis (x. 3; comp. 1 Chron. i. 6), but also in Ezekiel
(xxviii. 6), where it is classed along with Gomer, and (xxvii. 14) by the side
of Meshech and Tubal. It is curious enough that the national traditions speak
of one common progenitor of this name. However little credit may be assigned to
the Armenian Chronicles, as regards the remote period of their history, there
can be little question but that the Togarmah of Scripture belongs to this country.
(2.) Ararat the land upon the mountains of which the Ark rested (Gen. viii. 4);
to which the sons of Senaccherib fled after murdering their father (2 Kings, xix.
37; Isa. xxxvii. 38); and one of the kingdoms summoned along with Mlinni and Ashkenas
to arm against Babylon (Jer. li. 27). The province of Ararat lay in the centre
of the kingdom, and was according to the native historian, Moses of Chorene (Histor.
Armen. ii. c. 6, p. 90), divided into twenty provinces. (3.) Minni, cited above
(Jer. l. c.), and probably the same as the Minyas, with regard to which and the
accompanying traditions about the Deluge Josephus(Antiq.i. 1. § 6) quotes Nicholas
of Damascus. (Rosenmuller, Bibl. Alt. vol. i. pt. i. p. 251).
Herodotus (v. 52) represents Armenia as having Cilicia for its border
on the W., being separated from this country by the Euphrates. Towards the N.
it included the sources of the same river (i. 180). The limits to the S. and E.
were not distinctly defined, probably Mount Masius separated it from Mesopotamia,
and Mount Ararat from the country of the Saspires, who occupied the valley traversed
by the Araxes. (Rennel, Geog. Herod. vol. i. p. 369.)
In Strabo (xi. p. 527) Armenia is bounded to the S. by Mesopotamia
and the Taurus; on the E. by Great Media and Atropatene; on the N. by the Iberes
and Albani, with Mounts Parachoatras and Caucasus; on the W. by the Tibareni,
Mts. Paryadres and Skydises as far as the Lesser Armenia, and the country on the
Euphrates which separated Armenia from Cappadocia and Commagene. Strabo (p. 530)
quotes Theophanes for the statement that Armenia was 100 schoeni in breadth, and
200 schoeni in length; the schoenus here is reckoned at 40 stadia. He objects
to this admeasurement, and assigning the same number of schoeni to its length,
allows 50 for its breadth. Neither statement, it need hardly be said, is correct
(see Groskurd's note); as at no period was its superficies so extended as Theophanes
or Strabo would make it. The rough and inaccurate statements of Pliny (l. c.),
and Justin (xlii. 2) are equally wide of the truth.
In a natural division of the country Armenia takes its place as belonging
to the N. Highlands of the gigantic plateau of Iran, extending in the form of
a triangle between the angles of three seas, the Caspian, the Black Sea, and the
Gulf of Scanderoon. This great separate mass forms an elevated plateau, from which
the principal mountains, rivers and valleys of W. Asia diverge towards the four
seas at the furthermost extremities. Its plains rise to 7,000 ft. above the level
of the sea, and the highest summits of Mt. Ararat, which overtop the plains, attain
the height of 17,260 English feet. If we look at the more striking objects,- the
mountains, it will be seen that several great branches quit the high land about
the springs of the Euphrates and Tigris, and take different directions; but chiefly
E. S. and W. from the summits of Ararat. Ararat, the common root from which these
branches spring, raises its snow-clad summits in a district nearly equidistant
from the Black and Caspian Seas. The larger plain 10 miles in width at the base
of the mountain, is covered with lava, and the formation of the mass itself indicates
the presence of that volcanic agency which caused the great earthquake of 1840.
Two vast conical peaks rising far above all others in the neighbourhood, form
the great centre of the Mountains of Ararat, the lower one is steeper and more
pointed than the higher, from which it is separated by a sloping plain on the
NW. side. The ascent of the greater one is easier, and the summits have been,
in effect, gained by the German traveller Parrot.
