Categories: Antiquities

Baghaberd – Kapani Berd – Armenia

Baghaberd (Բաղաբերդ, otherwise known as Kapani berd) is a fortress located in the Syunik province, Armenia, between the cities of Kapan (Կապան) and Kajaran (Քաջարան), near the confluence of the rivers Geghi (Գեղի) and Voghji (Ողջի). The fortress is located at an altitude of 200 meters above the rivers.

The controversial issue in the history of the fortress is the date of its foundation and early history. Most often, the fortress is dated at the 3rd-4th centuries. Stepanos Orbelian believed that the fortress existed in 350 and was used by Arshak II in the war against the Persian king Shapur.

Since the destruction of Kapan in 1103, the fortress was the capital of the Syunik Kingdom.

The fortress fell in 1170. Its treasury was looted by the Seljuks and more than 10,000 manuscripts were destroyed. This event is considered the date of the fall of the Syunik Kingdom.

Vigen Avetisyan

View Comments

Recent Posts

The Priestess of the Kingdom of Van: A 9th-Century BC Bronze Figurine in the British Museum

Five angles of one small bronze figure — and what emerges is not an abstract…

1 week ago

The Winged Sun and the Armenian Tiara: Royal Symbolism of the Orontid (Yervanduni) Kingdom of Commagene, 163 BC – 72 AD

Introduction Among the successor states that emerged from the fragmentation of the Achaemenid-derived Orontid (Armenian:…

1 week ago

A Bronze Age Vessel from Gardman: Solar Symbolism, the Sun-Cross, and the Sacred Landscape of Ancient Armenia

Article based on the explanations and interpretive observations of Angela Terian, with additional archaeological and…

1 week ago

Rewriting the Caucasus: A Documented Look at Azerbaijan’s Historical Revisionism Regarding Armenia

Lenin: Soviet nationalities policy, Azerbaijan SSR founded 1920, Stalin: Constitution and census fix the ethnonym…

2 weeks ago

A Painted Wall from Ancient Armenia: The New Erebuni Fresco and the Urartian-Armenian Continuity

An unprecedented find on Arin Berd hill On 23 July 2026, the French Embassy in…

2 weeks ago

The Date Khorenatsi Gave for Armenia’s Founding — Now Backed by Genetics

For more than fifteen centuries, one line from Movses Khorenatsi's History of the Armenians has…

2 weeks ago