Arshakavan

The name Arshakavan (Armenian: Արշակավան) is a compound of two elements: Arshak (Արշակ), the name of its founder, King Arshak II, and the suffix -avan (-ավան), a common Armenian toponymic element denoting "town" or "settlement."{{cite book |last=Hübschmann |first=Heinrich |title=Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen |date=1904 |publisher=Karl J. Trübner |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uOFr0IppxwoC |page=273 |language=de}}{{Cite web |title=Հայոց լեզուի նոր բառարան, Գնէլ արքեպիսկոպոս Ճէրէճեան, Փարամազ Կ. Տօնիկեան եւ Արտաշէս Տէր Խաչատուրեան - աւան |url=http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=8&dt=HY_HY&query=%D5%A1%D6%82%D5%A1%D5%B6 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website= |language=hy}}{{Sfn|Garsoïan|1997|pages=78}} This naming convention paralleled other Armenian cities such as Artashat (Artaxias’ settlement) and Vagharshapat (Vologases’ settlement), reflecting dynastic patronage.{{Sfn|Hewsen|Salvatico|2001|page=32}} The 7th-century geographer Anania Shirakatsi recorded the city as Arshakavan in his Ashkharhatsuyts (Geography), linking it explicitly to the Arsacid lineage.{{Cite book |last=Akopian |first=Khօren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8AIKAQAAIAAJ&q=%D4%B1%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%AB%D5%A1+%D5%87%D5%AB%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D6%81%D5%AB+%D4%B1%D6%80%D5%B7%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%BE%D5%A1%D5%B6 |title=Sovetakan Hayastan (Soviet Armenia) |date=1970 |publisher=izd-vo un-ta |pages=7 |language=hy}} Medieval chroniclers occasionally used the variant Arshakert ("built by Arshak"), though Arshakavan remained dominant in historiographical texts.{{Cite book |last=Hübschmann |first=Heinrich |url=https://archive.org/details/diealtarmenisch00hbgoog/page/n221/mode/2up?q=avan&view=theater |title=Die altarmenischen Ortsnamen |date=1969 |publisher=Amsterdam, Oriental Press |others=Harvard University |pages=406 |language=german}}{{Cite book |last=Tisdall |first=William St Clair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DsRGAAAAIAAJ&dq=Arshakavan+was+built&pg=PA211 |title=The Conversion of Armenia to the Christian Faith |date=1897 |publisher=Religious Tract Society |isbn=978-0-524-00402-9 |pages=211 |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Hakobian |first=Tadeos |date= |title=Ancient cities of Armenia |url=http://armenianhouse.org/hakobyan-t/5-cities.html#7 |access-date=2025-02-23 |website= |language=hy}} The suffix -avan derives from the Old Armenian word avan (աւան), meaning "hamlet" or "dwelling," and shares linguistic roots with the Persian term ābād (آباد), used to signify cultivated or inhabited places.{{cite book |last=Martirosyan |first=Hrach |title=Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Inherited Lexicon |date=2010 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-17337-8 |url=https://krapar.org/docs/00/Etymological_Dictionary.pdf|page=132}}

Alternative names for the city, such as Arshakashen (Արշակաշեն) and Arshakert (Արշակերտ), follow similar naming conventions in Armenian historiography.{{Cite book |last=Ulubabyan |first=Bagrat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6cUlAQAAMAAJ&q=%D4%B1%D6%80%D5%B7%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B7%D5%A5%D5%B6 |title=Խաչենի իշխանությունը X-XVI դարերում |date=1975 |publisher=Հայկական ՍՍՀ ԳԱ հրատարակզություն |pages=96 |language=hy}}{{Cite book |last1=Համբարձումյան |first1=Վիկտոր Համազասպի |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEUOAQAAMAAJ&q=%D4%B1%D6%80%D5%B7%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B7%D5%A5%D5%B6 |title=Հայկական համառոտ հանրագիտարան: 4 հ |last2=Խուդավերդյան |first2=Կոստանդին Սուրենի |last3=Այվազյան |first3=Հովհաննես Մնացականի |date=1990 |publisher=Հայկական հանրագիտարան հրատ. |isbn=978-5-89700-003-6 |pages=29 |language=hy}} The suffix "-ashen" (-աշեն) means "built by," while "-kert" (-երտ) derives from the Old Iranian *kr̥ta- ("made, created"), commonly used in Armenian city names (e.g., Tigranocerta).{{cite encyclopedia |last=Schmitt |first=Rüdiger |title=ARMENIA AND IRAN iv. Iranian influences in Armenian Language |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=1986 |volume=II |pages=445–465 |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-iv |access-date=2023-10-15}}{{cite book |last=Dédéyan |first=Gérard |title=Histoire du peuple arménien |date=2007 |publisher=Privat |isbn=978-2-7089-6874-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BW4MAQAAMAAJ&q=histoire+du+peuple+arm%C3%A9nien|page=159 |language=fr}} The multiplicity of names reflects Arshak II's efforts to legitimize his rule through urban patronage, a practice common among Hellenistic and Near Eastern monarchs.{{cite book |last=Canepa |first=Matthew |title=The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity Through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE |date=2018 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520379206 |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-iranian-expanse/paper|pages=210–212 }}

