Criticism and Investigation of the Name Armenia in the First Four Centuries After Hijra based on the Islamic-Armenian Sources

Abstract

At the end of the year (19 A. H/ 640 A. D), the Muslims entered the Southern Caucasus for the first time and after many battles, riots, and conflicts, they could finally conquer Armenia, Iran, and Georgia and become the heirs of the Sassanids in this region. The arrival of the new force in the Caucasus caused the generation of the name Armenia in the Islamic sources to refer to both Armenia and the entire South Caucasus. There was no problem with using this name only for Armenia. However, this article seeks to analyze the issue whether its use to refer to the entire South Caucasus along with its internal divisions - the first, second, third and fourth Armenians - was an official matter or a mistake made by the geographers or the Muslim historians and the geographers of the third century. This study has been done through the historical research method and descriptive-analytical approach regarding the Islamic history and Caucasian studies, and the data has been collected through the library sources. The results clarify that the use of the name Armenia to refer to the entire South Caucasus was not an official and courtly matter, but it was a mistake made by the authors of the 3rd century After Hijra, and its internal divisions were modeled after the internal divisions of Byzantine Armenia. Since this issue could cause protests and reactions from the Iranians and Georgians, who were equal and independent from Armenia in the political and social terms, and each had their own archbishop and capital.

Keywords

• armenia
• south caucasus
• geography of islamic world
• islamic sources
• armenian sources
• islamic historiography