The difficulties of the ascent are considerable, and have given rise
to the local and expressive name, of Aghri Tagh, or painful mountain. Though a
volcano, it has no crater, and bears no evidence of any recent eruption; it is,
however, composed entirely of volcanic matter,- consisting of different varieties
of igneous rocks. It seems to be a subaqueous volcano of extreme antiquity, retaining
no traces of the movements by which its materials have been brought into their
present position.
The first of the numerous chains which descend from this culminating
point of the whole system, is the elevated range, forming the backbone of the
Assyrian mountains, which, with its principal ramifications, is the seat of the
valleys, containing a large proportion of the inhabitants of the country. This
ridge runs from the slopes of Mt. Ararat at its northern extremity, in a SSE.
direction between the Lakes of Van and Urumiyah, along the W. side of Azerbaijan,
the ancient Atropatene, to the extremity of the province. This main range of Kurdistan
is identified with the chain which Strabo (p. 522) says some called the Gordyaean
Mountains, and to which Mt. Masius belongs, having on the S. the cities of Nisibis
and Tigranocerta. It is composed of red sandstone and basalt, terminating in needle
points at a considerable elevation, while the irregular sides are frequently wooded,
and form basins or amphitheatres. From this chain branches diverge towards the
W. These assume the form of an acute triangle, which has its apex W. of the Euphrates,
its base resting on the Kscrdistan range, while its sides are formed by portions
of the ranges of Taurus and Antitaurus. The S. branches constitute what was properly
called the Taurus, and those to the N. the Antitaurus. Antitaurus extends from
the borders of Commagene (El Bostan), and Melitene (Malatiyah) towards the N.,
enclosing Sophene in a valley between it and Taurus Proper. (Strab. xi. p. 521.)
This statement corresponds with the description of the range running W. from Mt.
Ararat in two parallel chains to Deyadin, where it separates into several branches,
the upper one taking a general W. direction, having to the northward the great
abutments of Aliges-Beg, Keban-Tagh, Kat-Tagh, with others, the Paryadres and
mountains of the Moschi of Strabo (l. c.). At Deyadin, the S. chain of the Antitaurus
bifurcates; the N. branch taking the upper portion of the Murad; and the lower
range, enclosing the S. side of the valley. In these different ridges limestone
and gypsum prevail, with basalt and other volcanic rocks. It separates Armenia
from Mesopotamia, and also Acisilene from Sophene. (Strab. xi. pp. 521, 527.)
Near the S. extremity of the main ridge of Kurdistan, the range designated Taurus
Proper diverges from the Zagros in two almost parallel lines, and divides Sophene
and part of Armenia from Mesopotamia. (Strab. p. 522.) The formation is chiefly
of limestone, with red sandstone, conglomerate, and occasionally jasper; conical
bare summits, with irregular sides intersected by deep valleys, less or more peopled,
are the characteristics of that portion of the range of Taurus which lies E. of
the river Tigris. In crossing Upper Mesopotamia the Taurus is more rocky and less
continuous than before, - and at Mardin the height of the limestone summit of
Mount Masius scarcely exceeds 2,300 feet. It appears from the investigations of
recent travellers, that the whole tract of country comprehended between the Euxine
and Caspian Seas exhibits the phenomena of volcanic action. It has been conjectured
that this region, at a period not very remote, geologically speaking, was at one
time covered with water, which formed a vast inland sea, of which the Caspian
and other large sheets of water are the remnants. The first movement belongs to
the Jura limestone, or oolitic series; a subsequent deposition of schistose and
arenaceous sands then took place, which, from the fossils they contain, are identified
with the cretaceous and green sandstone formations. This country must have then
presented the picture of a narrow sea, bounded on the N. by the chain belonging
to the chalk formation, and to the S. by the Jura limestone range, the result
of the previous upheaval. At this epoch the volcanic eruptions began which have
so much modified the surface of the country. The eruption of these masses, besides
filling up valleys, has in other parts of the chain formed great circular basins,
or amphitheatres, - some of which now exist as lakes, while others have been filled
up with tertiary deposits, showing the prior date of the volcanic rocks by which
they are encircled. Belonging to these is the volcanic lake of Sevangha, supposed
to be the Lychnitis (Auchnitis) of Ptolemy (v. 13. § 8) 5,000 feet from the sea,
surrounded by trap and porphyry formations. SW. of this lake is the great volcanic
amphitheatre of Central Armenia, composing a circus of several conical mountains
containing craters. As the lakes of Van and Urumiyah have no outlet it may be
conjectured that they were produced in the same manner. In addition to this the
basin of Central Armenia contains vast deposits of rock-salt, a further proof
of the existence of a great salt lake. (Daubeny on Volcanoes, p. 366.)
