Caucasian Albania
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{{semiprotected|small=yes}}
:''This region should not be confused with modern-day [[Albania]]'' in south-eastern [[Europe]].
[[Image:Transcaucasia_2nd_BC.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Caucasian Albania in the 2nd century B.C.]]
'''Caucasian Albania''' (in {{lang-hy|Աղվանք}} = ''Aghvank''<ref name="Minorsky">V. Minorsky. ''Caucasica IV.'' Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 15, No. 3. (1953), p. 504</ref><ref name="Olson" />, in {{lang-az|Qafqaz Albaniyası}}, in [[Parthian language|Parthian]]: ''Ardhan'', in [[Middle Persian|Persian]]: ''Arran'' <ref name="Bosworth">[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v2f5/v2f5a010.html "Arran". ''Encyclopaeida Iranica''. By C.E Bosworth]</ref>, in [[Arabic]]: ''Al Ran'' <ref name="Minorsky" /><ref name="Bosworth" />, in [[Greek language|Greek]]: ''Ἀλβανία = Albanía''<ref name="Olson">[[James Stuart Olson]]. An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. ISBN 0313274975</ref>) was an ancient kingdom that existed on the territory of present-day [[Republic of Azerbaijan]] and southern [[Dagestan]]. The name "Albania" is [[Greek language|Greek]] and [[Latin]], and denotes "mountainous land";<ref name="Olson"/> the contemporaneous native name for the country is unknown.<ref name="Hewsen">Robert H. Hewsen. "Ethno-History and the Armenian Influence upon the Caucasian Albanians," in: Samuelian, Thomas J. (Hg.), ''Classical Armenian Culture. Influences and Creativity'', Chicago: 1982, 27-40.</ref>
== Ancient population of Caucasian Albania==
Caucasian Albanians were one of the [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Ibero-Caucasian peoples]], the ancient and indigenous population of modern southern [[Dagestan]] and Azerbaijan. Ancient chronicles provide the names of some tribes that populated Caucasian Albania, including the regions of [[Artsakh]] and [[Utik]]. These were [[Udi people|Utians]], Mycians, [[Caspians]], Gargarians, Sakasenians, Gelians, Sodians, Lupenians, Balas[ak]anians, Parsians and Parrasians.<ref name="Hewsen"/> According to [[Robert H. Hewsen]], these tribes were "certainly not of Armenian origin", and "although certain Iranian peoples must have settled here during the long period of Persian and Median rule, most of the natives were not even Indo-Europeans".<ref name="Hewsen"/>
The [[Mannaeans]] maintained one of the earliest states recorded as being established in the area as far as the [[Kura]] from ca. [[800 BC]], and they were rivals of [[Urartu]] and [[Assyria]], but later fell under the rule of Urartu until their destruction and eventual assimilation by the Medes under [[Cyaxares]] in [[616 BC]]. In ancient times, they were mixed with the [[Persians|Persian]] people who settled in the area during the [[Achaemenid]], [[Parthia]]n and [[Sassanid]] periods.
[[Strabo]] wrote of the Caucasian Albanians in the [[first century BC]]:
{{Cquote|At the present time, indeed, one king rules all the tribes, but formerly the several tribes were ruled separately by kings of their own according to their several languages. They have twenty-six languages, because they have no easy means of intercourse with one another <ref name="Strabo">[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198;query=chapter%3D%2333;layout=;loc=11.3.1 Strabo. Geography, book 11, chapter 14.]</ref>}}
{{History of Azerbaijan}}
== Cities and regions ==
Strabo had no knowledge of any city in Albania, although in the first century AD [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]<ref name="Chaumont"/> mentions the initial capital of the kingdom<!--Pliny's variant should be mentioned first, perhaps others in footnote--> which was pronounced in many different ways including Kabalaka, Shabala, Tabala, and present-day [[Qabala]]. Later the capital moved to the south to Partaw (present-day [[Barda, Azerbaijan|Barda]]).
