Tigranakert (Artsakh)

According to historians K. Galachyan, L. R. Baghdasaryan and R. G. Ananikyan, “Tigranakert is the most ancient city of Artsakh-Karabakh, which has existed for a long time and played a role in the history of the region” ^[10] . Tigranakert is mentioned by Sebeos , an Armenian historian of the 7th century , and, judging by the name, is supposed to have been founded at the beginning of the 1st century. BC e. Tigran the Great - is believed to be the first of four cities bearing such a name (including the capital of Great Armenia), built in the 80s of the 1st century. BC e.

Sebeos mentions Tigranakert in connection with the campaign of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius the Great to Armenia, then owned by the Persians, and his victory over the army of the Persian king Khosrov and the defeat of Tbilisi in 627. According to the text, Heraclius, having invaded Atropatena and defeated its ancient capital Gandzak , moved through Albania to Iberia . Having received news of this, the Persian king Khosrov Nushirvan detached his commander, who crossed across Irakli through the Ararat valley towards Gardaman (the area on the right bank of the Kura River, at that time Albanian) and became a camp in the “friend” Tigranakert (and not in the one mentioned here the “Avan”, that is, the fortified village, Tigranakert), while the Persians became a camp near the “Avan” Tigranakert in the rear of Heraclius. In the ensuing battle, they were defeated:

It came to Khozroi’s hearing that Irakle returned, reached Paytarakan and wanted to go through Ivania to Iveria. Khozroy ordered his commander, Shahr-Varaz, to cut off his path. He hastened to Ararat and went to Gardman, to meet him, and camped in another Tigranakert, opposite him. Shagen with 30,000 troops arrived in time and set up camp in the rear of Herakl, in the town of Tigranakert. Thus, his troops were located on this, and the army of Shahr-Varaz - on the other side. Irakle's camp between the two of them. ^[eleven]

The historian Movses Kagankatvatsi also mentions among the representatives of the Albanian clergy - fighters against the Chalcedonian "heresy" - a certain Petros, a monk from the monastery of Tkrakert, identified with the Artsakh Tigranakert ^[12] .

The approximate location of Tigranakert of Artsakh near Mardakert was established long ago due to silver coins, marble bowls, tombs, etc. found in these places, which testified to the presence of a large and rich ancient settlement in the region ^[13] . The locals called these places “Trakert” or “Tarnakert” (the local sound of the name “Tigranakert”) ^[14]

According to the story of the head of the excavations, Dr. Hamlet Petrosyan, on the basis of written sources, topographic and archaeological information, he concluded that the remains of the city should be sought on the hills near the Khachinchay River , where the chain of the Artsakh Mountains passes into the lowlands, on lands that were borderline between the provinces of Artsakh and Utik , so the city of Tigranakert was part of Utik , and the Avan of Tigranakert was Artsakh ^[15] . Data in favor of this area was obtained as a result of a detailed study of reports on the route of the Herakli campaign to Tbilisi. So, Movses Kagankatvatsi reports that Irakli spent the night at a ravine near the bank of the Terter river near the village of Kagankatuyk (Kalankatuyk), then - in the village of Dyutakan. It is also natural to assume that the army of Heraclius was moving along a road paved from north to south. All this again, according to Petrosyan, pointed to the area south of the Terter River, that is, the border of the present Nagorno-Plain Karabakh, an area not far from the then capital of Albania - Partava (near modern Barda ). Finally, the priest Petros from Tigranakert was mentioned immediately after the priest David from Kalankatuyk, which implies that Tigranakert was apparently not far from this village. Later excavated basilica gave Petrosyan reason to believe that Petros served in it as rector in it ^[16] .

Choosing the Khachinchaya valley as a conditional center, archaeologists examined the monuments within a radius of about 10 km. As a result, two groups of ruins were found, on the right and left banks of the river. The ruins in the area of ​​the source near the fortress of Shahbulag, which in the XIX century, were examined in detail. were known from descriptions of travelers under the names Tngrnagert, Taranyurt, Tarnagut ^[2] .

As a result of a brief 15-day excavation in 2006, ruins with numerous ceramics of the 1st century were found. BC e., two cemeteries, a basilica built in the Hellenistic technique of dry masonry from powerful hewn stones, walls with semicircular towers, the remains of an early Christian basilica, etc. Of particular importance to archaeologists was the large amount of ceramics characteristic of the first half of the 1st century. BC e., that is, for the era of Tigranes the Great. As a result, Armenian archaeologists considered it established that this settlement existed between the beginning of the 1st century. BC e. and XIII — XIV centuries. n e. and was one of the cities built by Tsar Tigran the Great ^{[2] [6] [17]} .

