Arran Shah Javanshir (Juansher, Caucasian Albanian King) 628–637 CE

by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh*

The bust of Ārānšāh Javanshir, Great Pahlav House of Mehrān, Sculptor: Fuad Abdurahmanov, National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan

Prince and General (Pahlavi: spāhbed) Javanshir (Pahlavi: Juanšer) was a member of the Great Pahlav House of Mehrān (Pahlavi: wuzurg Pahlav šahrdārān) and the son of Ārānšāh Varaz-Grigor (r. 628 – 637), who possibly had the Zoroastrian name Gadvsnasp before his second baptism into the dyophysite Chalcedonian faith by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 627-628. 

The Mehrān House was one of the Seven Great Pahlav (Parthian) Houses of the Sasanian Empire, claiming its descent to the Arsacids of Parthia. The powerful Pahlav House of Mehrān held high-ranking positions in the Sasanian hierarchy. The members of Mehrān occupied high-ranking positions in the Sasanian Imperial Army and led negotiations with the Khaqan of the Turks.

In 16-19 November 636, in the famous Battle of al-Qādisiyyah between the Sasanians and Muslim Arabs, Prince Javanshir was the commander of Arrān's (Albania's) troops, which were part of the Sasanian Imperial Army under the command of the famous Iranian hero and general (spāhbed) Rostam Farrokhzād, Prince of Azerbaijan (Pahlavi: Ādurbādagān).

In 637, Javanshir, with 3000-4000 troops, helped to arrange šāhānšāh Yazdegerd III evacuation from the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon (Arabic: المدائن, al-Madāʾen), which was under the Muslim Arabs' siege.

Sasanian king Yazdegerd III (r. 632-651) awarded Javanshir two golden spears and shields and acknowledged his bravery, awarding also a flag – Standard of Jamshid (Pahlavi: Derafš-e Kāvīān / King's flag), which was a highest honor for loyalty and courage.

Derafš-e Kāvīān - King's Flag, sometimes called the Standard of Jamshid

Before the final defeat of the Sasanian army in the Battle of Nahāvand in 642, Javanshir arrived in Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan]. One may assume that he planned to resume command of the Sasanian Ādurbādagān troops in the wake of Rostam’s death and because of Yazdegerd’s strong will to collect a new army in Media to fight the Arabs. However, possibly Rostam’s brother Farrukhzad was assigned Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed and Javanshir fled back to Ārān's capital of Partaw (now Barda, present-day Azerbaijan).

Ārānšāh Javanshir fights Muslim Arabs alongside with the Sasanian troops, painting (1956),
National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan

After the collapse of the Sasanian Empire, Muslim Arabs offered Ārānšāh Javanshir to become a ruler of the entire Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] šahr, but he refused for obscure reason. Soon after, in 669, Javanshir was killed during Christian service at Partaw’s Arrānian (Latin: Albanian) Dyophysite Orthodox church (Church of Arrān). Javanshir was married to a Turkish Princess.

Javanshir fortress, reconstruction, Ismayili region, Republic of Azerbaijan

* Khalifa-zadeh M., Research Professor, Ph.D, Canadian Historical Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1912, Ottawa, ON, K1P5G4, Canada

Source: 

Khalifa-zadeh, Mahir, "Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania) in the Late Sasanian Period", International Journal of History, 2023, Vol 5, Issue 2, pp 15-18.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/27069109.2023.v5.i2a.220

Church of Arran, https://orthodoxwiki.org/Church_of_Arran

Arran Shah Urnayr (King of Caucasian Albania) and Sasanian Shahan Shah Shapur II in the Battle of Bagavan 371 CE

by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh

Ārānšāh Urnayr (Syriac: Aran, Parthian: Ārdān, Pahlavi: Ārān, Greek: Ἀλβανία, Latin: Albania, present-day Azerbaijan) and Sasanian šāhānšāh Šābuhr II in the Battle of Dzirav or Bagavan in 371 CE (Ms Berlin SBB, Or. quart. 805, fol 212r). 

Ārānšāh Urnayr (r. 350- 375) married the daughter of the Sasanian šāhānšāh Šābuhr II (r. 309-379).  

Sources: 

- Khalifa-zadeh Mahir, "Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania) in the late Sasanian period", International Journal of History, 2023, Vol 5, Issue 2, pp 15-18. DOI: 

10.22271/27069109.2023.v5.i2a.220.

- Khalifa-zadeh Mahir and Maksymiuk Katarzyna, "Reforms of Sasanian king Khusro I and the northern bank of the Araxes – Arrān (Caucasus Albania)", 2023, Historia i Swiat, Vol. 12, pp 167-172.  DOI: 10.34739/his.2023.12.10

The Late Sasanian Period: Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania)

by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh

Posted from:

Khalifa-zadeh M., "Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania) in the Late Sasanian Period". International Journal of History, 2023, Vol. 5, issue, pp. 15-18, DOI: 10.22271/27069109.2023.v5.i2a.220

PDF: https://www.historyjournal.net/article/220/5-2-2-857.pdf  or

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/373421722_Adurbadagan_and_Arran_Caucasian_Albania_in_the_Late_Sasanian_Period

Abstract: The article considers the Sasanian King Khusrow I Anushirwan (Pahlavi: Xusrō I Anōšīrvān) reforms to improve the empire’s military and administrative architecture during the wars with Byzantium and the Turks. The author discusses the establishment of the region or kust-ī Ādurbādagān, which allowed the nomination of Arrān’s general. The author believes that it was a key element in the Sassanian strategy to enforce both central and military power in the defense-sensitive Caucasia challenged by the Byzantium and nomads. The reforms pulled Arrān (Latin: Albania) closer to the Sasanian crown, enforcing the dynastic ties between Sasanian shāhanshāh and Arrānshāh. These reforms facilitated the incorporation of Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sasanian Army under Ādurbādagān’s general command to shield Ērānšahr from the Khazar’s and Turk’s incursions. The author argues that the reform initiated the projecting of Ādurbādagān’s name, military, and administrative functions in Arrān forming a strong interrelationship between the southern and northern sides of the Araxes as the entire Ādurbādagān šahr. Since Late Antiquity, Ādurbādagān and Arrān became interchangeable names and were in use on the northern bank of the Araxes.

Keywords: Sasanian, Adurbadagan, Arran, Caucasian Albania, Azerbaijan

Arranshah Javanshir (Pahlavi: Juansher), 637-669 CE,
National Museum of History, Baku, Azerbaijan 

The Parthian and later Sasanian empires engaged in centuries-long wars with Rome and Byzantium, respectively. The intense rivalry between the two great empires shaped the history and politics of that period, as the Greco-Persian wars did during early Antiquity. The permanent struggle with Byzantium to dominate the Near East prompted the Sassanids to rethink and redesign the empire’s architecture to improve its military might and administrative stability. This strategic perception was realized not only because of the war with the Byzantines but also for the devastating invaders’ incursions deep into Ērānšahr from the Darband pass in Caucasia. The Sasanians were involved in a permanent struggle on two key fronts: in the northwest with the Byzantium Empire and in the north with the Turks in the Caucasus. This political and military reality forced the Sassanids to re-discover and re-evaluate the strategic importance of Arrān or Arrānšahr (Caucasus Albania), located on the north side of the Araz river.

In the 5th-6th centuries CE, Sasanian kings Kawād I (r. 488-96, 499-531) and his son Xusrō I Anōšīrvān (r. 531-579)[1] launched a fortifications’ improvement program[2] around the whole empire. They also initiated administrative reforms to upgrade the empire’s defense, military, and power architectures.[3] Parallelly, the reforms aimed to strengthen the Zoroastrian religion in the lands challenged by the Christian Orthodox Byzantium.

