{{Short description|Historical capital of Armenia}} {{For|the modern-day village in Armenia|Yervandashat, Armenia}} {{Infobox ancient site | name = Yervandashat | native_name = Երուանդաշատ | alternate_name = | image = | alt = | caption = | map_type = Armenia | map_alt = | map_caption = | map_size = 275 | relief = | coordinates = {{coord|40|07|01|N|43|39|07|E|region:AM|display=inline}} | location = | region = | type = | part_of = | length = | width = | area = | height = | builder = King Orontes IV of Armenia | material = | built = {{circa|200 BC}} | abandoned = After the 7th century AD | epochs = <!-- actually displays as "Periods" --> | cultures = | dependency_of = | occupants = | event = | excavations = | archaeologists = | condition = | ownership = | management = | public_access = | website = | notes = }} '''Yervandashat''' or '''Eruandashat''' ({{Langx|hy|Երվանդաշատ}} <small>(reformed)</small>; {{lang|hy|Երուանդաշատ}} <small>(classical)</small>){{Efn|''Yervandashat'' reflects the modern Armenian pronunciation, while ''Eruandashat'' is a romanization from Classical Armenian.}} was an Armenian city and one of the historical capitals of Armenia, serving as the capital city between {{Circa|200 BC}} and 176 BC under the rule of the Orontid dynasty and at the beginning of the rule of their successors, the Artaxiad dynasty. Its ruins are located on a rocky hill near the confluence of the Akhuryan and Aras rivers, on the left bank of the Aras, between the villages of Yervandashat and Bagaran in modern-day Armenia.
==Etymology== {{see also|-shat (suffix)}} ''Eruandashat'', which translates as "Joy of Ervand (i.e., Orontes)",{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} is the Armenian form of the toponym and derives from Middle Persian *{{Transliteration|pal|Arwandašād}} (compare Old Persian *{{Transliteration|peo|Aruvanta-šiyāti-}}).{{Sfn|Canepa|2018|p=99}}
==History== Yervandashat was built around 200 BC{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} by the last Orontid king of Armenia, Orontes (Eruand) IV.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}}{{Sfn|Toumanoff|1963|p=|loc=p. 75 n. 83: "The capitals of Armenia were successively: Armavira or Armawir of the Orontids (Manandyan, ''O torgovle'' 37) until the transfer by Orontes IV of his residence to Eruandašat (*Orontasata)"}} It was located on a rocky height on the left bank of Aras River,{{Sfn|Arakelyan|1977|p=640}} near the confluence of the Akhuryan and the Aras, in the historical Arsharunik canton of the Ayrarat province of Armenia Major.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} Its ruins are located between the villages of Yervandashat and Bagaran in modern-day Armenia.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}}
According to Movses Khorenatsi, Orontes founded Yervandashat to replace Armavir as his capital after Armavir had been left dry by a shift of the course of the Aras. However, historian Babken Arakelyan believes that the real reason for the move was that Orontes' rival Artaxias had taken over Armavir.{{Sfn|Arakelyan|1977|p=640}} It remained the capital until Artaxias I ({{Reign|{{circa|189}}|161|era=BC}}) founded the new capital of Artashat (Artaxata) around 176 BC. According to Khorenatsi, Yervandashat was renamed Marmet or Artamet for a short time.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} Yervandashat was well fortified with ramparts and a citadel and had some importance as a commercial center.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} It was populated by Armenians and other groups that had been resettled there during the reign of Tigranes the Great ({{Reign|95|55|era=BC}}).{{Sfn|Arakelyan|1977|p=640}} It had a large Jewish population.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}}
In the 4th century AD, King Tiridates III the Great ({{Reign|{{circa|298}}|330}}) granted the city to the house of Kamsarakan. Thus, Yervandashat became the center of the district of Arsharunik.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} The city was destroyed by the army of the Sasanian king Shapur II in the 360s AD{{Sfn|Arakelyan|1977|p=640}} and its population was deported to Persia.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} Yervandashat still existed in the 7th century, but it never regained its former significance.{{Sfn|Hewsen|1998}} The remains of walls, streets, and buildings of the ancient city have survived, as well as the ruins of a settlement built on the site during medieval times, two ruined churches, khachkars and mural inscriptions.{{Sfn|Arakelyan|1977|p=640}}
The archaeological site has not been the subject of major excavation, but some preliminary examination of the fortifications has been done and some remains of palaces of the Urartian and Hellenistic periods have been uncovered.{{Sfn|Muradyan|2023}}
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
==References==
=== Citations === {{reflist}}
=== Bibliography === {{sfn whitelist|CITEREFHewsen1998}} * {{Cite book |last1=Arakelyan |first1=B. |title=Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran |year=1977 |editor-last=Simonyan |editor-first=Abel |volume=3 |location=Yerevan |pages=[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_3.djvu/639 639]–[https://hy.wikisource.org/wiki/%D4%B7%D5%BB:%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%8D%D5%B8%D5%BE%D5%A5%D5%BF%D5%A1%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%B6_%D5%80%D5%A1%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%A3%D5%AB%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6_(Soviet_Armenian_Encyclopedia)_3.djvu/640 640] |language=hy |trans-title=Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia |chapter=Ervandashat |author-link=Babken Arakelyan}} * {{cite book |last=Canepa |first=Matthew |title=The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity Through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE |publisher=University of California Press |year=2018 |isbn=9780520379206 |location=Oakland |author-link=Matthew P. Canepa}} * {{Encyclopædia Iranica Online|year=1998|first=Robert H.|last=Hewsen|author-link=Robert H. Hewsen|url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eruandasat|title=Eruandašat|access-date=30 November 2023 }} * {{Cite journal |last=Muradyan |first=Syuzanna |date=2023 |title=Zum Nachleben urartäischer Architektur im Jerwandaschat-Komplex am Araxes (Armenien)|trans-title=On the afterlife of Urartian architecture in the Yerwandashat complex at the Araxes (Armenia)|journal=Boreas |volume=45-46 |pages=45–64}} * {{Cite book |last=Toumanoff |first=Cyril |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/505712128 |title=Studies in Christian Caucasian History |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=1963 |oclc=505712128 |author-link=Cyril Toumanoff}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Arakelyan |first=B. N. |author-link=Babken Arakelyan |date=1965 |title=Ortegh en gtnvel Ervandashat ev Ervandakert kʻaghakʻnerě? |script-title=hy:Որտե՞ղ են գտնվել Երվանդաշատ և Երվանդակերտ քաղաքները |trans-title=Where were the towns of Yervandashat and Yervandakert located? |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/188235/edition/170912/content |journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes |language=hy|volume=3 |pages=83–94 |via=Pan-Armenian Digital Library}} * {{Cite journal |last=Ter-Martirosov |first=Felix |date=2008 |title=Ervandashat|script-title=ru:Ервандашат |trans-title=Yervandashat |url=https://arar.sci.am/dlibra/publication/193056/edition/175404/content |journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes |language=ru|volume=1 |pages=3–19 |via=Pan-Armenian Digital Library}} {{Historic capitals of Armenia}}
Category:Former capitals of Armenia Category:Archaeological sites in Armenia Category:Armavir Province Category:Buildings and structures in Armavir Province