Arzanene (Greek:Ἀρζανηνή) orAghdznik (Armenian:Աղձնիք,romanized: Ałjnikʻ) 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 cityTigranocerta there.[3] Arzanene was placed under the direct suzerainty of theRoman Empire after thePeace of Nisibis in 298. It was briefly brought back under Armenian control c. 371 but was soon lost again following thepartition of Armenia in 387.[3]
It is generally agreed the Greco-Roman name of Arzanene is derived from the city ofArzan (Arzn orAghzn in Armenian), which was probably the capital of the province. The name is identified with theAlzi orAlše mentioned inNeo-Assyrian andUrartian inscriptions and is of non-Armenian origin.[4][5]
Arzanene was located between the westernTigris and 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 River and 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]
One of the recensions ofAshkharhats’oyts’ includes an eleventh district,Saghu, which is likely an error.[2] HistorianSuren Yeremian includesAngeghtun among the cantons of Aghdznik’, even though it is not listed as such in any of the manuscripts ofAshkharhats’oyts’ (Cyril Toumanoff andRobert Hewsen consider Angeghtun to have been a part ofTsop’k’/Sophene).[9]
As the domain of one of the fourbdeashkhs of Armenia, Arzanene can be divided into the core principality or "Arzanene proper" and thebdeshkhut’iwn (viceroyalty ormarch) 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 Markwart and 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’iwn of 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]
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 theMedes and soon after passed to theAchaemenid Empire. Under Achaemenid rule, Arzanene was included in theSatrapy of Armenia. The PersianRoyal Road passed through the province. After the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire byAlexander the Great in 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’iwn of Arzanene was established to defend Armenia from an invasion from Mesopotamia.[11] The office of thebdeashkh of Arzanene continued to exist under theArsacid dynasty of Armenia and after the region was lost by Armenia, until at least the mid-5th century.[3]
In 298 AD, the entirebdeshkhut’iwn of Arzanene came under the suzerainty of theRoman Empire as a result of thePeace of Nisibis.[3] However, the 5th-century Armenian historianFaustus of Byzantium (Book 3, Chapter 8) still speaks of thebdeashkh of 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,bdeashkh Bakur 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 emperorJovian was forced to give up suzerainty over Arzanene to the Persians according to thepeace treaty signed in 363 afterJulian's failed Persian expedition.[13] Faustus of Byzantium (Book 5, Chapter 16) names Arzanene among the provinces reconquered for Armenia byMushegh Mamikonian c. 371, during the reign of KingPap.[3] After thePeace of Acilisene of 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 450–451 against the Sasanian Empire, the Armenian rebels appealed to thebdeashkh of Arzanene as a foreign ruler; this is the last time that anybdeashkh of 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 namedMartyropolis or Np’rkert.[1] In c. 640, the Arab generalIyad ibn Ghanm invaded Arzanene from Syria.[7] Following theArab conquest of Armenia, manyArab tribes settled in Arzanene, especially in the lowlands.[1] TheArmenian population remained in the mountainous parts of the region until theArmenian genocide in 1915.[1]
Arzanene was later a small Arab emirate under theZurarid dynasty in the 9th century. In the 10th century the area fell underHamdanid control. Hamdum, an Arab chief, conquered Arzanene andAmid around 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,Mongol andOttoman Turkish control. For many years the Armenians ofSasun maintained a semi-independent status and fought the Ottoman authorities; well known battles are theSasun Resistance (1894) and Sasun resistance in 1915.
The exact ethnic composition of Arzanene is not known. According toNicholas Adontz, its population was mixed "Armeno-Syrian."[3]Pliny the Elder refers 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 byArab andKurdish tribes, but a significant Armenian element (according to one source, an absolute majority of Armenians)[5] remained there until theArmenian genocide.[7]
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)38°00′00″N41°41′00″E / 38.0000°N 41.6833°E /38.0000; 41.6833
.svg)
