Related papers
A. Harutyunyan, “The Mentions of the Place Name Yerevan in Armenian Medieval Epigraphs”, “Historical and Cultural Heritage of Yerevan”, edited by Kh. Harutyunyan, Yerevan, 2023, pp. 56-65 (in English).Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, is one of the ancient settlements of the Armenian Highlands, which archaeological data have confirmed for a long time. The archaeological surveys on the left and right banks of the Hrazdan River, in the gorge, that occurred in the last century revealed many cave dwellings, where traces of human activity were documented. In different parts of the city, many structures of the old Stone Age have been preserved and have reached us, among which the "Yerevan 1" cave should be mentioned as an example. The city is particularly rich in monuments of the Early, Middle and Late Bronze Age, some of which are still being excavated by international archaeological expeditions. Among those special monuments, Shengavit, Karmir Blur, Tsitsernakaberd, and others should be mentioned. It should be emphasized that although individual elements of urban life in Yerevan can be observed as early as the Bronze Age, in particular, in the Shengavit, and Karmir Blur ancient sites, the birth certificate of the city is Erebuni Fortress, founded by the Urartian king Argishti I (786-764 BC) in 782 BC. The Fortress, one of the most unique and beautiful buildings of the Urartian Empire, stands out in the creation of the future Yerevan's urban image. Fortunately, a stone with its cuneiform inscription about the foundation of the fortress was preserved and reached us. In the ancient period and throughout the Middle Ages, Yerevan was a wellwatered settlement that had irrigated gardens and skillfully built canals, some of which are still functioning today despite being more than 2,800 years old. There are mentions of gardens and winepresses in Yerevan, which operated until the late Middle Ages, and even until the beginning of the 20th century. The medieval period of the city is also rich. We know hundreds of monuments (bridges, churches, houses, khachkars, etc.) and many epigraphs preserved on them with mentions of the toponym Yerevan. From at least the 13th century to the beginning of the 20th century, many manuscripts were copied and kept in various churches, monasteries, and other scriptoria of the city, about a hundred of which have survived and reached us. Among Yerevan's late medieval monuments, there are also a small number of elements of Iranian culture, namely mosques and secular buildings, which are the result of Persian rule in the city for about three hundred years. Not only the Armenian written sources but also the foreign travelers who visited Yerevan sometimes mentioned the Persian mosques of the city along with the Armenian monuments in their notes. Unfortunately, some of these monuments, which are an important part of Yerevan's cultural heritage, were destroyed or turned into other structures during the Soviet years, along with Armenian churches and other religious buildings. The pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods of Yerevan, the architectural structures, the formation of a new urban culture, and the new planning of the city, by which Yerevan takes the new path of modern city development, are also interesting. The present collection is a small selection of the historical and cultural heritage of Yerevan, with which an attempt was made to make the history and heritage of the more than 2,800-year-old city accessible to a wider range of readers.
Arsen Jomardyan