In the Seleucid and Parthian eras, the province of Āturpātākān (Pahlavi: Ādurbādagān) played a central role as a stronghold against the spread of the Greek and Roman pantheons in Ērānšahr. Moreover, it is highly likely that Āturpātākān was the place where the prophet Zarathustra was born, and the Holy Avesta was kept in the sacred fire Ātur (Old Persian) or Ādur Gušnasp (Middle Persian/Pahlavi) temple (now Takht-e Solayman).[4]

Thus, in the Sasanian era, Ādurbādagān became the religious center of the empire, preserving and expanding Zoroaster’s faith. The chief Median sacred fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp was established sometime in the Parthian period on a hill near Āturpātākān’s capital Ganzak/Gazaca (Greek: Γάζακα). The Sasanians proclaimed Zoroastrianism as the imperial religion and Ādurbādagān occupied the role of the empire’s religious core, holding the cathedral temple Ādur Gušnasp as the imperial sacred fire of the highest grade. Ādur Gušnasp continued to burn until the 11th century.[5]

Ādur Gušnasp - an Ataš Bahrām (Parthian: Ātaš-i- Wahrām or Pahlavi: Ādur Bahrām - “fires of Victory,” Zoroastrian name of God of War and Victory) was the Zoroastrian most sacred or “cathedral” fire of the highest grade established in the late Achaemenid or Parthian era in Ādurbādagān.  The temple was linked to the victorious warrior class (Pahlavi: artēštār) to which the Sasanian dynasty belonged itself. Since the reign of King Bahram V (r. 420-438 CE), all Sasanian kings after coronation pilgrimage to the temple providing royal gifts and celebrated Nowruz (Pahlavi: No Ruz).[6]

During the late Sasanian period, shāhanshāh Xusrō I Anōšīrvān launched the military and administrative reforms[7] and accelerated the building of fortifications in the empire’s defense-sensitive areas, particularly in Caucasus Albania. The reform was designed to strengthen the empire’s military operational and defense capacity following the establishment of four quarters or regions (kust) reported to the assigned trustworthy general (Pahlavi: spāhbed) for each region.[8]

King Xusrō I abolished the one-person command of Ērān-Spāhbed,[9],[10] (Pahlavi: iṣbahbadh al-bilād, Artēštārān sālār, the office of the marshal or general of all Iranian forces)[11] and replaced it with four generals reporting directly to shāhanshāh.  As a result of the reform, the kust-ī Ādurbādagān (quadrant or region of Ādurbādagān) was established holding Ādurbādagān’s general [12] and, as will be indicated later, Ādurbādagān’s āmārgar (financial or administrative officer) as well.[13]

The establishment of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān holding the specially assigned general was designed to improve the empire’s military and defense capabilities strengthening the central power of the shāhanshāh and Zoroaster’s faith in the lands contested by Christian Byzantium, particularly in Caucasia. The Sassanids considered the kust-ī Ādurbādagān to be the most important region for its military potential and strategic location as well as for its logistical closeness to the empire’s core – Ādurbādagān province – a power, military, and Zoroastrian center.[14]

However, the closeness of the war zones to the key Ādurbādagān province, holding the principal and foremost fire Ādur Gušnasp, made the province vulnerable, which needed to be secured by strengthening its defense. Thus, the security of the empire’s core regions of Media and Azerbaijan had to be guaranteed and both Sasanian and Zoroastrian influence were to be projected far afield from Ādurbādagān.[15]  The Sassanians were focused to ensure the safety Ādurbādagān, as the Zoroastrian core, from the ideological and religious contamination generated by Christian Byzantium and infiltrating from Caucasia. The Sassanids addressed this challenge by establishing the kust-ī Ādurbādagān holding the centralized office of the supreme military command (Pahlavi: isbahbadh) of Azerbaijan with specially assigned Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed covering Ādurbādagān itself and the surrounding lands of Arrān (Albania) and Armin (Arminyaya or Armenia).[16]^,[17]

It should be noted that the Byzantines, the Sasanian archenemies, acknowledged the imperial, military, and religious values of Ādurbādagān province. In 623, Byzantine emperor Heraclius, during the last Byzantine-Sassanian war of 602-628CE, occupied Ādurbādagān and sacked out the fire temple Ādur Gušnasp, aiming to crush the Sassanids’ will and power to fight.[18]^,[19]

Thus, the kust-ī Ādurbādagān included the province of Ādurbādagān (a power and religious center of the empire) and all adjoining lands in the north and west from the Araz River up to the Khazar lands in the Caspian Sea. The establishment of the kust Ādurbādagān allowed for the re-design of the Sassanian military and power architecture in this part of the empire. It initiated the Ādurbādagān province’s military command (spāhbed) and administrative functions such as the office of tax/revenue (āmārgar) to the north from the Araz River up to the Darband fortress in Caucasia. The recently discovered Sasanian kust-ī Ādurbādagān spāhbed seal in Azar Goshnasp (now Takht-e Solayman, Iranian Azerbaijan)[20] and the Pahlavi official inscriptions on the Darband fortress walls (now Derbent) confirm the extension of šahr (region or country in Pahlavi) Ādurbādagān to the Caucasus.[21]

The Sasanian reforms’ strategy was pragmatic and effective, allowing an increase in the empire’s capacity to fight its enemies. It strengthened the empire’s defense and military capabilities by incorporating Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sasanian Imperial army under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command. The projection of Ādurbādagān’s military and administrative functions to the north from the Araxes was of paramount significance to the Sassanids, enforcing both the central shāhanshāh’s power and Zoroaster’s faith in Albania challenged by the Orthodox Byzantium (Caucasus Albania was re-baptized into Chalcedonian Christianity at the beginning of the 7^th CE).  Generally, this strategy increased the gravity of the Zoroastrian religion and the importance of the province Ādurbādagān, cementing the Sasanian power and Zoroaster’s faith (as the unique imperial religion) on the northern bank of the Araxes (under the entire Ādurbādagān šahr umbrella)[22], where the military and religious rivalry with the Orthodox Byzantium were in the stages of war.

Indeed, the sign of the Moon, as a key Zoroastrian symbol that was exposed on top of the principal Sassanian fire temple Ādur Gušnasp in Ādurbādagān, was indicated as the moon-chariot on Arrānshāh Aswagen’s state seal.[23]

Next, the establishment of Ādurbādagān’s command (isbahbadh) under a specially assigned general[24] increased the effectiveness of military operations up to the Darband fortress on the frontier with the Turks and Khazars in Caucasia. Despite Darband, at the time, being within the semi-independent or vassal Arrān country (Arrān šahr), the Sassanids maintained huge military garrisons under the direct supervision of Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed. They strongly believed that Arraninan (Albanian) forces alone were not sufficient to shield the invaders’ incursions via the Darband passage deep into Ērānšahr.  

The Sasanian kings and kings of Arrān improved Darband’s fortifications by constructing double walls and the Narin Gala citadel on a hill. The fortified defense line was erected to protect a narrow passage between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea, blocking the invasion of Turks and Khazars.

It is noteworthy that Azerbaijani and Dagestani scholars translated many Pahlavi inscriptions on the Darband walls. One of the inscriptions confirms Darband’s subordination to šahr Ādurbādagān’s āmārgār (tax or revenue officer). The Pahlavi Darband’s wall inscription “en ud az en abarbar Darius-i Ādurbādagān āmārgār” was translated as: “This and higher than this made by Dariush, Ādurbādagān’s revenue/tax collector.”[25] 

It can be assumed that the Darband walls’ Pahlavi Ādurbādagān inscription and the Sasanian garrisons[26] presence in Arrān’s fortresses (Darband, Torpakh kala or Saharestan Yazdagerd, Beshbarmag, in the Gilgilchay Defense Wall)[27]  under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command as well as the kust-ī Ādurbādagān marzpān (administrative officer) location in Ardebil (at the time Ādurbādagān’s capital city) clearly confirm the projecting of the province Ādurbādagān political, military and administrative functions to the north over the Araxes to Arran forming the entire Ādurbādagān šahr.[28] 

It is not surprising that Ādurbādagān’s name, military and administrative functions were projected onto Arrān (Albania). The local Arranian (Albanian) nobility was close to the Sasanian crown. Since the rein of Arrānshāh Urnayn (r. 350-375), one can speak of the establishment of close dynastic ties with the shāhanshāh’s family. Thus, King Urnayn was married to the daughter of shāhanshāh Šāpur II (r. 309-379) and Arrānshah Aswahen (r. 415-440) was the son of the sister of Šāpur III (r. 383-388) and the husband of the daughter of shāhanshāh Yazdagird II (r. 439-457). Arrānshāh Vache II (r. 440-462) was the son of the sister of shāhanshāh Hormizd (r. 457-459) and Peroz (r. 459-484).[29]

Undoubtedly, the close family ties between the Sasanian Kings and the Kings of Arran were a key element in the Sasanian strategy to enforce central and military power as well as Zoroaster’s faith which were eroded by the Orthodox Byzantium in strategically important Arrān šahr. One can state that Arrānshāh and his court were close to the Sasanian, using Pahlavi as the official language.

Following shāhanshāh Xusrō I Anōšīrvān’s reform, one can assume that it facilitated the integration of Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sasanian army under the command of Adurbadagan‘s spāhbed. Although Caucasus Albania[30] was an independent (from time to time) or semi-independent state, the defense was under Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed command. During the late Sasanian period, the commander was the famous Iranian military and political hero – spāhbed Rostam Farrokhād of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan]. General and Prince of Ādurbādagān Rostam Farrokhād was a member of the Pahlav clan of Ispahbudhan family (House) - one of the Seven Great (Pahlavi: wuzurgān) Houses of the Sasanian Empire claiming its descent to the Arsacids of Parthia.

