Armenia - Hayasdan, as the Armenians call their country - emerges into the broad daylight of history from the haze of her legendary past through a long line of kings of the Haikazian Dynasty. In 612 BC the Medes destroyed Nineveh and brought the Assyrian power to an end. The Assyrians, Armenia's eternal antagonist was no more. Some 50 years later, king Tigran I formed an alliance with Cyrus the Great of Persia, founder of Achaemenid dynasty who conquered the lands controlled by the Medes and Tigran I enlarged the Armenian kingdom. Tigrans the First had three sons; the third son's name was Vahagn the Dragonfighter. The Armenian pagan tradition covered Vahagn with glory and legends: he was even deified and worshipped like Hercules. However, the era of peace ended as a number of weak and insignificant kings ruled Armenia over the following years, and finally the country became tributary to Persia. An inscription on a rock from around 520 BC called the Behistun Stone, found in Iran, mentions 'Armina' in the list of countries Darius I controlled. The dynasty of Hayk ended: the kings of Armenia were henceforward anointed by the Persian kings but the the position of Armenia was especially privileged in the Persian Empire. During the following centuries the Armenian troops fought for Persia in all major battles. King Vahe Haykazuni , the last offspring of the Hayk dynasty, died together with his offspring in 331 BC, leading the Armenian cavalry at Gaugamela against Alexander of Macedon. While his overlord Darius, king of Persia, fled the battleground leaving his army behind, Vahe chose to fight to the end and die as a true warrior king. The Armenioi as the Greeks called them became well known for the valour of their horsemen.
The strategic position of the region lying athwart the east-west military and trade routes, both along the valley of the Araxes leading from Iran to Cappadocia and more particularly through the Mesopotamian plain dominated by the Armenian plateau, made it far too important to permit its concession to a rival power. The ancient kingdom of Armenia thus suffered the attentions of either the Roman Empire or Parthia for centuries. Straddling the mountains between the two vast states, where the Zagros meet the Taurus, Armenia has long been a bone of contention. The kingdom represents a strategic ‘high-ground’ dominating the northern curve of the Fertile Crescent. Armenia remains a great prize for any would-be empire. Long under the Achaemenid Persian aegis, the kingdom has a very strong cultural flavour of that land. The Armenians have long been open to influence from Persian culture, with Ahura Mazda and Mithras being the chief gods of the nobility and wealthy elite, and Persian costume being adopted universally throughout the kingdom.
Feudalism was a powerful social and political organization in Armenia. Originating in remote antiquity, it survived the kingdom and the loss of independence. Its influence was both beneficial and baneful. It was one of the directing forces of its destiny, the other being the geographical determinism. The influence of the semi-feudal monarchy of Parthia was so great in Armenia as to create some confusion between the two peoples. Many terms of Armenian feudality are of Parthian origin, such naharar, nahapet, sepouh, azat. The Parthians were considered allies by most of Armenians at this time, this is especially true in Greater Armenia or Armenia Proper, where as Armenians of Armenia Minor and Anatolia had more of a Graeco-Roman stance. Indeed the Parthians stood very close to Armenia, many of the Parthian noble houses had their branches in Armenia. The nobility always played an important role in the Armenian society. The history of the Armenian nobility is as old as that of the Armenian people. Its roots trace back to the ancient tribal society, these chieftains and leaders being the best members of the clans and tribes, who became renowned for their power, wisdom, courage and glorious and heroic deeds. Although the vast majority of the Armenian nobility was of Armenian origin, the historical sources still mention quite significant foreign influxes into the aristocratic class. These assimilated foreign families were predominantly of Indo-European (Aryan) origin, such as Iranians, Alanians, Greeks and Romans. The Iranian aristocratic component was particularly numerous. Many Armenian noble houses were either linked to the Iranian nobility through dynastic marriages or were Iranians (Persians, Parthians, Medians) by their origin. Most of the ancient Armenian noble families were tracing their origins to historic or legendary heroes or even ancient gods, such as Hayk or Vahagn.
The social pyramid of the Armenian nobility was headed by the king, in Armenian arkah. The Armenian kings themselves, far from residing normally in their capitals, continued to lay out hunting preserves or partez and they chose to move about the country making use of rich and elaborate, but transportable, tents or pavilions. The sons of the king, princes, were called sepuh and the crown prince was called avag sepuh. In the case of king's death it was avag sepuh who automatically would inherit the crown, unless there were other prior arrangements. There were three main estates in Armenia; those of the great lords (nakharars), those of the lesser nobility (azats), and what may be called the third estate consisted of the artisans (ramiks) and peasants (shinakans). The nakharars or princely lords of the country were the real owners and masters of the land who constituted the most solid structure of the Armenian aristocracy. Leading this class were the four bdeshkhs or satraps of the frontier princedoms, descendants of formerly independent rulers. A Bdeshkh was a ruler of a large borderland province of historical Great Armenia. They were de facto viceroys and by their privileges were very close to the king. Bdeshkhs had their own armies, taxation and duties system, and could even produce their own coins. The nakharars and the azats, also known as aznwakans or aznavurs, formed the principal armed forces of the country. They were called the "army of the noble legions" (azatagund banak) or "noblemen's troops" (azatazork). The attack of such heavy cavalrymen is said to have been irresistible. The nakharars were jealous of their personal dignity and official rank in state functions. Besides blood relationship and old ancestry, they took pride in their personal valor and courage. At the head of each of these families was its senior member, called in Armenian nahapet or more commonly tanuter "lord of the house,". It was these men who personally led the Gund (host) into battle. The artisans, as well as the shinakans (peasants) belonged to the class of anazats (non-free) or ramiks (plebeians). The shinakan enjoyed certain personal liberties; he could not be forced to contract marriage against his wish. He also took part in the deliberations of national interest.