The high mountains, and the snows with which they are covered, are
the feeders of a considerable number of rivers. The elevated plateau, which extends
from the base of Mt. Ararat into N. Armenia (Kirdistan), and part of Asia Minor,
contains the sources of these great channels of communication from Armenia to
the several nations of Europe and Asia. 1. The Halys has its sources at two places,
both of which are much further to the E. than generally represented on maps. Of
these sources the most northern are on the sides of Gemin Beli-Tagh, but the others
are on the W. slopes of the Paryadres or Kuara-Bel group, which separates the
springs of this river from those of the Euphrates.
2. The Araxes which rises nearly in the centre of the space between the E. and
W. branches of the Euphrates, and takes a SE. course till it is joined by the
Cyrus.
3. The Acampsis (Akampsis; Jorak, Arrian, Periplus; Plin. vi. 4), unites the waters
on the N. and W. sides of the mountains, containing the sources of the Cyrus,
Araxes, Harpasus and W. Euphrates, which serve as drains to the valleys on the
opposite sides of the chain. It bounds Colchis to the W., and is probably the
Bathys, which, according to Pliny (vi. 4), is a river of Colchis.
4. The Tigris (Tigris) has in Central Armenia two principal sources, both of which
spring from the S. slope of the Antitaurus, near those of the Araxes and Euphrates,
and not far from those of the Halys.
5. The Centrites (Kentrites), mentioned by Xenophon (Anab. iv. 3. § 1), as dividing
Armenia from the country of the Carduchi, is identified with the Buhtanchai, a
considerable affluent of the Tigris.
6. The Euphrates which is, in fact, the confluence of the two great streams, the
Muradchai and the Kara Su, has two great sources in the Armenian mountains.
Among the lakes of Armenia is that of Arsene (Arsene: Van), situated in
the S. of the country towards the Tigris. Ptolemy calls it Arsissa (l. c.), and
it also went by the name of Thospites. Separated from it to the E. by a chain
of hills lies the lake Mantiane (Mantiane: Urumiyah) of Strabo (p. 529), probably
the same as the Lake of Spauta, of which the same author speaks in his description
of Atropatene (p. 523). Near Erivan lies the Lake Goutchka, or Sevangha, which
has already been mentioned, and identified with the Lychnitis of Ptolemy (v. 13).
Owing to the height of the table-land and the extreme elevation of
the mountains the temperature of Armenia is much lower than that of other regions
situated on the same parallel of latitude. The thousands of tributary streams
which feed its large rivers carry fertility in every direction through its valleys.
Its rich pasture lands were famous for their horses. Horses from the house of
Togarmah are enumerated by Ezekiel (xxvii. 14), among other articles brought for
sale, or exchanged at Tyre. Strabo (p. 529) praises the breed, and states that
the Armenian satrap presented the king with 20,000 young horses at the annual
feast of Mithra. Strabo (l. c.), and Pliny (xxxvii. 23), notice the wealth of
Armenia in the precious stones and metals; Strabo, in particular, speaks of gold
mines at a place called Kamlala in the country of Hyspiratis, probably in the
N. of Armenia, between the rivers Kur and Phasis, which were worked by the natives
at the time of Alexander's expedition. The same author informs us that Pompeius
demanded, as a contribution from Armenia, 6,000 talents of silver. And we are
told that the Romans, on reducing this to one of their provinces, carried king
Alavasdus to Rome in golden fetters. (Philost. Vita Apollon. ii. 4.) According
to Pliny (l. c.) the whole region was divided into 120 praefectures, or strategiai.