At the same time, the King of Arrān Varaz Grigor (r. 628-637), a Zoroastrian name that may have been Gadvsnasp before his second baptizing into Dyophysite Orthodox Nestorian Christianity, was adopted as the title of Arranshah. He was a member of the wuzurgān Mehrān family (a Pahlav noble- family, separated or branch of the Ispahbudhan House). Moreover, Arrānshāh Varaz Grigor was related to the Sasanian shāhanshāh Xusrō I Anōšīrvān or even “being himself a noble of the family of Ardashir I” and Prince Javanshir (Pahlavi: Juanšer) of the Caucasus Albania (Arrān) was a son of Varaz Grigor. The Pahlav (Parthian) House of Mehrān held high-ranking positions in the Sasanian hierarchy and occupied high command over the frontline in the north, leading the negotiations with the Khaqan of Turks.[31]

Notably, the famous Sasanian general Rostam Farrokhzad of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] escorted and introduced Prince Javanshir to the last Sasanian King Yazdagird III (r. 632-651) in Ctesiphon, the Sasanian capital. In 16-19 November 636, in the famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah between the Sasanians and Muslim Arabs, Prince Javanshir was the commander (spāhbed) of the Arranian (Albanian) troops, which were part of the Sasanian Imperial Army under the command of spāhbed Rostam Farrokhād of Ādurbādagān. For his gallantry at al-Qadisiyyah, Javanshir was rewarded with villages as well as military and court insignia.[32] 

In 637, Javanshir with 3000-4000 troops, helped arrange King Yazdagird III’s evacuation from the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon sieged by Muslims. Sasanian King Yazdagird III awarded Javanshir two golden spears and shields and acknowledged his bravery, awarding a flag – the Standard of Jamshid (Derafsh-e Kavian) which was the highest honor for loyalty and bravery.[33]  Before the final defeat of the Sassanian army in the Battle of Nahavand in 642, Javanshir arrived in Ādurbādagān. One can assume that he planned to resume command of the Sassanian Ādurbādagān military in the wake of Rostam’s death and because of Yazdagird’s strong will to collect a new army in Media to fight the Arabs. However, Rostam’s brother Farrukhzad was assigned Ādurbādagān’s spāhbed and Javanshir fled back to Arrān's (Albania) capital Partaw (now Barda, present-day Azerbaijan).[34]

There was confirmed evidence that after the collapse of the Sasanian Empire, Muslim Arabs offered to Arrānshāh Javanshir to become the ruler of the entire Ādurbādagān šahr, but he refused it for obscure reasons. Soon after, Javanshir was killed during Christian service at Partaw’s Albanian (Arranian) church.[35]

Conclusion

In the 5th-6th century, the Sassanids, particularly King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān, implemented reforms aimed at improving the empire’s architecture to lead a long-lasting rivalry with the Orthodox Byzantium to dominate the Near Est. The devastating incursions of the Turks and Khazars via Darband pass in Caucasia as well as Arsacids Armenians turned towards the Byzantium prompting the Sassanids to re-evaluate and recognize the strategic and military importance of Arran (Caucasus Albania) located on the north bank of the Araxes.

Sasanian King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān established the region or kust-ī Ādurbādagān, holding Ādurbādagān’s general (spāhbed) command covering all lands in the north and northwest of the Araz river. including Arrān (Arrānšahr). The Sasanian strategy aimed to strengthen both the central power and Zoroaster’s faith as a unique imperial religion eroded by Christian Byzantium in Caucasia. The establishment of the kust-i Adurbadagan spahbed allowed the incorporation of Arranian (Albanian) troops into the Sassanian Imperial Army under Ādurbādagān’s general command containing the Byzantines and Turks, as well as enforcing the defense of the empire’s power and the religious core province of Ādurbādagān holding the cathedral fire temple Ādur Gušnasp.

The reform pulled Arrānšahr closer to the Sasanian crown supported by the establishment of dynastic or family ties between the families of shāhanshāh and Arrānshah. The recently discovered Arrānshah Aswahen’s state seal clearly confirms the closeness of Arranian (Albanian) nobility to the Sasanian crown using Pahlavi as the official court language.

Thus, the Sassanids reorganized the empire’s architecture, expanding Ādurbādagān’s military and administrative functions to Arrānšahr to form the entire Ādurbādagān šahr on both sides of the Araz River to contain the Byzantium and Turks. It was a turning point to project Ādurbādagān’s name and functions in the northern bank of Araxes, particularly on Arrān. The establishment of the kust-ī Ādurbādagān with specially assigned Adurbadagan’s general strengthened both Sasanian power and Zoroastrianism up to Darband fortress in Caucasia forming entire Adurbadagan šahr on both sides of the Araxes.

Finally, since Late Antiquity, particularly as a result of the reforms of the Sasanian King Xusrō I Anōšīrvān, names Arrān and Ādurbādagān became interchangeable in the north bank of the Araxes, facilitating of the strengthening of the empire’s central military, administrative and religious power to contain Byzantium. The following historical developments demonstrate that term Arrān (Albania) lost its political functions, surviving as a geographical or toponymical term. However, Ādurbādagān evolved into the Turkified form of Azerbaijan.

NOTES

---

[1] Katarzina Maksymiuk. “The Parthian nobility in Xusrō I Anōšīrvān court”, Elites in the Ancient World,2, eds. D. Okoń, P. Briks, Szczecin, (2015): 189-198.

[2] Touraj Daryaee T. "Sasanian Persia, The Rise and Fall of an Empire", (London/New York: 2009). 

[3] Kabekh Farrokh, Gholam Reza, Hamid Karamian. “Military Architecture and the Four-Spāhbed System for Defense of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE)” Historia i Swiat, 10, (2021): 117-151. 

[4] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Administrative Geography of the Early Sasanian Period: The Case of Ādurbādagān.” Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 45, (2007): 87-96.

[5] Mary Boyce. “ĀDUR GUŠNASP”, Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, 475-476, 28 February 2014 https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/adur-gusnasp-an-atas-bahram-see-atas-that-is-a-zoroastrian-sacred-fire-of-the-highest-grade-held-to-be-one-of-

[6] Yumiko Yamamoto. “The Zoroastrian Temple Cult of Fire in Archaeology and Literature”, Orient, 17, (1981): 67-104. doi: https://doi.org/10.5356/orient1960.17.67

[7] Zeev Rubin (1995), "The Reforms of Khusro Anushiwan", ed. A.Cameron, The Byzantine and early Islamic Near East 3, (Pricenton: 1995), 227-298.

[8] Rika Gyselen. “The Four Generals of the Sasanian Empire: Some Sigillographic Evidence”, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, Conferenze 14, Roma, (2001): 53. https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.34354

[9] Touraj Daryaee, and Keyvan Safdari. “Spāhbed Bullae: The Barakat Collection”, e-Sasanica, 12, (2010): 1-15.

[10] Katarzina Maksymiuk. “The Pahlav-Mihrani family faithful allies of Xusto I Anoshirvan”, Metamorvozi Istorii, 6, (2015): 163-179.

[11] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Ādurbādagān during the Late Sasanian Period: A Study in Administrative Geography”, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 48, (2010): 69-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2010.11864774

[12] Kavekh Farrokh, Gholam Reza and Hamid Karamian. “Military Architecture and the Four-Spāhbed System for Defense of the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE)”. Historia i Swiat, 10, (2021): 117-151. https://doi.org/10.34739/his.2021.10.05

[13] Sara Kasumova. “K tolkovaniyu sredne-persidskikh nadpiseĭ iz Derbenta (On the interpretation of the Middle Persian inscriptions from Darband)”, VDI, 1, (1979): 113-126.

[14] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Administrative Geography of The Early Sasanian Period: Case of Ādurbādagān”, Iran: Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies, 45, (2007): 87-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/05786967.2007.11864720

[15] James Howard-Johnston. “The Late Sasanian Army”, In: Late Antiquity: Eastern Perspectives ed. Teresa Bernheimer and Adam Silverstein, (Warminster: The Gibb Memorial Trust, 2012), 87-127.

[16] Mehrdad Ghodrat-Dizaji. “Disintegration of Sasanian Hegemony over Northern Iran (AD 623-643)”, Iranica Antiqua, 46, (2011): 315-329.

[17] Sara Kasumova. “New Findings Middle Persian Inscriptions in Derbent”, Vestnik Istorii, 1, (1988): 88-95.

[18] Katarzina Maksymiuk. (2017), “Destruction of the Ādur Gušnasp temple in Ādurbādagān as a revenge for abduction of the Holy Cross from Jerusalem in the context of the letters of Heraclius”, Matamorfozii istorii, 9, (2017): 109-125.