Armenian tradition has preserved several legends concerning the origin of the Armenian nation. The most important of these tells of Hayk (Hayg or Haig), the eponymous hero of the Armenians who called themselves Hye (Hay) and their country Hayk' or Hayasdan. It is said that Hayk built the fortress of Haykaberd at the site of Dyutsaznamart, as well as Haykashen in the county (gavar) Harq of the province (Nahang) Tauruberan. Hayk Nahapet was the founder of the dynasty of the first patriarchs and kings of ancient Armenia and the source of many ancient Armenian aristocratic houses. With the fall of the Persian Empire to Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 331 B.C., the Greeks appointed a new satrap, of the Eruandid (mighty hero) clan who had ruled from Armavir as early as 400 BC. The Greeks called them Orontid, and the first ruler named Mithranes became the governing satrap of all of Armenia. The Ervanduni Dynasty as they became known, governed the country for some 200 years, while Asia became acquainted with the Hellenic culture of the invading Greeks. Alexander himself never entered the country, and the control of the plateau by his Seleucid successors was intermittent. Under the Ervanduni Dynasty Armenia regained independence after the death of Alexander the Macedonian, becoming a vassal kingdom of the Seleucids largely in name only. The Greek Empire of the Seleucids, which stretched across Asia and Europe, was one in which cities rapidly grew, spreading Hellenistic architecture, religion and philosophies. Armenian culture absorbed Greek influences as well. The campaigns of Alexander shifted the position of Armenia for centuries from that of an intrinsic component part of the Achaemenid empire to that of a disputed borderland at the limit of the classical and the Iranian worlds. Politically, these Armenian rulers were forced to resist the repeated, though always short-lived, attempts of the Seleucids to establish their rule over the country, as well as the growing power of the Parthians. The unquestionable presence in Armenia of Hellenic culture and the opening of the country to world trade, evidenced by the presence of coin hoards, did not succeed in obliterating earlier Armenian traditions. The political and cultural ties with the Iranian world remained and Achaemenid Aramaic remained the official written language of the Armenian chancellery. Intermarriages between the Iranian and Armenian royal houses continued to be celebrated with great pomp, as was that of the sister of the Armenian king Artavazd II to the Parthian prince Pacorus at which the head of Crassus was used during a performance of Euripides' Bacchae. This may have had some influence on the wavering Armenian king's adherence to the Parthian alliance and his abandoning the Roman cause.
The kingdom of Cappadocia had been reduced by the Macedonian commander Eumenes. But Ariarat in alliance with Ardoates, King of the Armens, fought and killed the Macedonian general and expelled the Macedonians from the country. The date of the founding of the Cappadocian kingdom through the aid of the Armenian king must have been about 270 B.C. Another Armenian king whose name is unknown, had, according to Memnon of Heraclea, tendered shelter and aid to Ziaelas, son of the King of Bithynia, and enabled him to occupy his father's throne, which he did from 250 to 228. In 212 Antiochus III Megas gave his sister Antiochis in marriage to King Kserks (Xerxes) of Sophene, who acknowledged his suzerainty and paid him tribute. Artashes and Zareh, the governors of Armenia, appointed by Seleucus the Great, sided with the Romans and declared the independence of two new kingdoms created by themselves. These were the Artashesian (Greater Armenia) and Zarehian (Sophene) Kingdoms of Armenia established as a result of Antiochos III Megas's defeat by the Romans in the Battle of Magnesia. In the invasion of Armenia by Seleucus in 165 B.C., Artashes suffered defeat, but he soon recovered his rights. The country enjoyed peace and prosperity under the rule of Vagharshak, who came to throne in 149 BC. He set up the institute of nobility in his kingdom and established the new senior official ranking system. Vagharshak made the city of Armavir his royal residence. Several Greek inscriptions from around that period found in Armavir witness about the influence of the Greek culture in Armenia.
During the reigns of the successors of Artashes I, the Parthians under Mithridates I invaded many Seleucian possessions in the East. Their conquests were expanded by the succeeding king, Mithridates II (123-88 B.C.), who had waged war also on Artavazd, the son of Artashes I, and carried away as hostage the young Tigranes (Tigran II), the king's nephew. Tigran II, younger brother of Artavazd II and ruler of Armenia from 95 to 54 B.C., obtained the throne by ceding to the Parthians the districts which their predecessors had wrested from the Medes and Iberians, a seizure which supplied the excuse for the expedition of Mithridates II of Parthia. A quarrel arose between him and King Ardan (or Vardan) of Sophene, and Tigran attacked the latter, vanquished him and took over his domain. When the Armenians of Sophene were thus suppressed, Tigran's kingdom then extended from the valley of the Kur to Melitine and Cappadocia. Mithridates VI of Pontus, who aspired to the annexation of Cappadocia, sought an alliance with Tigran by marrying one of his daughters to him. So by the treaty which followed the marriage, Cleopatra, a girl of courage as well as high education, became the Queen of Armenia.
