Editing Arzanene

{{short description|Historical region in Armenia}}
[[File:Arshakuni Armenia 150-en.svg|300px|thumb|Map of the provinces of the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] in 150, including Arzanene (Aghdznik)]]
'''Arzanene''' ({{langx|el|Ἀρζανηνή}}) or '''Aghdznik''' ({{Langx|hy|Աղձնիք|Ałjnikʻ}}) was a historical region in the southwest of the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|ancient kingdom of Armenia]]. It was ruled by one of the four {{transliteration|xcl|[[Bidaxsh|bdeashkhs]]}} (''bidakhsh'', {{transliteration|la|vitaxa}}) of Armenia, the highest ranking nobles below the king who ruled over the kingdom's border regions.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}} Its probable capital was the fortress-city of [[Arzen]].{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}} The region briefly became home to the capital of Armenia during the reign of [[Tigranes the Great]], who built his namesake city [[Tigranocerta]] there.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} Arzanene was placed under the direct suzerainty of the [[Roman Empire]] after the [[Peace of Nisibis (299)|Peace of Nisibis]] in 298. It was briefly brought back under Armenian control c. 371 but was soon lost again following the [[Peace of Acilisene|partition of Armenia]] in 387.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}}

== Name ==
It is generally agreed the Greco-Roman name of Arzanene is derived from the city of [[Arzen|Arzan]] ({{transliteration|xcl|Arzn}} or {{transliteration|xcl|Aghzn}} in Armenian), which was probably the capital of the province. The name is identified with the ''Alzi'' or ''Alše'' mentioned in [[Neo-Assyrian]] and [[Urartu|Urartian]] inscriptions and is of non-Armenian origin.{{sfn|Marciak|2017|p=222}}{{Sfn|Hakobyan|Melikʿ-Baxšyan|Barsełyan|1998|p=180}} 

== Geography ==
Arzanene was located between the western [[Tigris]] and the eastern [[Taurus Mountains]], covering an area of approximately {{convert|15102|km2|sqmi|-3|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}}{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}}{{Efn|Yeremian gives the larger figure 17,532 sq. km. as the approximate area of the Aghdznik, as he includes the canton of [[Angeghtun]] within the province.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}}}} It was located to the east of the [[Batman River]] and to the west of the [[Botan River]] (both tributaries of the Tigris).{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}}{{Sfn|Hakobyan|Melikʿ-Baxšyan|Barsełyan|1998|p=180}}{{Sfn|Marciak|2017|p=38}} The region was naturally divided between the mountainous part closer to the Taurus in the north, which had an extremely cold climate, and the flat part to the south, which had a warm and dry climate.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}} Arzanene was famous for its rivers and springs, as well as its iron and lead mines. Cattle-breeding, grape cultivation and winemaking were well-developed in the province.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}} The province had about seven fortresses.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}} 

According the early medieval Armenian geography [[Ashkharhatsuyts|''Ashkharhats’oyts’'']], Arzanene was divided into ten cantons or ''gawars'' (their capitals or main fortresses, where known, are listed adjacent to the canton name):{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=159|loc=n. 45}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Np’rkert}}: {{transliteration|xcl|Np’rkert}} (later [[Silvan, Diyarbakır|Martyropolis]]){{Efn|According to Hewsen, the canton of {{transliteration|xcl|Np’rkert}} may have been included in Arzanene only after Byzantine administrative reorganization after 591; before this {{transliteration|xcl|Np’rkert}} was a part of {{transliteration|xcl|Mets Tsop’k’}}/Sophanene.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=161|loc=n. 45}}}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Aghdzn}}: {{transliteration|xcl|[[Arzen|Arzan]]}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Kēt’ik}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Tatik}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|K’agh}}: {{transliteration|xcl|K’ghimar}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Aznuadzor}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Erkhet’k’}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Gzeghkh}}: {{transliteration|xcl|Gzeghkh}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|Salnoy Dzor}}: {{transliteration|xcl|Salnodzor}}
* {{transliteration|xcl|[[Sasun (historical region)|Sanasunk’]]}} (Sasun): {{transliteration|xcl|Sanasun}}
One of the recensions of ''Ashkharhats’oyts’'' includes an eleventh district, {{transliteration|xcl|Saghu}}, which is likely an error.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}} Historian [[Suren Yeremian]] includes [[Angeghtun]] among the cantons of Aghdznik’, even though it is not listed as such in any of the manuscripts of ''Ashkharhats’oyts’'' ([[Cyril Toumanoff]] and [[Robert H. Hewsen|Robert Hewsen]] consider Angeghtun to have been a part of [[Sophene|Tsop’k’/Sophene]]).{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=161|loc=n. 47}}

