#artashat

APHRODITE Statue[tte]: From [modern] Artashat, Armenia 2 - 1 BC Marble H. appx 40cm [Produced in Greece-?]

History Museum of Armenia, Yerevan | HMoA 1st Floor, "Armenia 4 BC - 3 AD". • Web : https://historymuseum.am/en • FB : https://www.facebook.com/HistoryMuseumofArmenia • IG : @historymuseumofarmenia_ • LiN : https://www.linkedin.com/in/history-museum-of-armenia-79405912b

HMoA | Michael Svetbird phs©msp | 01|24 6300X4200 600 [I.] The photographed object is collection item of HMoA, photos are subject to copyright. [non commercial use | sorry for the watermarks]

📸 Part of the "Small Format Sculpture and Miniature Artefacts" MSP Online Photo-gallery:

👉 D-ART: https://www.deviantart.com/svetbird1234/gallery/69450077/small-format-sculpture-and-miniature-artifacts

👉 FB Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.859777984390780&type=3

Temple of Tyr-Apollo

Artashat (Artaxata), Armenia

1st century CE

The site is located on the left bank of the Arax River, next to the Taperakan (Artashat) Bridge. An earlier temple complex (189/188 BCE) was destroyed in the early 1st century, during the Roman campaign led by Domitius Corbulo, which sacked the city in 59.

A new platform was built over the old during the reign of T'rdat I (r. 53-60) and a new building was built on top. Both the platform and temple were made of limestone. Six wide steps (4.85m) led to the eastern entrance of the temple. The walls were decorated with bas relief sculptures. For a long time the locations of this site had been unknown and widely disputed. Among the artifacts found were varying sizes and types of imported and locally-made pottery including a remarkable find, a polished red lion-headed lug bowl. Also found was an eagle head made from limestone with eyes and neck painted dark red. In ancient times the lion was the symbol of the summer sun and the eagle was the symbol of both the sun and a messenger of the gods.

After Christianity was adopted as state religion the new temple, too, was destroyed.

PLACES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD: Artashat (Capital of Ancient Armenia) 

ARTASHAT (aka Artaxata) was the capital of Ancient Armenia from 176 BCE and remained so for over 300 years of the kingdom’s history. Located just south of Armenia’s modern capital Yerevan, according to the ancient historian Plutarch, the city’s original fortifications were planned by the Carthaginian general Hannibal. The city would need all the defences it could muster as it was attacked multiple times by Roman armies throughout its history until it was eventually replaced by Vagharshapat and Dvin as the country's first city.

Around 200 BCE Artaxias I (aka Artashes or Artaxerxes), backed by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus III (r. 222-187 BCE), was made the Seleucid Empire’s satrap in Armenia. Artaxias would reign until 165 or 160 BCE and found the Artaxiad dynasty which would rule Armenia until the first decade of the 1st century CE.

Tiridates I de Armenia

Tiridates I (Trdat I) gobernó como rey de Armenia desde el año 63 hasta el 75 o el 88 d.C. Considerado el fundador de la dinastía arsácida propiamente dicha, su reinado tuvo un comienzo difícil debido a las invasiones de Roma y Partia; sin embargo, tras ser coronado en una fastuosa ceremonia celebrada en Roma y oficiada por el propio Nerón, el rey armenio gobernaría durante dos décadas relativamente pacíficas y muy prósperas. La fecha exacta en que terminó su reinado es objeto de controversia debido a fuentes antiguas contradictorias, pero (probablemente) le sucedió su hijo Sanatruk II, quien al igual que su padre supo mantener a Armenia en la cuerda floja diplomática que parecía destinada a ocupar para siempre entre las dos superpotencias de la región.

Tiridate Ier d'Arménie

Tiridate Ier régna en tant que roi d'Arménie de 63 à 75 ou 88 de notre ère.) Considéré comme le fondateur de la dynastie des Arsacides, son règne connut des débuts difficiles avec des invasions de Rome et des Parthes mais, une fois couronné lors d'une somptueuse cérémonie à Rome dirigée par Néron en personne, le roi arménien régna pendant deux décennies relativement paisibles et très prospères. La date exacte de la fin de son règne est controversée en raison de sources anciennes contradictoires, mais son fils Sanatruk II (alias Sanatrocès) lui succéda (probablement) et poursuivit le succès de son père en équilibrant l'Arménie sur la corde raide diplomatique qu'elle semblait destinée à occuper à jamais entre les deux superpuissances de la région.