== Early history ==
According to the [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]]n chronicle “Juansher's Concise History of the Georgians”, Armenians, Georgians and Albanians had one father named [[Togarmah]] (Torgom), who was a descendant of [[Japheth]], son of [[Noah]]. Torgom divided his land among his sons, and gave to one of them, by the name of Bartos, the "territory from the Berdahoj river to the region of the Kur river to the sea where the conjoined Erasx ([[Aras]]) and Kur rivers enter it". According to this legend, Bartos built the city Partaw in his own name.<ref>[http://rbedrosian.com/gc2.htm Juansher's Concise History of the Georgians]</ref>
According to the local tradition, [[Arran (Azerbaijan)|Aran]] was the legendary ancestor and eponym of the Albanians. Thus, referring to the events in the beginning of the second century BC, he mentions that "… as leader of [savage tribes to the north], by [Armenian king] Vagharshak's order, was appointed someone from the family of [[Sisakan]], one of the descendants of [[Yafet]], named [[Aran]], who inherited the plains and mountains of the country of Aghvank beginning from the river [[Yeraskh]] ([[Araks]]) up to the castle of [[Hnarakert]] (on river [[Kura]])," after whom "this country was called Aghvank" (I.4). Medieval historian [[Moses of Kalankatuyk]] explained the name Alvank as a derivation from the word ''Alu'' <!--translation here-->which was the nickname of Caucasian Albania's first king Aran and referred to his lenient personality.<ref>''The History of Aluank'' by Moses of Kalankatuyk. Book I, chapter IV</ref> The Armenian historian [[Moses of Chorene]], who is considered "the father of Armenian history", also confirmed that the Sisakan family inherited the area "from the river [[Yeraskh]] ([[Araks]]) up to the castle called [[Hnarakert]]," and the region was named Aghvank after them in the early [[2nd century]] BC (History of Armenia, II.8). However it is uncertain whether Aran and Sisak were real or imaginary persons.<ref>J. H. Kramers. "The Military Colonization of the Caucasus and Armenia under the Sassanids." ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London,'' Vol. 8, No. 2/3.</ref>
The kingdom of Caucasian Albania was founded in the second century BC. Albanians are mentioned for the first time in 331 BC at the [[Battle of Gaugamela]] as participants from the satrapy of Media.<ref name="Chaumont">[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f8/v1f8a022.html ''Encyclopedia Iranica.'' M. L. Chaumont. ''s.v.'' "Albania'.]</ref>
Parts of Caucasian Albania, including [[Utik]] on the right bank of the [[Kura]] river were conquered by the [[Armenia]]ns, in the first century BC.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/na/NagornoK.html The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Nagorno-Karabakh]</ref>
[[Strabo]], [[Ptolemy]] and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] all write that at this time, the border between Albania and the [[Greater Armenia|Kingdom of Greater Armenia]] was the river [[Kura]]. At the same time Strabo writes that the river of Kura flows through Albania. However the frontier along the Kura was repeatedly overrun, to the advantage sometimes of the Albanians, sometimes of the Armenians. <ref name="Chaumont"/> In [[66 BC]], following the defeat of the Armenian king [[Tigranes II]] at the hand of the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], the Armenian empire lost most of its territory. At this time, the Albanians regained control over their right bank territories conquered by Armenians.<ref name="Chaumont"/> According to the seventh-century historian Moses of Kalankatuyk, author of "History of Aghvank", at this time, the southern border of Caucasian Albania was along the [[Araks]] river.<ref>''Russia and Azerbaijan: a borderland in transition'', T. Swietochowski</ref>
[[Image:Gobustan Rome.jpg|thumb|Roman inscription in Gobustan left by Legio XII Fulminata]]
In 65 B.C. the Roman general [[Pompey]] invaded Albania. When fording the [[Alazan]] river, he was attacked by forces of Oroezes, king of Albania, and eventually defeated them. According to [[Plutarch]], Albanians "were led by a brother of the king, named Cosis, who as soon as the fighting was at close quarters, rushed upon Pompey himself and smote him with a javelin on the fold of his breastplate; but Pompey ran him through the body and killed him".<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey*.html Plutarch, The Parallel Lives. Pompey, 35]</ref>
