Ashagy-Ailis

The city was located in the middle of the east and west by rocky mountains, stretching from north to south in the valley of the river Agulis in its middle reaches, in the territory of the modern villages Yukhary — Aylis (Upper Agulis) and Ashagy – Aylis (Lower Agulis). The length from north to south was 6-7 km, and from west to east - 1-1.5 km.

According to the Armenian legend, the apostle Thaddeus spent one night in the city, who woke up with the words “Akn and Luys” (here’s the dawn, the letter о light of the eye), later the village began to be called Agulis ( Armenian ո ) ^[1] . Agulis was also called Igulis, Yugyalis, Ugyulis, Igalis, Egalis in Armenian. According to the most common version, the toponym “Agulis” (“Agulik”) dates back to Armenian Aygeok-Lik ( Armenian յգեոք ) - full of gardens ^[2] .

In ancient times, the territory of Agulis was a part of Gavar Goghtn in different periods belonging to the region of Syunik in Great Armenia or to the region of Vaspurakan . In the 5th century, Koryun in the travel stories of Mesrop Mashtots mentioned his visit to the capital ^[3] Gavt Goghtn, meaning by this most likely Agulis ^[2] .

In the Middle Ages, Agulis was a center of writing and a trading center that had major ties with Russian and Western European merchants. In the X — XIII centuries, Agulis is experiencing dawn at the same time as Ani, Kars and other Armenian cities.

Under the name Agulis, the city has been mentioned since the XI century . In 1010, the Catholicos Sarkis called the city "Argulik", the same name is used in the XIII century Stepanos Orbelian ^{[2] [4]} .

In the 17th century, Zakaria Aguletsi called him “Dasht” ^[5] . After the destruction of Jugha, Agulis became a large city, whose population reached 10 thousand people by the end of the XVII century. Here at the monastery school of sv. Apostle Thomas, the founder of the famous Ovnatanyan artists, a prominent Armenian artist and ashug Nagash Ovnatan , received his education. ^[6]

In the middle of the 18th century , the city of Akulis, being a major trading center of the Transcaucasus, was ravaged and plundered by Azad Khan . As a result, a large number of Armenians died of hunger, and many Armenians were forced to leave the city ^[7]

By the end of the 19th century, there were 11 churches here: the monastery of St. Tovma, St. Christopher , St. Hovhannes, St. Hakob Airapetac, St. Stepanos, and others. The Aguletsots temple in Shusha was also built by people from the city.

It was destroyed in 1919 ^[8] .

The indigenous people of Akulis are Armenians speaking a special Zok dialect. According to Nicholas Marr, the Scythians who came from the north, mixed with the indigenous population in the VIII — VII centuries BC, had an influence on the isolation of the Zok. er ^[2] In 1711, German Orientalist Johann Joachim Schroeder, in his book The Treasury of the Armenian Language, reports on the Agulis dialect of the Armenian language ^[10] .

The population in the years 1829-1832 - 459, 1897 - 990, 1906 - 1254 people ^[8] .

According to the census of 1897, 649 people lived in Nizhniy Akulis, all Armenians. In Upper Akulis, 1325 Armenians and 639 Azerbaijanis ^[11] (The source mentioned by the Tatars, in the XIX - early XX century in the Russian Empire, Azerbaijanis were called "Azerbaydzhantsy" ^[12] , "Caucasian" or "Azerbaijani Tatars").

The population of modern Ailis is made up of Azerbaijanis , the main occupation of the population is agriculture.

• Agulis. Photo album and library.