As the domain of one of the four {{transliteration|xcl|[[Bidaxsh|bdeashkhs]]}} of Armenia, Arzanene can be divided into the core principality or "Arzanene proper" and the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeshkhut’iwn}} ([[viceroyalty]] or [[March (territory)|march]]) of Arzanene, which likely included all of the ten cantons of Arzanene listed above (according to Hewsen, probably excluding Np’rkert) and some further territories to the south.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=157|loc=n. 45}} [[Josef Markwart]] and Toumanoff include the adjacent provinces of [[Moxoene]] (Mokk’) and [[Corduene]] (or part of it) in the viceroyalty of Arzanene, although this is rejected by Hewsen.{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1961|p=31|loc=n. 140}}{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=159|loc=n. 45}} The viceroyalty of Arzanene is also called the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeshkhut’iwn}} of Aruastan in some Armenian sources (Persian: {{transliteration|pal|Arabistān}}, referring in this case to the area around [[Nusaybin|Nisibis]]), so it is referred to as the Arabian March by some historians.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=159|loc=n. 45}}

== History ==
In the first half of the first millennium BCE, Arzanene may have been the location of the state of Alzi or Alše mentioned in Assyrian and Urartian cuneiform inscriptions.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} It was conquered by the [[Urartu|Kingdom of Urartu]] (c. 9th–6th centuries BCE), then came under the control of the [[Medes]] and soon after passed to the [[Achaemenid Empire]]. Under Achaemenid rule, Arzanene was included in the [[Satrapy of Armenia]]. The Persian [[Royal Road]] passed through the province. After the conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by [[Alexander the Great]] in 330 BCE, Arzanene became a part of the Armenian kingdom ruled by the [[Orontid dynasty]]. The local princes of Arzanene claimed Assyrian royal origin, but in all likelihood they were originally a branch of the Orontid dynasty. During the reign of [[Tigranes the Great]], under whom Armenia reached its greatest territorial extent, Arzanene became the center of his short-lived empire as the location of the new capital of [[Tigranocerta]].{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} It was probably under Tigranes that the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeshkhut’iwn}} of Arzanene was established to defend Armenia from an invasion from Mesopotamia.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|pp=158, 161|loc=n. 45}} The office of the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeashkh}} of Arzanene continued to exist under the [[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia]] and after the region was lost by Armenia, until at least the mid-5th century.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}}

In 298 AD, the entire {{transliteration|xcl|bdeshkhut’iwn}} of Arzanene came under the suzerainty of the [[Roman Empire]] as a result of the [[Peace of Nisibis (299)|Peace of Nisibis]].{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} However, the 5th-century Armenian historian [[Faustus of Byzantium]] (Book 3, Chapter 8) still speaks of the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeashkh}} of Arzanene as a vassal of the king of Armenia in the 330s, which Toumanoff accepts as evidence that the Romans had effectively left Arzanene under Armenian suzerainty.{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1961|p=30}} In the 330s, {{transliteration|xcl|bdeashkh}} Bakur of Arzanene attempted to defect to the [[Sasanian Empire]], but was killed in battle and the province consequently remained under Roman (or Roman-Armenian) control.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}}{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1961|p=30}} The emperor [[Jovian (emperor)|Jovian]] was forced to give up suzerainty over Arzanene to the Persians according to the [[Perso-Roman Peace Treaty of 363|peace treaty]] signed in 363 after [[Julian's Persian expedition|Julian's failed Persian expedition]].{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1961|p=4}} Faustus of Byzantium (Book 5, Chapter 16) names Arzanene among the provinces reconquered for Armenia by [[Mushegh I Mamikonian|Mushegh Mamikonian]] c. 371, during the reign of King [[Pap of Armenia|Pap]].{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} After the [[Peace of Acilisene]] of 387, Arzanene was divided between Rome and the Sasanian Empire (with most of it going to the Persians), and until 591 the Roman-Sasanian border passed through the western part of the province.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} During the [[Battle of Avarayr|Armenian rebellion of 450–451]] against the Sasanian Empire, the Armenian rebels appealed to the {{transliteration|xcl|bdeashkh}} of Arzanene as a foreign ruler; this is the last time that any {{transliteration|xcl|bdeashkh}} of Arzanene is mentioned in the classical sources.{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1961|p=31}} By 591, all of Arzanene had been annexed by the [[Byzantine Empire]]. On the ruins of [[Tigranocerta]], the Romans built a new city named [[Silvan, Diyarbakır|Martyropolis]] or Np’rkert.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}} In c. 640, the Arab general [[Iyad ibn Ghanm]] invaded Arzanene from Syria.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=159|loc=n. 45}} Following the [[Muslim conquest of Armenia|Arab conquest of Armenia]], many [[Arabs|Arab]] tribes settled in Arzanene, especially in the lowlands.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}} The [[Armenians|Armenian]] population remained in the mountainous parts of the region until the [[Armenian genocide]] in 1915.{{sfn|Eremyan|1975}}

