Mardpetakan () was a historical region and principality within the province of

Vaspurakan Vaspurakan (, Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Vasbouragan'') was the eighth province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered on Lake Van. Located in what is now southeaster ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. It stretched in between the principality of Andzewatsʻi in

Corduene Corduene hy, Կորճայք, translit=Korchayk; ; romanized: ''Kartigini'') was an ancient historical region, located south of Lake Van, present-day eastern Turkey. Many believe that the Kardouchoi—mentioned in Xenophon’s Anabasis as havin ...

, south of

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

, to

Siunik Syunik ( hy, Սյունիք, ) is the southernmost province of Armenia. It is bordered by the Vayots Dzor Province to the north, Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic exclave to the west, Azerbaijan to the east, and Iran to the south. It ...

, north of

Araxes , az, Araz, fa, ارس, tr, Aras The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan excl ...

river. The name of the region derives from the title "Mardpet," which was originally the title of the dynastic prince of the Mardian people (the Mardoi of Greco-Roman sources), but later became the title of a high-ranking official (called the "Grand Chamberlain of Armenia" by modern historians) in the court of the

Arsacid kings of Armenia The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conqueri ...

. In the view of historian Cyril Toumanoff, the tribal lands of the Mardians eventually became the property of the Armenian crown and were given to the Grand Chamberlain for governance, who in turn acquired the title "Mardpet." Historian

Robert H. Hewsen Robert H. Hewsen (May 20, 1934 – November 17, 2018) was an American historian and professor of history at Rowan University. He was an expert on the ancient history of the South Caucasus. Hewsen is the author of ''Armenia: A Historical Atlas'' (2 ...

believed the Mardians to have formed a

Median In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic fe ...

enclave in Armenia who were perhaps the ancestors of the later

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

who inhabited this part of Armenia, writing that "the Mardians inhabited a region thinly settled by Armenians and overwhelmingly

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

(Mard = ‘Kurd’ in medieval Armenian)" even before the dispersal of the Armenians between 1895 and 1917." The Amatuni princes of Artaz, who were possibly of Median origin, may have ruled over the whole of Mardpetakan before it became a royal land. According to Hewsen, Mardpetakan probably included the following districts: Mardastan (land of the Mards), Bun Mardastan ("main" or "original" land of the Mards), Chuashṛot, Tʻoṛnawan, Ardzishakovit, Khughanovit, Aghandṛot, Krchunikʻ, and Nakhchawan. In another work, Hewsen gives the ten districts of Mardpetakan as follows: Mardastan/Mardutsʻaykʻ, Toṛnawan, Chuashṛot, Krchunikʻ, Aghandṛot, Gaṛni, Bakʻ(r)an, Marand, Gabitʻean, and Nakhchawan. After the dethroning of the last Arsacid king of Armenia in 428, Mardpetakan passed to the

Artsruni dynasty The Artsruni ( hy, Արծրունի; also transliterated as Ardzruni) were an ancient noble (princely) family of Armenia. Background and history The Artsruni's claimed descent from Sennacherib, King of Assyria (705 BC–681 BC). Although ...

, who would later establish the

Kingdom of Vaspurakan The Kingdom of Vaspurakan (; also transliterated as Vasbouragan from Western Armenian) was a Middle Ages, medieval Armenians, Armenian kingdom centered on Lake Van, located in what is now eastern Turkey and northwestern Iran. It was named after ...

in the 10th century. After the repartition of Armenia between

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

and Sasanian Iran in 591, Mardpetakan, along with seven other nearby principalities, was made a part of the royal province called Vazurg Armanān ("Greater Armenia") of the Sasanian realm.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Authority control History of Kurdistan Early medieval Armenian regions Vaspurakan