The ensuing invasion of Cappadocia in 93 B.C. compelled Ariobarzan, its king, to yield and hurry to Rome for aid. His appeal won a ready response. The great Roman general Sulla came to Asia Minor, reinstated Ariobarzan on his throne and forced the Armenian army to retreat to the east bank of the Euphrates. The Eastern allies did not, however, admit defeat. The civil war which raged in Rome in 90 B.C. gave them the opportunity of regaining their advantage on the field of battle, and once more Ariobarzan was put to flight. Tigran's star was now in the ascendency. When Parthia's great king, Mithridates II, died in 86, Tigran felt himself equal to the task of proving his supremacy over the Parthians. He recaptured the lands which had been ceded to them, and marched still further to seize Atropene, Gordiene and a part of Mesopotamia, thus once more subjugating the territory of old Nairi-Urartu. To this were soon added the domains of Adiabene, Mygdonia and Osrhoene. The Armenian armies penetrated further into Greater Media and reduced its capital, Ecbatana, in whose royal palace Tigran had once been held as a hostage. It of course followed that he had now become the "King of Kings," a title which he inscribed on his coins. So the supremacy of Asia, which had belonged to Parthia under the Achaemenids and Seleucid's, was in this triumphant moment transferred to Armenia.
Tigran's glory attained its apogee when he was invited to Antioch in 83 B.C., and offered the crown of the Seleucid dynasty. Syria, which had long been torn by internal strife, under Tigran's rule enjoyed full peace for eighteen years. His power reached even beyond the confines of Syria proper, to include Palestine on the south and Cilicia on the west. But like most Oriental monarchies, his kingdom was only an assembling of uncongenial peoples, with no cohesion. He created a standing army of around 100,000 men which was comprised of large numbers of cavalry(mostly of the Armenian aristocratic class of azats) he also created separate bodies of footmen, archers, and pikemen, with that of the allied nations the total force of Tigran's army was at its height with perhaps 300,000 men. Allied peoples included Georgians, Adiabenians, Caucasian Albanians, Atropatenes, Cappadocians, Gordeyenes (Armenians of Korduk) and many other tribes and peoples who were all comrades in arms with the main body consisting of battle hardened Armenian troops.
Armenia came under the Ancient Roman sphere of influence in 66 BC, after the battle of Tigranocerta and the final defeat of Armenia's ally, Mithridates VI of Pontus. Mark Antony invaded and defeated the kingdom in 34 BC, but Romans lost hegemony during the Final war of the Roman Republic in 32-30 BC. In 20 BC, Augustus negotiated a truce with the Parthians, making Armenia a buffer zone between the two major powers. Augustus installed Tigranes V as king of Armenia in AD 6, but ruled with Erato of Armenia. The Romans then installed Mithridates of Armenia as client king. Mithridates was arrested by Caligula, but later restored by Claudius. Subsequently, Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Parthia, with both major powers supporting opposing sovereigns and usurpers. The Parthians forced Armenia into submission in AD 37, but in AD 47 the Romans retook control of the kingdom. In AD 51 Armenia fell to an Iberian invasion sponsored by Parthia, led by Rhadamistus. Tigranes VI of Armenia ruled from AD 58, again installed by Roman support. The period of turmoil ends in AD 66, when Tiridates I of Armenia was crowned king of Armenia by Nero. For the remaining duration of the Armenian kingdom, Rome still considered it a client kingdom
de jure, but the ruling dynasty was of Parthian extraction, and contemporary Roman writers thought that Nero had
de facto yielded Armenia to the Parthians. The current King of Hayasdan as of Claudius' reign is Mithridates of Armenia, brother to the King of Iberia. Mithridates was installed by his brother Pharasmanes I of Iberia who encouraged by Roman emperor Tiberius, invaded Armenia and captured its capital Artaxata in 35. When the Parthian prince Orodes, son of Artabanus III of Parthia, attempted to dispossess Mithridates of his newly-acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes I assembled a large army, with which he totally defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus,
Annals. vi. 32-35). At a later period c. 37, the new emperor Caligula had Mithridates arrested, but Claudius restored him on the Armenian throne c. 42. Subsequently, Mithridates' relations with Pharasmanes I deteriorated and the Iberian king instigated his son, Rhadamistus, to invade Armenia and overthrow Mithridates in 51. Betrayed by his Roman commanders, Mithridates surrendered, but was put to death by his nephew Rhadamistus, who usurped the crown. Rhadamistus was one of the sons of King Pharasmanes I of Iberia and his wife, an unnamed Armenian Princess of the Artaxiad Dynasty being the daughter of the Artaxiad Armenian Monarchs Tigranes IV and his sister-wife Erato. He was known for his ambition, good looks and valor. Pharasmanes I fearing usurpation by his son, convinced Rhadamistus to make war upon his uncle, King Mithridates of Armenia, the brother of Pharasmanes I and father of Rhadamistus' wife, Zenobia. The Iberians invaded with a large army and forced Mithridates into the fortress of Gorneas (Garni), which was garrisoned by the Romans under the command of Caelius Pollio, a prefect, and Casperius, a centurion. Pollio, swayed by Rhadamistus' bribery, induced the Roman soldiers to threaten capitulation of the garrison. Under this compulsion, Mithridates agreed to surrender to his nephew. Rhadamistus executed Mithridates and his sons despite a promise of non-violence, and became King of Armenia in 51. Rome decided not to aid their Armenian allies, only nominally demanding that Pharasmanes I withdraw from Armenia. The Roman governor of Cappadocia, Paelignus, invaded Armenia anyway, ravaging the country. Syrian governor Gaius Ummidius Durmius Quadratus sent a force to restore order, but he was recalled so as not to provoke a war with Parthia, whose King Vologases I took the opportunity to send his army into Armenia, driving out the Iberians (53). A winter epidemic forced the Parthians to withdraw from Armenia, allowing Rhadamistus to return. He punished as traitors those Armenian cities that had surrendered to the Parthians. They soon revolted and replaced him with the Parthian prince Tiridates I (55). Rhadamistus had to escape along with his pregnant wife, Zenobia, of whom Tacitus relates a romantic story. Unable to bear a long ride on horse, she convinced her husband to kill her so she would not fall into the hands of their pursuers. Though stabbed and left at the banks of the Araxes, she survived and was found by some shepherds. They carried Zenobia to the court of Tiridates I, who received her kindly and treated her as royalty. Rhadamistus himself returned to Iberia. However, he was soon put to death by his father for having plotted against the royal power. Tiridates I was a Prince of Iranian and Greek ancestry. He was one of the sons born to Vonones II of Parthia from a Greek concubine. Virtually nothing is known about his minority and youth, which he spent in Media Atropatene, where his father served as King. Tiridates I's name meant
given by Tir, Tir was an Armeno-Parthian god of literature, science and art based on the Avestan Tishtrya and fused with the Greek Apollo.
