JAVAKHQ: HISTORICAL OUTLINE (PART I)
By Ashot Melkonian

04/javakhq-historical-outline-part-i/
August 4, 2009

The rights to the English translation and publication of this
article-which will appear in this and next week’s issue of the Armenian
Weekly-belong to the Hairenik Association.

Part I: From Javakhq’s Historical Past

Gugarq, the 13th of the 15 regions (ashkhars) of historical Armenia’s
Metz Haiq (Greater Armenia) Kingdom, covered the northern section
of the Armenian Highlands. In the east, it bordered on the province
of Utiq; in the west, of Tayq; in the south, of Ayrarat; and in
the north it bordered on Iberia (Virq, Georgia). Its administrative
center was the city of Tsurtav. Gugarq was one of the four borderline
counties of the Armenian Kingdom and, at times, it enjoyed a certain
autonomy. According to some Georgian historians, the name Gugarq
has a Georgian origin, and it derives from the inhabitants of the
region who were called "Gogars" or "Gargars." But Armenian sources
do not mention such an ethnicity. As for the land of the Gargars,
it has no correlation with Gugarq.

The nine constituent counties of Gugarq were Dzoropor, Koghbopor,
Tzobopor, Tashir, Treghq, Kangarq, Kgharjq, Upper Javakhq, and
Artahan. Up to the first partition of Armenia (387 A.D.), the region
also included neighboring Shavshet, Inner Javakhq, Mangleatspor,
Qwishapor, Boghnopor, Khantsikhen, and Paruar. The total area covered
more than 16,500 square kilometers.

Javakhq is mentioned as eighth in rank of the Gugarq counties. It
was located in the central part of the region and covered areas of
the plateau of the same name (the headland of Akhalqalaq, upland of
Javakhq) and the mountainous area surrounding the latter, bordering
on Treghq (Trialet) in the north, on Samsar and Javakhq mountains
(Kechut, Mtin) in the east, and in the south, on the headland forming
the extension of the Ashotsq plateau.

In historiography, different points of view are offered on the
terminology of the name "Javakhq." According to the Georgian writer
Leonti Mroveli (author of Annals of Qartli and The Life of Qartli),
the plain of Kur, the environs of the river Potskhov (historic
Samtskhe province, now Akhaltskha), and other surrounding lands were
inherited by Javakhos, son of Mtskhetos, grandson of the ancestor of
the Georgians, Qartlos. After Javakhos, the region has been called
Javakhq, Javakheti in Georgian. However, rightfully considering this
"thesis" mythological and overly simplistic, many later researchers
have attempted to find other explanations. Some, having in mind the
region’s favorable climate for growing barley, have connected javi,
the Georgian word for barley, with the name. Others have tried to
find in the area an ethnic race of Javakhis.

In reality, the place-name of Javakhq, as is evident in the
inscriptions of Van (Kingdom of Van)-where it is mentioned from the
close of the 9th century B.C.-is a transliterated variant of the land
called "Zabakha" or "Zabakhian": Zabakha-Jabakha-Javakha-Javakhq. In
the Khokhorian inscriptions of Argishti I (786-764 B.C.), among the
conquered lands of Diaukh or Daya (Tayq) and Tariun (Daruynq, Basen),
there is mention of Zabakhan. This name is also referred to in several
inscriptions left by a number of succeeding Urartian kings. Although,
there is no mention of Javakhq prior to the 8th century B.C., by
studying the pre-Urartian era, it is possible to presume that it had
either been an administrative part of an early Armenian state formation
of the 2nd millennia B.C.-in all likelihood of Hayasa or Etiuni-or it
may have been a fairly large, separate entity including the entire
western section of the province of Gugarq. The second hypothesis
is more probable; it is not by coincidence that the above-mentioned
Argishti inscription mentions Zabakha as an occupied country. It means
that until the beginning of the 8th century B.C., Javakhq had been
a self-governing nation at the time and, as a territory inhabited
by ethnic Armenians, was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of Van,
constituting its largest province on the north-western frontier.

There is almost no direct reference to Javakhq from the post-Urartian,
Armenian Ervanduni era. We can only cite two semi-legendary, yet
noteworthy, references from Moses of Khoren’s History of the Armenians
and Qartlis Tskhovreba. The father of historians notes that Vagharshak
I bequeathed "half of the Javakhs sector" to Gushar of the Sharas and
assigned a viceroy there to protect the Armenian homeland against the
north-Caucasian highlanders. Many scholars studying this venture of the
semi-legendary figure Vagharshak place it in the 3rd century B.C. At
that time, it seems, Javakhq was within the domains of the Ervandunis
and was given to Gushar, thus becoming identified with the latter; as
such, it ceased to be a vast province in its own right and was included
in the newly formed frontier principality as two split parts: Upper
Javakhq and Lower Javakhq. Upper Javakhq is identified with the "half
of the Javakhs sector" mentioned by Moses of Khoren, since it was given
to the Shirak province of the neighboring Shara. There are no sources
mentioning Lower Javakhq. But, if there was the upper segment-which
was the southern and northeastern highland-there must have also been a
"Lower Javakhq" encompassing the lowlands in the west and northwest.

