Pahlavi References to Armenia Dan Shapira
PAHLAVI REFERENCES TO ARMENIA DAN SHAPIRA Jerusalem Armenia and Armenians are mentioned several times in Old Persian inscriptions; e.g., in the famous Behistun inscription of Darius, Armenia appears on the list of the Achaemenid provinces between Media and Cappadocia, before Parthia, Drangiana, Haraiva, Xvarazm, Bactria, Sogdiana, etc.' Armenia, Armenians and "the King of Armenia[ns]" are mentioned in the Middle Persian, Parthian' and Greek inscriptions of the first Sasanian kings: in Šahpuhr's inscription at Ka°ba-i Zardušt,3 Armenia appears on the list of the ,?ahrs of Šahpuhr's realm, after Arabestan, following thus the Achaemenid tradition, and before Iberia Maxelonia /Siunik' Albania /'rd'n, Balasakan, up to the Mountains of Kaf and the Gate of Alanians, Mountains of Padišxvar, Media, Gurgan, etc. In Narseh's inscription at Paikuli (§ 92-3)5 in Western Iran, Armenian king (but not Armenia!) Tyldt' (Tirdat/Trdat) is mentioned after the Caucasian countries of *[Gur]gan/Ba!asajkan [?], Mskyt'n,"byr'n (Iberia)," Syk'n,9 before the Arab vassals of I:IIrah and Edessa ('mrw lhmyd'n ML(KA) 'mrw 'pgrn'n [MLKA?]). In the slightly earlier inscription[s] of the Zoroastrian "Pope" Kerdir (§ 15), Armenia appears on the list of the lands of "Iran and non-Iran" before "Iberia Albania, Balasakan up to the Gate of the Alanians".1o Here these lands are listed as parts of non-Iran, as was observed by Lukonin," but it should be recalled again that this last list belongs to the text of the fanatical Zoroastrian dignitary. However, there seems to have been existing a well-fixed order of the Caucasian countries, opening as a rule with Armenia and finishing with the Gate of the Alanians.
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