Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historical period characterized by the use of bronze, in some areas proto-writing, other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second principal period of the three-age Stone-Bronze-Iron system, as proposed in modern times by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, for classifying and studying ancient societies. An ancient civilization is defined to be in the Bronze Age either by producing bronze by smelting its own copper and alloying with tin, arsenic, or other metals, or by trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere. Bronze itself is harder and more durable than other metals available at the time, allowing Bronze Age civilizations to gain a technological advantage. Copper-tin ores are rare, as reflected in the fact that there were no tin bronzes in Western Asia before trading in bronze began in the third millennium BC. Worldwide, the Bronze Age followed the Neolithic period, with the Chalcolithic serving as a transition. Although the Iron Age followed the Bronze Age, in some areas, the Iron Age intruded directly on the Neolithic.
Bronze Age cultures differed in their development of the first writing. According to archaeological evidence, cultures in Mesopotamia and Egypt developed the earliest viable writing systems; the overall period is characterized by widespread use of bronze, though the place and time of the introduction and development of bronze technology were not universally synchronous. Human-made tin bronze technology requires set production techniques. Tin must be mined and smelted separately added to molten copper to make bronze alloy; the Bronze Age was a time of developing trade networks. A 2013 report suggests that the earliest tin-alloy bronze dates to the mid-5th millennium BC in a Vinča culture site in Pločnik, although this culture is not conventionally considered part of the Bronze Age; the dating of the foil has been disputed. Western Asia and the Near East was the first region to enter the Bronze Age, which began with the rise of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer in the mid 4th millennium BC.
Cultures in the ancient Near East practiced intensive year-round agriculture, developed a writing system, invented the potter's wheel, created a centralized government, written law codes and nation states and empires, embarked on advanced architectural projects, introduced social stratification and civil administration and practiced organized warfare and religion. Societies in the region laid the foundations for astronomy and astrology. Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The Ancient Near East Bronze Age can be divided as following: The Hittite Empire was established in Hattusa in northern Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite Kingdom was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, southwestern Syria as far as Ugarit, upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, amid general turmoil in the Levant conjectured to have been associated with the sudden arrival of the Sea Peoples, the kingdom disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some of which survived until as late as the 8th century BC.
Arzawa in Western Anatolia during the second half of the second millennium BC extended along southern Anatolia in a belt that reaches from near the Turkish Lakes Region to the Aegean coast. Arzawa was the western neighbor – sometimes a rival and sometimes a vassal – of the Middle and New Hittite Kingdoms; the Assuwa league was a confederation of states in western Anatolia, defeated by the Hittites under an earlier Tudhaliya I, around 1400 BC. Arzawa has been associated with the much more obscure Assuwa located to its north, it bordered it, may be an alternative term for it. In Ancient Egypt the Bronze Age begins in the Protodynastic period, c. 3150 BC. The archaic early Bronze Age of Egypt, known as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt follows the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt, c. 3100 BC. It is taken to include the First and Second Dynasties, lasting from the Protodynastic Period of Egypt until about 2686 BC, or the beginning of the Old Kingdom. With the First Dynasty, the capital moved from Abydos to Memphis with a unified Egypt ruled by an Egyptian god-king.
Abydos remained the major holy land in the south. The hallmarks of ancient Egyptian civilization, such as art and many aspects of religion, took shape during the Early Dynastic period. Memphis in the Early Bronze Age was the largest city of the time; the Old Kingdom of the regional Bronze Age is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley. The First Intermediate Period of Egypt described as a "dark period" in ancient Egyptian history, spanned about 100 years after the end of the Old Kingdom from about 2181 to 2055 BC. Little monumental evidence survives from this period from the early part of it; the First Intermediate Period was a dynamic time when the rule of Egypt was divided between two competing power bases: Heracleopolis in Lower Egypt and Thebes in Upper Egypt. These two kingdoms would come into conflict, with the Theban kings conquering the north, resulting in the reunification of Egypt under a single ruler during the second part of the 11th Dynasty.