According to reports of Armenian archaeologists, among the finds is a unique cruciform early Christian basilica of the 5th – 6th centuries, defined as one of the oldest in the Transcaucasus. Among the ruins of the basilica, in particular, an inscription in Armenian was discovered, which is a small disk with a diameter of about 8 cm, located on a paved floor. The inscription reads: “ I am Vach (e) servant G (ospoda) B (og) a ” ^[18] . The disk belongs to the category of gift stones and, apparently, belonged to one of several famous historical persons of this name ^[19] . According to Armenian archaeologists, this is one of the rare churches that has an entrance from the northern, southern and western sides. The church acted until the 9th century , when “due to damage caused by Gentiles or as a result of earthquakes, it ceased to function” ^[18] .

The city was built on the slopes of Mount Vankasar (Chobandag), and due to the steepness of the mountain, terraces were cut down for construction. The city’s acropolis was erected at a large key that provided the population with water. The building material was limestone. The city occupied about 50 hectares and accommodated several thousand people, which by ancient standards was a medium-sized city. The city experienced a decline in the era of the Early Middle Ages and launched in the era of the Mongol invasion, although, apparently, not immediately after this invasion ^[6] .

As the head of the excavations, Dr. Hamlet Petrosyan, notes, the city consisted of 3 parts: in the upper part there were palaces, then the central quarter, and in the lower part there was a walled quarter - the Acropolis: all together looked like a triangle ^[18] .

If in the first three years of excavation only certain parts of the city were discovered, then in 2008 large-scale excavations were begun. The main find of 2008 was a round tower with a diameter of more than 9 meters from smoothly cut stones, characterized by archaeologists as one of the perfect examples of the defensive structure of the times of Tigran the Great. Other finds included a cemetery with early Christian tombstones and 10 cross stones, and an iron shovel of the 9th century, which is also of great value, since only a few such samples have been found so far ^[20] . In the 2009 season, an ancient gem was found in the citadel with an image of an eagle tormenting a deer; since gems were used as seals, the find, according to G. Petrosyan, indicates the important administrative significance of the city ^[21] .

In the mid-18th century, the founder of the Karabakh Khanate Panah Khan built a fortress near the Shahbulag spring, and, according to G. Petrosyan, he used stones from the ruins of the basilica that still existed by that time ^[16] . According to Mirza Adigezal bey,

he (Panah-Ali khan), having destroyed the Bayat fortress, arrived in Tarnakut, located at the foot of the hill, where there is a well-known source of Shahbulagy. Here a fortress was erected, built of lime and stone houses, mosques, baths and shopping arcades. All this construction was completed in 1165 <1751/52>, and he settled there. ^[22]

Raffi , an Armenian contemporary of Mirza Adigezal-bey, writes:

Then he began to build a new fortress - Askeran - near Shah-bulakh, on the ruins of Tarnakyurt (Tigranakert). But Melik Gulistan Hovsep, Melik Dzhraberda Alakhkuli and Melik Khachen Alahverdi (...) started the fight with Panah Khan and again did not allow him to carry out his plan. ^[23]

In the middle of the XIX century. Sargis Dzhalalyants, who visited the ruins of the fortress, identified the spring at Shakhbulag with Tigranakert, noting that the area around the Shakhbulag springs is called by Armenians Tngrnakert, and the Persians by Tarnagirt. The same assumption was made by the researcher of Karabakh antiquities Makar Barkhudaryants , who noted that the Khachen river valley was called the Tigranakert province ^[16] . However, after the 1950s. in the town of Gavurkala , about 6 km from Shakhbulag , a sarcophagus cover with an Armenian inscription was discovered, excavations were opened by Azerbaijani archaeologists under the guidance of R. Vaidov , which revealed a large settlement in Gavurkal. It has been suggested that it was here that the ancient Armenian Tigranakert was located. R. Vaidov, however, was in solidarity with the point of view of the Armenian scientist S. T. Eremyan , who localized Tigranakert near Agdam ^[24] .

Excavations in the Artsakh Tigranakert attracted the attention of a number of foreign scientists. These include a professor of Roman history at the University of Lecce (Italy), and later Rouen University (France), Justo Traina , who became interested in Greek early Christian inscriptions in the vicinity of Tigranakert and was invited by Petrosyan to work with them ^{[2] [6] [7] [8]} . The French scientist Gurgen Davtyan from the Institute of Archeology in Nice is working on a virtual restoration of the appearance of Tigranakert ^{[6] [8]} . The organizers of the excavations together with the Union of Armenians of Switzerland (the main sponsor of the excavations) held a photo exhibition in Geneva in honor of the opening and an international scientific conference, in which, in particular, Traina and Davtyan participated. The results of the excavations were presented at the International Armenian Studies Congress in Paris in September 2008 ^[20] , and a report on them was published in the journal of the International Association of Armenian Studies ^[2] . Thanks to the Armenian organization Yerkir, a Tigranakert Excavation Support Committee was established in Los Angeles to carry out information activities and raise funds. G. Petrosyan gave a series of lectures on the Tigranakert in the USA (including at the University of California ^[25] ) and appeared in television programs dedicated to the city, and the famous director Z. Chgnavoryan made the film “The Tigranakert Odyssey”, which was shown in Geneva and in Los Angeles, where he successfully passed through several television channels ^[6] . Excavations were covered by Russian news agencies - Regnum and RIA Novosti ^{[26] [27]} . Excavations in Tigranakert were highlighted by CNN ^[28] .

