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Index

Armenia

The Urartu Civilisation

Victory for Independence

Artashisian Dynasty on the Armenian Throne

Armenia caught between Rome and the Arsacids

The Acceptance of Christianity

Defending Christianity

Armenia Under the Bagratouni Dynasty

Cilicia - the New Armenia

Armenia Under Turanian Rule

The Renaissance or the Resurrection of Armenia

The Eastern Question

Russia in the Caucasus

The Armenian Question

Battle on Two Fronts

Tsarist Russia Against the Armenians

The Revolution of the Young Turks and the Armenian People on the Eve of World War I

The First World War

The Resurrection of Armenia

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

- Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918

Eastern Armenia

Western Armenia

"The Fateful Years" (1914-1917)

"Hopes and Emotions" (March-October, 1917)

The Bolshevik Revolution and Armenia

Transcaucasia Adrift (November, 1917

Dilemmas (March-April, 1918)

War and Independence (April-May, 1918)

The Republics of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

The Suppliants (June-October, 1918)

In conclusion

Soviet Armenia

The Second Independent Republic of Armenia

Epilogue

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King of Kings

At this time Tigran was truly a king of kings. He ruled over one of the biggest empires that has ever existed in the Middle East. According to the German historian Mommsen, Tigran II had now conquered the whole of western Asia, an accomplishment that only the Arsacid dynasty in Persia and the Seleucids in Syria succeeded in bettering.

The empire of Tigran included, beside Armenia, areas that today correspond to presentday Armenia, eastern Turkey, Azerbaijan, north-western Iran, Cilicia, Syria, the northern part of Mesopotamia and almost the entire Caucasus.

The resources of the country were enormous during this period. Through the conquest of Syria, Tigran gained access to its vast treasuries. Mesopotamia was a fertile area but the quality of the agricultural soil in Armenia was not far off that of Mesopotamia and its resources, such as horse-breeding and many rich mines, were among its great assets. The Armenian highland was rich in minerals such as iron, copper and even gold. Strabon mentioned among others the mines in Kaballa (present Shabin Gharahisar).

The conquest of northern Mesopotamia meant another source of income, namely access to good water resources. In this, virtually dry land, rivers and streams ran along the passes which the caravans had to go through. By controlling the passes Tigran gained a rich income in the form of taxes.

Tigran also built a capital that was named Tigranakert. Later he moved people from Cappadocia, Cilicia and Syria to this city.

The New Capital

The expansion southward made Tigran realise that the existing capital of Artaxata, by the Araxes River, was too far away from his southern borders and therefore he decided to build a new capital to be named Tigranakert after him.

For a long time the site of this beautiful and majestic city, which no longer exists, was unknown. The only fact the scientists knew was that the city lay in southern Armenia. Thanks to Lehmann-Haupt today we know that the city lay near the present village of Mayafarkin, on the shores of the river Farkin-su, not far away from the river Batman-su. 22 Even the oriental expert Moltke supports this theory.

Besides being a strategic military site, M. Charlesworth pointed out that Tigran realised the new capital should be at the centre of the vital trade routes between Europe and Asia, which would make Tigranakert a most important trade centre. 24

The city was built as an impregnable fortress, with countless numbers of palaces and the royal palace was "surrounded by gardens and hunting grounds and lakes for fish breeding". 25

Tigran more or less, forced people to move to Tigranakert and populated the city in the same way that Peter the Great did in St Petersburg. They came from all over the kingdom, but the most important part of the population, even if they were the minority, were Greek. 26