Ptolemy gives the names of twenty-one of these subdivisions; Strabo and Tacitus
also mention certain names, The native historian, Moses of Chorene, divides Armenia
Major into fifteen provinces, and 187 subdivisions. St. Martin (Mem. sur l'Armenie,
vol. i. p. 64) enumerates and gives the names of the larger divisions. Malte-Brun
(Geog. Universelle, vol. iii. p. 120) has a table of these divisions and subdivisions,
and compares them with those known to the Greeks and Romans. As may be supposed
there is considerable uncertainty in making out and explaining the presumed correspondence.
The difficulty is increased from the circumstance that at no period was the whole
of this region comprised under one government; and in the course of its history
we find its limits exposed to continual changes. At the present day Armenia is
divided among Persia, Russia and Turkey, Mount Ararat forming, as it were, the
central boundary stone to these three empires.
The Armenians belong to the Indo-European race ; their dialect is
allied to the most ancient language of the Arian family: while their early traditions
connect them with the history of the Medes and Persians, they are a branch of
the stock of the people of Iran, though separated from them at an early period.
(Prichard, Nat. Hist. of Man, p. 178; comp. Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. x. p 577.)
Xenophon (Anab: iv. 5. § 25) describes the villages of Armenia, which are still
built exactly in the same manner. (Kinneir, Trav. in Armenia, p. 487.) The houses
were under ground; the mouth resembling that of a well, but spacious below; there
was an entrance dug for the cattle, but the inhabitants descended by ladders.
In these houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their young. There was
also wheat and barley, vegetables and beer in jars, in which the malt itself floated
even with the brims of the vessels, and with it reeds or straws, some large and
others small, without joints. These, when any one was thirsty he was to take into
his mouth, and suck; the liquor was strong, and exceedingly pleasant to those
who were used to it. The same author speaks of the intense cold. Plutarch (Lucull.
32), in his account of the invasion of Armenia by Lucullus, states that before
the close of the autumnal equinox the weather became as severe as in the midst
of winter; the whole country was covered with snow, the rivers were frozen; and
at night the army was compelled to encamp in damp muddy spots, wet with melting
snow. The religion of Armenia appears to have been made up of elements derived
partly from the doctrine of Zoroaster, partly from Eastern Natureworship, with
certain rites of Scythian origin. Their chief deity was Aramazt, the Ormuzd of
the Magian system, but their temples were crowded with statues, and their altars
reeked with animal sacrifices; usages revolting to the purer Magianism of Persia.
The Babylonian impersonation of the passive principle of generation, Anaites or
Anahid, was one of their most celebrated divinities; and at the funeral of their
great king Artaces, many persons had immolated themselves, after the Scythian
or Getic custom, upon his body. (Milman, Hist. of Christ. vol. ii. p. 320; Chamich,
Avdall's Trans. vol. i. p. 145.) It has now been satisfactorily shown that Armenia
was the first nation which embraced Christianity as the religion of the king,
the nobles, and the people; and the remark of Gibbon (Vindication, Misc. Works,
vol. iv. p. 577), that the renowned Tiridates, the hero of the East, may dispute
with Constantine the honour of being the first sovereign who embraced the Christian
religion, placed beyond all question. About A.D. 276, the king Tiridates, of the
race of the Arsacidae, was converted by St. Gregory, surnamed the Illuminator
(Diet. of Biog. s. v.), like himself of the race of the Arsacidae, but descended
from a collateral branch of that family, which had long occupied the throne of
Persia. (St. Martin, Add. to Le Beau, Hist. du Bas-Empire, vol. i. p. 76; Mem.
sur l'Armenie, vol. i. p. 305.) In A.D. 311 Tiridates had to sustain a war against
the Emperor Maximinus, in consequence of the hatred of the latter against Christianity.