Plutarch also reported that "after the battle, Pompey set out to march to the Caspian Sea, but was turned back by a multitude of deadly reptiles when he was only three days march distant, and withdrew into Lesser Armenia".<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Pompey*.html Plutarch, ''The Parallel Lives:'' "Pompey", 36]</ref>
Between 83 and 93 AD, in the reign of the [[Roman Emperor]] [[Domitian]] a detachment of the [[Legio XII Fulminata]] was sent to the Caucasus to support the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Albania in a war against [[Parthia]]. An inscription found in [[Gobustan]] (69 km south of [[Baku]]) attests to the presence of a Roman garrison in that area. During the reign of Roman emperor [[Hadrian]] (117-138) Albania was invaded by the [[Alans]], an Iranian nomadic group.<ref>[http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Albania,_Caucasus ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'' 1911, ''s.v.'' "Albania, Caucasus".]</ref>
== The Sasanian domination ==
{{main|Albania (satrapy)}}
In 252-253 AD Caucasian Albania along with [[Caucasian Iberia|Iberia]] and Armenia was conquered by the [[Sassanid Empire]]. Albania was mentioned among the Sasanian provinces listed in the trilingual inscription of [[Shapur I]] at [[Naqsh-e Rustam]].<ref>[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v2f1/v2f1a035.html Gignoux. "Aneran". ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'': "The high priest Kirder, thirty years later, gave in his inscriptions a more explicit list of the provinces of Aneran, including Armenia, Georgia, Albania, and Balasagan, together with Syria and Asia Minor."]</ref><ref>[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-32148 ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'': "The list of provinces given in the inscription of Ka'be-ye Zardusht defines the extent of the empire under Shapur]</ref><ref>"However Albania retained its monarchy and was designated as a kingdom, and the relationship of the local rulers with the Sasanian “king of kings” is usually referred to by scholars as “[[Vassal|vassalage]]”. Josef Wiesehofer. ''Ancient Persia.'' ISBN-10: 1860646751</ref><ref name="Olson"/><ref name="Chaumont">"But despite being one of the chief vassals of Sasanian [[Shahanshah]], the Albanian king had only a semblance of authority, and the Sassanid [[marzban]] (military governor) held most civil, religious, and military authority.</ref>
In the middle of the fourth century the king of Albania Urnayr arrived in Armenia and was baptized by [[Gregory the Illuminator]], but Christianity spread in Albania only gradually, and the Albanian king remained loyal to the Sassanids. After the partition of Armenia between Byzantium and Persia (in [[387 AD]]), Albania, as an ally of [[Sassanid]] Persia, regained all the right bank of the river Kura up to river Araxes, including Artsakh and Utik.<ref name="Chaumont"/>
Sasanian king [[Yazdegerd II]] passed an edict requiring all the Christians in his empire to convert to [[Mazdaism]], fearing that Christians might ally with Roman Empire, which had recently adopted Christianity. This led to a rebellion of Albanians, along with Armenians and Iberians. In a battle that took place in 451 AD [[Battle of Vartanantz|in the Avarayr field]], the allied forces of the Armenian, Albanian and Iberian kings, devoted to Christianity, suffered defeat at the hands of the Sassanid army. Many of the Albanian nobility fled to the mountainous regions of Albania, particularly to Artsakh, which became a center for resistance to Sassanid Persia. The religious center of the Albanian state also moved here. However, the Albanian king Vache, a relative of Yazdegerd II, was forced to convert to the official religion of the Sasanian empire, but soon reverted back to Christianity.
In the middle of the fifth century by the order of the Persian king [[Peroz I]] Vache built in Utik the city initially called Perozabad, and later Partaw and [[Barda, Azerbaijan|Barda]], and made it the capital of Albania.<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus5/Kalank/text11.phtml?id=618 Movses Kalankatuatsi. ''History of Albania''. Book 1, Chapter XV]</ref> Partaw was the seat of the Albanian kings and Persian marzban, and in 552 A.D. the seat of the Albanian Catholicos was also transferred to Partaw.<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus5/Kalank/text21.phtml?id=620 Movses Kalankatuatsi. ''History of Albania''. Book 2, Chapter VI]</ref><ref name="Chaumont"/>
After the death of Vache, Albania remained without a king for thirty years. The Sasanian [[Balash]] reestablished the Albanian monarchy by making Vachagan, son of Yazdegerd and brother of the previous king Vache, the king of Albania.
