Ml 



ARMENIA. 



ARMENIA. 



522 



dereh descends on the eastern side. At the vale-head rises a small 

 stream which, augmented by innumerable rills that trickle down the 

 rocks, forms a brook increasing in volume at every step : this is the 

 source of the Murad or Eastern Euphrates, which flows north-east in a 

 narrow vale with a grassy bottom to Diyadin, where it turns north-west 

 for about 40 miles,and then sweeps round to the south-west, through 

 the plateau east of the plain of Mush. Diyadiu is a large village, with 

 a mixed population of Kurds and Armenians, situated on the caravan 

 route between Erz-rum and Persia. It was formerly a trading station 

 of the Genoese, by whom the partly dilapidated castle on the edge of 

 the ravine of the Murad waa built. 



The mountainous region of which the Ala-Dagh is the highest 

 point terminates near Bayazid, about 25 miles east from Diyadin, in a 

 wide plain, which separates it from the foot of Aghri-Dagh, by which 

 name Mount Ararat is known in the neighbourhood. This region 

 forms part of the watershed ' between the Murad and the Araxes; in 

 summer the ground is parched and dusty, and high winds blow very 

 frequently. The city of Bayazid, the seat of a hereditary pasha, ia 

 built in 39 31' 40" N. lat., in a recess of a craggy mountain facing 

 Mount Ararat, which is about 10 miles distant on the north side of 

 the pi. in. The pasha's palace, a handsome stone building on a rocky 

 peak, commands the town, but is itself commanded by higher peaks, 

 from which the Russian guns were pointed in the last war, when after 

 a ft. shots the place surrendered. In a ravine opposite the palace is 

 the former residence of the pasha, which is half excavated out of the 

 rock, and now serves for an arsenal ; and on the summit above this 

 are the remains of a more ancient castle, probably one of the Genoese 

 trading stations. Bayazid is in a declining state, and has little or no 

 commercial activity, owing to the Russian quarantine, which prevents 

 active intercourse with Erivan, and to the emigration of the Armenian 

 population with the Russian army in 1830. The Mussulman popula- 

 tion of the town are rude and uncouth in the extreme, just like the 

 Kurds, with whom they are in constant contact. Before 1830 the 

 number of inhabitants wag estimated at 15,000 ; since then the 

 population is said to have dwindled down to about 5000, but we have 

 no means of stating the amount accurately. 



Plain of A rithkerd. The Murad in its western course below Diyadin 

 runs in the intersection of two inclined planes, one sloping north- 

 ward from the Ala-Dagh, the other southward from the edge of the 

 basin of the Araxes, between Ararat and the Koseh-Dagh. Through 

 this region the Murad runs generally in a deep narrow valley with 

 luxuriant grass ; the width in summer is not more than 30 paces, and 

 depth inconsiderable ; but in spring the river swells so as not to be 

 fordable at any point. The plain of ArUhkerd extends westward 

 from Diyadin to the Sheryan-Dagh, a low range which seems con- 

 nected on the north with the Koseh-Dagh. Its length is at least 

 40 miles ; its breadth varies from 6 to 16 miles from north to south. 

 The soil is rich and well watered. There are not more than thirty 

 villages in the plain, only three of which have Armenian inhabitants. 

 The rest of the population is composed chiefly of Kurds ; but there 

 are also some Terekemeh (Turkomans), a people like the gypsies, of 

 unsettled habits and doubtful honesty. A large part of this fine plain 

 i comparatively deserted, and much of it lies untilled for want of 

 hands. Before the Russian invasion of 1829 there was a great 

 number of Armenians living in villages scattered over it, but nearly 

 the whole of them emigrated with the retiring army to Georgia. In 

 the plain of Arishkerd at about 15 miles west from Diyadin, and 

 within a hundred paces of the right bank of the Murad, in 39 38' 23" 

 N. lat. stands the monastery of Uch-Kilisa, a massive stone building, 

 consisting of a church, out-buildings, and court-yard, all surrounded 

 by a very lofty wall. The plan resembles that of the monastery of 

 Changeri before noticed, but the structure is larger and handsomer ; 

 it has however Buffered much from time, and some years ago from 

 earthquake. This monastery is said to have been built about 

 A.D. 306, by the same architect as those of Changeri and Ech-Miadzin. 

 [EcH-MiADZis.] It is now a dependency on the patriarchal church 

 of Ech-Miadzin, which is the residence of the Katholikos, or primate 

 of the Armenian Church, and is situated a little west of Erivan, in the 

 Russian part of Armenia. The plain of Arishkerd is traversed by the 

 caravan route from Trebizond and Erz-rum to Persia. It yields, where 

 cultivated, good crops of corn, but the principal wealth of the inhabi- 

 tants seemn to consist in their flocks and herds, buffaloes, cows, oxen, 

 mares, and sheep. The principal place in the plain is Toprak-Kaleh, 

 situated under the mountains on the north-western edge of the plain. 

 It i the residence of a Bey, and has about 400 houses, half of which 

 are inhabited by Armenians. Kara-Kilisa in the central, and Molla- 

 Suleiman in the western part of the plain, arc inhabited exclusively by 

 Armenians. 



About 35 miles west from Diyadin the Murad turns to the south- 

 west through a break in the low hills that thus far line its left bank, 

 receiving at this point the Sheryan-Su, which flows along the base of 

 the Sheryan-Dagh, on the western side of the plain. From the 

 Sheryan-Dagh a wide plain is said to extend southward for about 

 58 miles to Malazgerd, on the Murad ; thence westward to the Kara- 

 Kaya Mountains and the junction of th.; Kalcsi-Su with the Murad. 