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History of Armenia
Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat. The original Armenian name for the country was Hayk Hayastan, translated as the land of Haik, consisting of the name of the ancient Mesopotamian god Haya and the Persian suffix'-stan'; the historical enemy of Hayk, was Bel, or in other words Baal. The name Armenia was given to the country by the surrounding states, it is traditionally derived from Armenak or Aram. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire and Hayasa-Azzi. Soon after the Hayasa-Azzi were the Nairi and the Kingdom of Urartu, who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland; each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, dates back to the 8th century BC, with the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC by King Argishti I at the western extreme of the Ararat plain. Erebuni has been described as "designed as a great administrative and religious centre, a royal capital."The Iron Age kingdom of Urartu was replaced by the Orontid dynasty.
Following Persian and subsequent Macedonian rule, the Artaxiad dynasty from 190 BC gave rise to the Kingdom of Armenia which rose to the peak of its influence under Tigranes II before falling under Roman rule. In 301, Arsacid Armenia was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion; the Armenians fell under Byzantine, Sassanid Persian, Islamic hegemony, but reinstated their independence with the Bagratid Dynasty kingdom of Armenia. After the fall of the kingdom in 1045, the subsequent Seljuk conquest of Armenia in 1064, the Armenians established a kingdom in Cilicia, where they prolonged their sovereignty to 1375. Starting in the early 16th century, Greater Armenia came under Safavid Persian rule, however over the centuries Eastern Armenia remained under Persian rule while Western Armenia fell under Ottoman rule. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia was conquered by Russia and Greater Armenia was divided between the Ottoman and Russian Empires. In the early 20th century Armenians suffered in the genocide inflicted on them by the Ottoman government of Turkey, in which 1.5 million Armenians were killed and many more dispersed throughout the world via Syria and Lebanon.
Armenia, from on corresponding to much of Eastern Armenia, regained independence in 1918, with the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia, in 1991, the Republic of Armenia. Stone tools from 325,000 years ago have been found in Armenia which indicate the presence of early humans at this time. In the 1960s excavations in the Yerevan 1 Cave uncovered evidence of ancient human habitation, including the remains of a 48,000-year-old heart, a human cranial fragment and tooth of a similar age; the Armenian Highland shows traces of settlement from the Neolithic era. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe, straw skirt, wine-making facility at the Areni-1 cave complex; the Shulaveri-Shomu culture of the central Transcaucasus region is one of the earliest known prehistoric cultures in the area, carbon-dated to 6000–4000 BC. An early Bronze-Age culture in the area is the Kura-Araxes culture, assigned to the period between c. 4000 and 2200 BC.
The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain. Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name Armenian may have been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions Armanî together with Ibla, from territories conquered by Naram-Sin identified with an Akkadian colony in the current region of Diyarbekir. Today, the Modern Assyrians refer to the Armenians by the name Armani; the word is speculated to be related to the Mannaeans, which may be identical to the biblical Minni. The earliest forms of the word Hayastan, an ethonym the Armenians use to designate their country, might come from Hittite sources of the Late Bronze Age, such as the kingdom of Hayasa-Azzi. Another record mentioned by pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt in the 33rd year of his reign as the people of Ermenen, says in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars". However, what all these attestations refer to cannot be determined with certainty, the earliest certain attestation of the name Armenia comes from the Behistun Inscription.
Between 1500 and 1200 BC, the Hayasa-Azzi existed in the western half of the Armenian Highland clashing with the Hittite Empire. Between 1200 and 800 BC, much of Armenia was united under a confederation of kingdoms, which Assyrian sources called Nairi; the Kingdom of Urartu flourished between 585 BC in the Armenian Highland. The founder of the Urartian Kingdom, Aramé, united all the principalities of the Armenian Highland and gave himself the title "King of Kings", the traditional title of Urartian Kings; the Urartians established their sovereignty over all of Vaspurakan. The main rival of Urartu was the Neo-As
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire called the First Persian Empire, was an empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great. Ranging at its greatest extent from the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper in the west to the Indus Valley in the east, it was larger than any previous empire in history, spanning 5.5 million square kilometers. Incorporating various peoples of different origins and faiths, it is notable for its successful model of a centralised, bureaucratic administration, for building infrastructure such as road systems and a postal system, the use of an official language across its territories, the development of civil services and a large professional army; the empire's successes inspired similar systems in empires. By the 7th century BC, the Persians had settled in the south-western portion of the Iranian Plateau in the region of Persis, which came to be their heartland. From this region, Cyrus the Great advanced to defeat the Medes and the Neo-Babylonian Empire, establishing the Achaemenid Empire.
