Sasun (historical Region)

Sasun or Sassoun (), also known as Sanasun or Sanasunkʻ (), was a region of historical Armenia, now located in the eastern part of modern-day Turkey.

In antiquity, Sasun was one of the ten districts (''gawaṛ'') of the province of Aghdznikʻ (Arzanene) of the Kingdom of Armenia. Over time, Sasun came to denote a larger region than the original ''gawaṛ''. In the 10th century, an independent Armenian principality based in Sasun and ruled by a branch of the Mamikonian dynasty emerged and existed until the 12th century. The region was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and the district (''kaza'') of Sasun was made a part of different administrative divisions before finally being attached to the Mush sanjak of the Bitlis vilayet. Kurds settled in Sasun in the Ottoman period, and an autonomous Kurdish emirate existed there until the 19th century. The region is now divided among the modern Turkish provinces of Muş, Bingöl, Bitlis, Siirt, Batman, and Diyarbakır, with the modern-day district of Sason in Batman Province encompassing only one part of historical Sasun.

The inhabitants of Sasun frequently enjoyed an autonomous or semi-independent status up to the modern era owing to the region's remoteness and inaccessibility, as well as to the armed resistance of its inhabitants. Sasun holds a significant place in Armenian culture, history and historical memory. The Sasun Armenians' reputation for courage and resistance to foreign rule is reflected in the Armenian national epic '' Daredevils of Sasun.'' In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Sasun became a focal point of the Armenian ''fedayi'' movement and was the site of numerous clashes between Armenian militiamen, Kurdish irregulars and the Ottoman authorities. The Armenians of Sasun showed armed resistance during the Armenian genocide in 1915, during which most of them were killed. Some Armenians from Sasun managed to flee and settled in the territory of modern-day Armenia, while a small number remained in Sasun. Most of the Armenians that remained in Sasun after the genocide have since left the region, settling primarily in Istanbul, and the region is now populated primarily by Kurds.

Name

The exact etymology of Sasun is unknown, although various folk etymologies exist. The name is first definitely attested in the 7th-century Armenian geography ''Ashkharhatsʻoytsʻ'', attributed to Anania Shirakatsi. Sanasun is the older form of the name, and both versions are also attested in the plural forms Sanasunkʻ and Sasunkʻ. The Greeks referred to the region in the plural, as ''Sanasounitai'' (), which is likely a direct translation of Sanasunkʻ and also refers to the inhabitants of Sanasun. In the Armenian tradition, the name of Sasun is traditionally associated with Sanasar (i.e. biblical Sharezer), the son of the Assyrian king Sennacherib who fled to Armenia after murdering his father․ Sanasar is said to have settled in the area around Mount Sim, which was called ''Sanasunkʻ'' (as if meaning "Sanasar's progeny") after him and his descendants that populated the region. The prominent Armenian noble house of Artsruni and the '' bdeashkhs'' of Tsopʻkʻ and Aghdznikʻ, the latter of which ruled over Sanasun until the fifth century, all claimed descent from Sanasar. It has been proposed that the placename is related to the town or fortress of Sassu mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III (8th century BCE). Nicholas Adontz connects Sasun/Sanasun with Ususuani, one of the conquered lands mentioned in the inscriptions of the Urartian king Menua (9th-8th century BCE).

Geography

Located in the eastern Taurus Mountains, Sasun was one of the most mountainous and inaccessible regions of historical Armenia, characterized by precipitous gorges and canyons, grassy valleys, thick forests, and river rapids. Its two main mountain ranges were the Sim Mountains (also known as Kurtik or Simsar) to the north, which separated Sasun from the plain of Mush, and the Sasun Mountains to the east, whose most prominent peaks are Andok (Antok), Tsovasar (Zowasor), Kepin and Maratʻuk (Marutʻasar). The source of the Batman River (Kʻaghirtʻ in the old Armenian sources), a tributary of the Tigris, was located in Sasun. The altitude in Sasun dropped drastically going from north to south, going from in the north to in the south along a distance of just . Summers were temperate in the north and very hot in the south, while winters were severe and long everywhere. The main roads leading out of Sasun, which went through mountain passes to the north, were made impassable by snowfall throughout the winter, cutting the region off from the outside world. The area was also frequently stricken by earthquakes. Sasun received very little rainfall and had poor soil for agriculture, so the population was largely dependent on their herds (mainly sheep) for survival․ Agriculture and some grape cultivation occurred on a limited scale. Although Sasun was replete with timber and deposits of iron and copper, these remained largely unexploited (except for limited local use) due to the lack of transportation infrastructure for export.