(Euseb. H. E. ix. 8.) During the early ages of the Empire Armenia was always an
object of open struggle or secret intrigue between the conflicting powers of Parthia
and Rome. Every successful invasion, or other means by which Persian predominance
in Armenia was established, was the signal for the most cruel and bloody persecutions,
which were endured with the most Christian and patriotic heroism by this unhappy
people. The Vartobed, or patriarch of Armenia, fell the first victim to the sword
of the Persian, and was also the first to raise the standard of independence.
The melancholy acknowledgment must, however, be made that the Gospel did not triumph
unaccompanied by persecution on the part of the Christians. The province of Dara,
the sacred region of the Armenians, crowded with their national temples, made
a stern and resolute resistance. The priests fought for their ancient faith, and
it was only by the sword that churches could be established in that district.
An interesting picture of the religious wars which were waged in Armenia
is given in the History of Vartan. (Trans. by C. F. Neumann.) The Armenian church
adopted the doctrines of Eutyches and the Monophysites, or Jacobites, as they
were called, after the revival of their opinions in the 6th century, under Jacob
Baradoeus, bishop of Edessa, to which it continues to adhere.
Little or no weight is to be attached to the accounts which the Greek
and Roman writers give of the origin of the Armenians. Herodotus (vii. 73), in
mentioning the fact that a body of this people served in the army of Xerxes, expresses
his opinion that the Armenians were a colony of Phrygians. According to others
they are to be considered of Thessalian origin. (Strab. pp. 503, 530; Justin.
xlii. 3; Tac. Ann. vi. 34.) The history of the Armenian nation, though not so
important or so interesting as that of other Eastern kingdoms, should be studied
for the light it throws upon the great empires, which successively established
themselves in this region.
This country has been the scene of almost continual wars, either when
its kings defended their independence against Persians, Greeks, Arabs and others,
or when they stood passive spectators of the great struggles which were to decide
the fate of Asia. Passing over Tigranes, the national hero and friend of Cyrus
the Elder (Dict. of Biog. vol. iii. p. 1129), we find but little mention of Armenia
till the death of Alexander the Great in the Greek historians, though from this
period to that of the establishment of the dynasty of the Arsacidae, recourse
must be had to them, as the national chroniclers are silent on the history of
this epoch. A Persian, named Mithrenes, was appointed governor by the Macedonian
conqueror. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 16.) Availing themselves of the dissensions between
the generals of Alexander, the Armenians threw off the yoke under Ardoates (B.C.
317), but after his death were compelled to submit to the Seleucidae. Subsequently
(B.C. 190), two Armenian nobles, Artaxias and Zariadris, taking advantage of the
moment, when Antiochus the Great had been defeated by the Romans, freed their
country from the dominion of the Syrian kings. And it was at this time that the
country was divided into the two kingdoms of Armenia Major and Armenia Minor.
Artaxias became king of Armenia Major, and Zariadris of Armenia Minor. The Sophenian
Artanes, or Arsaces, a descendant of Zariadris, was conquered, and deposed by
Tigranes, the king of Armenia Major, who thus became ruler of the two Armenias.
(Strab. xi. pp. 528, 531.) The descendants of Artaxias reigned in Armenia till
their conquest by the Arsacidae, and the establishment of the kings of that family.
For the history of Armenia under the dynasty of the Arsacidae, from B.C. 149 to
A.D. 428, full particulars are given in the Diet. of Biog. (vol. i. p. 361, seq.),
with an account of the dynasties, which for a period of almost a thousand years
reigned in this country after the fall of the Arsacidae. This later history, till
the death of the last king of Armenia, at Paris, A.D. 1393, has been detailed
by St. Martin, along with chronological tables and lists of the different kings
and patriarchs.