Alexander the Great, an avid admirer of Cyrus the Great, conquered most of the empire by 330 BC. Upon Alexander's death, most of the empire's former territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Seleucid Empire, in addition to other minor territories which gained independence at that time; the Iranian elites of the central plateau reclaimed power by the second century BC under the Parthian Empire. The Achaemenid Empire is noted in Western history as the antagonist of the Greek city-states during the Greco-Persian Wars and for the emancipation of the Jewish exiles in Babylon; the historical mark of the empire went far beyond its territorial and military influences and included cultural, social and religious influences as well. Despite the lasting conflict between the two states, many Athenians adopted Achaemenid customs in their daily lives in a reciprocal cultural exchange, some being employed by or allied to the Persian kings; the impact of Cyrus's edict is mentioned in Judeo-Christian texts, the empire was instrumental in the spread of Zoroastrianism as far east as China.
The empire set the tone for the politics and history of Iran. The term Achaemenid means "of the family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes". Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, a vassal of Assyria. Astronomical year numbering Dates are approximate, consult particular article for details The Persian nation contains a number of tribes as listed here....: the Pasargadae and Maspii, upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Germanii, all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder -the Dai, Dropici, being nomadic; the Achaemenid Empire was created by nomadic Persians. The name "Persia" is a Greek and Latin pronunciation of the native word referring to the country of the people originating from Persis; the Persians were an Iranian people who arrived in what is today Iran c. 1000 BC and settled a region including north-western Iran, the Zagros Mountains and Persis alongside the native Elamites.
For a number of centuries they fell under the domination of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. The Persians were nomadic pastoralists in the western Iranian Plateau and by 850 BC were calling themselves the Parsa and their shifting territory Parsua, for the most part localized around Persis; the Achaemenid Empire was not the first Iranian empire, as the Medes, another group of Iranian peoples, established a short-lived empire and played a major role in the overthrow of the Assyrian. The Achaemenids were rulers of the Elamite city of Anshan near the modern city of Marvdasht. There are conflicting accounts of the identities of the earliest Kings of Anshan. According to the Cyrus Cylinder the kings of Anshan were Teispes, Cyrus I, Cambyses I and Cyrus II known as Cyrus the Great, who created the empire. In Herodotus' Histories, he writes that Cyrus the Great was the son of Cambyses I and Mandane of Media, the daughter of Astyages, the king of the Median Empire. Cyrus revolted against the Median Empire in 553 BC, in 550 BC succeeded in defeating the Medes, capturing Astyages and taking the Median capital city of Ecbatana.
Once in control of Ecbatana, Cyrus styled himself as the successor to Astyages and assumed control of the entire empire. By inheriting Astyages' empire, he inherited the territorial conflicts the Medes had had with both Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire. King Croesus of Lydia sought to take advantage of the new international situation by advancing into what had been Median territory in Asia Minor. Cyrus led a counterattack which not only fought off Croesus' armies, but led to the capture of Sardis and the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. Cyrus placed Pactyes in charge of collecting tribute in Lydia and left, but once Cyrus had left Pactyes instigated a rebellion against Cyrus. Cyrus sent the Median general Mazares to deal with the rebellion, Pactyes was captured. Mazares, aft
Principality of Khachen
The Principality of Khachen was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh. The marches of Artsakh and Utik were attached to the Kingdom of Armenia in Antiquity. In the early medieval period where they were under Sassanid or Arab suzerainty until the establishment of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia in the 9th century. From the 12th century the Armenian Khachen principality dominated the region; the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII addressed his letters to the prince of Khachen with the inscription "To Prince of Khachen, Armenia."According to Abū Dulaf, an Arab traveller of the time, Khachen was an Armenian principality south of Barda'a. The Armenian princely family of Hasan Jalalyan began ruling much of Khachen and Artsakh in 1214. In 1216, the Jalalyans founded the Gandzasar monastery which became the seat of a local Catholicos forced to Khachen from Partav by the steady Islamization of the city; the Khamsa principalities maintained Armenian autonomy in the region throughout the Persian-Ottoman Wars.