[19] Parvaneh Poursharriati. "Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: Sasanian-Parthian Empire Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran", (London/New York: 2006), 552

[20] Rika Gyselen. “Sasanian Seals and Sealings in the A. Saeedi Collection, Acta Iranica”, Peeters, 2007, 407.

[21] Karim Alizadeh. “Borderland Projects of Sasanian Empire: Intersection of Domestic and Foreign Policies”, Journal of Ancient History, 2, (2014): 93-115. https://doi.org/10.1515/jah-2014-0015 

[22] Sara Kasumova and Murtuzali Gadjiev M. “Middle Persian Inscriptions of Derbent, the 6-th c. AD”, Moscow, Vosticnaya Literatura, 2006, 128.

[23] Murtuzali Gadjiyev. “A Seal of Āhzwahēn, King of Caucasian Albania”, Journal of Ancient History, 1, (2003): 102-119.

[24] Kavelh Farrokh, Hamid Karamian, Katarzina Maksymiuk. A Synopsis of Sasanian Military Organization and Combat Units, Siedlce University, Tehran, (2018): 160.

[25] Sara Kasumova, On the interpretation, 113-126

[26] Touraj Daryaee. “If these Walls Could Speak The Barrier of Alexander, Wall of Darband and Other Defensive Moats”, Borders: Itineraries on the Edges of Iran”, (Venice: 2016): 79-88.

[27] Asker Aliyev, Murtuzali Gdajiyev, Gayhe Gaithner, Philip Kohl, Rabadan Magomedov and Idris Aliev. “Gilgilchay Long Defensive Wall: New Investigations”, Ancient East and West, 5, 1-2, (2006): 143-177.

[28] Murtuzali Gadjiev. “Armenia and the land of Mazkurt (3rd-5th Centuries AD): Written Sources and Archaeological Data”, ELECTRUM, 28, (2021): 207-119. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.21.014.13372 

[29] Katarzina Maksymiuk. (2015), “The Pahlav-Mehrān family faithful allies of Xusrō I Anōšīrvān”, Metamorvozi Istorii, 6, (2015): 163-179.

[30] Clifford Bosworth. ARRĀN, Encyclopædia Iranica, II/5, 520-522, 30 December 2012 https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arran-a-region

[31] Murtuzali Gadjiev. “The Role and Place Of Middle Persian Language And Writing In Caucasus Albania”, Vostok (Oriens), 5, (2021): 59–70.

[32] C.J.Dowsett. Moses Dasxuranc’i’s History of the Caucasus Albanians, (London: Oxford University Press, 1961), 252.

[33] Mahir Khalifa-Zadeh and Leyla Khalifazadeh. “Sasanian Adurbadagan and Modern Azerbaijan: Historical Roots and Development”, Advances in Historical Studies, 12, 2, (2023): 63-75 DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2023.122005

[34] Ismail Zardabli I. "The History of Azerbaijan: From Ancient Times to The Present Day", United Kingdom: Lulu Pres, 2014), 600

[35] Robert Hoyland. "FROM ALBANIA TO ARRĀN: The East Caucasus between the Ancient and Islamic Worlds (ca. 330 BCE–1000 CE)", (Gorgias Press LLC: 2020), 406

HISTORY OF AZERBAIJAN: TIMELINE AND FACTS

by Mahir Khalifa-zadeh*

Created:  February 17, 2017
Updated: June 02, 2026

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371988151_HISTORY_OF_AZERBAIJAN_TIMELINE_AND_FACTS

Official map of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR, 1918-1920),
Paris Peace Conference, Paris, France, 1919

DAWN OF HISTORY

The Paleolithic Period. The research conducted by Azerbaijani and German scientists proved that primitive people appeared on the territory of Azerbaijan 2 million years ago (1). Archaeological excavations and anthropological studies confirm that the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan territory has been inhabited since the Paleolithic Period (2,500,000-200,000 before present, BP). Professor Mammadali Husseynov discovered human remains of the Paleolithic Period and some other early habitat artifacts in the Cave of Azykh (Khojavend in Karabakh, Azerbaijan) in 1968 (2). 

Archaeological material from the Upper Paleolithic Period (40,000 BC) was discovered in the caves of Taghlar (Khojavend district) and Dash Salakhly (Qazakh district, Azerbaijan), as well as in Aveidag, Damjily, and Yatagery sites. 

Scientists believe that the stone carvings of Gobustan (60-70 km from Baku) are the Stone Age Rock Art, dating back to 20,000 - 5,000 BP (3). The Gobustan caves' artifacts date to the last Ice Age and Upper Paleolithic (4).

The Neolithic Period (10,000-4,500 BC) artifacts were discovered in the Leylatapa site (Garadagh district) (4). Many graves, artifacts, old settlements, and Leylatapa’s cultures were found lengthwise of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline (5).

Bronze and Iron Ages (2,000-550 BC) artifacts and the Middle Bronze Ages and the Iron Age were discovered in Nakhcivan and Karabakh. The Bronze Age’s several graves were found in the Babaverdish site in the Ganja-Gazakh region of the Republic of Azerbaijan and near the Garajamirli village in the Shamkir district (6). The Borsunlu burial mound (Goranboy district), Zayamchai necropolis (Shamkir region), and Tovuzchai necropolis were unearthed in the Tovuz district of Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the Hasansu necropolis was found in the Agstafa district. Discoveries occurred thanks to the construction of the BTC oil pipeline.

550- 330 BC - The huge palace of the Achaemenid period was unearthed by Azerbaijani-German archeologists in the Shamkir region of Azerbaijan in 2016. The team believes that it was an administrative center of the Achaemenid authorities.   

EARLY STATE 

The archeological studies confirm that several agricultural and stockbreeding settlements have existed in Azerbaijan since the 7th-6th millennium BC. The Caucasian tribes such as the Gargars, Utis, Saka, Sodes, Massagetae, and others inhabited the territory of Azerbaijan, with Mannaea (Akkadian: Mannai, Biblical Hebrew: Minni) emerging as the first state in the 10th Century BC (6,7).

8th Century BC – Northward expansion of the Kingdom of Mannae’s borders and absorption of the main part of present-day Iranian Azerbaijan (8, 9).

ANCIENT PERIOD 

7th century BC – The Empire of Medes/ Median Empire (Akkadian/Babylonian: Mādāya, Old Persian: 𐎶𐎠𐎭 Mā-da-a, Middle Persian: Mād/a, Greek: Μηδίᾳ Media) with the capital at Ecbatana (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎥𐎶𐎫𐎠𐎴, Hamgmatāna) emerges in the southwest of the Caspian Sea. The Medes (both Medians and Persians were branches of the Arian/ Aryan race) were unified by a man named Deioces (Greek: Δηιόκης), the first of four kings who were to rule a true empire that included large parts of Iran and eastern Anatolia. King Deioces unified six Median tribes (Busae, Paretaceni, Struchates, Arizanti, Budii and Magi) and absorbed Persia, founding a Median empire in the capital at Ecbatana (10b, 10c). At the time Persia was governed by their own native princes of the Achasmenian/ Achaemenian family (Parsagadae tribe), the descendants of a real or supposed of a certain Achajmenes (10d).

King Cyaxares (Median name: ᴴuvaxšϑra, Old Persian: 𐎢𐎺𐎧𐏁𐎫𐎼 Uvakhshatara, Greek: Κυαξαρης, Kyaxarēs) of Media (r. 623-585 BC)  defeats the Assyrian Empire, capturing its capital of Nineveh (10). The Medes defeat the Kingdom of Mannae. The Medes conquered the Kingdom of Urartu (Akkadian/ Babylonian: ú-ra-áš-tu/ Urashtu, Hebrew: אֲרָרָט Ărārāṭ) and incorporated it into their empire (11). In the Assyrian raid, King Cyrus II of Persia (Old Persian:  𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš, later  Cyrus the Great) commanded the Persian unit in the Median Army of the King Cyaxares of the Medes (Cyrus' maternal uncle) (12). 

6th century BC – Cyrus the Great (r. 590 - 529 BC) unites the Iranian people of the Medes and Persians and establishes a new Empire. His wife Cassandane (Greek: Κασσανδάνη) was an Achaemenid woman, daughter of Pharnaspes (Old Persian: Farnāspah) the Achaemenid (Old Persian: 𐏃𐎧𐎠𐎶𐎴𐎡𐏁Haxāmaniš, Ancient Greek: Ἀχαιμένης Akhaiménēs; Latin: Achaemenēs) (10a). However, Cyrus' other wife (maternal aunt) – Amuhia or Amytis (Median: *ᴴumati; Ancient Greek: Αμυτις Amutis; Latin: Amytis) was a Mede. She was a smallest daughter of the Median King Astyages (10), who was married with Lydian Princess (10d). Cyrus's mother was Princess Mandane of Media (Old Persian: Mandánē, Greek: Μανδάνη), the oldest daughter (Mandane and Amytis were sisters) of the last powerful Median King Astyages (Akkadian: Ištumegu, Median: Ṛšti-vaiga, Greek: Astuágēs, r. 585 - 550 BC). Cyrus the Great extends his rule over the lands of his grandfather, King Astyages, the Medes (10b).

