tower in Samadlo.
Unlike in Georgia or Azerbaijan there already existed a local tradition of monumental architecture at least in the southern part of Armenia. The Urartian fortress Erebuni is situated on the eastern outskirts of Erevan. According to the archeological evidence, the fortress had not been destroyed at the time of the fall of the Urartian Empire, whereas Karmir Blur (Teišebai URU) on the northwestern border of Erevan, residence of the Urartian governor of Transcaucasia, was razed to the ground and abandoned in the second half of the sixth century BCE. It may be that in the southern part of Armenia a number of former Urartian residences has been reused with minor modifications during Achaemenid rule. This has been claimed for Erebuni and Argishtikhinily (Ter‐Martirossov 2001; Kanetsyan 2001). However, recent investigations have raised serious doubts whether Erebuni was an important administrative center in Achaemenid times (Stronach et al. 2010: p. 126).
The situation was different in the northern part of Armenia beyond the boundaries of the former Urartian Empire. There must have been an important Achaemenid administrative center at Benjamin, about 10 km southwest of Kumairi (Zardarian and Akopian 1994: p. 187 fig. 6; Santrot 1996: pp. 187–189; Ter‐Martirossov 2001: pp. 158–161). The shape of the column bases, worked in local black tufa, is reminiscent of the finds at Sari Tepe, Karacamirli, and Gumbati.
Bell‐shaped column bases are exclusively known from the Achaemenid era and only within the Persian Empire. Outside the major centers in Iran and Babylonia the only findspot so far is the Caucasus (Knauß 1999b: p. 104 fig. 15), nowhere else within or beyond the borders of the vast empire.
The discovery of monumental architecture (Kipiani 1987, 1993), closely related to models from the center of the empire, proves at least temporary Persian presence on the northwestern border of the empire. The distribution of sites with Achaemenid architecture (Figure 22.1) suggests that there existed a kind of network of administrative centers. As the capital of the satrapy (Armina?) must have been somewhere else (at Van Kale?), the resident of the palace in Karacamirli certainly was a Persian magistrate below the satrapal level (Khatchadourian 2016: pp. 146–150). But how can we explain the enormous size and grandeur of the building on Gurban Tepe? Xenophon (Anabasis 4.4.2) reports that the satrap Orontes had a palace (βασίλειον) in a village in Armenia. Maybe the palace served as the satrap's residence when he stayed in Karacamirli during a journey through the land under his control.
The Persian residence in Karacamirli is a clear instance of imitatio regis which Xenophon mentions in his Kyrou paideia (8.6.10–14). The edifice on Gurban Tepe is the largest ancient building in the whole Caucasus. Moreover, genuine Achaemenid architecture on the periphery of the empire is most remarkable, since there was hardly any similar building outside of Persia until recently. To this day we are completely lacking excavated satrapal palaces all over the Achaemenid Empire. Karacamirli may help us imagine their appearance. However, in other parts of the empire where the Persians met with developed cultures (e.g. in Babylonia, Egypt, Anatolia, Syria), the conquerors refrained from implementing their architectural models; instead, local traditions dominated (Knauß 2011: pp. 406–407).
The sheer number of Achaemenid and Achaemenizing artifacts found in Georgia is striking and it reflects a paradigmatic process of acculturation of the Colchians and Iberians. The local elite tried to copy the luxurious lifestyle of the Persian noblemen. Probably, it was not necessary to introduce the habit of the symposion in this region. However, the Colchian aristocracy appreciated the Persian (and Greek) paraphernalia. Furthermore, the iconographic evidence shows a spread of the oriental practice of balancing wine bowls on the fingertips (cf. Xenophon, Kyroupaideia 1.3.8–9). Such an attestation of Persian drinking manner can be found on a recently discovered silver belt as well as on the famous fourth‐century gold finger‐ring with the inscription “Dedatos,” both from Vani (Kacharava and Kvirkvelia 2008: pp. 41–42 fig. 17 [reversed image]; Sens 2009: p. 199 Pl. 53.4; Knauß 2009: p. 299 Pl. 3.6).
Future research in Georgia might concentrate on possible trade routes. In the light of silver phialai from workshops in Lydia especially, the archeological exploration of southern Georgia, e.g. in the Mtkvari River valley (Licheli 2007), and in southwestern Adjara seems to be promising. Of course, investigations in northeastern Anatolia would help significantly to complement our knowledge of the Caucasus in antiquity.
The lack of a similarly impressive archeological record in northern Armenia and Azerbaijan may be explained by a lesser degree of archeological fieldwork. An interesting site is Oglankala in Nahicevan. It is one of the largest late Iron Age fortified sites in Azerbaijan. The preliminary analysis of the pottery suggests a date in the time of the “Median” or Achaemenid Empire. There has been a monumental edifice with a hypostyle hall (Schachner 2001: pp. 310–311, 313, 318 fig. 42–44; Ristvet et al. 2009, 2012), yet, its dating remains doubtful.
The Persian impact on the material culture of ancient Georgia is impressive. We may suppose that the situation in Azerbaijan was similar; however, the sparse archeological evidence makes any judgment unwise. A close investigation of the local settlement at Dara Yatax in the vicinity of the Achaemenid palace in Karacamirli might help for a better understanding of the relationship between the local population and their foreign rulers.
The Persian conquest of Armenia did not have such far‐reaching effects on the material culture as in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Yet, a thorough analysis of the transition from Urartian (via Median) to Achaemenid rule still has to be done. So far, it seems that the local tradition of Armenia was much stronger than in the neighboring countries. This is true not only for the architecture but also for the applied arts.
The aftermath of Achaemenid rule in the Caucasus is unique insofar as at several sites in Georgia there is strong evidence for continuity rather than a harsh break (Knauss 2006: pp. 107–114, 2008: pp. 52–62, 2014: pp. 141, 144). Obviously local vassals of the Great King stuck to Achaemenid traditions even after the fall of the empire because they owed their regional position of power and their legitimation to the foreign rulers.
REFERENCES
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