Note 24 — Chapter XVIII · ANI, AND THE ARMENIAN KINGDOM OF THE MIDDLE AGES

The reign of this prince has a special interest for the traveller to Ani; for it is at this period that the city on the Arpa emerges from the condition of a mere fortress into the splendour of a royal residence and capital of a kingdom. Ashot the Third is known to have added both to the defences and to the public buildings of a town which had witnessed the ceremony of his coronation.24 It was considerably enlarged by his son and successor, Sembat the SecondSembat II., A.D. 977–989., who built the outer wall in face of which I have brought my reader at the commencement of this chapter.25 Sembat also laid the foundations of the cathedral, but died before it was completed.26 The title which is assigned to this king by the Armenian historians dissembles with truly Oriental ingenuity the inherent weakness of the structure which supported his throne. He is styled the king of Armenian kings, Shahinshah-Armen. Sembat was succeeded by his brother Gagik the FirstGagik I., A.D. 989–1019.27, a prince who is described as at once victorious in the field and strenuous in the works of peace. His military qualities may have been displayed in a campaign against the Mussulmans under the emir of Azerbaijan, Mamlun. But the credit of the victory over this successor of the Afshins and the Yusufs belongs in the principal degree to an Armenian prince of the country of Akhaltsykh, David, who endeavoured, at the head of forces composed of Georgians and Armenians, to wrest from the Moslem yoke the fortresses in the south of Armenia, Melazkert, Akhlat, Arjish.28 It is rather in the sphere of a patron of art that we may be able to remember Gagik. It was during his reign that the noble cathedral at Ani was brought to completion, largely at the expense and by the initiative of his queen.29 He built another of the great churches which adorned his capital, that of the Illuminator on the side of the Valley of Flowers.30 The monastery of Marmashen, near Alexandropol, was constructed at this period by one of the Armenian princes, Vahram.31 Lastly, the seat of the patriarchate was removed to Ani from the neighbouring town of Arghina.32