Unhappy with the growing Parthian influence at their doorstep, Roman Emperor Nero sent General Corbulo with a large army to the east in order to restore Roman client kings. A Hasmonean named Aristobulus was given Lesser Armenia (Nicopolis and Satala) and Sohaemus of Emesa received Armenia Sophene. In the spring of 58, Corbulo entered Greater Armenia from Cappadocia and advanced towards Artaxata, while Parasmanes I of Iberia attacked from the north, and Antiochus IV of Commagene attacked from the southwest. Supported by his brother, Tiridates I sent flying columns to raid the Romans far and wide. Corbulo retaliated using the same tactics and the use of the Moschoi tribes who raided outlying regions of Armenia. Tiridates I fled from the capital, and Corbulo burned Artaxata to the ground. In the summer, Corbulo began moving towards Tigranocerta through rough terrain and passing through the Taronitida (Taron), where several of his commanders died in an ambush by the Armenian resistance; however, the city opened its doors, with the exception of one of the citadels, which was destroyed in the ensuing assault. By this time the majority of Armenians had abandoned resistance and accepted the prince favored by Rome. Nero gave the crown to the last royal descendant of the Kings of Cappadocia, the grandson of Glaphyra (daughter of Archelaus of Cappadocia) and Alexander of Judea (the brother of Herod Archelaus and the son of Herod the Great), who assumed the Armenian name Tigranes (his uncle was Tigranes V). His son, named Gaius Julius Alexander, married Iotapa, the daughter of Antiochus IV of Commagene and was made King of Cilicia. Nero was hailed vigorously in public for this initial victory and Corbulo was appointed governor of Syria as a reward. A guard of 1000 legionary soldiers, three auxiliary cohorts and two wings of horses were allotted to Tigranes in order to defend the country. Border districts were bestowed to Roman allies that assisted Corbulo including Polemon, Parasmanes, Aristobolus and Antiochus. Vologases I was infuriated by the fact that an alien now sat on the Armenian throne but hesitated to reinstate his brother as he was engaged in a conflict with the Hyrcanians who were revolting. Tigranes invaded the Kingdom of Adiabene and deposed its King Monobazes in 61, who was a vassal of Parthians. Vologases I considered this an act of aggression from Rome and started a campaign to restore Tiridates I to the Armenian throne. He placed under the command of spahbod Moneses a well-disciplined force of cataphracts along with Adiabenian auxiliaries and ordered him to expel Tigranes from Armenia. Having quelled the Hyrcanian revolt, Vologases I gathered the strength of his dominions and embarked toward Armenia. Corbulo, having been informed of the impending attack, sent two legions under the commands of Verulanus Severus and Vettius Bolanus to the assistance of Tigranes with secret directions that they should act with caution rather than vigour. He also dispatched a message to Nero, urging him to send a second commander with the explicit purpose of defending Armenia as Syria was now also in peril. Corbulo placed the remainder of the legions on the banks of the
Euphrates and armed irregular troops of the nearby provinces. Since the region was deficient in water, he erected forts over the fountains and concealed the rivulets by heaping sand over them. Moneses marched towards Tigranocerta but failed to break the defense of the city walls as his troops were unfit for a long siege. Corbulo, although eminently successful thought it prudent to use his good fortune with moderation. He sent a Roman centurion by the name of Casperius to the camp of Vologases I in Nisibis located 37 miles (60 km) from Tigranocerta with the demand to raise the siege. Because of a recent locust storm and the scarcity of fodder for his horses Vologases I agreed to raise the siege of Tigranocerta and petitioned to be granted Armenia in order to achieve a firm peace. Vologases I demanded that both the Roman and Parthian troops should evacuate Armenia, that Tigranes should be dethroned, and that the position of Tiridates I be recognized. The Roman government declined to accede to these arrangements and sent Lucius Caesennius Paetus, governor of Cappadocia, to settle the question by bringing Armenia under direct Roman administration. Paetus was an incapable commander and suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Rhandeia in 62, losing the legions of XII
Fulminata commanded by Calvisius Sabinus and IIII
Scythica commanded by Funisulanus Vettonianus. The command of the troops was returned to Corbulo, who the following year led a strong army into Melitene and beyond into Armenia, eliminating all of the regional governors he suspected were pro-Parthian. Finally in Rhandeia, Corbulo and Tiridates I met to make a peace agreement. The location of Rhandeia suited both Tiridates I and Corbulo. It appealed to Tiridates I because that is where his army had beaten the Romans and sent them away under a capitulation; on the other hand, it appealed to Corbulo because he was about to wipe out the ill repute earned before in the same location. When Tiridates I arrived at the Roman camp he took off his royal diadem and placed it on the ground near a statue of Nero, agreeing to receive it back only from Nero in Rome. Tiridates I was recognized as the vassal king of Armenia; a Roman garrison would remain in the country permanently, in Sophene while Artaxata would be reconstructed. Corbulo left his son-in-law Annius Vinicianus to accompany Tiridates I to Rome in order to attest his own fidelity to Nero.