By the end of the fifth century, the ancient [[Arsacid]] royal house of Albania, a branch of the ruling dynasty of [[Parthia]], became extinct, and in the sixth century it was replaced by princes of the Persian or Parthian [[Mihranids|Mihranid]] family, who claimed descent from the Sasanians. They assumed a Persian title of [[Arranshah]] (i.e.the [[shah]] of Arran, the Persian name of Albania).<ref name="Bosworth">[http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v2f5/v2f5a010.html ''Encyclopedia Iranica.'' C. E. Bosworth, ''s.v.'' "Arran"]</ref> The ruling dynasty was named after its Persian founder Mihran, who was a distant relative of the Sasanians.<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus5/Kalank/text21.phtml?id=620 Moses Kalankatuatsi. ''History of country of Aluank.'' Chapter XVII. About the tribe of Mihran, hailing from the family of Khosrow the Sasanian, who became the ruler of the country of Aluank]</ref> The Mihranid dynasty survived under Muslim suzerainty until 821-2.<ref>''The Cambridge History of Iran.'' 1991. ISBN 0521200938</ref>
In the late sixth – early seventh centuries the territory of Albania became an arena of wars between Sasanian Persia, [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]] and the [[Khazar]] kaganate, the latter two very often acting as allies. In 628, during the [[Third Perso-Turkic War]], the Khazars invaded Albania, and their leader [[Ziebel]] declared himself lord of Albania, levying a tax on merchants and the fishermen of the Kura and Araxes rivers "in accordance with the land survey of the kingdom of Persia". Most of Transcaucasia was under Khazar rule before the arrival of the Arabs.<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus13/Sirvan_Derbend/pred.phtml?id=1892 V.Minorsky. ''History of Shirvan and Darband''.]</ref> The Albanian kings retained their rule by paying tribute to the regional powers. According to Peter Golden, "steady pressure from Turkic nomads was typical of the Khazar era, although there are no unambiguous references to permanent settlements",<ref>''An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples'' by Peter B. Golden. Otto Harrasowitz (1992), ISBN 3-447-03274-X (retrieved [[8 June]] [[2006]]), p. 385–386.</ref> while [[Vladimir Minorsky]] stated that, in Islamic times, "the town of Qabala lying between Sharvan and Shakki was a place where Khazars were probably settled".<ref name="Minorsky"/>
== Arab and Seljuk domination ==
{{See main|Arran}}
In the middle of the seventh century, the kingdom was overrun by the [[Arabs]] and, like all Islamic conquests at the time, incorporated into the [[Caliphate]]. The Albanian king [[Javanshir]], the most prominent ruler of Mihranid dynasty, fought against the [[Arab]] invasion of [[caliph]] [[Uthman]] on the side of the Sasanid [[Iran]]. Facing the threat of the Arab invasion on the south and the [[Khazar]] offensive on the north, Javanshir had to recognize the Caliph’s suzerainty. The Arabs then reunited the territory with Armenia under one governor.<ref name="Chaumont"/>
From the eighth century, Caucasian Albania existed as the principalities of Arranshahs and [[Khachin principality|Khachin]], along with various Caucasian, Iranian and Arabic principalities: the Principality of [[Shaddadid]]s, the Principality of [[Shirvan]], the Principality of [[Derbent]], etc. Most of the region was ruled by the [[Sajids|Sajid Dynasty]] of [[Azerbaijan (Iran)|Azerbaijan]] from 890 to 929.
As a result of the expansion of [[Seljuks]] [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] into the territory of modern Azerbaijan in the eleventh century, the indigenous Albanian population was assimilated. Albanians played a significant role in the [[ethnogenesis]] of today's [[Azeris]].
== Religion ==
The ancient [[pagan]] religion of Albania was centered on the worship of three divinities, designated by ''[[Interpretatio Romana]]'' [[Sol]], [[Zeus]], and [[Luna (goddess)|Luna]].
Caucasian Albania was one of the first countries where [[Christianity]] was adopted in the fourth century, and the first Christian church in the region was built by [[St. Eliseus]], a disciple of [[Thaddeus of Edessa]], in a place called Gis (believed to be the modern-day [[Church of Kish]]).
In [[498]] AD (in other sources, 488 AD) in the settlement named Aluen (Aguen) (present day [[Agdam]] region of Azerbaijan), an Albanian church council convened to adopt laws further strengthening the position of Christianity in Albania.
Albanian churchmen took part in missionary efforts in the Caucasus and Pontic regions. In 682, the ''[[catholicos]]'', [[Israel (Bishop of Caucasian Albania)|Israel]], led an unsuccessful delegation to convert [[Alp Iluetuer]], the ruler of the [[North Caucasian Huns]], to Christianity. The Albanian Church maintained a number of monasteries in the [[Holy Land]].<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus5/Kalank/text22.phtml?id=621 Movses Kalankatuatsi. History of Albania. Book 2, Chapter LII]</ref>
The Arabic conquest resulted in gradual Islamization of the Albanian population.
== Alphabet and language ==
{{main|Caucasian Albanian alphabet}}
[[Image:Albanian stone.jpg|thumb|right|A stone with inscriptions in Albanian language, found in [[Mingachevir]]]]
According to [[Movses Kaghankatvatzi]], the [[Caucasian Albanian alphabet|Caucasian Albanian alphabet]] was invented by [[Saint Mesrob|Mesrob Mashdots]], an Armenian [[monk]], [[theology|theologian]] and [[linguistics|linguist]]<ref>Moses Kalankatuyk, ''The History of Aluank'', I, 27 and III, 24.</ref>
A disciple of Saint Mesrob, [[Koriun]], in ''"The Life of Mashtots"'', wrote: ''"Then there came and visited them an elderly man, an Albanian named Benjamin. And he [Mesrop] inquired and examined the barbaric diction of the Albanian language, and then through his usual God-given keenness of mind invented an alphabet, which he, through the grace of Christ, successfully organized and put in order."'' (see [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/korun/english/03.html Koriun, Ch. 16]).
