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Paytakaran (Template:Lang-hy) was the easternmost province (nahang or ashkharh) of the Kingdom of Armenia. The province was located in the area of the lower courses of the Kura and Arax rivers, adjacent to the Caspian Sea. It corresponded to the territory known as Caspiane to Greco-Roman sources (Kaspkʻ or Kazbkʻ in Armenian sources). Today, the area is located in the territory of modern-day southeastern Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran. The centre of the province was the town of Paytakaran, after which it was named.
Etymology
See Pʿaytakaran for etymology.Paytakaran is interpreted as "the land of Pʻayt", applied by Medians to this territory to their north, from Median *karan- ("border, region, land", compare with Lankaran). Pʻayt is probably the name of a Caspian tribe. Pʻayt also means "wood" in Armenian, although Heinrich Hübschmann and others reject any connection with this word and believe the etymology to be non-Armenian. In the classical Armenian sources, Paytakaran is mentioned as the name of the province only in the 7th-century geograpahy Ashkharatsuyts and the history of Ghevond, while the city of the same name is mentioned more frequently. The 5th-century historian Pavstos Buzand also refers to the region as Parskʻ, which Hübschmann believes to be a mistaken transcription of Kaspkʻ.
Geography
Paytarakan was located on the right bank of the Arax River, which separated it from the Armenian provinces of Artsakh, Syunik and Utik to the north, although some authors believe that it included territory on the left bank of the Arax as well. It was separated from Adurbadagan to the south by the Karadagh and Talysh mountains and bordered the Caspian Sea to the east. It is believed to have encompassed the greater part of the Mughan Plain and the Lankaran Lowlands. Paytakaran had a dry climate and is described in Ashkharatsuyts as rich in cotton and wild barley. Suren Yeremyan estimates its area as 21,000 square kilometres.
According to the 7th-century Armenian geography Ashkharatsuyts, Paytakaran was the 11th of the 15 provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia. Ashkharatsuyts provides the names of 12 cantons (gavars) of Paytarakan, which at the time were in the possession of Adurbadagan (variations on the names exist):
- Hrakot-Perozh (centre: Paytakaran)
- Vardanakert (centre: Vardanakert)
- Rot-i-Bagha
- Hani
- Atshi-Bagavan (centre: Bagavan)
- Kaghan-Rot
- Koekyan
- Aros
- Vormizd-Perozh
- Pichan (centre: Pichan)
- Spandaran-Perozh (centre: Spandaran)
- Alevan (centre: Alevan)
The precise location of Paytakaran's cantons and its namesake city are unknown, although the latter is often identified with the Bailaqan of Arabic sources and sometimes with Beylagan in modern-day Azerbaijan, on the left bank of the Arax. A number of medieval Armenian authors, following Tovma Artsruni's example, misidentify the city of Paytakaran with Tbilisi (Tpʻghis in Armenian).
History
The region was known to Greco-Roman authors as Caspiane, which was once home to a people called the Caspians. Caspiane was contested between the regional powers. According to Strabo: "To the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea; but the tribe has now disappeared." Strabo also mentions Caspiane among the lands conquered by king Artashes I from Medes in the 2nd century BC. However, Armenia later lost it to Caucasian Albania in about 59 BC, when Pompey rearranged the political geography of the region, but the region was again conquered by the Armenians at some point.
Armenian control over Paytakaran most likely vacillated during the rule of the Artaxiad and Arsacid dynasties. It occupied a strategic position due to its proximity to the Caspian Gates, and nomadic peoples frequently crossed through the region to raid central Armenia and Adurbadagan. According to the Zoranamak (an apparent military register of Armenia), the prince of Kaspkʻ (i.e. Paytakaran) provided a force of 3000 men to the Armenian army, and according to the Gahnamak, he occupied the tenth seat at the royal table. The provincial centre Paytakaran was possibly a royal city and served as a royal dungeon under the Arsacids; 438 pre-Christian priests are said to have been imprisoned there by the lord of Angeghtun following the Christianization of Armenia.
Paytarakan is said to have been conquered in the early 330s by Sanatruk/Sanesan, king of the Maskut, who made its chief city his temporary capital. Pavstos Buzand names Paytakaran among the provinces that rebelled against King Arshak II in the 360s. This rebellion was suppressed by sparapet Mushegh Mamikonian in the late 360s during the reign of Pap. After the partition of Armenia in 387, it remained a part of eastern Armenia until the dissolution of the Arshakuni Kingdom of Armenia in 428, when it was ceded to Adurbadagan. The region was non-Armenian by ethnic composition. The population apparently consisted of Caucasian and Iranian speakers.
References
- ^ Anania Shirakatsi. Geography.
- ^ Harutyunyan, B. (1986). "Pʻaytakaran". In Hambardzumyan, Viktor (ed.). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia (in Armenian). Vol. 12. Yerevan. pp. 301–302.
{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Hakobyan, T. Kh.; Melik-Bakhshyan, St. T.; Barseghyan, H. Kh. (2001). "Pʻaytakaran". Hayastani ev harakitsʻ shrjanneri teghanunneri baṛaran [Dictionary of toponymy of Armenia and adjacent territories] (in Armenian). Vol. 5. Yerevan State University. pp. 229–230.
- ^ Yeremyan, Suren T. (1963). Hayastaně ěst «Ashkharhatsʻoytsʻ»-i [Armenia according to "Ashkharhatsoyts"] (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Publishing. p. 88.
- ^ Hiwbshman, H. (1907). Hin Hayotsʻ Teghwoy Anunnerě [Ancient Armenian Place Names] (in Armenian). Translated by Pilējikchean, H. B. Vienna: Mkhitʻarean Tparan. pp. 101–106.
- Strabo, Geography, 11.4. Persus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geography, 11.14. Persus Digital Library.
- Redgate, Anna Elizabeth. The Armenians (Peoples of Europe). Cornwall: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-631-22037-2.
- Hewsen. Armenia, p. 102.
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39°14′00″N 48°26′00″E / 39.2333°N 48.4333°E / 39.2333; 48.4333
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