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For Armenian Armies, look here)
Part II - Armenian Architecture - With Hellenic Influences
Bright example of
Armenian architecture is
Garni Temple. The structures of the fortress of Garni are in perfect harmony with the surrounding nature. The fortress is situated in a picturesque mountain locality and commands a broad panorama of orchards, fields and mountain slopes covered with motley carpets of varicolored grasses, of the jagged and precipitous canyon of the Azat river. Strategically, the place for building this fortress was very cleverly chosen. In very ancient times (the 3rd millennium BC) a cyclopic fortress existed there. According to a cuneiform record found on the territory of Garni, the fortress was conquered by
Argishti I, the king of
Urartu, in the first half of the 8th century BC. In the epoch of the Armenian rulers of the Ervandids, Artashesids and Arshakids dynasties (since the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD) Garni was a summer residence of the kings and the place where their troops were stationed. The fortress of Garni stands on a triangular cape which dominates the locality and juts into the river. A deep gorge and steep mountain slopes serve as a natural impregnable obstacle, and therefore the fortress wall was put up only on the side of the plain. It was put together of large square-shaped slabs of basalt placed flat on top of each other without mortar and fastened together with iron cramps sealed with lead. The evenly spaced rectangular towers and the concave shape of the middle of the most vulnerable northern wall, which increased the effectiveness of flank shooting, added much to the defense capacity of the fortress and, at the same time, enhanced its artistic merits. The palace complex included several disconnected buildings: a temple, a presence chamber, a columned tall, a residential block. a bath-house. etc. They were situated around the vast main square of the fortress, in its southern part, away from the entrance-way, where they formed all ensemble. In the northern part there probably were the premises of the service staff, the king’s guards and the garrison. The summit of the cape was crowned with a temple which overlooked the square by its main northern façade. The temple, the artistic center of the complex, is on the central axis passing through the fortress gate. The temple was built in the second half of the 1st century BC and dedicated to a heathen god, probably to Mithra (Mihr in Armenian), the god of the sun whose figure stood in the depth of the sanctuary (naos). After Christianity had been proclaimed the state religion in Armenia in 301, the temple was probably used as a summer residence of the kings. A chronicle describes it as "a house of coolness".
In its style, the temple, a six-column periptere, resembles similar structures in Asia Minor (baths at Sagala and Pergamum), Syria (Baalbek) and Rome. Its architectural shapes are basically-Hellenistic but local traditions also show in it. It should be noted that a rectangle-based religious edifice with columns and a pediment was known on the territory of the Armenian upland back in the epoch of the Urartians; such, for instance, was the temple in Musasir (the 9th‑8th centuries BC), a representation of which can be seen on an ancient Assyrian bas-relief. Quite possibly, this type of architecture influenced the overall composition of Armenia's heathen temples in general, and that of Garni temple, especially the outlines of certain details and the interior decoration. The temple stands on a high podium with a two-step base and is surrounded with 24 Ionic columns. A broad nine-step stairway leads up to the podium. The sides of the stairway are decorated with bas-relief, placed symmetrically relative to the main axis of the building, showing kneeling Atlantes with uplifted hands who seemed to support the torches which used to stand higher. This sculptural motif is flown from later monuments of East Roman provinces, such a Niha in Syria (the 1st century AD). In front of a rectangular stone-floored naos there is a shallow pronaos with antae and an entrance-way framed in a platband. The small size of the sanctuary shows that it contained only a statue of the deity, and that worship was performed in the pronaos. The bases of the columns resemble those of Attic temples in their shapes, the shafts are smooth, the Ionic capitals are decorated with clean-cut moulded, rather than hewn, volutes and ovae and leaf ornaments which differ from column to column — a characteristic feature of Armenian monuments. The shape of the corner capitals is most interesting — on them as distinct from the inside columns, the volutes of the adjacent front sides are turned at a right angle, and the floral ornament of the lateral sides are more graceful in their composition.
