The House of Amatuni ( Armenian : Ամատունի ) is an ancient Armenian noble family , known from the 4th century in the canton of Artaz , between lakes Van and Urmia , with its center at Shavarshan (latter-day Maku ), and subsequently also at Aragatsotn , west of Lake Sevan , with the residence at Oshakan .
24-408: The Amatuni who was of Caspio - Median or Matianian - Mannaean origin, is given a specious Jewish ancestry from descendants of Samson by the early Armenian tradition ( Moses of Chorene 2.57 ). Their forefather's name Manue suggests a possible connection with the royal Assyrian house of Adiabene . Also, Armenian princely family of Amatuni believed to be descendants of the kings (chieftains) of
48-723: A Caspio-Median, or Mannaean, dynastic house from Artaz, with the city of Shawarshan (later Maku, in northeastern Vaspurakan), situated between lakes Van and Urmia (Mantiane), which subsequently ruled a State in Aragatsotn, in Ayrarat, centered in the castle of Oshakan. They were variously attributed a descent from Astyages of Media and a Hebrew descent. Caspians The Caspians ( Persian : کاسپیها , Kaspyn ; Greek : Κάσπιοι , Káspioi ; Aramaic : ܟܣܦܝ, kspy ; Old Armenian : Կասպք , Kaspk’ ; Latin : Caspi , Caspiani ) were an Iranic people of antiquity who dwelt along
72-619: A mosque in the citadel which still survives. It was conquered in 1242 by the Mongols ; was regained by Georgian Kingdom during the reign of George V the Brilliant (1314–1346), it remained part of the Kingdom before its disintegration, which then passed into the hands of Georgian Atabegs belonging to the House of Jaqeli ; it was conquered in 1502 by Persia and was probably in 1515 taken by
96-743: A variant of the Zoroastrian custom of sky burial , one in which the deceased is left for the dogs to devour. The Caspiadeans reappear in the medieval Historia de via Hierosolymitana among the people arrayed against the forces of the First Crusade (1096–1099). The anonymous poet, drawing on Flaccus, probably sought to connect the Seljuk Turks , the Crusaders' actual enemy, with the ancient Scythians. Ispir İspir ( Armenian : Սպեր , Sper; Georgian : სპერი , Speri)
120-452: Is a municipality and district of Erzurum Province , Turkey . Its area is 2,129 km , and its population is 14,607 (2022). It is on the Çoruh River . The mayor is Ahmet Coşkun ( MHP ). İspir is known from the 3rd millennium BC. The ancient kingdom of Hayasa-Azzi (2nd millennium BC), which was the forerunner of Armenian statehood, was located in the upper reaches of the rivers Euphrates and Chorokh, and included Sper. The name Sper
144-464: Is thought by some to be derived from Saspers , or Sasperi , the name Sper with a Georgian prefix of place Sa-, which evolved into the term Iberian . The Saspers were mentioned by Xenophon ; The illustrious dynasty of the Bagrationi originated in the most ancient Georgian district – Speri (today İspir). Through their farsighted, flexible policies, the Bagrationi achieved great influence from
168-550: The Arshakids bestowed on them the fortress and possession of Oshakan in the heart of their Ayrarat royal domain, not far from the capital of the kingdom Dvin ( Moses of Chorene 2.57 ). Historians described the battle that took place in 336 near Oshakan, between Armenians and Persians, in which Armenians won. For his valor in the liberation wars, in 336, the Armenian king Khosrov III presented Oshakan to Vahan Amatuni. During
192-721: The Egyptian papyri are therefore generally considered as either an Iranian people or strongly under Iranian cultural influence . In the 5th century BC, during the Persian rule in Egypt , a regiment (Aramaic degel ) of Caspians was stationed in Elephantine , as attested in the Elephantine papyri . They are called kspy in Aramaic and shared their regiment with Khwarezmians , Bactrians and other Iranian peoples . They were not
216-597: The Kassites , who spoke a language not identified with any other known language group and whose origins have long been the subject of debate. However, onomastic evidence bearing on this point has been discovered in Aramaic papyri from Egypt published by P. Grelot, in which several of the Caspian names that are mentioned—and identified under the gentilic כספי kaspai —are, in part, etymologically Iranian. The Caspians of
240-720: The Ottoman Empire from the Georgian ruler of Samtskhe. The town was occupied in 1916 by the Russians during World War I and the Armenian genocide , then was recaptured by the Turks in 1918. Historic sights in the town are the citadel, a mosque and a church in the citadel (probably 13th century), the originally 13th century Çarsi mosque's building being a recent structure. The Sultan Melik mosque and Madrasa built in
264-479: The Iranian shah. The children and grandchildren of one of the sons, Peter Azarbekyan Amatuni, moved to the city of Tiflis, where on January 1, 1784, King Irakli II confirmed Sarkis (Sergey) Petrovich Azaryan-Amatuni with his sons Stepan, Karapet, Gregory and his nephew Yakov Ivanovich Amatuni, they were in charge of the dignity of their ancestors, "who were at the time of the Armenian kings, the resplendent princes." At
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#1732772485684288-688: The Matienian tribes In addition, in Antiquity besides its original land of Artaz, the Principality of Amatuniq also included in addition the district of the Djur-shrod (Chuash-rot) with the center in the town of Myarakan, located along the river Araxes , southeast of Artaz. Apparently, starting from 336 A.D. the Amatuni princes were in charge of the tax service of the Armenian kingdom , when