Many scholars consider that the prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster), founder of Zoroastrianism (Old Avestan: Zaraθuštra,  Pahlavi/Middle Persian: zltw(h)št Zar(a)du(x)št, Greek: Zōroástrēs) was born in Azerbaijan near Urmia Lake in the 2nd millennium BC (13). 

5th-4th century BC - The Jews of the Tribes of Judah, Levi, and partly Benjamin (14, 14a) settled in 

Arrān (Latin: Albania).

Atropates and Alexander of Macedon

Atropates (Old Persian: Ātrpātah and Pahlavi: Ātūrpāt; Ancient Greek: Ἀτροπάτης Atropátēs; 370 BC – 321 BC) was a Mede (Old Persian: Mā-da-a-a) and nobleman (possibly had a very distant relation to the Achaemenid House) and satrap of Media (Greek: Μεγάλη) and general who served Darius III and Alexander of Macedon.

General Atropates was the commander of Achaemenid King Darius III’s army’s right wing in the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Atropates, as satrap (Median/Old Persian: xšaçapāvān, Parthian/Arsacid Pahlavi: šahrab) of Media, commanded Median, Arranian (Latin: Albanian), Sacasenian, and Arminian (Achaemenid's province of Armin/ Arminān, Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎷𐎡𐎴/ a-r-mi-i-n/ Armina/ Arminiya, Elamite: Harminuya, Greek: Ἀρμενίαν Arminyaya, Latin: Armenia) troops (13a, 13b). 

During the Battle of Gaugamela, Atropates’ units pushed Alexander of Macedon’s army to stop the advance and implemented defensive measures. Only Alexander’s personal intervention with fresh troops allowed the Macedonians to stop their retreat and concentrate on a victorious advance in the center, facing troops under the direct command of Darius III (Old Persian: 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁, Dārayavaʰuš; Ancient Greek: Δαρεῖος Dareios; r. 380– 330 BC). It was a unique moment in the battle. The Macedonian left wing had begun to retreat, and if King Darius III had realized and utilized it, the battle’s outcome would have been completely different. However, Darius III’s poor commanding and leadership skills resulted in the catastrophic defeat of the Achaemenid Army (14b).

One month after Darius III’s death in June 330 BC, Atropates surrendered to Alexander. Later, in a personal meeting, Alexander mentioned Atropates’ military skills and esteemed him so highly that his daughter was married to Perdiccas, a close ally of Alexander and commander of the Macedonian cavalry. The marriage occurred at the famous mass wedding in Susa in February 324 BC. Atropates traveled to Susa with Alexander and offered 100 Amazons (Persian: ha-maz-an/ fighting together, Greek: ἀμαζός/ a-mazos/ mastos - breastless, the Amazons cut or burned off one breast so they could draw bowstrings more efficiently), as the Greeks called the beautiful female archers from Media and Arran (Parthian: Ardān, Greek: Ἀλβανία, Latin: Albania), for the Macedonian military elite. As Strabo mentioned: "In the mountains above Albania the Amazons are said to live" (Greek: ἐν δὲ τοῖς ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἀλβανίας ὄρεσι καὶ τὰς Ἀμαζόνας οἰκεῖν φασι..) (13a, 13c). 

In 324 B.C. Atropates pacifies unrest against the Greeks and Alexander decides to keep him as the King of the land, which later becomes the independent (or semi-independent, vassal of Arsacid Parthia) kingdom of Atropatene with its capital at Ganzak/Gazaca (Greek: Γάζακα). After Alexander's death, Atropates, thanks to his diplomatic and political skills, became one of only two non-Macedonians (along with Alexander's Bactrian father-in-law Oxyartes, Old Persian: 𐎢𐎺𐎧𐏁𐎫𐎼, Median: Huvaxštrah, Greek: Ὀξυάρτης) who were listed as holding a satrapy (Media-Atropatene) after the division of the empire between Alexander's generals.

Atropates was a strong follower of Zoroaster. The name Ātūrpāt originates from Avesta's word “Âtare-pâta” ("keeper of the fire"), which was one of the sons of Zarathustra. The transcription of the name Ātūrpāt from Pahlavi (Middle Persian) could be “protected by fire”. 

Atropates enjoyed full support from Zoroastrian priests or Magi/Magus (Old Persian: 𐎶𐎦𐏁 maguš; Pahlavi: maguš; Greek μάγος magos) to minimize the Greeks’ impact on Zoroastrianism in Media-Atropatene. Indeed, the Achaemenids' favored Goddess Anāhītā fire temple had been sacked and desecrated by Alexander the Great, who had burnt there the 12,000 ox-hides on which the original Avesta was written in golden lettering and which had been placed in the Fortress of Archives in the city of Istakhr in Pārs/Fars. However, Atropates was able to secure the fire temple of Ādur Gušnasp in Šiz (now Azar Goshnasp in Takht-e Soleyman, Azerbaijan, Iran), where the other copy of the Holy Avesta was preserved and copied on calf skins (15).

Media - Atropatene

4th-3rd century BC - The kingdom of Media-Atropatene or Artopatene was established in  323 BC. It is in Atropatene (Old Persian/Arsacid Pahlavi: Ātṛpātakāna, Pahlavi: Ādurbādagān, Greek: Ἀτροπατηνή) that Azerbaijani identity began to be shaped. 

"Media is divided into two parts, one of which is called Greater Media (Latin: Media Magna). The other division is Atropatios Media. It had its name from Atropatou (Old Persian Aturpat?), a chief who prevented this country, which is a part of Greater Media, from being subjected to the dominion of the Macedonians." "Atropatene was strong about its military power because it could be represented by 10,000 horsemen and 40,000 infantrymen…”, Strabo reports (16).

 

According to the classic theory, Atropatene was named after Achaemenid King Darius III's general Ātūrpāt (Atropates). Notably, the word “Ātaš”, or “holy fire,” as it is well-known, has a Zoroastrian Avestan origin "ātarš". Historically, it evolved into the Parthian "Ātur" and Pahlavi “Ādur” and finally into the Turkified form “Azar/Azer”. “Azar” is the core of “Azarbaijan,” or nowadays Azerbaijan, descending from Parthian “Āturpātakān", meaning “a place where the holy fire is protected”. Azerbaijan — or Sasanian   “Ādurbādagān" — was a religious center of the Sassanids' empire, holding the "cathedral" Ādur Gušnasp fire temple (15). 

Another theory traces the etymology of Azerbaijan from the Old Persian words "Āzar" (Persian: آذر‎‎), meaning Fire, and "Pāyegān" (Persian: پایگان‎‎) meaning Guardian/Protector (Āzar Pāyegān - "Guardians of Fire") (Persian: آذر پایگان‎‎), Āzar Pāyegān was later corrupted and Turkified into “Azarbaijan/Azerbaijan” (16).

Rome, Parthia, Adurbadagan and Arran (Caucasian Albania)

4th –3rd century BC - The Kingdom of Caucasian Albania (Syriac: Aran, Parthian: Ardān, Greek: Ἀλβανία, Pahlavi: Ārān, Latin: Albania) emerges on the shores of the Caspian (Greek: Κασπία) Sea in the late 4th early 3rd century BC with the royal capital of Kabalaka (Latin: Cabalaca), now Gabala, present-day Azerbaijan. The Kingdom is a close ally of Parthia (Middle Persian: Pahlav). The territory of Albania (Arrān) covered most of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan, including some areas in the neighboring countries. It was a state with sufficiently developed agriculture, handicrafts, and trade. Arrān (Albania) had its own coins and army of up to 60,000 foot soldiers and 22,000 horsemen (17).

1st century BC—1st century CE—The Roman Army under General Pompey Magnus subjugates Armin (Latin: Armenia), Iberia (Greek: Ἴβηρσι), and sizes Colchis (Greek: Κολχίδος) (66 - 65 BC). His army moves alongside the River of Kur/a (Old Persian: Kuruš⁠, Greek: Κῦρος Kyros, Latin: Cyrus, Azerbaijani/Turkish: Kür) toward the Caspian Sea. Pompey fords the Alazan River and clashes with the forces of the Albanian king Oroezes (Greek: Ὀροίσης Orois) (18).

Roman General Markus Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome, was defeated in 53 BC in the south of the Caspian Sea (18). Later, in 36 BC, the Romans led by General Mark Antony were defeated by the Parthians, Atropatenians, and Arrānians at the well-fortified capital of the Atropatenes, Phraata (now Maragha, Azerbaijan, Iran) (19).