The richly ornamented entablature is distinguished by the overhanging upper part of the architrave and frieze. This feature is also to be seen in the later monuments of Syria (2nd century) and Italy (4th century). As distinct from these works of Hellenistic art, however, the ornamentation of the entablature of Garni temple is more variegated. The frieze shows fronds of acanthus combined with flowers and rosettes of various shapes and outlines. Besides acanthus, it also features laurel and oak leaves, as well as grapes, pomegranate and other floral motives characteristic of the Orient. The cornice is ornamented with dummy spillways shaped as lions’ heads with bared teeth. These, along with oxen, often occurred in Urartu murals, on arms and seals. Contrasting with the flat bas-relief leaf ornament of the cornice, they created the rhythm of the crowning details of lateral façades, connected with the columns. The pediment was smooth. The soffits of the architrave, the ceilings of the portico and the wings of the temple were decorated with floral ornaments, octagon and diamond-shaped ornamented caissons. Carving on hard basalt, rather than on the soft marble characteristic of Roman architecture, is evidence of the fact that all structures in the cities of that epoch — Armavir, Yervandashat, Vagarshapat, etc. — were created by Armenian craftsmen. Their style shows in the variety of ornamental motifs, in the depiction of specimens of local flora in ornaments and flat carvings. The temple’s proportions differ somewhat from the proportions of other antique structures. Its composition is based on the contrast between the horizontal divisions of the podium and the entablature and the vertical columns which rose sharply against the background of the sky. The temple makes an impressive sight from many remote and close observation points.
A two-storey palace situated to the west of the temple was another edifice distinguished for its artistic merits and size (about 15 by 40 m). Its southern part, a presence chamber 9.65 by 19.92 m, was an oblong premise, its ground floor roofing resting on eight square pillars arranged along the longitudinal axis. The walls were punctuated with pilasters, aligned with the pillars. There were niches between them. A rectangular premise at the north-eastern fortress wall, dated the 3rd‑4th centuries, had a similar composition. Just as in the columned hall of Bagineti fortified town near Mtskheta, Georgia, its wooden roofing rested on the inner wooden pillars with stone basis and, possibly, with carved wooden capitals. It seems that the longitudinal side of this architecturally richly decorated premise had wide openings affording a view of the beautiful panorama of the green valley of the Azat river and the picturesque slopes of the far-off mountains. The northern part of the palace was taken up by residential quarters. Judging by the fragments that have survived to this day, the composition of the façade of this part, which overlooked the square, had risalitas. The premises of the basement served auxiliary purposes. One of them was a winery, for instance. In one of the rooms one can see traces of dark-red plastering, which seems to indicate that the residential and presence chambers of the palace were richly ornamented. The bath-house is situated in the northern part of the square. at an angle to the residential block. Built in the 3rd century, it comprised no less than five premises serving various purposes, four of which had apses at their end walls. The first apsidal room from the east was a dressing room, the second one, a cold water bathroom, the third and fourth ones, warm and hot water bathrooms respectively. The bathhouse had a water reservoir, with a heating room in the basement. The floors were faced with baked bricks covered with a layer of polished stucco. They rested on round pillars and were heated from below with hot air and smoke which came to the underfloor space from the heater. A notion of the interior decoration can be obtained from the fragments of two-layer plasterwork which survived in several rooms — the white lower layer and the pink upper layer — as well as from the floors with remnants of stone mosaics of 15 hues. Of special interest is the soft-colour mosaic of the dressing room floor dating back to the 3rd‑4th centuries, an outstanding example of monumental painting in central Armenia. The theme of the mosaic decoration of the 2.91 by 3.14 m floor draws upon Greek mythology.
Part III - The Caucasian Kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia - 1000 BCE - 40 CE
The First Classical Georgian tribal union emerged in the 13th century BC on the Black Sea coast under the Kingdom of
Colchis in western Georgia. The kingdom of Colchis, which existed from the 6th to the 1st centuries BCE is regarded as the first early Georgian state formation and the term
Colchians was used as the collective term for early Georgian-Kartvelian tribes such as Mingrelians, Lazs and Chans who populated the eastern coast of the black sea. The ancient Greeks knew of Colchis, and it featured in the Greek legend of
Jason and the
Argonauts, who travelled there in search of the
Golden Fleece. Starting around 2000 BC, northwestern Colchis was inhabited by the Svan and Zan peoples of the Kartvelian tribes. Another important ethnic element of ancient Colchis were Greeks who between 1000 and 550 BC established many trading colonies in the coastal area, among them Naessus, Pitiys, Dioscurias, Guenos, Phasis (modern Poti), Apsaros, and Rhizos (modern Rize in Turkey). In the eastern part of Georgia there was a struggle for the leadership among the various Georgian confederations during the 6th–4th centuries BC, which was finally won by the Kartlian tribes from the region of Mtskheta. According to the Georgian tradition, the Kingdom of Kartli (known as