Ptolemy (l. c.) gives a list of Armenian towns, most of which are
never met with in history, and their site remains unknown. The towns which are
best known in connection with the writers of Greece and Rome are: Artaxata or
Artaxiasata; Tigranocerta; Theodosiopolis ; Carcathiocerta ; Armosata ; Artageira
; Naxuana ; Morunida; Buana; Bizabda; Amida. (Ritter, Erdkunde, vol. x.; St. Martin,
Mem. sur l'Armenie; Chesney, Exped. Euphrat. vol. i.; Kinneir, Memoirs of the
Persian Empire, and Travels in Armenia; Morier, Travels in Persia, vol. i. Ker
Porter, Travels; London Journal, Geog. vols.iii. vi. x.; Grote's Greece, ix. p.
157.
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ARTAXATA (Ancient city) ARMENIA
Artaxata (Artaxata, Artaxiasata, Artaxiasota: Artaxata sing. and plur.,
Plin. vi. 10; Juv. ii. 170; Tac. Annal. ii. 56, vi. 32, xiii. 41, xiv. 23: Eth.
Artaxatenos), the ancient capital of Armenia, situated on a sort of peninsula
formed by the curve of the river Araxes. (Strab. xi. p. 529.) Hannibal, who took
refuge at the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to protect him,
superintended the building of this city, which was so called in honour of Artaxias.
(Strab. p. 528; Plut. Lucull. 31.) Corbulo, A.D. 58, destroyed the town (Diet.
of Biog. s. v.), which was rebuilt by Tiridates, who gave it the name of Neronia
in honour of the Emperor Nero, who had surrendered the kingdom of Armenia to him.
(Dio. Cass. lxiii. 7.) The subsequent history, as given by the native historians,
will be found in St. Martin (Mem. sur l'Armenie, vol. i. p. 118). Formerly a mass
of ruins called Takt Tiridate (Throne of Tiridates), near the junction of the
Aras and the Zengue, were supposed to represent the ancient Artaxata. Col. Monteith
(London Geog. Journal, vol. iii. p. 47) fixes the site at a remarkable bend in
the river, somewhat lower down than this, at the bottom of which were the ruins
of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture.
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NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) ARMENIA
Nicopolis (Nikopolis: Eth. Nikopolites), i. e. the City of Victory.
A town in Cappadocia or Armenia Minor, founded by Pompey on the spot where he
had gained his first decisive victory over Mithridates. (Strab. xii. p. 555; Appian,
Mithrid. 101, 105 ; Dion Cass. xxxv. 33; Caes. Bell. Alex. 36; Plin. vi. 10.)
It was situated in a valley of the river Lycus, a tributary of the Iris (Acta
Martyr. tom. iii. Jul. p. 46), at a distance of 100 miles to the north-west of
Satala, and 98 to the north-east of Sebastia. It was a populous town as early
as the time of Strabo; but during the last period of the Empire it appears to
have suffered much, and its decayed walls were restored by Justinian. (Procop.
de Aed. iii. 4; comp. Ptol. v. 7. § 3; Itin. Ant. pp. 183, 207, 215; Hierocl.
