Chapter XXII: Statistical and Political (4)

[363] For the inscriptions see Brosset (Voyage Arch. loc. cit. p. 91, and Ruines d'Ani, pp. 36 seq.). Aplgharib was brother to Vahram. I could find no trace of the curious figure found upon one of the windows which Brosset refers to (pp. 38 seq.). On the other hand, I was able to identify the two inscriptions last mentioned.

[364] Kirakos ap. Dulaurier, Recherches sur la Chron. Arm. p. 280.

[365] Asoghik ap. Brosset, Ruines d'Ani, p. 106.

[366] Abich confuses the sites of these two monuments in his Reisebriefe (op. cit.).

[367] Such is the translation of this inscription given by the editor of Aristakes of Lastivert. Brosset appears to have made a palpable error (Ruines d'Ani, p. 21, inscription of Christaphor).

[368] Probably the inscription of this same Aplgharib given by Brosset (Ruines d'Ani, p. 28) belongs to this chapel. It runs thus:--"Under the pontificate of Ter Petros and the reign of Sembat son of Gagik Shahanshah in the year 485 (A.D. 1036) I, the Marzpan Aplgharib, son of the prince Grigor, grandson of Apughamir and brother of Vahram and Vasak, constructed at great expense this Surb-Phrkich in the metropolis of Ani." This inscription would establish as a fact that the chapel itself was dedicated to the Redeemer.

[369] A perfect labyrinth of confusion has been brought into existence by the attribution of the east front of the portal of the church of the Apostles to this castle or palace (see plate xix. of Brosset's Atlas). Happily I am able to correct the error. It has been instrumental in leading Brosset to assign all the inscriptions found in that church to this castle. The name "palace of the Pahlavids" is purely imaginary.

[370] Brosset, Ruines d'Ani, p. 51, and plate xxxvi. No. 3 of the Atlas. It has been wrongly attributed to the castle.

[371] Abich describes this chapel as "a magnificent church in the form of a Greek cross with a central rotunda and four large semicircular niches at the sides" (op. cit. vol. i. p. 190).

[372] See Brosset (Voyage Arch. livr. 1, rapp. 3, pp. 86, 100, 101, 106, 109; and Ruines d'Ani, pp. 48-52).

[373] This is the chapel which Abich names "Kirche der Maria Verkündigung" (op. cit. vol. i. p. 193).

[374] Abich, op. cit. vol. i. p. 199.

[375] See the Georgian annalist translated by Brosset (Hist. de la Géorgie).

[376] I should be sorry to have to swear to this statement.

[377] Voyage Arch. livr. 1, rapp. 3, pp. 96, 107, 109-10.

[378] Telfer, Crimea and Transcaucasia, vol. i. p. 216. The chamber at Geghard is known as the Rusukna sanctuary, and was completed in A.D. 1288 (Arm. era 737) (ibid.).

[379] An inscription of A.D. 1215, much mutilated, seems to infer this (Brosset, Voyage Arch. loc. cit. p. 97).

[380] Brosset, Voyage Arch. loc. cit. p. 98. The dimensions of these various apartments are:--No. 1, length, 29 feet 4 inches; breadth, 29 feet; No. 2, 27 feet by 27 feet 2 inches; No. 3, hall of the synod, 18 1/2 paces by 18 paces. The reader will note that the architects avoided exact squares. In this they were governed by a right instinct.

[381] Brosset, Voyage Arch. loc. cit. p. 99. Another derivation is from the Greek word for a priest, iereus (see M. Prudhomme, note to Aristakes, ch. ii.).

[382] Asoghik ap. Brosset (Ruines d'Ani, p. 137).

[383] Ruines d'Ani, p. 137.

[384] Ibid. p. 61.

[385] Texier (op. cit. p. 112):--"La façade de cette église (the cathedral) construite avec une simplicité remarquable ... peut être regardée comme le type de l'architecture allemande du moyen âge. Il est facile d'expliquer comment, dans toute cette contrée, on retrouve le dôme à toit conique particulier à l'architecture arménienne. En effet, après la prise d'Ani par les Mussulmans, un grand nombre de citoyens abandonnaient la ville...."

[386] Abich, Geologische Forschungen in den kaukasischen Ländern, Vienna, 1882, part ii. pp. 47 seq. Das Plateau von Kars.

[387] Strabo, xi. c. 528.

[388] Ptolemy, v. 13, pages 135 and 136 of the folio edition. The identification with one of these towns is generally assumed; but in view of the statement of Evliya, noted below, that in his time there existed three towns of this name, it cannot be regarded as certain.

[389] to kastron to Kars, Const. Porphyr. De adm. imp. cap. 44.

[390] See Chapter XVIII. p. 353 and p. 364; and Saint-Martin, Mémoires sur l'Arménie, vol. i. p. iii. Tsamentav was the name of the appanage received in exchange. It was situated in the Cilician Taurus.

[391] Koch, Reise im pontischen Gebirge, Weimar, 1846, p. 462.

