Kashatagh :: ARTSAKH LOCATIONS

2 Monuments

NKR (Country) / Kashatagh (District) / Kashatagh (Village)

Historical Introduction

Contrary to the province of Kashatagh frequently mentioned by medieval sources, the town of identical name, after which, probably, the province was named (as well as the Kashatagh river), was recorded only once, in the form of Kashataghk by Stephanos Orbelian (within the list of 43 villages of the province Aghahej).

St. Orbelian, History of Syunik, Yerevan, 1986, p. 399.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 147.

Judging from the small amount of tithe (total 6 silver coins) Kashataghk had been a small sparsely populated village. Nevertheless later the whole province was named after that village (the fifth is the Aghahetzh province, which is currently called Kashatagh and Khozhoraberd...”). We assume that the latter should be accounted for by the fact that Kashataghk had been the princely headquarters. It is well known that the provinces were often named after the centers of the principality (be it a town or a fortress). It seems the same logic had been working in this case. It is also probable that the main river flowing through the province was later renamed to Kashatagh for easy identification.

St. Orbelian, History of Syunik, Yerevan, 1986, p. 70. Likewise Gulistan district and principality named after the village of Gulistan, or Jraberd district named after the fortress of Jraberd.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

Passing to the arguments, which would enable us to identify the historical Kashataghk and the present-day town of Sultankand, we should bear in mind that any center of the principality should first of all have the princely quarters (especially if such princes had been the sovereigns of the whole province), i. e. separate castles or palaces (aparank), usual for Armenian princes. In any case these quarters should distinguish among the houses of ordinary residents by their special firmness or wealth. Then we should state that there was no other village in the valley of the Aghavnaget, beside Sultankand, which could meet these conditions. The only princely quarters in the entire district is the medieval palace (or castle) of Sultankand almost fully preserved up to now. Therefore, we think that Kashatagh had been the princely residence, and its small size was conditioned .by the relief, which did not enable any possibility of expansion.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

18 c․

It deserves mentioning that the Kurds that settled in Kashatagh in the end of the 18th century, after the Armenian population abandoned the town, named it Sultankand (or Sultanlar), i. e. they were aware that this town had been the princely or meliks’ residence in the past. It should be also mentioned that the first to identify Kashatagh with Sultankand was architect Morus Hasratian (without bringing any arguments), who dated the princely quarters in the center of the town by the end of the 15th century. “The two storied stone castle and the adjoining ruined colonnade in Kashatagh (further renamed to Sultankand), which is situated at the bank of the Aghavnaget, not far from the famous Tzitzernavank, undoubtedly belonged to Melik Haykaz and was built at the end of the 15th century.”

M. Hasratian, “Tzitzernavank”, Yerevan, 1990, p. 158. By the way, we do not know the source, based on which the Azerbaijanian Encyclopaedia (vol. 6, Baku, 1982, p. 174) dates these princely quarters from 1761, and names them "Hamza Sultan".
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

As a matter of fact, the only opponent to such opinion was A. Gharagyozian. To his view, which as we have already said, was based on a misprint in one of the maps, Kashatagh should be identified with Gharaghshlagh, and not with Sultankand.

Armen Karagyozian, On Localization of the Kashatagh District, "Lraber", 1987, N 1, p. 40-41.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

Location

Kashatagh is situated at the bank of Aghavnaget, 1,2 km away of Tzitzernavank in the place of the confluence of the Aghavnaget and its left tributary Dzoratsik.

The toponym Kashataghk literally means "Lower Quarters". It seems, such name might be given only if it was situated lower that a certain important place (a roch, fortress, monastery, etc.). We are sure that in this case the village was situated below Tzitzernavank, which was the most respected sanctuary of the entire province.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 148.

Name	Year/Century	Etymology
Sultankyand
Sultanlar
Kashataghk