Within the Kingdom of Armenia, Sanasun or Sasun bordered the districts of Hashteankʻ of Tsopʻkʻ province to the northwest, Tarōn, Aspakuneatsʻ Dzor and Khoytʻ (Khutʻ) of Turuberan province to the northeast, and Salnoy Dzor, Gzekh, Aghdzn, and Npʻrkert of Aghdznik province to the east and southeast. Suren Yeremian estimates the area of historical Sanasun at . In later periods, Sasun referred to a broader geographical, economic and political region which included historical Sanasun and the adjacent territories, and was considered a part of the region of Taron-Turuberan. By one definition, Sasun encompassed the area between the Haçres and Sim/Kurtik Mountains in the north to Sasun village (modern Derince, Sason) in the south and between Kulp in the west and Kavakbaşı (historical Khoytʻ) in the east. After the creation of the Bitlis vilayet in 1875, most of Sasun was made part of the sanjak of Mush of the Bitlis vilayet and called the ''kaza'' of Sasun, with other parts of the greater region of Sasun falling under adjacent ''kazas''. Little is known for certain about Sasun's internal sub-divisions during the late Ottoman period, and these seem to have changed frequently. One source gives the names of the sub-districts (or ''nahiye'') of Sasun in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as Brnashēn, Bun Sasun ("Sasun proper"), Kharzan, Khut-Brnashēn, Khulpʻ, Hazzo-Khabljoz, Motkan, Shatakh, Talvorik (Talori), and Pʻsankʻ․

History

Early history

Sasun or Sanasun formed a part of the territory of the Kingdom of Urartu, as well as the Kingdom of Armenia under the successive rule of the Orontid, Artaxiad and Arsacid dynasties. Sanasun was a territory of the '' bdeashkh'' (''vitaxa'', viceroy) of Aghdznikʻ, an office that was likely constituted during the reign of Tigranes the Great (1st century BCE) and continued to exist until the mid-5th century. It has been suggested that Sanasun formed "a tribal territory under its own chieftains" rather than a holding of the ''bdeashkh'', but there is little evidence to support this. Although the early Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi does not mention Sanasun by name, he refers to "the Taurus Mountain, that is Sim and all the and all the Kłesurkʻ Kleisourai,_mountain_passes.html" ;"title="leisoura_(Byzantine_district).html" ;"title="nowiki/>Kleisourai,_mountain_passes">leisoura_(Byzantine_district).html"_;"title="nowiki/>Kleisoura_(Byzantine_district)">Kleisourai,_mountain_passes"_which_is_clearly_describing_the_territory_of_Sanasun,_as_part_of_the_territories_granted_to_Sharashan,_''bdeashkh''_of_Aghdznikʻ._The_chief_fortress_of_Sanasun_bore_the_same_name_and_was_located_near_the_later_village_of_Sasun_(modern_Derince)._Sanasun_presumably_came_under_direct_ Kleisourai,_mountain_passes">leisoura_(Byzantine_district).html"_;"title="nowiki/>Kleisoura_(Byzantine_district)">Kleisourai,_mountain_passes"_which_is_clearly_describing_the_territory_of_Sanasun,_as_part_of_the_territories_granted_to_Sharashan,_''bdeashkh''_of_Aghdznikʻ._The_chief_fortress_of_Sanasun_bore_the_same_name_and_was_located_near_the_later_village_of_Sasun_(modern_Derince)._Sanasun_presumably_came_under_direct_Roman_Empire">Roman_

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*Ancient_Rome,_Roman_civilization_from_8th_century_BC_to_5th_century_AD
*Roman_people,_the_people_of_ancient_Rome
*''Epistle_to_the_Romans'',_shortened_to_''Romans'',_a_letter_...