Araxes

Araxes River - border of Iran and Azerbaijan

Caspian Sea Map

Map showing Sophene right as it became a province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia under Tigranes the Great.

Author: Dayanand Deswal (दयानन्द देसवाल)

Araxes (अरेक्सिज) is a river in Central Asia. As per ArrianThe Araxes, or Aras, joins the Cyrus, or Kour, and falls into the Caspian Sea. It is now called Kizil-Ozan, or Yellow River. Its Hebrew name is Chabor.

Location

It flows along the countries of Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. It drains the south side of the Lesser Caucasus Mountains and then joins the Kur River which drains the north side of those mountains. Its total length is 1,072 kilometres and is one of the largest rivers of the Caucasus.

Variants of the name

• Araxes (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 177, 401.)
• Araxes (Greek: Ἀράξης)
• Araks/Arax (Armenian)
• Aras/Aras River (Persian, Turkish)
• Araz (Azerbaijani)
• Erez
• Yeraskh (Old Armenian: Երասխ)
• Rakhsi (Old Georgian რახსი)
• Arverna/Arvarma (of the Puranas)
• Chabor (Hebrew)
• Chabor (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 401.)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Arak = Araks = Araxes (Greek: Ἀράξης) (Pliny.vi.9, Pliny.vi.10, Pliny.vi.16)

Jat Gotras Namesake

• Arak = Araxes (Anabasis by Arrian, p. 177, 401.)

Course

The Aras rises near Erzurum in Turkey and meets with the Akhurian River southeast of Digor. From Digor it flows along the closed Turkish-Armenian border, and then runs close to the corridor that connects Turkey to Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave. It then continues along the Iranian-Armenian and the Iranian-Azerbaijan border.

The Zangmar, Sariso, Ghotour River, Hajilar River, Kalibar River, Ilghena River, Darreh River and Balha River are the major tributaries of the Aras from the South. In Turkey, the Ghareso river flows in from the North, and the Akhurian, Metsamor, Hrazdan, Azat, Vedi, Arpa, Vorotan, Voghdji and Meghri rivers join in from the Armenian (North) side. The Khachin River, Okhchi River, Kuri River and Kandlan River flow into the river from the Azerbaijan (North) side.

History

In Armenian tradition, the river is named after Arast, a great-grandson of the legendary Armenian patriarch Haik. The name was later Hellenized to Araxes and was applied to the Kura-Araxes culture, a prehistoric people who flourished in the valleys of the Kura and Aras. The river is also mentioned in the last chapter of the Aeneid VIII by Virgil, as "angry at the bridge," since the Romans built a bridge over it, so that it is thereby conquered. The river Aras has been associated with the biblical rivers Gihon and Pishon. Robert H. Hewsen described Aras as the only "true river" of Armenia and as "Mother Araxes," a symbol of pride to the Armenian people.

According to a legend cited by Strabo in ancient times Araxes river in Armenia had no outflow to Caspian sea but spread out in plains and created a lake without outflow.

In Islamic times, the Araxes became known in Arabic parlance as al-Rass (not to be confused with modern-day Ar Rass) and in Perso-Turkish contexts as Aras.

In modern history, the Aras gained significance as a geographic political boundary. Under the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, the river was chosen as the border limit between the Russian Empire and Qajar Iran, as the latter was forced to cede its Caucasian territories to Russia. Iran and the Soviet Union later built the Aras Dam on the Aras in the Poldasht area creating the Aras Reservoir. The Meghri Dam is under construction near the Armenian town of Meghri.

Jat History

Arrian writes....Pasargadae was the ancient capital of Cyrus, but Persepolis was that of the later kings of Persia. The tomb of Cyrus has been discovered at Murghab; consequently Parsagadae was on the banks of the river Cyrus, N.E. of Persepolis. The latter city was at the junction of the Araxes and Medus. Its extensive ruins are called Chel-Minar, "the forty columns."