Arshakavan was established around 350 CE{{Efn|While most scholars agree Arshakavan was founded {{circa}} 350 CE, Nicholas Adontz argued for an earlier date ({{circa}} 345 CE) based on numismatic evidence.{{Sfn|Adontz|1970|page=207}} This aligns with Paul Bedoukian's analysis of Arshak II’s coinage, which shows Roman influence predating his formal alliance with Constantius II.{{cite book |last=Bedoukian |first=Paul |title=Coinage of the Artaxiads of Armenia |date=1980 |publisher=Royal Numismatic Society |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PlNmAAAAMAAJ |pages=78–81|isbn=978-1-886720-03-9 }}}} during Arshak II's efforts to centralize royal authority and counterbalance the power of the Nakharar nobility, who frequently aligned with the Sasanians.{{cite book |last=Faustus |first=of Byzantium |title=History of the Armenians |date=1989 |translator-last=Bedrosian |translator-first=Robert |publisher=Sources of the Armenian Tradition |chapter=Book IV |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/HistoryOfTheArmeniansByPawstosBuzand_569/page/n47/mode/2up|page=48 |access-date=2023-10-15}} The city was designed as a refuge for peasants, soldiers, and loyalists emancipated from feudal obligations, a policy criticized by the nobility as destabilizing traditional hierarchies.{{Cite book |last=Spiegel |first=Fr (Friedrich) |url=https://archive.org/details/ernischealterth02spiegoog/page/314/mode/1up?q=Arshakavan |title=Erânische Alterthumskunde |date=1871 |publisher=Leipzig : Engelmann |others=Oxford University |pages=314 |language=German}}{{Cite book |last=T'. X. Hakobyan |url=https://archive.org/details/Hakobyan1987PatmakanHayastaniKaghaknere/page/n71/mode/2up |title=Patmakan Hayastani k'aghak'nere" [The Cities of Historical Armenia] |year=1987 |location=Yerevan |pages=69 |language=hy}}{{cite book |last=Khorenatsi |first=Movses |title=History of Armenia |date=2006 |translator-last=Thomson |translator-first=Robert W. |publisher=Caravan Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w4ItAQAAIAAJ&q=Arshakavan%20was%20built|pages=III.20|isbn=978-0-88206-111-5 }} According to the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Arshak II's alliance with Emperor Constantius II (r. 337–361) provided architectural and military expertise for the city's construction, reflecting Roman urban planning principles.{{cite book |last=Marcellinus |first=Ammianus |title=Res Gestae |date=1986 |publisher=Harvard University Press |translator-last=Rolfe |translator-first=J.C. |volume=XXVII |pages=12.14–16 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Ammian/home.html}}

Arshakavan became a linchpin in Arshak II's resistance against Sasanian incursions. The 5th-century historian Lazar Parpetsi notes that the city housed a royal garrison and minted coins bearing Arshak II's effigy, symbolizing defiance against Sasanian suzerainty.{{cite book |last=Parpetsi |first=Lazar (Ghazar) |title=History of Armenia |date=1991 |translator-last=Thomson |translator-first=Robert W. |publisher=Caravan Books |url=https://archive.org/details/ghazar-letter-1991/mode/2up |pages=II.45–48}} The Armenian cavalry, renowned for its heavy cataphracts, used Arshakavan as a base for raids into Atropatene, as documented in Procopius' History of the Wars.{{cite book |last=Procopius |title=History of the Wars |date=1914 |publisher=Harvard University Press |translator-last=Dewing |translator-first=H.B. |volume=I |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Procopius/home.html}} However, the city's radical social reforms—granting land to freed peasants—alienated the nobility, who conspired with Sasanian king Shapur II to undermine Arshak II.{{cite book |last=Daryaee |first=Touraj |title=Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire |date=2009 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-85043-898-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LU0BAwAAQBAJ |pages=89–91}}