75 CE - Roman Emperor Domitian sends Legio XII Fulminata (Thunderbolt) to the allied kingdoms of Iberia and Albania. A rock inscription found at the shores of the Caspian Sea in 1948 (Gobustan, 60-70 km from Baku, Azerbaijan) mentions the presence of a centurion of Legio XII Fulminata named Lucius Julius Maximus (20).

233 CE – Roman Emperor Severus Alexander’s army is defeated by Parthians and Arrānians in Arrān (21).

6th century - Sasanian Shah Khosrow I (Xusrō I Anōšīrvān, r. 531- 579) establishes kust-i Ādurbādagān (region of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan]), holding Ādurbādagān general (Pahlavi: spāhbed). The office of supreme military command (Pahlavi: Isbahbadh) of Azerbaijan, with a specially assigned general covering Ādurbādagān, Arrān (Latin: Albania), and Arminān (Greek/Latin: Arminyaya/Armenia). 

Thanks to Shah Khosrow I Anushirvan's reforms, the name, administrative and military functions of Ādurbādagān extend up to Darband fortress in Arrān, forming the entire Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] shahr on both banks of the Araxes.

In 623, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, during his wars against Shah Khosrow II (Xusrō Parvēz, r. 530-628), sacked the Sasanian Empire's most sacred fire temple, Ādur Gušnasp, in Azerbaijan, casting down its altars and polluting the lake's water with corpses. Khosrow II was married to the daughter of the Khagan of Turks (22).

Adoption of Christianity in Arrān (Church of Arrān/Albanian Church) 

1st- 2nd century – Christianity, brought over by the missions of St Eliseus and Nestor, reaches Arrān (Latin: Albania) and spreads all over the country. The Church was established by the 1st-century missionary Saint Elisaeus, who proselytized throughout Arrān and Persia. He creates the first Christian church in the Caucasus, in Kish (Pahlavi: Qish) in 301 (Sheki, Pahlavi: Šakki, Azerbaijan). In 2001, a team of international archaeologists confirmed that Kish's church is dyophysite Chalcedonian Orthodox.

In 313, Arānšāh Urnayr declared Orthodox Christianity the official religion of Arrān, predating King Mirian of Iberia’s declaration of Iberia as a Christian nation in 337 (23). The Church of Arrān (Albanian Apostolic Church) - Dyophysite Autocephalous Orthodox Church - became a state institution (24).

In 335-336, an Arsacid Sanatruk (or Sanesan) ruler of P'aytakaran (Pahlavi: Balāsagān), with the help of Albania, invaded Armenia and occupied its capital, Vargashapat (Pahlavi: Valashabad/ Balashabad) (24a).

In 372, Arānšāh Urnayr (r. 336-350) fights alongside Sasanian šāhanšāh Shapur II (Pahlavi: Šābuhr, r. 309–379) against the Roman-Armenian army in the Battle of Bagavan (371 CE). 

In 387, the Iranian province of Armin/ Arminān (Greek/Latin Arminyaya/Armenia) was divided between Byzantium and the Sasanian Empire, and the Sasanians transferred Uti/k, Šakašēn, Arc’sax, Kolṭʿ, Xač'én, Siwnik, and Gardman under the Arrān shah's authority. 

In 428, the Sasanian province of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan] enlarges over the former Armin's regions of Parskahayk and P'aytarakan (Parthian: Payt-karan (Parthian: karan [land] of Payts tribe?], Pahlavi: Balāsagān, now Baylagan, present-day Azerbaijan) (24b).

Since 552 AD, the Catholicos of the Church of Arrān (Albanian) has been seated in the capital city of Partaw (Old Persian: Parθaυa, Parthian: Parθaυ, [Parthia] Middle Persian: Pahlav). The city was built by the Albanian king Vach'e [II] (r.440-463) by the order of the Sasanian king Pērōz (r.457-484). The original name was "great city" of Pērōz-Kavāt/Pērōzāpāt, i.e., “Prosperous Peroz” or "the city of Pērōz") (25). It was renamed to Partaw (now Barda from Arabic: برذعة, Bardhaʿa, present-day Azerbaijan ), possibly between 484-488 under the reign of Vachaghan [III] the Pious, holding the status of the capital city of Albania (25a).

7th century - Varaz-Gregor of Mihran (r. 535-636), ruler of Caucasian Albania (Pahlavi: Ārān) and "his people" were baptized/ re-baptized into Orthodox Christianity (Chalcedonian Dyophysitism) by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius when he was in Arrān (628), fighting against the Sasanian Shah Khosrow II (25b).

Arrān Shah Javanshir (King of Caucasian Albania)

7th century – Arrān (Syriac: Aran, Parthian: Ardān, Greek: Ἀλβανία, Latin: Albania) under King Varaz-Grigor (r. 628 - 637) and his son Javanshir resisted the Muslim Arabs (29). Prince and General (Pahlavi: spāhbed) Javanshir (Pahlavi: Juanšer) was a member of the Great (wuzurgān) Pahlav (Parthian) House of Mehrān and son of Arrān shah Varaz-Grigor, who probably had a Zoroastrian name Gadvsnasp before his second baptism into Dyophysite Orthodox Christianity. 

In 16-19 November 636, in the famous Battle of al-Qadisiyyah between the Sasanians and Muslim Arabs, Prince Javanshir was the commander (spāhbed) of Arrān's (Albania's) troops, which were a part of the Sasanian Imperial Army under the command of the famous hero, prince and general (spāhbed) Rostam Farrokhzād of Ādurbādagān [Azerbaijan].

In 637, Javanshir, with 3,000-4,000 troops, helped arrange the evacuation of Sasanian Shāhanshāh Yazdgerd III (r. 632-651) from the empire's capital, Ctesiphon (Pahlavi: Madāʾen), which was being besieged by Muslims. Yazdgerd III awarded Javanshir two golden spears and shields and acknowledged his bravery, awarding a flag – the Standard of Jamshid (Pahlavi: Derafš-e Kāvīān King's flag), which was the highest honor for loyalty and courage in the Sasanian empire. 

After the collapse of the Sasanian Empire, the Muslims offered Javanshir to become the ruler of the entire Adurbadagan [Azerbaijan] shahr on both banks of the Araz River, but he refused it for obscure reasons.

In 654, Javanshir sends a letter to Byzantine emperor Constantine II, asking the emperor to adopt Arrān (Albania) under his patronymic. 

In 669, Javanshir was killed during Christian service at Partav’s Arrānian (Albanian) dyophysite  Chalcedonian Orthodox church (Church of Arrān). Javanshir was married to a Turkish Princess.

Arrival of Islam

7th century - The Muslims' conquest of Iran resulted in the spread of Islam in Ādurbādagān and Arrān. This, subsequently, brings about the disintegration of the Kingdom of Albania and the entire region’s being assimilated into the Arabian Caliphate. Islam becomes the major religion following the Arabs' advance into Arrān (Caucasian Albania).

795 - 838 -  The strong unrest under the leadership of Sardār Bābak (Papak) Khorramdin (Persian: بابک خرمدین, Bābak-e Khorramdin) took place in Azerbaijan against the Abbasid Caliphate.

Early Turks and Seljuk Turks

4th-5th century – Early Turk tribes started to arrive and settle in the South Caucasus, particularly in Arran. Hun Turks came from the Don River to Azerbaijan in 395 and 398, respectively. The beginning of the Turks’ linguistic and ethnic mixture with locals and Arranians (Albanians) started (26). 

In 466, the Aghaceri Turk tribes, belonging to the European Huns (the Oğuz/ Oghuz), settled in Azerbaijan (27).

4th century—Starting from the late Roman period (Byzantium), Nomadic Turkic tribes began to penetrate Arrān (Albania), Armin (Armenia), and Northern Iran from the North Caucasus and later from Central Asia (28).

 

6th-7th century - The Book of Dede Korkut (Azerbaijani: Kitab Dədə Qorqud, Turkish: Dede Korkut Kitabi), the historic epic of the Oğuz/ Oghuz Turks, was written in Azerbaijan (30).

MEDIEVAL AND THE BEGINNING OF 18 CENTURY 

9th century – In 816, a popular Shiite liberation movement for independence from the Arabian Caliphate was launched in Azerbaijan under the leadership of Babek (Pahlavi: Pāpak/Pābag) Khorramdin. Babek quickly seized power in Armenia, Esfahan, Mosul, and Hamedan (816-817). However, he was defeated and executed in 838 (31).