---

James Todd writes that the origin of the Scythic nations, as related by Diodorus; when it will be observed the same legends were known to him which have been handed down by the Puranas and Abulghazi. The Scythians had their first abodes on the Araxes, The Arvarma of the Puranas , the Jaxartes or Sihun. The Puranas thus describe Sakadwipa or Scythia. Diodorus (Mb. ii.) makes the Hemodus the boundary between Saka-Scythia and India Proper.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions ....Both of these rivers (Euphrates and Tigris) take their rise in Armenia, which also forms the commencement of Mesopotamia, a tract of country which lies between these streams; the intervening space between them being occupied by the Arabian Orei⁵.

It thus extends its frontier as far as Adiabene, at which point it is stopped short by a chain of mountains which takes a cross direction; whereupon the province extends in width to the left, crossing the course of the Araxes⁶, as far as the river Cyrus⁷; while in length it reaches as far as the Lesser Armenia⁸, from which it is separated by the river Absarus, which flows into the Euxine, and by the mountains known as the Paryadres, in which the Absarus takes its rise.

---

5 Littré suggests that the reading should be "Aroei."

6 The modern Eraskh or Aras.

7 The modern Kur.

8 This district was bounded on the east by the Euphrates, on the north and north-west by the mountains Scodises, Paryadres, and Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Taurus.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions ....The River Cyrus¹ takes its rise in the mountains of the Heniochi, by some writers called the Coraxici; the Araxes rises in the same mountains as the river Euphrates, at a distance from it of six miles only;² and after being increased by the waters of the Usis, falls itself, as many authors have supposed, into the Cyrus, by which it is carried into the Caspian Sea.

---

2 It is probable that these rivers take their rise near each other, but it is not improbable that the intervening distance mentioned in the present passage is much too small.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions....The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea³, Aza⁴, and Nicopolis⁵; in the Greater Arsamosata⁶, which lies near the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta⁷ upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta⁸ which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river Araxes, Artaxata.⁹

---

3 Hardouin thinks that this is Neo-Cæsarea, mentioned as having been built on the banks of the Euphrates.

4 Now called Ezaz, according to D'Anville. Parisot suggests that it ought to be Gaza or Gazaca, probably a colony of Median Gaza, now Tauris.

5 Originally called Tephrice. It stood on the river Lycus, and not far from the sources of the Halys, having been founded by Pompey, where he gained his first victory over Mithridates, whence its name, the "City of Victory." The modern Enderez or Devrigni, probably marks its site.

6 Ritter places it in Sophene, the modern Kharpat, and considers that it may be represented by the modern Sert, the Tigranocerta of D'Anville.

7 The capital of Sophene, one of the districts of Armenia. St. Martin thinks that this was the ancient heathen name of the city of Martyropolis, but Ritter shows that such cannot be the case. It was called by the Syrians Kortbest; its present name is Kharput.

8 Generally supposed, by D'Anville and other modern geographers, to be represented by the ruins seen at Sert. It was the later capital of Armenia, built by Tigranes.

9 The ancient capital of Armenia. Hannibal, who took refuge at the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to afford him protection, superintended the building of it. Some ruins, called Takt Tiridate, or Throne of Tiridates, near the junction of the Aras and the Zengue, were formerly supposed to represent Artaxata, but Colonel Monteith has fixed the site at a bend in the river lower down, at the bottom of which were the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny mentions.....Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian Sea, we find Atropatene⁷, which is separated from Otene, a region of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ⁸ is its chief city, distant from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs.

---

7 There is great difficulty in ascertaining, from the accounts given by the ancient writers, the exact limits of this district, but it is supposed to have included a considerable portion of the province now known by the name of Azerbaijan. It derived its name from Atropates or Atropes, who was governor of this district under the last Darius.

8 Most probably the place now known as Gazæa, the royal residence of the Parthian kings, and, as its name would imply, their treasure city. Colonel Rawlinson thinks that this place underwent many changes of name according to the rulers who successively occupied it; among other names, it appears to have borne that of Ecbatana.

---