The city built
by King Tigran the Great
is unearthed
by Tatul Hakobyan
5th-6th century
basilica and the
oldest known
Armenian writing
in the territory
of Artsakh are
discovered
TIGRANAGERT, Mountainous
Karabakh: When it was
announced in 2005 that one of
the Tigranakerts built by King
Tigran the Great (9495 b.c.e.)
was discovered in Tigranakert,
Artsakh, the reaction from Armenia
was one of mockery,
while the Azerbaijani side condemned
the initiative of Armenian
archaeologists as political
propaganda.
Independent of the evaluations
being made, the city of
Tigranakert, built during the
Hellenistic period of 70 b.c.e. is
being excavated and unearthed
and that is a fact. History professor
Hamlet Petrossian,
who is heading up the team
of scientists at the excavation
site in Tigranakert, studied
the manuscripts of Armenian
historians before beginning
the excavation.
Armenian historian
Sebos, and later Movses
Kaghankadvatsi left writings
in the 7th century, which state
that through the decree of King
Tigran, the city of Tigranakert
was built in Arstakh.
A member of the excavation
team in Tigranakert, Vartkes
Safaryan, a professor at the
university in Artsakh says that
studies were conducted over
a 10 km territory because the
written sources were not precise
about the exact location of
Tigranakert in Artsakh.
We can say that we have discovered
one of the Tigranakert
cities built during the days of
King Tigran the Great. All Hellenistic
kings built cities and
named them after themselves.
We have historical facts that
in the eastern regions of Armenia,
there have been two
Tigranakerts, one in Utik and
the other in Artsakh, said Safaryan.
It is believed that Tigranakert
and the important Armenian
settlement around its territory
survived until the 15th century.
Until the half of the 18th century,
no written information was
saved about the Tigranakert in
Artsakh. Around that time, a
fort was built near the springs
of Shahbulagh (translation
from Turkish means springs
of the king) by the fierce enemy
of the Meliks, Panah Khan.
Armenians called the territory
around the springs of Shahbulagh
as Tngrnakert (a distorted
version of Tigranakert), which
makes the assumption that it
was here that Tigranakert was
located. A researcher in the
ruins of Artsakh, Makar Barghudarians,
writes, that the
lower valley of Khachenaket
was called the province of Tigranakert.
It was possible not to trust
the information found in historical
sources if Tigranakert
itself had not been brought out
from under the earth.
This is the fifth season that
we have been carrying out
our work. The two base walls
of the Hellenistic city, the fortress
walls have already been
exposed. They are for the most
part stable; the tower has also
been excavated. The city was
composed of several sections
this was the citadel. This city
was founded around 70 b.c.e.
and continued to exist until the
15th century. It is for this reason
that we not only have Hellenistic
monuments, but also
Christian ones, said Safaryan.
A few hundred meters above
Tigranakert, at the summit
of the mountain, a 6th7th
century church, Vankasar, is
still standing. During Soviet
rule, this church, along with
other Armenian churches in
the Kur-Araks region, were
said to be Albanian; the walls
of the churches were desecrated
and all Armenian writings
were removed. On the eastern
section of Vankasar, an early
Christian Church carved into
the mountain is preserved.
Seven kilometers north of
Vankasar another Armenian
Church from the early middle
ages has also been preserved
in the territory of Gyavurgha
La (which means the Unbelievers
Fort)
Th white city:
The excavation is unearthing the
remains of a powerful city and
details of a rich cultural life that
once thrived here. The physical
structures and the artifacts being
excavated attest to the fact
that Tigranakerts city plan was
progressive, utilized construction
technology that allowed for
a wide-open settlement. The city
was built using a porous, white
local stone and stone waterways
were constructed in the rocky
terrain. Tigranakert had been a
white city.
The excavations are also revealing
a rich and beautiful city.
The most exciting discovery
was the revelation of a round
tower, 9 meters in diameter,
whose walls are made of polished
stone and constructed
in the doves tail (tsitsernagapoch)
style. Five stories of
the tower have been preserved.
The height of the tower soars to
60 meters.
The excavations in Tigranagerd,
which began in 2007, is
being financed by the government
of Nagorno-Karabakh.
This year, the government of
nkr, created within its tourism
agency the Tigranakert Reserve
state organization through
which it hopes to secure future
financing. A sum of 30 million
amd has been earmarked
for this years excavations and
work took place from June 16
to August 25.
Historian and archaeologist
Lernik Hovhanessian is the
director of the Tigranakert Reserve.
He said that the fundamental
issue is the study of the
ruins, the protection of the site
and the carrying out of further
excavation and scientific study.
The reserve will be built on
a territory of 4,000 hectares.
The fort will be renovated,
where a museum will also be
built. Tigranakert has political
significance as well because
of the discovery of the
5th6thcentury basilica. It is
quite large and similar to other
Armenian churches built in
the Armenian plateau in the
early Christian era. It was here
in 2008 where we discovered
the oldest written document
in Artsakh. All of this shows
that this region was one of
the early Christian cultural
centers and this is very important.
Because this shows
that the inhabitants in this
region were Armenians, that
the owners of the homeland
are the Armenian people and
centuries later, the Armenian
people have rediscovered a
part of their homeland, Hovhanessian
said.
Tatiana Vartanian is overseeing
the excavation of the basilica.
She said that this is the
third year that they have been
working on bringing the basilica
up from the soil.
The excavation team led by
Hamlet Petrossian presumes
that in this area, under the soil,
there must be some monument
or some sort of building, because
this area is slightly higher
than the surrounding fields.
When we started the excavation,
the church appeared before
us, she said.
The church that appeared
before them was 21 meters in
length. During the 2008 excavations,
they found a small
ceramic disc (diameter of 7.5
7.8 cm, width of 0.51.0 cm).
On one side of the disc was
a cross and on the other side
was the image of a man with
a beard and leather hat. The
Armenian inscription on the
disc reads, I, Vatche, am the
servant of God.
If in the previous years,
many were skeptical about
the excavation in Tigranakert,
mockingly stating that the
Armenians were trying to
consider Aghdam and its surrounding
regions as part of
their homeland, today the
facts speak for themselves.
Today tourists and history
buffs are visiting Tigranakert
in growing numbers.
Hamlet Petrossian, the leader
of the excavation team has organized
lectures and exhibitions
for Diasporan communities and
all those interested in archaeology
in Los Angeles, Geneva,
Cairo, and Alexandria about the
secrets of Tigranakert.
http://www.reporter.am/pdfs/AW092609.pdf
[4 color photos with the article]