The Shirvanshahs' (Old form: Šarvānšāhs, Azerbaijani: Şirvanşahlar) state emerged in Caucasian Azerbaijan in 861. At its maximum strength, the Shirvanshahs' power extended over present-day Azerbaijan and Armenia. In 1538, it was absorbed by the Safavid Empire (32).

10th century - The Oğuz Turks adopted Islam. A new ethnic group of Azeri Turks emerges (33). The Oğuz tribes’ Seljuk (Arabic/Persian: Ḡozz) dynasty put an end to the Arab control by invading Azerbaijan from Central Asia. The Seljuk Turks’ massive influx and conquest accelerated the degradation of the local Iranian Adari (Āḏarī/ Old Azari, Arabic: al-āḏarīya) language and its gradual replacement by Azeri or Azeri Turkish on both banks of the Araxes, thereby cementing the Azeri Turkish identity. 

1141- Great Azerbaijani poet Neẓāmī Ganjavī (Azerbaijani: Nizami Gəncəvi) was born in the city of Ganja, present-day Azerbaijan.

12th – 13th century – The emergence of the Atabek state in Azerbaijan under the Seljuk ruler Shams ad-din Ildeniz with a capital in Barda, present-day Azerbaijan. In the 1230s, the Armies led by Genghis Khan conquered Azerbaijan (34).

14th century – The Armies of Tamerlane invaded Azerbaijan. This is followed by the emergence of two successive Azerbaijani states: the Qara-Qoyunlu (Azerbaijani: Qaraqoyunlular, r. 1374-1468) and Aq-Qoyunlu (Azerbaijani: Ağqoyunlular, r. 1378-1503) with a capital in Tabriz, Azerbaijan. Both empires controlled the areas of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

15th century–When the city of Shemakha (Middle Persian/Pahlavi: Šammāḵa, Azerbaijani: Şamaxı) was abandoned as the capital of the state of Shirvanshahs in favor of Baku (Middle Persian/ Pahlavi: Ātāš-i Bagawān/ Atāsh-i Bagawān?; Ātāš - "fire" in Zoroastrianism; Old Persian: bagāha; Middle Persian: bāga/ bāgh means god, "place of God's fires"), the Palace of Shirvanshahs was built in 1411 in the new capital of Baku.

1420 – 1436 - Qara Iskander ibn Yusuf rules the Qara Qoyunlu and gains control over the area that is present-day Armenia. In 1467, Uzun Hassan (Azerbaijani: Uzun Həsən) of Turkic Aq Qoyunlu defeated Qara Qoyunlu’s Jahanshah, who was Sultan of Azerbaijan and Shah of Iran (35). 

In 1468, the state of Qara-Qoyunlu disintegrated and a new state of Aq-Qoyunlu (1387-1502) with capital in Tabriz emerged under the rule of the Turk of Uzun Hasan. 

1423-1478- The reign of Uzun Hasan, the Shahan Shah of Aq Qoyunlu and Azerbaijan’s great statesman (36). The Aq Qoyunlu empire reached its zenith under Uzun Hasan.

Shah Ismail Sefevid (Esmāʿīl I Safavid)

Ismail was born on July 17, 1487, in Ardabil, Azerbaijan and died on May 23, 1524, in Ardabil, Safavid Empire.

16th –17th century – At the beginning of the 16th century, Azerbaijan became a power base of another indigenous dynasty, the Safavids (Azeri Turk dynasty). The founder of the Safavid Dynasty, Shah Ismail I (r. 1501-1524), declared Shi'a Islam as the state religion. He unites all Azerbaijani lands and creates a powerful empire with a capital in Tabriz. The state of Safavids stretched from the Amur Darya River in the east to the Euphrates in the west and from the Darband fortress in Azerbaijan to the Persian Gulf in the south.

In 1504, Shah Ismail (Esmail) Safavid ordered his general Revangulu Khan to build a fortress on the river of Zanghi bordering the Ottomans.

In 1511, the fortress was built and named after Ismail's general Revangulu as Revan or Iravan (Erivan) qala (capital of present-day Armenia) (37). 

In August 1514, Ismail’s army was defeated in the Battle of Chaldiran (Turkish: Çaldıran Savaşı) by the Ottoman troops under Sultan Selim I. Between 1590 and 1639, wars over Azerbaijan were fought between the Ottoman and the Safavid Empires.

1736- A brilliant military commander Nadir Kuli-Khan Afshar (later Nadir Shah Afshar, Azerbaijani: Nadir şah Əfşar), a member of the Turkic Afshar tribe settling in Azerbaijan since the 13 century, was crowned as Shah of Iran in Mugan (Azerbaijan). Nadir Shah was known as "The Second Alexander" or "The Napoleon of Persia".

IMPERIAL RUSSIA 

18th –19th century – Emergence of the Azeri Turkic Qajars state in Iran and Azerbaijan in 1781. The Turkic Qajars (Persian: دودمان قاجار, Dudemâne Ǧâjâr, Azerbaijani: Qacarlar) originated from Ganja (present-day Azerbaijan). 

10 July 1804 - The Russians were defeated at the Battle of Iravan (now Yerevan, Armenia).  The Army of Azerbaijan under the command of Azeri Turk Crown Prince Abbas Mirza Qajar, enforced by Qajar's Imperial Army under the personal command of Azeri Turk Fath Ali Shah Qajar, defeated the Russians and pushed them back to the previously stormed and occupied Azerbaijani fortress of Ganja/ Ganjeh (37a).

The Russo-Iranian wars led to the signing of the Gulistan (1813) and the Turkmenchay (Persian: عهدنامه ترکمانچای, Ahdnāme-ye Torkmânčây, Azerbaijani: Türkmənçay müqaviləsi, 1828) treaties between the Qajar and Russian Empires that split Azerbaijan into two parts (southern or Iranian Azerbaijan and northern or Russian/Soviet Azerbaijan, present-day the independent Republic of Azerbaijan) along the Araz River. The Russian rule in Azerbaijan begins.

Under the Treaty of Gulistan (Persian: عهدنامه گلستان, Ahdnāme-ye Golestān, Azerbaijani: Gülüstan müqaviləsi), Imperial Russia possesses Karabakh, Ganja, Sheki, Shirvan, Derbend, Kouba, and Baku, together with part of Talish and the fortress of Lenkoran (38).

01 October 1828 - Qajar Iran's Crown Prince Azeri Turk Abbas-Mirza Qajar (Azerbaijani: Abbas Mirzə Qovanlı-Qacar), supreme commander of Qajar Azerbaijan's Army, signs a capitulation of the Qajar Empire's fortress Iravan (Erivan, Erivan khanate) after a long siege launched by General Tsitsianov of the Russian Imperial Army.

Under the Treaty of Turkmanchay, Qajars ceded the Iravan (Erivan) Khanate (Persian: خانات ایروان, Khānāt-e Iravān, Azerbaijani: İrəvan xanlığı, present-day part of Armenia), the Nakhchivan Khanate and Abbasabad fortress (present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan), the Talysh Khanate (southeastern Azerbaijan), and the Ordubad (Old: Urdubad) and Mughan regions (now also part of the Republic of Azerbaijan) (39, 39a).

Finally, the Russian Empire conquered and incorporated the following Azerbaijani khanates - Erivan (later renamed by the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin into Yerevan, the present-day capital of Armenia), Karabakh, Nakhichevan, Ganja, Shemakha, Baku, Sheki, Guba, Derbend, Talysh, Salian and the fortress of Lenkaran.

In the late 1820s, a massive resettlement of Armenians from the central parts of Iran as well as from the Middle East into Azerbaijani lands took place under the Treaty of Turkmanchay (40).

March 21, 1828, the Russian Tsar issued and signed an Order that renamed the Azerbaijani khanate of Erivan and some parts of the Nakhchivan khanate into the so-called Armenian oblast (province). Finally, Imperial Russia established the province of Armenia (Russian: Армянская область) on Azerbaijani lands (41).

6 August 1832 - the birthdate of world-famous Azerbaijani lyrical poetess  Khurshid Banu Natavan (Azerbaijani: Xurşidbanu Natəvan). She was the daughter of Mehdigulu Khan, the last ruler of the Karabakh Khanate (r.1748–1822).

1836 - Tsarist authorities abolished the Albanian (Arranian) Orthodox church (re-established in 2003) (41a).

FIRST OIL BOOM 

1872 – Starting point of commercial oil production and the first Oil Boom in Baku (11 million tons are produced per annum; 50% of the world's oil production). In 1879, the Nobel Brothers established their own company in Baku (some 12 percent of the Nobel Prize fund was drawn from Alfred's shares in the Nobel Brothers' Petroleum Company in Baku).

In 1883, the capital of the Rothschild's finances Baku-Batum railway, which played an important role in the export of oil from Baku to the European markets.

