Gugark
{{Short description|Historical province of Greater Armenia}}
{{For|the village|Gugark, Armenia}}
{{More citations needed|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name = Գուգարք
|common_name = Gugark
|image_map = Historical regions of Greater Armenia.png
|era =
|subdivision = Province
|nation = the ancient kingdom of Armenia
|year_start = 189 BC
|year_end = 13th century
|capital = Ardahan
|event_start = Artaxias I declaring himself independent
|event_end =
|date_end =
|today = {{flag|Armenia}}
{{flag|Turkey}}
{{flag|Georgia (country)}}
}}
Gugark ({{langx|hy|Գուգարք}}, {{langx|la|Gogarene}}, {{langx|grc|Γογαρινή}}) was the 13th province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia. It now comprises parts of northern Armenia, northeast Turkey, and southwest Georgia.{{Cite encyclopedia|year=1975|title=Գուգարք|encyclopedia=Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia|location=Yerevan|url=https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_3.djvu/240|volume=3|pages=240–241}}
Etymology
Etymologically, Gugark in Armenian language denotes land of Gugars. word "Gugar" being a root and suffix -k meaning "land of".
Strabo clearly wrote Gugars were Iberians and land of Iberians that was annexed by Seleucids during their northern expansion. Strabo made clear Armenia was a small country before and expanded and took Iberian territory.
History
In ancient Urartian inscriptions dating to 785 BC, the territory of Gugark is referred to as Zabaha, which is known today as Javakheti (Javakhk in Armenian).{{Cite book|last=Melkonyan|first=A. A.|title=Javakhk in the 19th Century and the 1st Quarter of the 20th Century: A Historical Research|date=2007|publisher=National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Institute of History|isbn=978-99941-73-07-5|location=Erevan|oclc=607636080}} In the beginning of IV century BC, (302BC) the territory was under Caucasian Iberia, but during Artaxias I's reign it was conquered.{{Cite web|title=Geography of Strabo, Book XI, Chapter 14, P325.|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11N*.html}} During the reign of the Artaxiad and Arshakuni kings of Armenia, Gugark was ruled by one of the kingdom's four bdeashkhs. The bdeashkh of Gugark was responsible for protecting the state's northern border. During the 4th century, the region was ruled by members of a branch of the House of Mihran.{{cite journal|last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril|author-link=Cyril Toumanoff|title=Introduction to Christian Caucasian History, II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period|journal=Traditio|volume=17|date=1961|page=38}} In 387, Armenia was partitioned between the Byzantine and Sassanid empires and Gugark, with the exception of the canton of Tashir, was annexed to Caucasian Iberia. The ruler of the region around 425 was Arshusha. In 652, the Armenian prince Theodore Rshtuni was allowed by the Arabs to unite Gugark with his realms.
File:Arshakuni Armenia 150-en.svg
In the following centuries, Gugark and its cantons fell under the sway of several rulers. In the 8th century, it became a part of Emirate of Tbilisi. In the middle of the 9th century, it was taken by the Georgian Bagrationis, while the Armenian Bagratunis took over its eastern cantons.
Inhabitants
Armenian catholicos and historian Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi says in his history that the majority of this region was Armenian people with minority of Iberian people. Also an Armenian historian Ghazar Parpetsi mentions Arshusha V, bdeashkh of the Iberians.
Cantons
- Dzoropor
- Tsobopor
- Treghk
- Artahan
- Javakhk
- Upper Javakhk
- Tashir
- Kangark
- Kagharjk
- Nigal
- Mrugh
- Mrit
- Shavshet
- Koghbopor
- Kvishapor
- Boghnopor
- Tashran
- Manglyats
- Ashotsk
List of ''bdeashkhs''
Based on available sources, Cyril Toumanoff deduced an incomplete list of the ruling Mihranid bdeashkhs of Gugark.{{cite book|last1=Rapp|first1=Stephen H.|author-link=Stephen H. Rapp Jr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T8VIBQAAQBAJ&q=rapp+inscription+kartir|title=The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature|date=2014|publisher=Ashgate Publishing|isbn=978-1472425522|pages=389}}
| class="wikitable"
!Name !Reign |
| Peroz
|330–361? |
| Bakur I
|after 394–430 |
| Arshusha I
|after 430–? |
| Bakur II
|mid 5th-century |
| Arshusha II
|?–470 |
| Varsken
|470–482 |
| Arshusha III
|482–after 540/1 |
| Arshusha IV
|ca. first decade of the 7th-century |
| Vahram-Arshusha V
|late 620s |
| Arshusha VI
|mid 8th-century |
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Historical regions of Armenia}}
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