[392] Travels of Evliya, translated by Von Hammer, vol. ii. p. 181. The passage runs: "Eight hours further to the east we reach the frontier fortress of the Ottomans, the castle of Karss. There are three towns of that name; one is in Silefka, the Karss of Karatashlik; the second the Karss of Mera'ash, and the last that of Dúdemán, which is the present one." I am ignorant of the locality assigned to the first mentioned.

[393] The name Vanand is said by Moses of Khorene (ii. 6) to be derived from that of the chieftain of a horde of Bulgarians who settled there. Now that Moses has been assigned to the eighth century of our era the statement need not surprise us.

[394] Von Hammer, Geschichte des osm. Reiches, vol. viii. p. 58.

[395] Uschakoff, Geschichte der Feldzüge, 1828, 1829, Leipzig, 1838, part i. p. 194.

[396] Uschakoff, op. cit. i. pp. 191 seq.

[397] Sandwith, Narrative of the Siege of Kars, London, 1856; Lake, Kars and Our Captivity in Russia, London, 1856.

[398] According to Sandwith (op. cit. p. 286) no less than 6300 Russians were buried by the besieged after the grand assault on Takhmas. Loris Melikoff informed the Daily News Correspondent in 1877 that during the operations of 1855, at which he himself had been present, the Russians lost more than 8000 men, killed or disabled.

[399] Loris Melikoff contented himself with making a strong demonstration against the forts on the left bank, and directed his main attack against the Karadagh and the forts in the plain. It was completely successful, having been undertaken at night. The Turks had concentrated their forces on the heights overlooking the left bank and might probably have gone on holding them after the capture of the town. But the Commander lost heart; the cunning Armenian who organised the victory left him an open door, and he took to his heels. I think one must regard these heights as practically impregnable, if held by a force well supplied with artillery, provisions, and water.

In 1877 the garrison was 26,000 strong, augmented to an even higher figure by the townsmen. The attacking force seems to have been about equal in number. Kars fell on the night of the 17th of November. See Daily News Correspondence, London, 1878; Norman, Armenia and the Campaign of 1877, London, n.d.; Étude critique des opérations en Turquie d'Asie pendant la guerre en 1877-78 d'après des documents officiels, par un officier supérieur Turc (Constantinople and Leipzic, 1896).

[400] Ussher, Journey from London to Persepolis, London, 1865, p. 238.

[401] Ker Porter (1819), Travels, etc., vol. ii. p. 648.

[402] Wilbraham, Travels, etc., London, 1839, pp. 294, 314; Koch, Reise im pontischen Gebirge, Weimar, 1846, p. 460.

[403] I may cite Brant (1835), Hamilton (1836), Abbott (1837), Consul Taylor (1868)--the last being an unpublished report. Taylor estimates 2000 houses, of which 200 are Christian and the rest Moslem.

[404] Travels of Evliya, translated by Von Hammer, London, 1850, vol. ii. p. 182.

[405] Samuel of Ani, in Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series Græca, vol. xix. p. 718. "Abasus, Sembati filius, mirae magnificentiae templum excitat cathedrale in urbe Carsa."

[406] Brosset, Ruines d'Ani, p. 8.

[407] Abich, Geologische Forschungen in kaukasischen Ländern, Vienna, 1882, vol. ii. p. 145, and Map I. He measures from the western foot of the Ala Dagh below the village of Kalabashi in an easterly direction. See also his various measurements (ibid. pp. 376, 377).

[408] By my own instruments.

[409] The bed of the river at the ford has an elevation of 3900 feet according to my barometers. Abich's readings are as follows:--Bank of the river below the village of Changly, above Kagyzman, 3932 feet; below the village of Kers, below Kagyzman, 3671 feet. The elevation of Kagyzman is 4621 feet. Evliya, who travelled in the middle of the seventeenth century, furnishes the following account of the place:--

"The castle of Kaghzemán being situated on the Kiblah side of the Aras is reckoned to be on the frontier of Azerbeiján, but belongs to the Ottoman government of Karss. It is named after its builder, one of the daughters of Núshirván. It was taken out of the hands of Uzún Hassan by Sháh Ismail, and then submitted to Sultán Súleimán. It is the seat of a Sanjak Beg whose khass amounts to 200,000 aspers, 9 ziámets, 178 timárs: 900 feudal militia, a judge appointed with 150 aspers, and a garrison of 300 men, who are paid by the impost on salt; the salt mines, and a quarry of mill-stones, are on the west side of the castle. The mill-stones of Persia and Rúm come from Kaghzemán; the borax of the goldsmiths, barbers' whetting-stones, and the common whetting-stones are extracted from the mines of Kaghzemán; in two places gold and silver are found, but as the product was exceeded by the expenses they were abandoned; there are altogether 11 mines. The castle is a square strong building standing on a hill on the bank of the Aras; there are 700 small houses; it is not a commercial town (Bender), but a frontier town (Serhadd). Mount Aghrí, which appears to the west, is one of the most praiseworthy mountains in the world; it is near the town, and is the summer abode (Yaila) of Turcomans. The air is temperate and allows of the cultivation of gardens on some spots; the inhabitants are mild and some of them fair. The Levend troops (irregular levies) sing Persian songs with harmonious voices. As soon as I entered the town the Diván assembled, and notwithstanding the repeated oaths of the members of it, that they had not molested the Persian caravan, but only taken their custom duties, I took seven Aghás of them with me to prove the truth of what they said, by their presence at Erzerúm, whereunto I returned" (The Travels of Evliya, translated from the Turkish by Von Hammer, London, 1850, vol. i. p. 183).