The alphabet of fifty-two letters, some bearing a resemblance to Armenian or Georgian characters, has only survived through a few manuscripts and inscriptions<ref name="thomson">{{cite book |title=Rewriting Caucasian History: The Medieval Armenian Adaptation of the Georgian Chronicles |last=Thomson |first=Robert W. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location= |isbn=0198263732 |pages= }}</ref>. It was rediscovered in 1937 by a Georgian scholar, Professor [[Ilia Abuladze]], in an Armenian mauscript from the 15th century. The manuscript, [[Matenadaran|Matenadaran No. 7117]], is a language manual, presenting different alphabets for comparison - Armenian, Greek, Latin, Syrian, Georgian, Coptic, and Old Udi among them. The alphabet was titled: ''"Aluanic girn e"'' ([[Armenian language|Armenian]]: Աղվանից գիրն Է, meaning, "Albanian letters").
The distinctive Caucasian Albanian language persisted into early Islamic times, and Muslim geographers [[Al-Muqaddasi]], [[Ibn-Hawqal]] and [[Al-Istakhri]] recorded that the language which they called Arranian was still spoken in the capital Barda and the rest of the country in the 10th century C.E.<ref name="Bosworth"/> The [[Udi language]], spoken by 8000 people mostly in Azerbaijan, and also Georgia<!--no Udis live in Armenia-->, is thought to be the last remnant of the language once spoken in Caucasian Albania.<ref>[http://www.azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai113_folder/113_articles/113_zaza_significance.html Caucasian Albanian Script. The Significance of Decipherment by Dr. Zaza Alexidze.]</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Artsakh]]
* [[Northeast Caucasian languages#Lezgian family|Lezgian languages]]
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|2}}
== References ==
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/kagantv/index.html Movses Kalankatuatsi. ''The History of Aluank'']. [[Translate]]d from Old Armenian (Grabar) by Sh.V.Smbatian, Yerevan, [[1984]].
*{{en icon}} [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/korun/english/index.html Koriun, ''The Life of Mashtots''], translated from Old Armenian (Grabar) by Bedros Norehad.
*{{ge icon}} Movses Kalankatuatsi. ''History of Albania''. Translated by L. Davlianidze-Tatishvili, Tbilisi, 1985.
*{{ru icon}} [http://www.vehi.net/istoriya/armenia/khorenaci/index.html Movses Khorenatsi. ''The History of Armenia'']. [[Translate]]d from Old Armenian (Grabar) by Gagik Sargsyan, Yerevan, [[1990]].
*{{en icon}} Ilia Abuladze. ''About the discovery of the alphabet of the Caucasian Albanians''. - "Bulletin of the Institute of Language, History and Material Culture (ENIMK)", Vol. 4, Ch. I, Tbilisi, 1938.
==External links==
* [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/search/searchpdf.isc?ReqStrPDFPath=/home1/iranica/articles/v1_articles/albania&OptStrLogFile=/home/iranica/public_html/logs/pdfdownload.html Encyclopedia Iranica. Albania, Ancient country in Caucasus, by M. Chaumont]
* [http://www.caucasianhistory.org/en About the Caucasian Albania]
* [http://rbedrosian.com/kg7.htm About the Caucasian Albania (section 10)]
* [http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~wschulze/Cauc_alb.htm Wolfgang Schulze (Munich): Caucasian Albanian]
* [http://www.caucasianhistory.org/ Caucasian History]
{{Sassanid Provinces}}
[[Category:Caucasus]]
[[Category:Former countries in Europe]]
[[Category:History of Azerbaijan]]
[[Category:Caucasian Albania| ]]
[[az:Qafqaz Albaniyası]]
[[bg:Кавказка Албания]]
[[ca:Albània del Caucas]]
[[cs:Albánie (kavkazská)]]
[[de:Albania]]
[[es:Albania caucásica]]
[[fr:Aghbanie]]
[[hy:Աղվանք]]
[[ka:ალბანეთი (კავკასია)]]
[[id:Albania Kaukasia]]
[[it:Albania Caucasica]]
[[hu:Albania (ókori ország)]]
[[mk:Албаниja (Кавказ)]]
[[nl:Kaukasisch Albanië]]
[[no:Albania (Kaukasus)]]
[[ro:Albania Caucaziană]]
[[ru:Кавказская Албания]]
[[sv:Kaukasiska Albanien]]