It is significant that the above account by Moses of Khoren, written in
3rd-century B.C. (approximately) Javakhq, appears in its inaccurate,
"Georgian" version in Qartlis Tskhoveba, according to which-as
mentioned above-it was given to Javakhos. The fact is that in 270 B.C.,
adjacent to northern Metz Haiq, the Parnavazian state of the Georgians
(Iberia, Virq) had come into existence and, with the assistance
of the Seleucids-who were opposed to the Armenian Ervandunis-had
occupied and annexed the provinces of Gugarq and Javakhq, along
with other neighboring areas. At that time, the center of Javakhq
was the fortress of Tzunda, which the Armenians called Qajatun (City
of the Brave). The Greek writer Strabo describes the steps taken to
recover the territories listed above from the Georgians. He writes
that in the 2nd century B.C., King Artaxes of the Armenians (189-160)
had regained from the Iberians, among other lands, Gogarene (Gugarq)
and rejoined them to his country. The same statement, in different
words, is encountered also in Georgian sources. According to Leonti
Mroveli, in order to conquer Javakhetia, the Qartvelians (Georgians)
prompted the Osetians-the Alans, mentioned in Armenian annals-to
attack Artaxes. It means that the Armeno-Alan war, described by Moses
of Khoren in the well-known fable of "Artaxes and Satenik," was fought
also for Javakhq. Artaxes was not only able to re-conquer the Armenian
lands, but he also subjugated the small Georgian Kingdom. In fact,
the Georgian throne passed to the viceroy (Bdeshkh) of Gugarq. It is
not surprising, therefore, that in reference many future writers make
use of the title "Bdeshkh of Gugarians and Georgians."

Similarly, during the period of the Artaxiads and Arshakunis,
references to Javakhq are rare and it is basically through the
concept of the entire province of Gugarq that one can visualize the
region. The latter, until the downfall of the Arshakunis in 428 A.D.,
has remained the northern frontier province of Metz Haiq, and has not
been separated from it even in the first half of the first century
of our era (1-52 A.D.), when the Armenian throne was occupied by
foreigners, including Georgians.

>From the few references to the region in question, perhaps the most
valuable-a revealing observation on its demographic composition-belongs
to the pen of a Georgian historian. According to tradition, Nino
(Nune, of Armenian sources), one of the Hripsimean sisterhood of
Christian missionaries, on her way to Georgia from Armenia, finds
herself in Javakhq, where she meets Mskheti shepherds on the shores
of Lake Parvana and, speaking to them in Armenian, receives the right
directions to get to Mskhet. This testimony elucidates two important
issues. First, that Nune, a resident of Armenia until her passage to
Virq, was familiar with the native language and, along with other
missionaries, brought Christianity from Armenia to the land of the
Georgians. Second, that the language spoken in Javakhq was Armenian,
since it was populated with Armenians, otherwise there would have
been no necessity for shepherds from Mskhet to learn the language of
the Armenians.

During the reign of Arshak II (350-368 A.D.), Gugarq revolted and
pledged allegiance to the Georgian king. By the order of King Pap,
Sparapet (Supreme Commander) Mushegh re-conquered Gugarq and punished
the Bdeshkh and the princes who had helped him, re-establishing the
River Kur as the boundary between Armenia and Georgia: "…the old
boundary, which prevailed before between the land of the Armenians
and that of the Georgians, which is the great River Kur itself."

It is remarkable that, while being part of Gugarq, during the
3rd and 4th centuries, Javakhq managed to maintain its internal
autonomy. The princely clan of the Vardzavunis ruled there, and had
their special place in Arsacid (Arshakuni) Armenia. In the "Gahnamak"
(Register of Noble Clans), they occupied the 23rd place on a list of 70
"nakhararutiuns." During wartime, they contributed 200 warriors to the
eastern of the four command sectors. After the partition of Armenia in
the year 387 A.D., the influence of the Arsacids on Gugarq and Javakhq
was considerably weakened and, after the fall of the Armenian Kingdom,
the two regions were absorbed into the Georgian Satrapy set up under
the rule of Persia, at the same time that Artsakh was made part of
another Persian dominion, Aghvanq.