[410] According to the official statistics the population amounts to 3435 souls, of whom the Armenians number 1709 and the Turks 1578.

[411] Suess makes the outer Iranian arc commence at Tank, near Dereh Ismail Khan on the Indus (Das Antlitz der Erde, Leipzic, 1885, vol. ii. p. 552).

[412] Such is the view of Suess.

[413] Besides the great work of Suess already cited, I may refer my reader to Dr. Edmund Naumann's admirable study: Die Grundlinien Anatoliens und Centralasiens, in Heltner's Geographische Zeitschrift, ii. Jahrgang, 1896, pp. 7-25, with two maps. Also to a paper by the same author in the Report of the Sixth Int. Geog. Congress, London, 1895, pp. (661)-(670).

[414] For a comprehensive account of the salt deserts of Persia, extending over 500 miles of country, I may refer my reader to Lord Curzon's Persia, London, 1892, vol. ii. pp. 246 seq.

[415] This must be a most interesting approach to Armenia from the side of Tiflis, and is worth suggesting to the lover of unbeaten tracks.

[416] Karabagh is portrayed to us from various points of view by Smith and Dwight, Missionary Researches in Armenia, London, 1834, letters ix.-xiii.; Radde, G., Karabagh in Petermann's Mitt., Ergänzungsheft No. 100, Gotha, 1890; Abich, H., op. infra cit., part iii. p. 4; Madame B. Chantre, À travers l'Arménie Russe, Paris, 1893, chs. iv.-viii.

[417] This demarcation has been adopted by Herrmann Abich, who, however, would include the Karadagh. He speaks of the elevation which may be traced from the neighbourhood of Ardabil in Persia through the volcano of Savalan all the way to the mountains south of Lake Van as the "natural physical frontier between Armenia and Azerbaijan" and as the "southern border chain of Great Armenia." But he is pressing the word chain a little unduly. See Geologische Forschungen in den kauk. Ländern, Vienna, 1882, part ii., introduction, pp. 10 and 11.

[418] Karl Koch, Reise im pontischen Gebirge und türkischen Armenien, Weimar, 1846, pp. 203-4.

[419] Herrmann Abich, Geologische Forschungen in den kauk. Ländern, Vienna, 1882 and 1887, part ii. pp. 20-21, part iii. p. 81.

[420] Abich, op. cit. part iii. p. 18.

[421] Ibid. part ii. p. 138.

[422] Ibid. part ii. p. 139.

[423] The old Armenian province of Shirak.

[424] An analysis of this earth is given by Abich (op. cit. part iii. p. 49).

[425] Abich, op. cit. part ii. pp. 35-46.

[426] Karl Koch, op. cit. pp. 223 seq. He regards the south-western branch as the most considerable.

[427] Abich, op. cit. part ii. p. 23.

[428] See Vol. II. of the present work, Ch. IV. p. 44.

[429] Abich, op. cit. part ii. pp. 9 and 38.

[430] The Statistics of 1886 underestimate the population of Tiflis town. I have corrected them on the assumption that the population of the city in 1886 was 145,731. See the Caucasus Calendar for 1893, p. 20.

[431] I have substituted the figures of 1891 for those of 1886. The former are given in the Caucasus Calendar for 1893, p. 43.

[432] Including 2743 Jews, 2150 Assyrians, and 1665 Germans and Swedes.

[433] 8 per cent must be added to these figures if it be assumed that the number of females is at least equal to that of the males.

[434] This is the official figure. I make approximately the same area measure about 23,000 square miles, allowing for curvature of the earth.

[435] See especially Ch. III. p. 68 and Ch. IV. pp. 75, 77.

[436] Consul Taylor, an unpublished Report.

[437] "The manner in which he (Tergukasoff) handled his men at Taghir on the 16th of June, when, with eight battalions, he thoroughly defeated the twelve which Mahomed Pasha opposed to him; the stubborn resistance with which he checked Mukhtar Pasha's onslaught on the 21st at Eshek Khaliass; the gallant retreat which his half division effected in front of Ahmed Pasha's twenty-three battalions; and, finally, his dashing flank march from Igdyr to Bayazid, and the relief of that place in front of two Turkish corps, both superior to him in numbers, stamp him a general of division of the first class. Had the Czar many more like him, this war would have been completed a month ago." C. B. Norman (Times war correspondent), Armenia and the Campaign of 1877, London, n.d. p. 247. In most cases when Armenians enter the Russian service they Russianise their names by turning the Armenian termination -ean into the Russian -off, as Melikean into Melikoff.