 The country is said to be generally level, so that from Diyadiu to 

 Kinig-Kaleai, on the !' , 'inuouB plain 



- Of this part of the country little is known. 



The Koseh-Dayh. A lofty range, of which the Koseh-Dagh is 

 the culminating point, separates the plain of Arishkerd from the 

 undulating plaiu of Pasin, previously noticed in this article. The 

 Koseh-Dagh is a bare cone, the summit of which is about 9000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. It is entirely free from snow in 

 summer ; and in the neighbourhood of the range of which it forms 

 part it does not seem of great elevation : and this is to be borne in 

 mind with regard to all the mountains on the table-laud of Armenia, 

 that they are seen from a level varying in elevation between 5000 and 

 7000 feet above the sea ; and that though they are really of great 

 elevation they have little of the imposing grandeur of the Pyrenees 

 from the banks of the Adour, or of the Alps from the valleys of 

 Piedmont. The range of the Koseh-Dagh is crossed by two passes, 

 one of which, through the village of Dahar, is open throughout the 

 year and is that frequented most commonly by caravans and 

 travellers ; the other, winding under the peak, is impassable for 

 caravans and in winter is blocked up with snow. This latter pass is 

 the shorter, but it is now almost entirely abandoned, owing to the 

 robberies of the Kurds, who used to lie concealed in the ravines that 

 open into it on the watch for an opportunity to plunder. The Koseh- 

 Dagh range is furrowed by numerous well-watered valleys, with fine 

 pastures and some underwood. Its continuation westward seems to 

 meet the low range that runs along the right bank of Biugol-Su 

 from the Kara-Kaya Mountains, the whole forming part of the edge 

 of the basin of the Araxes, and connecting the Koseh-Dagh with the 

 Bingol-Dagh. 



Geological Structure. The soil of Armenia, as we have seen, exhibits 

 in many places clear evidence of volcanic agency, and it has been 

 conjectured that the greater part of it was at some remote period 

 covered with water forming a vast inland sea, of which the Caspian and 

 lakes Van and Urumiyeh are the remnants. First, the oolitic series to 

 which the principal mountains belong was upheaved, and subsequently 

 a deposit of schistose and arenaceous sandstone took place. Then 

 came great volcanic eruptions : here thrown into vast conical moun- 

 tains containing craters there filling up valleys and in other 

 instances forming circular basins, some of which exist as lakes, while 

 others have been since filled up with tertiary deposits. The Sevan 

 Lake, the Lychnitis of Ptolemasus, situated to the north-east of Erivan, 

 in Russian Armenia, is surrounded by trap and porphyry formations. 

 It is 40 miles long, and about 20 miles wide, and from it flows the 

 Zenghi, a feeder of the Araxes. The abundant deposits of rock-salt 

 in the central table-land are a further proof that a salt sea once 

 covered this region. 



Antiquities. The name of the ancient capital of Armenia was Artax- 

 ata, the building of which was superintended by Hannibal, who had taken 

 refuge with Artaxias, king of Armenia. A mass of ruins found near 

 where the Zenghi falls into the Araxes has been supposed to mark the 

 situation of Artaxata; but Colonel Monteith fixes the site farther 

 down the Araxes, in a bend of the river, at the bottom of which he 

 saw the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture. Buana, 

 with the capture of which the second campaign of Heraclius termi- 

 nated, is supposed to be represented by Van, the antiquity and 

 cuneiform inscriptions of wJiich have been alluded to above. The site 

 of Tigranocerta, which according to Tacitus ('Ann.' xv. 5) was 

 situated at a distance of 37 milliaria N.E. of Nisibu, seems to bo 

 unknown. Armenian writers call the town Dikranagerd, and make 

 it identical with the modern town of Kara- Amid or Diyar-Eekr ; but 

 Diyar-Bekr it is now agreed stands on the site of Amida. Magnificent 

 ruins still exist of the celebrated ancient town of Ani. [ANNI.] Dara, 

 the ruined city before mentioned to the south-west of Mardin, gave 

 name to a province which was the eocred region of the heathen 

 Armenians, and was crowded with their national temples. Here a 

 stern resistance was made to the introduction of Christianity, and it 

 was only by the sword that churches could be established in the 

 district. 



History. The Armenians call the progenitor of their nation and 

 the first ruler of their country Haig or Haik, whose father they believe 

 to have been Torgoma, the Thogarma of Scripture (Genesis x. 3), the 

 son of Gomer and grandson of Japhet. Haig had originally lived in 

 the country of Shinaar ; but he retired from the oppression of the 

 Assyrian king Belus, and established himself in the hills of the neigh- 

 bouring Armenia. Belus pursued the emigrant with an armed force 

 into his new abode, but was defeated by Hai'g and fell in battle. This 

 is said to have happened 22 centuries before the Christian era. 

 ('Avdall,' i. C.) 



About 300 years later, Aram the sixth successor of Haig ruled over * 

 Armenia. He signalised his reign by the conquest of part of Media, 

 Assyria, and Capp'adocia. The conquest of Aram first made known 

 the people over whom he ruled, and neighbouring nations called them 

 Aramides, and subsequently Armenians, from the name of their king. 



His sou and successor Ara fell in a war with the Assyrian queen, 

 Semiramis. Armenia then became dependent on the Assyrian throne, 

 though it was still governed by native princes. King Scavordi, about 

 the middle of the 8th century B.C., threw off this allegiance. 

 His son Paroir or Baroir joined Arbaces and Belesis, the governors 

 of Media and of Babylonia, in their revolt against Sardimapalus 

 After this the kings of Armenia were again independent sovereigns. 



In the reign' of Haikak, the contemporary of Nebuchadnezzar, and 



