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Sakasene (Ancient Greek: Σακασηνὴ; Old Armenian: Շակաշէն, romanized: Šakašēn, Shakashen) was a historical region in the territory of modern Azerbaijan. It received its name from the Scythians or Saka who invaded across the Caucasus Mountains starting from the 7th century BCE and left certain enclaves. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century BCE it was part of the satrapy Media under the Achaemenid Empire. At the beginning of the 2nd century BCE it was annexed to Greater Armenia, becoming the (district) of the Nahanga (province) of Utic. In the division of Great Armenia in 387, it went to the Caucasian Albania, which was, under the treaty, subordinate to the Sassanids. It was located South of the middle course of the Kura, in the area of modern Ganja.

Description

Sakasene was located along the right bank of the Kura River, in between the Zakam (Zayamchay) and Kurik (Kurekchay) rivers, both tributaries of the Kura. It was located in the region of modern-day Ganja in Azerbaijan. It spanned an area of approximately 2,900 square kilometres (1,100 sq mi). It formed part of the principality of Sakasene within the Kingdom of Greater Armenia and, after 387 AD, Caucasian Albania. The principality was ruled by the family of Dashtakaran and included the territory of Sakasene proper and the adjacent district of Tus-kustak, located on the lower part of the Tavush (Tovuz) River.

History

Some of the first mentions of the Iranian-speaking tribes of the Scythians in Assyrian sources date back to the reign of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE). During this period, the Scythians acted as allies of Manna against Assyria. The Scythians actively participated in the political life of Western Asia throughout the 7th century BCE. In 612 BCE, together with the Babylonians and the Medes, they participated in the siege and capture of Nineveh, the second capital of Assyria.

Territories with a Scythian population, from the end of the 6th-beginning of the 5th centuries BCE, were part of the Median satrapy, whose population was made up of the Medes, Parikania and Orthocoribantia. The term orthokoribantia is a translation of the ancient Persian term tigraχauda - "sharp-capped". The position of the Scythian kingdom, as well as Urartu and Manna, dependent on Media, is confirmed in the "Book of Jeremiah", an excerpt dated 593 BCE:

Raise banners all over the earth, blow the horn among the peoples, consecrate the nations to the war with Babylon, summon kingdoms against him - Ararat, Minnie, Ashkenaz - send a commander against him, gather horses like a cloud of locusts! For the war with Babylon, consecrate the nations, the kings of Media, her rulers and governors, all the land under their control.

During the reign of Darius I, this region was part of the satrapy that covered the northwestern regions of Persia. Describing the administrative divisions of Persia, Herodotus noted:

Ecbatana, the rest of Media, wigging and Orthocoribantia paid 450 talents. This is the tenth arrondissement

The Saki, along with the Albanians, were in the Persian army that fought against the Macedonians at Gaugamela. Description of these events was preserved by Arrian, on the basis of official diaries, describing the campaigns of Alexander the Great:

The Medes were commanded by Atropat; with the Medes, there were the Qadusis, Albanians and Sakesins.

There is reason to believe that the Saks, along with the Albanians, were the largest tribal union.

Based on Strabo’s reports, the location of the Scythian kingdom, as well as the Sakasens, are located very accurately - south of the middle course of the Kura, in the area of modern Ganja.

In the 2nd century BCE, by the Armenian king Artashes I, a number of neighboring regions were annexed to Armenia, including the right bank of the Kura, where the Albanians, Utii and Saki lived. Sakasena became one of the regions of Greater Armenia, a gavar (district) of the Utik province. During the division of Great Armenia in 387, it ceded to the vassal of Persia Caucasian Albania.

Strabo describes Sakasene as a region of Armenia. Strabo in the 1st century CE reports:

The Saki raided like the Cimmerians and Trers; some raids were long-distance, others - at close range. So they captured Bactriana and took possession of the best land in Armenia, to which they left the name in their own name - Sakasena.

Rushing through Albania to Armenia, the Saks settled on the right bank of the Kura River, in the fertile valleys, leaving the region with the name Shakashen.

Sacasena is mentioned by Claudius Ptolemy (1st century CE):

The regions of Armenia, in the part that lies between the rivers Euphrates, Cyrus and Araks, are as follows: near the Moschian mountains - Kotarzenskaya, above the so-called Bochs; along the Kira river - Tosarenskaya and Otenskaya; along the Araks river - Koltenskaya and below it Soduenskaya; near the mountain Pariadra - Siraken and Sakasena ...

Apparently, the population of the region was the descendants of these Iranian-speaking nomads. The descendants of the Scythian tribes that settled in the fertile valleys along the banks of the Kura: on the right bank, in the Sakasen region, and on the left bank in the foothills of the Caucasus, in the Sheki region, were among the tribes that formed the Albanian union . Shakashen was part of Great Armenia almost until the end of its existence. At the end of the IV century, the Sassanids help the king of Caucasian Albania Urnayr to seize the Utik region from the Armenians (with Khalkhal, Gardman, Shakashen, Kolt and Artsakh, but a few years later they were repulsed by the Armenians under the leadership of Mushegh Mamikonyan, but not for long. regions, Shakashen, Artsakh, Utik and Paytakaran, were reunited with Albania at the end of the 4th century In the middle of the 7th century, the Arabs invade Albanian territory and the eastern Caucasus, where they capture Paytakaran, Barda, Shirvan, Derbent, Shakashen, Kabala and Shabran, after which Arran, together with Iberia and Armenia was united into one province of the Arab Caliphate headed by the Arab governor.

References

Sources

• Chaumont, M. L. (1985). "Albania". Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
• Diakonoff, Igor M. (1985). "Media". In Gershevitch, Ilya (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. pp. 36–148. ISBN 978-0-521-20091-2.
• Hewsen, Robert H. (1992). The Geography of Ananias of Širak (Ašxarhac῾oyc῾): The Long and the Short Recensions. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag. ISBN 3-88226-485-3.
• Novoseltsev, A. P. (1979). "K voprosu o politicheskoĭ granitse Armenii i Kavkazskoĭ Albanii v antichnyĭ period" [On the question of the political border between Armenia and Caucasian Albania in the antique period]. Kavkaz i Vizantiia (in Russian). 1: 10–18.
• Trever, K. V. Ocherki po istorii i kulʹture Kavkazskoĭ Albaniĭ IV v. do n. ė.-VII v. n. ė. [Notes on the history and culture of Caucasian Albania from the 4th century BCE to the 7th century CE] (in Russian). Moscow: Izdatelʹstvo Akademii nauk SSSR.