Along with all of northern Armenia, Javakhq also remained under
Persian rule until the Arab invasions of the 7th century. In History
of Taron, written by the contemporary author Hovhan Mamikonian, in
his narrative of the Arab conquests, once more we come across the name
of Javakhq. The author relates that the Arab general Abd el-Rahib had
sacked, in the mid-7th century, the Armenian provinces of Harq, Basen,
Javakhq, Vananda and, moving on to Virq, had returned to Arabia with
his loot. It is noteworthy, that Javakhq is listed with the Armenian
provinces, and Virq is mentioned only at the end. It signifies that
in the years 40-50 of the 7th century, during the period of the Arab
invasions, this province was part of Armenia, not Virq.

Javakhq remained under Arab domination until the end of the 9th
century, when Smbat I of the Bagratids (890-914 A.D.), according
to the historian Hovhannes of Draskhanakert, "…up and assailed
the province of the Gugars, subduing and conquering them for the
fortification of his own domain."

During the years 70-80 A.D., most of Gugarq formed part of the Kingdom
of Lori, or Kiurik (also Gugarq, Dzoraget). Upper Javakhq-particularly
Gogshen, its southern section-remained under the rule of the Bagratids
for a while, as, towards the end of the 10th century, Inner Javakhq
became a part of the increasingly more powerful Georgian Bagratids. By
the beginning of the 11th century, the same fate befell the heartland
of Upper Javakhq. In a short while, the Georgian kings turned Javakhq
and the neighboring Samtskhe into strong, fortified outposts of
their southern domains as a protection against separatist forces, the
Byzantine Empire and, later on, the Seljuk Turks. At the start of the
11th century, Bagrat III fortified one of the centers of the province
and called it New City, Akhalqalaq in Georgian (akhali meaning "new,"
qalaqi meaning "city"). In the years 1044-1047, in his war against
Liparit Orbelian, Bagrat IV built the Akhalklaq fort on the left bank
of the stream called Qarasunaghbiur. A certain number of Georgians
were brought here to populate the area.

Georgian hegemony did not last very long. In the year 1064, Armenia
and Georgia were devastated by the Seljuks. At that time, the Sultan
Alp Aslan "…set up camp in the province called Javalis (Javakhs),"
writes Matheos Urhayetsi, "and surrounding with arms the city called
Alakh (Akhal-qaghaq city), with a mighty assault captured Alakh city,
ruthlessly putting men and women, priests, clerics, and nobles to the
sword. He flooded the city with blood and took countless youngsters
and girls to Persia as slaves, and treasures of gold, silver, jewels,
and pearls beyond measure." Vardan the historian also narrates on these
events: The nephew of Tughril, Alp-Aslan "…returned with a force
of a hundred thousand and captured the new city that the Georgians
call Akhal-city (qaghaq)." It is obvious from these statements by
historians that by the middle of the 11th century, Akhalqalaq, which
had replaced Dzunda as regional center, had lost a sizable part of
its population to atrocious massacres and mass deportations.

At the beginning of the 12th century, King David the Builder of
Georgia (1089-1125) managed to regain Lori and Javakhq from the Seljuk
Turks. But, over the entire duration of the 11th century, Javakhq-along
with other provinces-continued to change hands. In August 1175, the
troops of Sultan-Atabek Eltkuz of Gandzak occupied and sacked Javakhq
and Treghq. Georgi III (1156-1184), avoiding a confrontation, showed no
opposition to the Seljuk aggression. After destroying Ani and Shirak,
Eltkuz "…totally devastates Akhal-qaghaq and Javakhet and then turns
towards Dvin…" Only towards the end of the 12th century-according
to Queen Tamar’s (1184-1213) historian-after the victorious campaigns
of Zachary and Ivane Zacharians, did the territories between Javakhq
and Sper fall under Georgian rule.

During this period, infiltrations of Qartvelian ethnic groups into
Javakhq continued along with the spread of Georgian Orthodoxy-a
process that was evident during the rise of the Bagratids of Georgia
(from the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century) not only in
Akhalqalaq but also other areas of northern Armenia which, as a result
of the growing Armeno-Georgian alliance, had been absorbed into the
boundaries of Georgia.

Nevertheless, of those provinces, Lori, Samtskhe-Akhaltskha,
Daush, areas around Sevan, as well as Javakhq remained essentially
Armenian-populated territories. It is not by chance that the Georgian
court trusted these provinces to the Armenian Zacharians who, under
the aegis of Georgia, created their own fiefdom.