316 
ARTAXATA. 
they were still distant about two miles, we took a rapid survey of the 
reputed remains of Artaxata, now called Ardasht, at one end of 
which is a high mound, called by the natives Takht Tiridat, or the 
throne of Tiridates. These remains resemble those of Rey, consisting 
of mounds of decayed mud-walls, and here and there small fragments 
of painted tiles and pottery. It requires a lively imagination to form 
from the present remains conceptions of any thing grand and magnifi¬ 
cent ; and except the antiquity of the appellation, the extent of the 
ruins, and a certain regularity in the general plan, there is little to 
distinguish them from the dilapidated cities of modern ages. A village 
called Ardeshir is situated close to the principal ruin and many more 
are spread about within the extent designed by the walls. It is not 
necessary after this to say that we did not find the thirty-six columns 
of black marble which Chardin was told existed there. 
The site of these ruins does not agree with Strabo’s account of the 
position of Artaxata.* He says that this city built by Hannibal for 
Artaxias, King of Armenia, and afterwards attacked by Lucullus f, 
was situated upon a peninsula formed by the Araxes, the walls of the 
town being washed by the stream, or the stream flowing around it, and 
serving it for a wall, for the passage is obscure and apparently defec¬ 
tive. These ruins are distant about 10 miles from the Araxes, and al¬ 
though the courses of rivers are known to change, yet such is the na¬ 
ture of the country here, that it is not likely that the Araxes ever de¬ 
viated much from its present course. A more probable position for 
the ancient Artaxata is found in a remarkable bend of the river, form¬ 
ing a peninsula, the neck of which is only 60 yards broad, situated 
about midway between the junction of the Arpachai riverlj: and the 
Araxes, and the fort of Abbas abad. Here, according to Captain Mon- 
* 'H Se ’ Trgoj xu ’AgxfieJijV'j) ttsSjw, o-uvwxjcTjU.sj'ij naXwc, xoi'i /Sax/Aeiov ovcra x^j 
y.iilcii Ittj uyKoovos to rfiyog xuxKm ‘7rgoSe§\r}fisvov xov To'lafjt.ov rS !<r^fx,S' xov 
WBfJLOv 8e rai^gco x«i ^agaxi xsxXsio'/xsvov. — Lib. xi. p. 529. 
f Plutarch, Vit. Luculli. 
X This Arpachai must not be confounded with the river of that name, the ancient 
Ilarpasus, that falls into the Araxes near Hajee Bairamlu. 