p. 703; Steph. B. s. v.). Most travellers and antiquaries are agreed, that Nicopolis
is represented by the modern Turkish town of Devriki; but as this place is situated
on a tributary of the Euphrates, the opinion is opposed to the statements of our
authorities, especially the Acta Martyrum. Others are inclined to regard Kara-hissar,
on the Lycus,as marking the site of Nicopolis; but still the routes indicated
in the Itineraries are in favour of Devriki; whence D'Anville too identifies this
place with Nicopolis, assuming that the error lies with the author of the Acta
Martyrum, who expressly places Nicopolis on the river Lycus.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SATALA (Ancient city) ARMENIA
Satala, an important town of Armenia Minor, as may be inferred from
the numerous routes which branched off from thence to Pontus and Cappadocia. Its
distance from Caesareia was 325 miles, and 124 or 135 from Trapezus. The town
was situated in a valley surrounded by mountains, a little to the north of the
Euphrates, and was of importance, being the key to the mountain passes leading
into Pontus; whence we find that in later times the Legio xv. Apollinaris was
stationed there. In the time of Justinian its walls had fallen into decay, but
that emperor restored them. (Ptol. i. 15. § 9, v. 7. § 3, viii. 17. § 41; Dion
Cass. lxviii. 18; Procop. de Aed. iv. 3; It. Ant. pp. 181, 183, 206, 207,216,
217; Notit. Imp.; Tab. Peut.) The site of this town has not yet been discovered
with certainty, though ruins found in various parts of the country have been identified
with it by conjecture. (Tournefort, Voyages, Letter 21, c. 2. p. 17; Rennell,
Asia Minor, ii. p. 219; Cramer, Asia Minor, ii, p. 152, foll.)
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ARMENIA (Ancient country) ARMENIA
Armenia. A country of Asia, lying between Asia Minor and the Caspian
Sea, in a lofty table-land, backed by the chain of the Caucasus, watered by the
rivers Cyrus and Araxes, and containing the sources of the Tigris and of the Euphrates,
the latter of which divides the country into two unequal parts, which were called
Maior and Minor. The people of Armenia were one of the most ancient families of
that branch of the human race which is called Caucasian. They were conquered by
the Assyrians and Persians, and were at a later time subject to the Greek kings
of Syria. When Antiochus the Great was defeated by the Romans (B.C. 190), the
country regained its independence, and was at this period divided into the two
kingdoms of Armenia Maior and Minor. Ultimately, Armenia Minor was made a Roman
province by Trajan; and Armenia Maior, after being a perpetual object of contention
between the Romans and the Parthians, was subjected to the revived Persian Empire
by its first king, Artaxerxes, in A.D. 226.
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ARTAXATA (Ancient city) ARMENIA
the capital of Armenia Major, on the Araxes, now Ardaschad
NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) ARMENIA
NIKOPOLIS (Ancient city) ARMENIA
Founded by Pompey in 72 B.C., it was given by Antony in 36 B.C. to
Polemon, and incorporated in the Empire in A.D. 64. It was the metropolis of Armenia
Minor and had by the 3d c. become a colony with the ius Italicum. It was destroyed
by earthquake in A.D. 499. A smaller circuit of walls of Justinianic date can
be seen on the site built over a more widespread ruin field.
R. P. Harper, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 13 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SATALA (Ancient city) ARMENIA
The site came into prominence when the Legio XV Apollinaris was placed
there, probably by Trajan, to control the N sector of the E limes between the
Euphrates and Trabzon (Trapezos). The legion was still there in the 4th c. A.D.
(Not. Dig. or. 38.13). The city growing out of the civil settlement connected
with the legionary camp is thought to have been founded in the 2d or 3d c. A.D.
but the first evidence of it is provided by Basil in A.D. 372 (Ep. 102). From
Theodosius (Nov. v.3, A.D. 441) it can be inferred that the territory was very
extensive, reaching to the Euphrates and the border with Greater Armenia. In A.D.
530 the Persians were defeated before the walls of Satala (Procop. Bell. Pers.
1.15) and it was subsequently refortified by Justinian.
"It lies in a low lying plain and is dominated by many hills
which tower around it" (Procop., De aed. 3.4). The massive roughly rectangular
walls partly survive and surround the village of Sadak on the sloping floor of
the Sadak cay valley, tributary of the Kelkit (Lycus) river. Within the walls
only insignificant ruins stand out. The interior level stands high above the plain,
squared stones abound and occasional inscriptions can be seen. To the S stand
the meager remains of an aqueduct. On the hill to the W are traces of perhaps
an earlier auxiliary fort.
R. P. Harper, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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