Arminiya

Ostikanate of Arminiya
Հայաստանի Օստիկանություն
654–884
Map of the Caucasus and of Arminiya c. 740
Map of the Caucasus and of Arminiya c. 740
StatusProvince (largely autonomous vassal principalities) of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates
CapitalDvin
40°0′16.870″N 44°34′45.012″E / 40.00468611°N 44.57917000°E / 40.00468611; 44.57917000
Common languagesArmenian (native language)
Arabic
Religion
Christianity (Armenian Apostolic Church, Paulicianism)
Sunni Islam (state)
GovernmentMonarchy
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Established
654
• Disestablished
884
ISO 3166 codeAM
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Persian Armenia
Byzantine Armenia
Albania (satrapy)
Principality of Iberia
Principality of Hamamshen
Bagratid Armenia
Bagratid Iberia
Kaysites

Arminiya, also known as the Ostikanate of Arminiya (Armenian: Հայաստանի Օստիկանություն,[1] Hayastani ostikanut'yun) or the Emirate of Armenia (Arabic: إمارة أرمينية, imārat armīniya), was a political and geographic designation given by the Muslim Arabs to the lands of Greater Armenia, Caucasian Iberia, and Caucasian Albania, following their conquest of these regions in the 7th century. Though the caliphs initially permitted an Armenian prince to represent the province of Arminiya in exchange for tribute and the Armenians' loyalty during times of war, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan introduced direct Arab rule of the region, headed by an ostikan with his capital in Dvin. According to the historian Stephen H. Rapp in the third edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam:[2]

Early Arabs followed Sāsānian, Parthian Arsacid, and ultimately Achaemenid practice by organising most of southern Caucasia into a large regional zone called Armīniya (cf. the Achaemenid satrapy of Armina covering much of southern Caucasia and the subsequent Kūst-i Kapkōh of the Sāsānians).

  1. ^ Yeghiazaryan, Arman (2005). "Հայաստանի Օստիկանության սահմանները [Borders of the Vicegerency of Arminia]". Patma-Banasirakan Handes (in Armenian) (1). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 243–258. ISSN 0135-0536.
  2. ^ Rapp, Stephen H. (2020). "Georgia, Georgians, until 1300". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.