In 1603 the Persians established a protectorate over the Khamsa and sponsored the establishment of a local khanate in 1750. The name Khamsa, used by Arabs for the state, refers to the five Armenian Melikdoms who ruled the state. House of Hasan-Jalalyan History of Nagorno-Karabakh Artsakh Karabakh Gandzasar.com: Gandzasar Monastery, Nagorno Karabakh Republic cilicia.com
Hayk
Hayk the Great, Armenian pronunciation:, or The Great Hayk known as Hayk Nahapet, is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the History of Armenia attributed to the Armenian historian Moses of Chorene; the name of the patriarch, Հայկ Hayk is not homophonous with the name for "Armenia", Հայք Hayk’. Հայք Hayk’ is the nominative plural in Classical Armenian of հայ, the Armenian term for "Armenian." Some claim that the etymology of Hayk' from Hayk is impossible and that the origin of the term Hay is verifiable. Hayk and Haig are connected to hay and hayer, the self-designation of the Armenians. Armen Petroyan believes that the name Hayk can "very plausibly" be derived from the Indo-European *poti- ‘master, master of the house, husband’. Hayk would be an etiological founding figure, like e.g. Asshur for the Assyrians, etc. One of Hayk's most famous scions, settled in Eastern Armenia from the Mitanni kingdom, when Sargon II mentions a king of part of Armenia who bore the name Bagatadi.
Some sources claim. Armenian historiography of the Soviet era connected Hayk with Hayasa, mentioned in Hittite inscriptions; the Armenian word Haykakan or Haigagan finds its stem in this progenitor. Additionally, the poetic names for Armenians, Haykazun or Haykazn derives from Hayk. Moses of Chorene gave Hayk's genealogy as Japhet and Tiras, Torgom. Hayk's descendants are given as Amasya, Aram, Armanak and Harma. Hayk was said to be the founder of the Haykazuni Dynasty. According to Juansher, Hayk "was prince of the seven brothers and stood in service to the giant Nimrod who first ruled the entire world as king." According to Moses of Chorene, the Armenian noble family, the Haykazunis, which included a number of legendary kings, descended from Hayk. According to the accounts of Moses of Chorene and Sextus Julius Africanus, the battle occurred between the dynasty of Hayk and a Chaldean Dynasty in its third generation that had control of Babylon and the remaining territory of Akkadia under King Belus, a symbolic Babylonian/Akkadian God of War, or founder of Babylon depending on mythological tradition.
The conflict is said to of happened in 2107BC or earlier, as Babylon existed since 2300BC, this is plausible therefore. Bel may symbolize the Gutian dynasty of Sumer, which ruled remants of Akkadia as a tyrannical power during a Mesopotamian Dark Age after the Akkadian Empire broke up in 2154BC. Gutia is overlapping with Chaldeas territory. In Moses of Chorene's account, Hayk son of Torgom had a child named Armanak while he was living in Babylon. After the arrogant Titanid Bel made himself king over all, Hayk emigrated to the region near Mount Ararat. Hayk relocated near Mount Ararat with an extended household of at least 300 and settled there, founding a village he named Haykashen. On the way he had left a detachment in another settlement with his grandson Kadmos. Bel was refused. Bel decided to march against him with a massive force, but Hayk was warned ahead of time by Kadmos of his pending approach, he assembled his own army along the shore of Lake Van and told them that they must defeat and kill Bel, or die trying to do so, rather than become his slaves.