Arshakavan hosted one of the earliest Christian communities in Armenia, reflecting Arshak II's alignment with the Roman-sponsored Christianization of the region.{{cite journal |last=Russell |first=James R. |title=The Formation of the Armenian Nation |journal=The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times |date=1997 |volume=1 |pages=19–36 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}} Excavations in the 1980s revealed a 4th-century basilica, suggesting the city was a center for early Armenian liturgy.{{cite journal |last=Khatchadourian |first=Lori |title=Imperial Matter: Ancient Persia and the Archaeology of Empires |journal=American Journal of Archaeology |date=2016 |volume=120 |issue=3 |pages=345–395 |jstor=10.1525/j.ctt1ffjn7j |isbn=978-0-520-96495-2 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ffjn7j}} The city also housed a Zoroastrian fire temple, reflecting Armenia's religious syncretism before its official Christianization in 301 CE.{{cite book |last=Boyce |first=Mary |title=Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices |date=1982 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-23902-8 |url=https://www.routledge.com/Zoroastrians-Their-Religious-Beliefs-and-Practices/Boyce/p/book/9780415239035 |page=132}}

Arshakavan's design mirrored Roman military camps, with a grid layout centered on a fortified acropolis.{{cite journal |last=Zardaryan |first=M. |date=2020 |title=Urban Planning in Late Antique Armenia |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=68 |pages=45–60}} Soviet excavations in 1985 uncovered cyclopean walls, granaries, and a palace complex with Roman-style hypocaust heating.{{cite journal |last=Arakelyan |first=B. |title=Excavations at Arshakavan |journal=Soviet Archaeology |date=1987 |volume=3 |pages=112–125 |url=https://www.archaeology.ru/Periodical/SovArch/1987/}} Faustus of Byzantium described Arshakavan as "a city of freemen, unshackled by the chains of the nobles," emphasizing its role as a social experiment.{{Efn|Faustus of Byzantium’s description of Arshakavan as a "city of freemen" may reflect later 5th-century social ideals rather than historical reality.{{Sfn|Garsoïan|1997|pages=45-48}}}} Coins minted in the city blended Roman iconography (e.g., Victoria) with Armenian motifs (Mount Ararat), underscoring its hybrid identity.{{Cite journal |last=Lang |first=David M. |date=1980 |title=Paul Z. Bedoukian: Coinage of the Artaxiads of Armenia. London: Royal Numismatic Society, 1978. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bulletin-of-the-school-of-oriental-and-african-studies/article/abs/paul-z-bedoukian-coinage-of-the-artaxiads-of-armenia-royal-numismatic-society-special-publication-no-10-x-81-pp-8-plates-map-london-royal-numismatic-society-1978-1250/4D37318B527727B76197056A7F3D08D7 |journal=Bulletin of SOAS |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=78–81 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00137693 |issn=1474-0699|url-access=subscription }}

Following Arshak II's capture by Shapur II in 368 CE, Arshakavan was razed by Sasanian forces.{{cite journal |last=Chaumont |first=Marie-Louise |title=Armenia and Iran ii. The Pre-Islamic Period |journal=Encyclopædia Iranica |date=1969 |volume=II |pages=418–438 |url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/armenia-ii |access-date=2023-10-15}} The 7th-century historian Sebeos recorded that Shapur II "burned the city to ashes, leaving no stone upon another."{{cite book |last=Sebeos |title=History of Heraclius |date=1999 |translator-last=Thomson |translator-first=Robert W. |publisher=Liverpool University Press |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/375978462 |page=23}} Survivors fled to Roman-controlled territories, as noted in Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History.{{cite book |last=Theodoret |title=Ecclesiastical History |date=1985 |publisher=CCEL |translator-last=Jackson |translator-first=Blomfield |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf203 |chapter=Book IV}} By the 5th century, the site was abandoned, though medieval Armenian chroniclers preserved its memory as a symbol of resistance.{{Sfn|Adontz|1970|page=207}}

