Since the 2nd century BC until 387 AD, Artsakh has been a province of Greater Armenia, the northeastern borders of which passed along the Kura River, as testified by a number of Greek, Roman, and Armenian historians and geographers.
Arstakh was also referred to as “Orchistene” by Strabo. He also mentioned it as a province of Armenia. Here, Tigran II the Great built Tigranakert of Artsakh, the fourth city named after him. Today, that particular Tigranakert is identified with the ruins of an antique and medieval city discovered near Aghdam.
At the site, archaeologists discovered the ruins of a citadel, a 5th-6th-century Christian basilica, as well as hundreds of artifacts resembling those found in Armenia. Tigranakert of Artsakh existed since the 1st century BC until the 13th-15th centuries.
From weighed silver and Achaemenid-era imports to the kings of Sophene, the coins of Tigranes…
Military history series · Armenian Highland, 4th millennium BCE – 18th century CE Introduction: why…
How the 2026 Armenian-Italian field season at the Shamiram fortress and necropolis in Aragatsotn adds…
On October 1, 2026, an armed Azerbaijani soldier entered a family home in Syunik, Armenia.…
A 19th-century Baluch rug beside a 13th-century khachkar from Hovhannavank: a shared design logic, and…
A portrait from the Armenian highlands Two women stand before a painted studio backdrop of…