Hamlet Petrosyan began his article in the academic journal of the International Association of Armenian Studies ^[2] on the results of excavations with the words about what he sees in the political significance of his find:

The significance of the fact that Artsakh is a historically Armenian region and up to the XIV century had an ethnically almost homogeneous population was repeatedly recognized in discussions on issues related to Karabakh (...) All studies of monuments in Artsakh provoke protests from the Azerbaijani authorities and even appeals to international organizations. Accordingly, one of the most important issues of modern Armenian studies is the identification, study and presentation of this ethnic and cultural unity of the monuments of Artsakh and historical facts to state bodies, the public and political figures.

The discovery of Tigranakert in this regard is of great importance. This is the city that is best able to attest to the ethno-cultural homogeneity of Artsakh and Armenia from the last centuries BC. e. until the XIII — XIV centuries of our era ... ^[2]

In April 2008, at a meeting with representatives of the NKR intelligentsia, Hamlet Petrosyan stated:

The find confirms that the liberated territories are undoubtedly Armenian lands. We prove this to the international community so that the Azerbaijani intelligentsia ceases to deceive the public. ^[27]

In October 2007, a statement adopted by the Academic Council of the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan was posted on the website of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, which called the falsification of allegations by Armenian historians about the discovery, as stated in the statement, “in the occupied part of the Agdam region of Azerbaijan the ruins of the mythical Great Armenia “the city of Tigranakert” . The statement stated that allegedly ^[29] “no ancient Armenian settlements, necropolises, fortresses, etc., were found during archaeological excavations in the territory of Garabakh during its more than a century-long period of time. " . It is also alleged that regarding the archaeological sites of Karabakh, starting from the Paleolithic Azikh cave , including the settlement of the Middle Bronze Age Uzerlik-tepe on the outskirts of Agdam, “the world scientific community, including Armenian scholars, unequivocally acknowledge the belonging of these monuments to the ancient settlers of Azerbaijan” and that allegedly ^{[ 30]} "in any of the existing written sources there was no evidence of finding land or Plain Nagorno Garabagh as a part of the created Tigran short of udarstva " ^[31] .

• Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, by Samvel Karapetyan - 2001—229 p.
• Archaeological Research in Tigranakert (Artsakh) // AIEA Newsletter, International Association for Armenian Studies, # 42. 2008, p. 31-38 (inaccessible link)
• L'ange d'Artsakh: les monuments d'architecture arménienne du Haut-Karabakh, by Boris Baratov - 1992—207 p.

• Shahbulag
• Tigranakert (fortress)
• Tigranakert (Sylvan)
• Gyavurkala
• Tigran II
• Caucasian Albania

• Website dedicated to Artsakh Tigranakert
• Archaeologists continue the excavation of the Artsakh Tigranakert // RIA Novosti
• Scientist: "Excavations in Artsakh Tigranakert have historical significance" // Regnum
• Fragments of a unique basilica during excavations of the ancient city of Tigranakert // Blagovest
• Zarine Milyan. Artsakh Tigranakert // News of Armenia (professional article, apparently, of the expedition employee).
• Artsakh Tigranakert - a symbol of victory
• "The-traces-of-Tigranakert-The-city-Of-Tigran-The-king-of-Armenia" on wikimapia.org
• Artsakh Tigranakert // Noah's Ark
• Disc with Armenian inscriptions discovered during excavations of Artsakh Tigranakert
• Excavations of Artsakh Tigranakert renewed
• Artsakh Tigranakert: Another Artifact // IA ARMENIAToday
• Excavations of Artsakh Tigranakert in 2009 will get even greater scope (inaccessible link)
• Armenian archaeologists discovered ancient gem during excavations of Artsakh Tigranakert
• Archaeologists have discovered fragments of an ancient fortress during the excavation of Artsakh Tigranakert
• Archeological Digs Continue at Artsakh's Tigranakert Site
• Artsakh's Tigranakert (link not available)
• Tigranakert: An Armenian Odyssey ( part 1 , part 2 )
• Excavation video in Tigranakert