Древний Китай согласно данным «Древнеармянской географии» или «Ашхарацуйц»-е / Ancient China according to the data of “the Ancient Armenian Geography” or “Ashkharatsuyts”

Abstract

In “The Ancient Armenian Geography” (or “Ashkharatsuyts”, literally “The Outline of the World”), the last among all countries of Europe, Africa and Asia is China, which the authors of the source divide into two parts, mentioning it as the 37th and 38th country of world. The authors describe not only the territories of these countries, but also pay great attention to the orography, the nature, and traditions of the inhabitants of the country. Unfortunately, there is no information about its administrative-territorial division, which we find in “Ashkharatsuyts” under descriptions of almost all other countries of the world. This source elaborates on the natural resources and wealth of China, especially the 37th country. We tried to explain the reasons why China has been divided by the authors into two conditional states.

Keywords

• “Ashkharatsuyts”
• “Ancient Armenian Geography”
• Movses of Khorene
• Ananias of Shirak
• Sima Qian
• ancient China
• China (north
• south)
• China