Aramus

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Coordinates: 40 ° 14 ′ 54 ″  N , 44 ° 39 ′ 11 ″  E

Map: Armenia
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Aramus​
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Armenia

Aramus (formerly Aramonk) is a village in the Armenian province of Kotayk , about 20 kilometers northeast of Yerevan . South of the village is the Iron Age fortification of the same name, Aramus, which is one of the largest and best preserved sites in Armenia and a key site for research into the Bronze and Iron Ages in this region. Particularly noteworthy are the studies on the Iron Age, which showed that the facility and the associated settlement area were continuously used from 10th to 4th centuries. Century BC Prove. The juxtaposition of local (so-called Etiuni) and Urartian cultural features can be seen in the material legacies during the Middle Iron Age.

location

Aramus is located at an altitude of 1,496 meters south of the city of Abovjan near the road between Yerevan and the north bank of Lake Sevan , five kilometers northeast of Elar on a foothill of the Gegam Mountains.

Surname

The name is derived from the legendary King Aram and his shoulder, which was injured in a battle. The Armenian Arami us literally means "Aram's shoulder". According to another tradition, Aramonk was the place where Queen Shamiram ( Semiramis ) found the body of Aras the Beautiful .

Settlement hill

The settlement mound consists of a natural, elongated basal ridge running from east to west, about 50 meters high and almost 900 meters long, which is divided into two areas by a saddle in the middle . The fortress walls visible on the surface enclose the eastern rock ridge and the north and south slopes in front of it. The slope area between the so-called Acropolis and the so-called urban area on the north and south terraces is also characterized by a terraced wall, which is an expression of intense settlement activity.

Smith and Kafadarian assume that the Urartian fortress, similar to Zovinar and Horom (Dovri), was built in a so-called "border style" that incorporates elements of the local Iron Age building practice.

The Armenian Catholicos David I. Aramonetsi (728-741) moved his official residence after the Arab conquest of Armenia in 728 from Dvin to Aramus. In addition to a monastery, a palace was also built here. Today only the Tsiranavor Church from the 6th century remains. It may have been built by the Catholicos Hovhan . There are also khachkars from the 13th-14th centuries in the village . Century.

Research history

The fortress of Aramus was first published by Vanzandian in 1979. In 1988, investigations on the western part of the "Acropolis" by Hayk Avetissian followed . Since 2004, excavations have been taking place annually under the direction of Hayk Avetissian from the Department of History at the State University of Yerevan and Sandra Heinsch and Walter Kuntner from the Institute for Ancient History and Ancient Oriental Studies , Department of Near Eastern Archeology at the University of Innsbruck . The focus of the investigations in the years 2004–2008 was on the east castle of the complex, while in 2009 and 2010 the north, south and west castle were examined.

literature

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adam T. Smith, Koriun Kafadarian: New Plans of Early Iron Age and Urartian Fortresses in Armenia. A Preliminary Report on the Ancient Landscapes Project .: In: Iran 34, 1996, p. 36
  2. ^ A b Brady Kiesling, Rediscovering Armenia. An Archaeological / Touristic Gazetteer and Map Set for the Historical Monuments of Armenia. June 2000, Yerevan / Washington DC, 58
  3. ^ Adam T. Smith / Koriun Kafadarian, New Plans of Early Iron Age and Urartian Fortresses in Armenia: A Preliminary Report on the Ancient Landscapes Project. Iran 34, 1996, 36
  4. ↑ G. Areshian, KI Kafadarian, A Simonian, G. Tiratsian, A. Kalantarian. Archeologičeskije Issledovanija v Ashtarakskom i Nairiskom Raionach Armjanskoi SSR. Vestnik Obščesvennikcha uk, 4, 1977, 77-93
  5. ↑ http://www.uibk.ac.at/ipoint/news/uni_und_forschung/20041029.html
  6. ↑ Brady Kiesling, Rediscovering Armenia. An Archaeological / Touristic Gazetteer and Map Set for the Historical Monuments of Armenia. June 2000, Yerevan / Washington DC, 59