Iberia in the Greek-Roman literature) was founded around 300 BC by
Parnavaz I, the first ruler of the
Parnavazid dynasty. Between 653 and 333 BC, both Colchis and Iberia survived successive invasions by the Median Empire, and later the Persian Empire. At the end of the 3rd century BC southern Iberia witnessed the invading armies of Alexander the Great, who established a vast Greco-Macedonian empire to the south of the Caucasus. Neither Iberia nor Colchis was incorporated into the empire of Alexander or any of the successor Hellenistic states of the Middle East. However, the culture of ancient Greece still had a considerable influence on the region, and Greek was widely spoken in the cities of Colchis. In Iberia Greek influence was less noticeable and Aramaic was widely spoken. Between the early 2nd century BC and the late 2nd century AD both Colchis and Iberia, together with the neighboring countries, became an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major and local powers such as Rome, Armenia and the short-lived Kingdom of Pontus. In 189 BC, the rapidly growing Kingdom of Armenia took over more than half of Iberia, conquering the southern and southeastern provinces of Gogarene, Taokhia and Genyokhia, as well as some other territories. Between 120 and 63 BC, Armenia's ally Mithridate VI Eupator of Pontus conquered all of Colchis and incorporated it into his kingdom, embracing almost all of Asia Minor as well as the eastern and northern Black Sea coastal areas. This close association with Armenia brought upon the country
an invasion (65 BC) by the Roman general
Pompey, who was then at war with
Mithradates VI of Pontus, and Armenia; but Rome did not establish her power permanently over Iberia. Nineteen years later, the Romans again marched (36 BC) on Iberia forcing King
Pharnavaz II to join their campaign against
Albania. During this time Armenia and Pontus were actively expanding at the expense of Rome, taking over its Eastern Mediterranean possessions. However, the success of the anti-Roman alliance did not last long. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns of Pompey and
Lucullus from the west, and the
Parthian invasion from the south, Armenia lost a significant part of its conquests by 65 BC, devolving into a Roman-Parthian dependency. At the same time, the
Kingdom of Pontus was completely destroyed by the Romans and all its territory including Colchis were incorporated into the
Roman Empire as her provinces. The former Kingdom of Colchis became the Roman province of
Lazicum ruled by Roman
legati. The following 600 years of Georgian history were marked by struggle between Rome and Persia (Iran) including
Parthians and
Sassanids who were fighting long wars against each other for the domination in the Middle East including Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia,
Albania, and Iberia. While the Georgian kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province,
Caucasian Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered at
Mtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58–106) as "the friend of the Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." Emperor
Vespasian fortified the ancient Mtskheta site of Arzami for the Iberian kings in 75 AD IOTL. Colchian and Iberian culture can be distinguished from Armenian culture by ethnicity, language, history and it's own use of the arts. However it's societal structure must be very similar to Hayasdan's...
Pharasmanes I is the current King of
Iberia, who plays a prominent role in
Tacitus’ account of
Rome’s eastern policy and campaigns under
Tiberius,
Claudius and
Nero. According to Professor
Cyril Toumanoff, he reigned from 1 to 58 OTL, and was a member of the third
Pharnabazid Dynasty. Pharasmanes I as an ally of Rome, invaded
Armenia and captured the capital city of
Artaxata in 35. Pharasmanes I left his brother
Mithridates on the Armenian throne and when the
Parthian prince
Orodes attempted to dispossess him of his newly-acquired kingdom, Pharasmanes I assembled a large army, with which he totally defeated the Parthians in a pitched battle (Tacitus,
Annals. vi. 32-35). Pharasmanes I at an unknown date married an unnamed
Armenian Princess of the
Artaxiad Dynasty being the daughter of the Artaxiad Armenian Monarchs
Tigranes IV and his sister-wife
Erato. His Armenian wife bore him three sons:
Mithridates I ,
Rhadamistus and Amazaspus (Amazasp) who is known from a Greek inscription found in
Rome. At a later period c. 52, Pharasmanes I instigated
Rhadamistus whose ambitious and aspiring character began to give him umbrage, to make war upon his uncle Mithridates, and supported him in his enterprise; but when Rhadamistus was in his turn expelled by the Parthians, after a short reign (55), and took refuge again in his father's dominions. Pharasmanes I in order to carry favor with the Romans, who had expressed their displeasure at the proceedings of Rhadamistus, put his son to death (
ib. xii. 42-48, xiii. 6, 37). Pharasmanes I was apparently succeeded by
Mithridates (Mihrdat) I. Toumanoff has tentatively suggested the identification of Pharasmanes with the Aderki (or Rok) of the medieval Georgian chronicles whose reign is said to have coincided with the appearance of the first
Christian communities in Georgia, and the travel of the
Jews from
Mtskheta to
Jerusalem whence they witnessed the
crucifixion of Jesus and brought the
Holy Tunic to Iberia. According to the Georgian chronicles, Aderki’s division of his kingdom between his two sons, Kartam (Kardzam) and Bartom (Bratman), inaugurated the start of
dyarchy in Iberia which would last for five generations. Many modern scholars, however, doubt the existence of the diarchy, for the contemporary foreign source make references only to sole monarch. May his dynasty prosper under Emperor Brittanicus...
