- Paytakaran
Paytakaran ( _hy. Փայտակարան) was the easternmost province of the former
Kingdom of Armenia (also known as "Greater Armenia", which existed over 1500 years ago).Strabo , "Geography", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Strab.+11.14.12 11.14] . Persus Digital Library.]Anania Shirakatsi . "Geography".] hy icon Harutyunyan, Babken. "«Փայտակարան»" (Paytakaran).Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia . vol. xii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR:Armenian Academy of Sciences , 1986, pp. 301-302.] The province was located in the area of the lower courses of the rivers ofKura andAraks , adjacent to theCaspian sea . Today, the area is located in the territory of modern day southeasternAzerbaijan and northeasternIran .Province of Greater Armenia
The Armenians acquired the region in the second century A.D. [Hewsen, Robert H. "Armenia: A Historical Atlas". Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2000. ISBN 0-2263-3228-4, p. 102] According to
Anania Shirakatsi 's "Ashkharatsuyts" ("World Atlas," 7th c. AD), Paytakaran was the 11th among the 15 provinces of theKingdom of Armenia . It was located to the east ofUtik on Araxes and was divided into 12 cantons ("gavars"), which were at the time in possession ofAtropatene : Hrakot Perozh, Vardanakert, Yotnporakyan Bagink, Krekyan, Vovtibagha, Kaghanost, Buros, Pitchanhani, Ateshi-Bagavan, Spandaran-perozh, Vormizd-perozh, and Alevan.History
Prior to becoming Paytakaran, the region was known as
Caspiane by Greco-Roman authors. Caspiane was contested between the regional powers. According toStrabo : "To the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea; but the tribe has now disappeared." Strabo also mentions Caspiane among the lands conquered by king Artashes I fromMedes in the 2nd century B.C. However, Armenia later lost it to Albania about 59 BC, whenPompey rearranged the political geography of the region, [Redgate, Anna Elizabeth. "The Armenians" (Peoples of Europe). Cornwall: Blackwell Publishers, 1998, ISBN 0-6312-2037-2.] but the region was again conquered by the Armenians. In the 360s A.D., a fierce rebellion engulfed Paytakaran but it was later put down bysparapet Mushegh Mamikonian. After the partition of Armenia in 387, it remained a part of eastern Armenia until 428 (following the dissolution of the Armenian Arshakuni kingdom) and was added to Atropatena. The region was non-Armenian by ethnic composition. [Hewsen. "Armenia", p. 102.] The population apparently consisted of Iranian speakers, such as the tribe of Parrasians.Notes
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