Arzanene was later a small Arab emirate under the [[Zurarid dynasty]] in the 9th century. In the 10th century the area fell under [[Hamdanid dynasty|Hamdanid]] control. Hamdum, an Arab chief, conquered Arzanene and [[Amid]] around 962. In 963 a sister of Hamdum, whose name is not given in the original sources, governed the region for ten years. After 1045 it fell successively under Byzantine, [[Great Seljuq Empire|Seljuk]], [[Mongol]] and [[Ottoman Turk]]ish control. For many years the Armenians of [[Sasun (historical region)|Sasun]] maintained a semi-independent status and fought the Ottoman authorities; well known battles are the [[Sasun Resistance (1894)]] and Sasun resistance in 1915.

== Population ==
The exact ethnic composition of Arzanene is not known. According to [[Nicholas Adontz]], its population was mixed "Armeno-Syrian."{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} [[Pliny the Elder]] refers to a people called the Azoni, which Robert Hewsen believes to be a misspelling of *Arzoni, apparently referring to the people of Arzanene as if forming a distinct ethnic group.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} In Hewsen's view, Armenians must have settled in Arzanene early on but "it is likely that the basic population had remained essentially [[Semitic languages|semitic-speaking]]."{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=158|loc=n. 45}} Under Arab rule Arzanene became heavily settled by [[Arabs|Arab]] and [[Kurds|Kurdish]] tribes, but a significant Armenian element (according to one source, an absolute majority of Armenians){{Sfn|Hakobyan|Melikʿ-Baxšyan|Barsełyan|1998|p=180}} remained there until the [[Armenian genocide]].{{Sfn|Hewsen|1992|p=159|loc=n. 45}}

==See also==
*[[List of regions of ancient Armenia]]
*[[Bidaxsh]]

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{cite thesis |last1=Comfort |first1=Anthony Martin | title=Roads on the frontier between Rome and Persia: Euphratesia, Osrhoene and Mesopotamia from AD 363 to 602 |publisher=University of Exeter |date=14 May 2009 |type=Ph.D. |hdl=10036/68213 }}
* {{Cite encyclopedia |last=Eremyan |author-link=Suren Yeremian |first=S. |year=1975 |title=Ałjnik῾ |encyclopedia=[[Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia|Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran]] |location=Erewan |url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/26/%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_%28Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia%29_1.djvu/page258-2000px-%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_%28Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia%29_1.djvu.jpg |volume=1 |page=258}}
* {{EI2| last = Frye | first = R. N. | authorlink = R. N. Frye | title= Arzan | volume=1 | pages=679–680 | url = https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_0749}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hakobyan |first=Tʿ. X. |title=Hayastani ew harakicʿ šrǰanneri tełanunneri baṙaran |last2=Melikʿ-Baxšyan |first2=S. T. |last3=Barsełyan |first3=H. X. |publisher=[[Yerevan State University|Erewani Hamalsarani Hratarakčʿutʿyun]] |year=1998 |volume=1 |pages=180–181 |language=hy |trans-title=Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories |chapter=Ałjnik῾ |chapter-url=http://nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&query=%D5%A1%D5%B2%D5%B1%D5%B6%D5%AB%D6%84}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hewsen |first=Robert H. |url=https://archive.org/details/TheGeographyOfAnaniasOfSirak |title=The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions |publisher=Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag |year=1992 |isbn=3-88226-485-3 |location=Wiesbaden |author-link=Robert H. Hewsen}}
* {{cite book|last=Marciak|first=Michał|authorlink=Michał Marciak|title=Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West|date=2017|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-35072-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwEtDwAAQBAJ}}
* {{cite journal |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |author-link=Cyril Toumanoff |year=1961|title=Introduction to Christian Caucasian History: II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period |journal=Traditio |publisher= Cambridge University Press |volume=17|pages=1–106 |doi= 10.1017/S0362152900008473|jstor=27830424|s2cid=151524770 }} {{Registration required}}

{{Historical regions of Armenia}}

{{coord|38.0000|N|41.6833|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}

[[Category:Provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)]]
[[Category:History of Batman Province]]