In his writings Moses states that: Hayk and his men soon discovered Bel's army positioned in a mountain pass, with the king in the vanguard. At Dyutsaznamart, near Julamerk southeast of Lake Van, on August 11, 2492 BC or 2107 BC, Hayk slew Bel with a nearly impossible shot using a long bow, sending the king's forces into disarray; the hill where Bel with his warriors fell, Hayk named Gerezmank meaning "tombs". He embalmed the corpse of Bel and ordered it to be taken to Hark where it was to be buried in a high place in the view of the wives and sons of the king. Soon after, Hayk established the fortress of Haykaberd at the battle site and the town of Haykashen in the Armenian province of Vaspurakan, he named the region of the battle Hayk, the site of the battle Hayots Dzor. The figure slain by Hayk's arrow is variously given as Nimrod. Hayk is the name of the Orion constellation in the Armenian translation of the Bible. Hayk's flight from Babylon and his eventual defeat of Bel, was compared to Zeus's escape to the Caucasus and eventual defeat of the Titans.
Hayko Aram Belus Nimrod List of Armenian patriarchs Armenian mythology Hayasa Armens Sisak P. Kretschmer. "Der nationale Name der Armenier Haik" Vahan Kurkjian, "History of Armenia", Michigan, 1968 Tacentral.com: Armenian History The Union of Armenian Noblemen: About Dynasties and Kings of Armenia The Union of Armenian Noblemen: Rulers and kings of the Haykazuni Dynasty
Arsacid dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni, ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 to 428. The dynasty was a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad dynasty until 62 when Tiridates I secured Arsacid dynasty of Parthia rule in Armenia. An independent line of Kings was established by Vologases II in 180. Two of the most notable events under Arsacid rule in Armenian history were the conversion of Armenia to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator in 301 and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in c. 405. The reign of the Arsacids of Armenia marked the predominance of Iranianism in the country; the first appearance of an Arsacid on the Armenian throne came about in 12 when the Parthian King Vonones I was exiled from Parthia due to his pro-Roman policies and Occidental manners. Vonones I acquired the Armenian throne with Roman consent, but Artabanus III demanded his deposition, as Emperor Augustus did not wish to begin a war with the Parthians he deposed Vonones I and sent him to Syria.
Artabanus III did not waste time after the deposition of Vonones I. Emperor Tiberius had no intention of giving up the buffer states of the Eastern frontier and sent his nephew and heir Germanicus to the East. Germanicus concluded a treaty with Artabanus III, in which he was recognized as king and friend of the Romans. Armenia was given in 18 to Zeno the son of Polemon I of Pontus, who assumed the Armenian name Artaxias; the Parthians under Artabanus III were too distracted by internal strife to oppose the Roman-appointed King. Zeno's reign was remarkably peaceful in Armenian history. After Zeno's death in 36, Artabanus III decided to reinstate an Arsacid over the Armenian throne, choosing his eldest son Arsaces I as a suitable candidate, but his succession to the Armenian throne was disputed by his younger brother Orodes, overthrown by Zeno. Tiberius concentrated more forces on the Roman frontier and once again after a decade of peace, Armenia was to become the theater of bitter warfare between the two greatest powers of the known world for the next twenty-five years.
Tiberius, sent. Mithridates subjugated Armenia to the Roman rule and deposed Arsaces inflicting huge devastation to the country. Mithridates was summoned back to Rome where he was kept a prisoner, Armenia was given back to Artabanus III who gave the throne to his younger son Orodes. Another civil war erupted in Parthia upon Artabanus III's death. In the meantime Mithridates was put back on the Armenian throne, with the help of his brother, Pharasmanes I, Roman troops. Civil war continued in Parthia for several years with Gotarzes seizing the throne in 45. In 51 Mithridates' nephew Rhadamistus killed his uncle; the governor of Cappadocia, Julius Pailinus, decided to conquer Armenia but he settled with the crowning of Radamistus who generously rewarded him. The current Parthian King Vologases I, saw an opportunity, invaded Armenia and succeeded in forcing the Iberians to withdraw from Armenia; the harsh winter that followed proved too much for the Parthians who withdrew, thus leaving open doors for Radamistus to regain his throne.