312-711: The Vaspurakan kingdom of the Artsrunis separated from the kingdom of Great Armenia, but Artaz remained loyal to the united Armenian kingdom of the Bagratids and remained part of it. Also, the principality of Amatuni (Artaz) has always had its own separate church diocese, the diocese of Amatuniq. The Vachutean genealogy was reconstructed by Marie Brosset and can be found in his Rapports sur un voyage archéologique dans la Géorgie et dans l'Arménie (St. Petersburg 1849-1851) III: 99-100 . The Artazian branch of Amatuni family
336-768: The control of the Bagratids [2] . After the Sassanids of Iran abolished the Arsacid monarchy in Armenia in 428, Vahan (II) Amatuni was appointed by the Great King as assistant governor to the Iranian marzpan . However, Sassanid propagation of Zoroastrianism among the Christian Armenians caused the reversal of the Amatuni's loyalty and, in 451, Vahan revolted, only to be banished to Gorgan . In 451,
360-569: The famous Battle of Avarayr between Armenians and Persians took place in Artaz, south of Maku. The transfer of regional power from the Sassanids to Muslim Arab rule provoked a large-scale aristocratic insurrection of 774-75. In the 9th century, when kingdom of Great Armenia was restored, Amatuni still remained in the possession of Artaz, but under the Artsruni of Vaspurakan , until 909, when
384-723: The medieval Kingdom of Armenia , it was part of the province of Upper Armenia and was famous for its gold mines. In the 11th century it was conquered by the Seljuqs . Ispir was under the control of the Saltukids till 1124 when the Georgians took over power, governed by Zakare and Ivane Zakarids as a fief. It was recaptured by Mughith ad Din Tughrul, son of the Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II , sometime between 1201 and 1225. He built
408-722: The only garrison on Elephantine. There was also a regiment of Jews . The Caspians are called Caspiani in Mela 's De situ orbis , Caspi in Pliny 's Natural History , and Caspiadae in Valerius Flaccus ' Argonautica . In the last work, the Caspians are allies of King Perses of Colchis and appear amongst the Scythian peoples . They are said to have fighting dogs that they take to their graves. This might in fact reflect
432-694: The region. while the branch which ruled Hamamshen was overthrown in the 15th century after the Ottomans invaded the empire of Trebizond and exiled its last prince Baron David II to Ispir . After the Middle Ages the Amatuni family disappeared. In the 17th century, one of the representatives of the Amatuni clan, a certain Azarbek I Amatuni, son of Prince George Amatuni, was a melik of the city of Nakhichevan-on-Arax. Melik Azarbek I had sons George, Petros (Peter) and Vahan, who faithfully served with their father
456-572: The same time, the coat of arms was approved by the charter of the Georgian king Heraclius II of January 1, 1784. Another branch of the Amatuni clan, descendants of Allahverdi khan Amatuni, were meliks in Karadagh ( Arasbaran ) until 1918; and also, they were on the board of directors of oil companies of Baku until 1917. After the Russian annexation of Georgia, the family was confirmed in the dignity of Knyaz on March 25, 1826. The Princes Amatuni were
480-581: The sixth through eighth centuries. One of their branches moved out to Armenia , the other to Georgian Kingdom of Iberia , and both won for themselves the dominant position among the other rulers of Transcaucasia. In the 4th-3rd centuries BC Sper was organized into a province of the Iberian Kingdom as noted by Strabo . Alexander the Great sent one of his generals Menon to conquer Sper, but Menon and his forces were defeated and killed. The region
504-715: The southwestern shores of the Caspian Sea , in the region known as Caspiane . Caspian is the English version of the Greek ethnonym Kaspioi , mentioned twice by Herodotus among the Achaemenid satrapies of Darius the Great and applied by Strabo . The name is attested in Old Iranian . The Caspians have generally been regarded as a pre- Indo-European people. They have been identified by Ernst Herzfeld with
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#1732772485684528-407: The wars, the Amatuni sent their Suzerain (overlord), the king of Armenia, 500 horses and cavalry soldiers, which shows the political weight and military potential of this grand princely family. [1] . At the initiative of the princes Amatuni, Mesrop Mashtots , the creator of the Armenian alphabet , was buried here. As Nakharars the Amatuni owned Oshakan until 773, after which these lands came under
552-612: Was ruling castle of Maku (Shavarshan) stil in XVth century and successfully defend it during Timurleng invasion, when he besieged castle of Maku, as was stated in his book by Castilian diplomat don Ruy González de Clavijo , when he was traveling to the imperial court of emir Timurleng in Samarkand. A branch of the family still controlled a fiefdom of Artaz in Maku down to the 1500s when Ottomans and Kurdish tribes toppled Armenian rule in
576-625: Was then a part of Upper Armenia ( Armenian : Բարձր Հայք , Bardzr Hayk'), a province of Greater Armenia , since the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. After this, Sper was an Armenian Bagratid domain in the 4th - 6th centuries, the territory of which also comprised the Bayburt plain until that was lost to the Byzantines (perhaps in 387). In the 7th century it passed to the Arab Caliphate ; in 885 Bagratuni Kingdom of Armenia . Under
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