The 5th-century Armenian historians Faustus of Byzantium and Movses Khorenatsi provide divergent narratives about the fall of Arshakavan. According to Buzand, the city was depopulated by a devastating epidemic, interpreted as divine punishment for the moral transgressions of its inhabitants.{{Cite web |title=Բուզանդ 4-13 Buzand |url=https://historians.armeniancathedral.org/book/t03Buz4_13.htm?wid=339#24 |access-date=2025-02-25 |website= |language=hy}} In stark contrast, Khorenatsi attributes Arshakavan's destruction to secular political strife, claiming it was razed by rebellious ministers seeking to undermine Arsacid royal authority.{{Cite book |last=Khorenatsi |first=Movses |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k-tmEAAAQBAJ&dq=Arshakavan+was+destroyed&pg=PA126 |title=History of Armenia.: Written by the 1st Armenian Historian Movses Khorenatsi. |date=2022-03-30 |publisher=World Scholarly Press |isbn=979-8-9859237-1-1 |pages=126 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Hovannisian |first=Richard G. |url=https://archive.org/details/armenianpeoplefr00rich_0/mode/1up?q=Arshakavan |title=The Armenian people from ancient to modern times |date=1997 |publisher=New York : St. Martin's Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-312-10169-5 |pages=89 |language=English}}

The city has been mythologized in Armenian literature and political thought. Nineteenth-century nationalist writers like Raffi portrayed Arshakavan as a proto-democratic enclave where "king and peasant stood as equals," an idealized narrative reflecting anti-feudal sentiments in Russian-ruled Armenia.{{cite book |last=Suny |first=Ronald Grigor |url=https://iupress.org/9780253207739/looking-toward-ararat/ |title=Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History |date=1993 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-20773-9 |pages=89–90}}{{Cite book |last=Րաֆֆի |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b6IsAQAAMAAJ&q=%D5%90%D5%A1%D6%86%D6%86%D5%AB+%D4%B1%D6%80%D5%B7%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%BE%D5%A1%D5%B6 |title=Երկերի ժողովածու: տասներկու հատորով |date=1963 |publisher=Սովետական Գրող |volume=7 |pages=170–171 |language=hy}}{{cite book |last=Raffi |url=https://vahagnakanch.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/raffi-madmen.pdf |title=The Fool |date=1880 |publisher=Tiflis |language=en |chapter=Chapter 7}} The city is commemorated in Armenian literature, notably in Paruyr Sevak's poem "The Unsilenceable Belfry."{{cite book |last=Sevak |first=Paruyr |url=https://gir.am/en/product/anlreli-zangakatun |title=The Unsilenceable Belfry |date=1963 |publisher=Haypethrat |location=Yerevan |language=hy}} In 2015, satellite imagery revealed previously unknown fortifications near Aparan, reigniting academic interest.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Adam T. |date=2017 |title=The Political Machine: Assembling Sovereignty in the Bronze Age Caucasus |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691163239/the-political-machine |journal=Princeton University Press |page=145}}

Scholars dispute Arshakavan's exact location. Robert H. Hewsen locates it near modern Talin, citing toponymic parallels,{{Sfn|Hewsen|Salvatico|2001|pages=62}} while Nina Garsoïan argues for Aparan based on road networks described by Ptolemy.{{Sfn|Garsoïan|1997|pages=45-48}} Others, like Cyril Toumanoff, suggest it was a mobile royal camp rather than a permanent city.{{cite journal |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |title=Studies in Christian Caucasian History |journal=Georgetown University Press |date=1963 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlE1AAAAIAAJ|page=216}} Recent LiDAR surveys (2021) near Mount Aragats support the Aparan hypothesis.{{cite journal |last=Horne |first=Lee |title=LiDAR and the Lost Cities of Armenia |journal=Journal of Field Archaeology |date=2022 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=1–15 }}

• Dvin
• Arsacid dynasty of Parthia
• History of Armenia
• Ancient Near East

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Garsoïan|first=Nina G. |url=https://archive.org/details/garsoian-1997-arsacids/mode/2up?view=theater |title=THE ARMENIAN PEOPLE FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN TIMES: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |volume=1 |location=New York |language=en |date=1997}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Hewsen |first1=Robert H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZfZBrFza_IYC |title=Armenia: A Historical Atlas |last2=Salvatico |first2=Christoper C. |date=2001 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-33228-4 |pages=32 |language=en}}
• {{cite book |last=Adontz |first=Nicolas |title=Armenia in the Period of Justinian |date=1970 |publisher=Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=19VtAAAAMAAJ}}

• {{cite book |last=Manandyan |first=Hakob |title=The Trade and Cities of Armenia |date=1965 |publisher=Yerevan State University |url=https://archive.org/details/tradecitiesofarm0000mana/mode/2up |language=en}}
• {{cite journal |last=Marciak |first=M. |title=Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West |journal=Brill |date=2017 |isbn=978-90-04-35072-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwEtDwAAQBAJ}}

Category:Arsacid dynasty of Armenia

Category:4th-century establishments

Category:4th-century disestablishments

Category:Former populated places in Armenia