After regaining power, according to Tacitus, the Iberian was so cruel that the Armenians stormed the palace and forced Radamistus out of the country and Vologases I got the opportunity to install his brother Tiridates on the throne. Unhappy with the growing Parthian influence at their doorstep, Roman Emperor Nero sent General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo with a large army to the east in order to install Roman client kings. After Tiridates I escaped, Roman client king Tigranes VI was installed and in 61 he invaded the Kingdom of Adiabene, one of the Parthian vassal kingdoms. Vologases I considered this as an act of aggression from Rome and restarted a campaign to restore Tiridates I onto the Armenian throne. In the following battle of Rhandeia in 62, command of the Roman troops was again entrusted to Corbulo, who marched into Armenia and set a camp in Rhandeia, where he made a peace agreement with Tiridates upon which he was recognized as a king of Armenia but he agreed to become Roman client king in that he would go to Rome to be crowned by Emperor Nero.
Tiridates ruled Armenia until his death or deposition around 110 when Parthian king Osroes I invaded Armenia and throned his nephew Axidares, son of the previous Parthian king Pacorus II, as King of Armenia. This encroachment on the traditional sphere of influence of the Roman Empire ended the peace since Emperor Nero's times some half century earlier and started a new war with the new Roman Emperor Trajan. Trajan marched towards Armenia in October 113 to restore a Roman client king in Armenia. Envoys from Osroes I met Trajan at Athens, informing him that Axidares had been deposed and asking that Axidares' elder brother, Parthamasiris, be granted the throne. Trajan declined their proposal and in August 114 captured Arsamosata where Parthamasiris asked to be crowned, but instead of crowning him he annexed his kingdom as a new province to the Roman Empire. Parthamasiris was died mysteriously soon afterwards; as a Roman province Armenia was administered along with Cappadocia by Lucius Catilius Severus.
The Roman Senate issued coins which had celebrated this occasion and had borne the following inscription: ARMENIA ET MESOPOTAMIA IN POTESTATEM P. R. REDACTÆ. After a rebellion led by a pretender to the Parthian throne (Sanatruces II, son of Mithri
Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget
Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget, alternatively known as the Kingdom of Lori or Kiurikian Kingdom, was a medieval Armenian kingdom formed in the year 979 by the Kiurikian dynasty under the protectorate of the Bagratid kings of Armenia. The capital of the kingdom was Matsnaberd part of modern-day Azerbaijan, it was located on the territories of modern-day northern Armenia, northwestern Azerbaijan and southern Georgia. The founder of the kingdom and the Kiurikian dynasty was king Kiurike I. In 979 King Smbat II of Armenia granted the province of Tashir to his brother Kiurike with the title of king; the branch went on to outlive the main one in Ani. It became strong during the reign of King David I Anhoghin who succeeded his father Kiurike and ruled between 989 and 1048. David I Anhoghin conquered some territories from Emirates of Tbilisi and Ganja, chose Samshvilde as his residence. On, he tried to gain independence from the Bagratid kings of Ani. However, after failing he was punished by King Gagik I.
His properties were confiscated to become known as "Anhoghin" meaning "the Landless." David I was succeeded by Kiurike II who ruled between 1048 and 1089). After the fall of the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia, Kiurike II was bestowed by the Byzantines with the title of Kouropalates. Kiurike II moved the capital from Matsnaberd to Lori in 1065. In 1089, David II succeeded his father Kiurike II until 1118 when Tashir-Dzoraget was annexed to the Kingdom of Georgia. Unlike their Bagratuni relatives, the Kiurikian kings were unique in minting their own coins, with the line, "May the Lord aid Kiurike the Khorapaghat," running in five lines inscribed on the reverse side, they sponsored the construction of a number of churches and monasteries in northern Armenia, including those in Sanahin and Haghartsin, where a great many of them were interred. Bagratid Armenia Gugark
Media related to Bagratuni at Wikimedia Commons
