Gugark

History

In ancient Urartian inscriptions dating to 785 BC, the territory of Gugark is referred to as Zabaha, which is known today as Javakheti (Javakhk in Armenian). In the beginning of IV century BC, (302BC) the territory was under Caucasian Iberia, but during Artaxias I's reign it was conquered. During the reign of the Artaxiad and Arshakuni kings of Armenia, Gugark was ruled by one of the kingdom's four bdeashkhs. The bdeashkh of Gugark was responsible for protecting the state's northern border. During the 4th century, the region was ruled by members of a branch of the House of Mihran. In 387, Armenia was partitioned between the Byzantine and Sassanid empires and Gugark, with the exception of the canton of Tashir, was annexed to Caucasian Iberia. The ruler of the region around 425 was Arshusha. In 652, the Armenian prince Theodore Rshtuni was allowed by the Arabs to unite Gugark with his realms.

In the following centuries, Gugark and its cantons fell under the sway of several rulers. In the 8th century, it became a part of Emirate of Tbilisi. In the middle of the 9th century, it was taken by the Georgian Bagrationis, while the Armenian Bagratunis took over its eastern cantons.

Inhabitants

Giorgi Melikishvili believed that Gugark was, ethnically, a mixed Armenian-Georgian region. This view is supported by Anatoly Novoseltsev. The The Cambridge Ancient History also considers Gugark a region where two peoples, Armenians and Georgians, mingled.

Cantons

• Dzoropor
• Tsobopor
• Treghk
• Artahan
• Javakhk
• Upper Javakhk
• Tashir
• Kangark
• Kagharjk
• Nigal
• Mrugh
• Mrit
• Shavshet
• Koghbopor
• Kvishapor
• Boghnopor
• Tashran
• Manglyats
• Ashotsk

List of ''bdeashkhs''

Based on available sources, Cyril Toumanoff deduced an incomplete list of the ruling Mihranid bdeashkhs of Gugark.

References

References

1. (1975). "Գուգարք".
2. Melkonyan, A. A.. (2007). "Javakhk in the 19th Century and the 1st Quarter of the 20th Century: A Historical Research". National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Institute of History.
3. "Geography of Strabo, Book XI, Chapter 14, P325.".
4. Toumanoff, Cyril. (1961). "Introduction to Christian Caucasian History, II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period". Traditio.
5. Novoseltsev, A. P.; Pashuto, V. T.; Cherepnin, L. V. ''Paths of Feudalism Development''. Nauka, p. 35.
6. Boardman, John. ''The Cambridge Ancient History''. Cambridge University Press, 2000, p. 67.
7. (2014). "The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature". Ashgate Publishing.