INDEPENDENCE, AZERBAIJAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC (ADR)

1918

30-31 March – The massacre of about 20,000 Azerbaijanis in Baku is perpetrated by the Russian Red (Communist) Army and Armenian Dashnaks. 

28 May - Azerbaijan declares independence and announces the creation of the Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR) - the first secular and democratic state in the Muslim world. The first Cabinet of Ministers is formed under Prime Minister Fatali-khan Khoyski.

4 June – The Peace and Friendship Agreement is signed between the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Ottoman Empire. The establishment of the Turkish Military Mission in Ganja.

15 September – Baku is liberated from Dashnak Armenians and Shaumyan’s communist armed formations. Joint Azerbaijani and Turkish troops enter Baku. The capital of Azerbaijan is moved from Ganja to Baku.

7 December – The opening session of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. 18 December – General Thompson declares Britain’s support for the Azerbaijani Parliament as the only legitimate authority within the territory of the ADR.

1919

8 January – Azerbaijan Democratic Republic’s official delegation participates in the Paris Peace Conference.

15 January –The Paris Peace Conference’s official decision on the recognition of Azerbaijan’s independence is presented to the Azerbaijani delegation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France. 27 June – Azerbaijani (based on the Latin Alphabet) is adopted as the state language.

In the face of the Bolsheviks’ military advance, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed the Azerbaijani–Georgian mutual defense pact in Tbilisi that established a military union on June 16, 1919 (42). November-December –Armenian Dashnaks perpetrate massacres of the Azerbaijani population in ADR’s Zangezur.

1920-1921

On 11 January 1920, the Paris Peace Conference recognized de facto the Azerbaijan Republic with the capital in Baku. The Conference issued a Special Resolution, which confirms Nagorno-Karabakh as an integral part of Azerbaijan (43). Under this document, the Allied Powers recognize Khosrov-bey Sultanov, appointed by the Government of Azerbaijan, as Zangezour’s and Karabakh’s Governor-General (44, 45).

20 March  1920 - Iran de jure recognizes the independence of Azerbaijan (46).

27-28 April 1920 – 11th Red (Communist) Army invades Baku. The Soviet Government, led by Nariman Narimanov, was established in Azerbaijan.

1921 - Parts of the territory of Azerbaijan are transferred to Armenia by the Soviet Bolshevik Government as a "symbol of friendship and brotherhood" between Azerbaijani and Armenian proletarians. The transfer of lands included: Zangezur, Goyche, Daralayaz, and Sharur  (47, 48) (now parts of Armenia).

USSR AND BLACK JANUARY OF 1990

1922-1990

In 1922, Azerbaijan was incorporated into the Soviet Union as a part of the Transcaucasian Federation and subsequently, in 1936, it became a Soviet Socialist Republic. The Cyrillic alphabet is introduced in the country. Azerbaijan was one of the fifteen republics of the USSR until the country’s re-independence in 1991.

In 1923, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin renamed the city of Khankendi (Azerbaijani: Xankəndi) in Karabakh into Stepanakert for Armenian Bolshevik and Dashnak Stepan Shaumyan, who was a leader of the Baku Bolsheviks Commune (26 Baku Commissars) (49a,b).

In 1936, Soviet dictator Stalin renamed the city of Erivan (Azerbaijani: Iravan) to Yerevan (50).

1946-1949, The Soviet Government invites Armenians around the world and settles them in the Armenian SSR (51).

1947- 1950, The Soviet Government deported more than 200.000 Azerbaijanis from the Armenian SSR to the Azerbaijan SSR (52). 

1988 – The beginning of ethnic cleansing against Azerbaijanis in Armenia results in the influx of refugees to Baku. The Soviet Authorities in Moscow stepped up measures to suppress the National Movement for Independence in Azerbaijan and secure Communist rule in the country.

20 January 1990 – Soviet military intervention. Up to 26,000 Soviet troops storm Baku. More than 130 civilians (Azerbaijanis, Russians, Jews, Ukrainians) were killed and 700 were wounded.

RESTORATION OF AZERBAIJAN'S INDEPENDENCE AND ARMENIA'S AGGRESSION

1991-1993

31 August 1991 – Azerbaijani Parliament adopts the Declaration of Independence. The Parliamentary Act establishing the State Independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan was passed on October 18, 1991.

June 1992 - President Ayaz Mutalibov flees Baku against the backdrop of increasing failure in internal policy and in Nagorno-Karabakh, culminating in the Armenian massacres of Azerbaijani civilians in the town of Khojali on 26 February 1992 (613 were killed, 487 wounded and 1,275 civilians were taken hostage). The Popular Front of Azerbaijan seizes power and Abulfaz Elchibey becomes President. The CSCE (now the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE) set up the Minsk Group, a group of member states coalesced to facilitate a peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The three co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group include representatives of France, Russia, and the United States.

June 1993 – One year of unsuccessful rule by the Popular Front reaches its climax. The Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan over the Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in the occupation of Aghdam, Lachin, Kelbajar, Gubatly, Zangilan, Jebrail, and Fizuli districts of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The number of Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons reaches one million. Armed revolt against the Popular Front Government gains momentum. Amid the imminent threat of civil war Abulfaz Elchibey appeals to Heydar Aliyev (at the time a Leader of the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan) to return to Baku and, using his rich political experience, address the dire situation and save the country from the outbreak of internecine hostilities. Elchibey flees Baku.

June 1993 - Heydar Aliyev returns to Baku and, through several skillful and courageous measures, manages to avert the confrontations. 15 June 1993- Heydar Aliyev becomes Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament.

In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted the four Resolutions (822, 853, 874, and 884) condemning the occupation of Azerbaijani territories and demanding unconditional withdrawal of the Armenian Armed Forces.

3 October 1993 – Heydar Aliyev is elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

1994-1998

9-12 May 1994 - The cease-fire agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is signed.

20 September 1994 – Contract of the century is signed between Azerbaijan and Consortium of Major Oil Companies led by BP. 5-6 December 1994 - CSCE Budapest Summit. A decision on "Intensification of CSCE action concerning the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict" is adopted.

2–3 December 1996 - OSCE Lisbon Summit. The OSCE Chairman-in-Office makes a statement supported by all (53) OSCE member states except Armenia, on three principles for the settlement of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

11 October 1998 - Heydar Aliyev is re-elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.  

1999-2003

17 April 1999 – Construction of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline is completed.

18 November 1999 - The Intergovernmental Agreement related to the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Crude Oil Pipeline was signed by the Presidents of the Turkish Republic, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Georgia during the OSCE Summit in Istanbul.

25 January 2001- Azerbaijan becomes a member of the Council of Europe.

15 October 2003 – H.E. Ilham Aliyev is elected President of the Republic of Azerbaijan

AZERBAIJAN'S GREAT VICTORY

On 10 November 2020, Armenia signed the Agreement (Capitulation Act) to withdraw all Armenian Occupational forces from Azerbaijan. The Second Karabakh War ended with the termination of the Armenian occupation of 20% of Azerbaijan (53). 

On 23 September 2023, Azerbaijan launched an anti-terrorist operation and liberated the city of Khankendi (the Soviets renamed it into Stepanakert for Armenian bolshevik and dashnak Stepan Shaumyan) from the Armenian separatists. The separatist junta was annihilated by the signing of the Self-Liquidation Act (54).

* Khalifa-zadeh Mahir is Research Professor, Ph.D, Canadian Historical Association, 130 Albert Street, Suite 1912, Ottawa, ON, K1P5G4, Canada

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49b - Stepanokert, Russian Big Encyclopedia, 2004-2017, https://old.bigenc.ru/geography/text/4165408

50- Herbert R. Lottman, Despite Ages of Captivity, The Armenians Persevere“, New York Times, 29 February 1976, available at https://www.nytimes.com/1976/02/29/archives/despite-ages-of-captivity-the-armenians-persevere-armenia-a-hint-of.html

51- Sanjian S., Armenian Immigration to the USSR from Arab Countries (1946–1949), Oxford Academic, 2023, pp 194-204, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197605769.003.0020 

52 - "Council of Ministers of the USSR dated March 10, 1948 "On measures for the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kura-Aras lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR.", (Постановление N: 754 Совета министров СССР О мероприятиях по переселению колхозников и другого азербайджанского населения из Армянской ССР в Кура-Араксинскую низменность Азербайджанской ССР),  In Russian http://www.hrono.info/dokum/194_dok/19480310azer.html

53- Statement by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia and President of the Russian Federation, November 10, 2020, https://president.az/en/articles/view/45923

54- Nagorno-Karabakh Republic will cease to exist from January 1, 2024 - Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, Reuters, September 28, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nagorno-karabakh-republic-will-cease-exist-jan-1-2024-nagorno-karabakh-2023-09-28/