Armeniaca Place
Ayrarat
- Armenian
- Այրարատ
- Region
- Ararat Plain
Ayrarat is the province of historic Armenia that held the Ararat Plain. Five of the six capitals of ancient Armenia stood on the plain: Armavir, from about 330 to 210 BC; Yervandashat, from about 210 to 180; Artashat, from about 180 to 77 BC and again from 69 BC to about AD 120; Vagharshapat, from about AD 120 to 330; and Dvin, from 336 to 428. The sixth capital, Tigranakert, was founded by Tigranes the Great outside the plain.12
Dvin was damaged by an earthquake in 893 and was taken by the Tatars in 1236.2 Vagharshapat, the seat of Etchmiadzin, was renamed Edchmiadzin in 1945 and later took back its old name.2 The mathematician Anania Shirakatsi was born in the district of Shirak in Ayrarat.3
Ayrarat is the last of the fifteen provinces of Greater Armenia.4
Sources
- “Preface.” The Ancient Capitals in the Ararat Plain of Armenia, Aramazd: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies. link. ↩
- “Capitals of Armenia.” Yerevan Municipality. link. ↩
- “The mathematical work of Anania Shirakatsi.” arXiv:2404.15945, 2024. link. ↩
- Danielyan, Eduard. “Fundamental Characteristics of Physical and Political Geography of Armenia: The Armenian Highland.” Fundamental Armenology 1 (7), 2018. Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. link. ↩