Part IV - The Northeastern Caspian Kingdom of Albania - 150 BCE - 40 CE
The last listed Kingdom of the Roman era Caucasus was Albania, whose people IOTL would become ancestors to the Azerbaijani. It was bounded on the north by the Ceraunian mountains, an extension of the Caucasus, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by the lower course of the Araxes (Aras); on the west its frontiers were unstable: The frontier along the Kura (Kor), affirmed by Strabo, was repeatedly overrun, to the advantage sometimes of the Albanians, sometimes of the Armenians. At the eastern end of the Caucasus range a defile opens up along the shore of the Caspian; this is the Darband pass, called the Gates of Albania and the Caspian Gates by the ancients, Pahak Čoray or Iuroy Pahak by the Armenians. The Albanians are mentioned for the first time at the battle of Gaugamela (331 B.C.), as being in a contingent composed also of Medes, Cadusii, and Sacae, under the command of Atropates, satrap of Media, and then in the guard attending Darius III. The fact that the Albanians were under the leadership of the satrap of Media seems to indicate that this people, like the Cadusii and the Sacae, had been incorporated into his satrapy; according to one quite reasonable hypothesis, the Albanians would already have belonged to the Median Empire. During the last few decades, excavations have revealed several indications of Achaemenid influence, including bases of columns with palmette designs and cylinder seals. Although Alexander never penetrated as far as the Caucasus, the Albanians must have been included in the Macedonian Empire, since they belonged to the satrapy of Media. In the partition of 321 B.C., after the death of Alexander, the territory governed by Atropates was to be reduced to the part of Media in the northwest, later known as Media Atropatena or Atropatena. Between 286 and 281 the Macedonian Patrocles, general and admiral of Seleucus I and Antiochus I, undertook the circumnavigation of the Caspian Sea, beginning, it would seem, with the Albanian and Cadusian coast. It was probably the first time that the Albanians came into contact with the western world. The Albanian tribes, each of which had its own chief, spoke a multitude of dialects. During the Hellenistic period they joined with other neighboring tribes to form a unified state under a single ruler. It has been supposed that the unification took place towards the end of the 2nd century B.C., by reason of the wars waged between the Arsacid Mithridates II and Artavazd I, king of Armenia. There are grounds for believing that the unification of the Albanians was a slow process which allowed the diversity of languages to continue for a long time. In 65 B.C. the Roman general Pompey, who had just subjugated Armenia and Iberia and had conquered Colchis, entered Albania at the head of his army. Crossing the arid province of Cambysenē (Kambičan)—recently seized from the Armenians by the Albanians—he turned in the direction of the Caspian Sea. In fording the Alazan river, he clashed with the forces of Oroezes, king of Albania, and eventually defeated them. Theophanes of Mitylene, who accompanied Pompey, was to write an account of what he had observed and heard said in the course of that campaign. Theophanes’ testimony formed the basis for Strabo’s discussion of Albania and the Albanians. He described the Albanians as semi-nomadic shepherds who were enthusiastic hunters, knew little about agriculture, used no money, and practiced trading by barter. Though they were subject to one king, they spoke twenty-six languages or dialects. They were not very warlike, but were able to field up to 60,000 foot-soldiers and 22,000 horsemen; their cavalry was clad in iron, a feature they may have borrowed from the Medes of Atropatene.
Strabo appears to have no knowledge of any city life in the Albania which he describes; not until the 1st century A.D. does Pliny refer to Cabalaca (= Kabala), the capital of Albania, followed later by Ptolemy’s list of twenty-nine cities of Albania, the most important being Gangara (Gaïtara), Albana, and Ossika. Nevertheless recent archeological discoveries have supplied proof that at the time of Pompey’s expedition towns already existed in Albania, or were in the course of being developed. Excavations conducted at Chuhur-Kabala, the site of the former Kabala, have yielded objects showing that relations existed with the Hellenistic world; a hoard of coins dated from the 2nd century B.C. to the 1st century A.D. Vestiges of another city, Shemakha, the Chemachia of Ptolemy, are found near modern Khynsla. A study of the archeological remains of ancient Albanian cities, especially those of Kabala, has made it possible to observe features which also occur in the town planning and architecture of the Parthians, such as the use of unbaked bricks of the same type, wooden bases of columns, and buildings of great length. Coins affirm the existence of a certain amount of commercial traffic with Parthia; a hoard of 321 coins discovered at the site of Shemakha includes 159 Parthian coins. An important commercial highway linked eastern Albania with Ecbatana by way of the Araxes and the Kura. Otherwise the use of money does not seem to have affected the barter system of the primitive tribes. Like the Iberians, the Albanians were not slow to revolt against Rome; in A.D. 36 Antony found himself obliged to send one of his lieutenants to bring an end to their rebellion. Zober, who was then king of Albania, capitulated and Albania thus became, at least in name, a Roman protectorate. A king of Albania appears in the list of dynasties whose ambassadors were received by Augustus. In A.D. 35 King Pharasmanes of Iberia and his brother Mithridates, with the support of Rome, confronted the Parthians in Armenia; the Albanians proved effective allies, contributing to the defeat and temporary eviction of the Parthians. No Kings of Albania are currently known. Their societal and internal structure was akin to the Armenians'. Strabo gives interesting details about the Albanian religion, which was centered on the worship of three divinities: the Sun, Zeus, and the Moon. Though it is customary to associate this triad with the three great divinities of Iranian and Armenian Mazdaism—Mithras, Ahura Mazdā, and Anāhitā —this approximation is imprecise. Without denying the fact that the Albanian religion was penetrated by Mazdean influence from Armenia, it is necessary to bear in mind other external factors and the existence of an indigenous substratum. The sanctuary of the Moon, situated near the Iberian border, possessed a vast sacred territory administered by the high priest, who was second in rank in the whole kingdom. The temple slaves (
hierodules) were apt to fall into trances and to make prophecies. These features are characteristic not so much of the cult of Anāhitā as of practices current in certain sanctuaries of Cappadocia and Pontus dedicated to lunar divinities. A distinctive element in the cult of the Moon in Albania was the performance of human sacrifice, described by Strabo
.
Next Recap - The Client Kingdoms of Pontus and The Bosporus, Then Parthia and Sarmatia...
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