Note 15 — Chapter XVI · AKHLAT
Reading edition
That the place continued to prosper after the catastrophe of the great siege by the Sultan of Kharizme is attested not only by the monuments which have been described, but also by the evidence of books. It was known to Abulfeda at the end of the thirteenth century as a flourishing town, which he compares to Damascus. A century later, it is described by Bakoui as one of the principal cities of Armenia. Its decline appears to date from the commencement of the sixteenth century, though the district no doubt derived a certain glamour from the erection of the fortress on the shore.15