Garni Temple
The Garni Temple is a classical colonnaded structure in the village of Garni, in central Armenia, around east of Yerevan. Built in the Ionic order, it is the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia. Considered an eastern outpost of the Greco-Roman world, it is the only largely preserved Hellenistic building in the former Soviet Union.
It is conventionally identified as a pagan temple to the sun god Mihr built by King Tiridates I in the first century AD. A competing hypothesis sees it as a second century tomb. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake, but much of its fragments remained on the site. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to excavations in the early and mid-20th century. It was reconstructed in 1969–75, using the anastylosis technique. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Armenian neopaganism.
Setting
The site is in the village of Garni, in Armenia's Kotayk Province, at 1,400 m above sea level. The temple is at the edge of a triangular promontory rising above the ravine of the Azat River and the Gegham mountains. It is a part of the fortress of Garni, one of Armenia's oldest, that was strategically significant for the defense of the major cities in the Ararat plain. Besides the temple, the site contains a Bronze Age cyclopean masonry wall, a cuneiform inscription by king Argishti I of Urartu, a Roman bath with a partly preserved mosaic floor with a Greek inscription, ruins of palace, other "paraphernalia of the Greco-Roman world", the medieval round church of St. Sion, and other objects. In the first century, Tacitus mentioned castellum Gorneas as a major fortress in his Annals. Tim Cornell and John Matthews classify Garni, with its classical building, as "the most easterly point reached by the Romans".Date and function
The dating and function of the structure remain subjects of ongoing scholarly debate. Christina Maranci describes it as an Ionic structure with "unclear function", suggesting it may have been a funerary monument or royal tomb rather than a temple.Remains of an older sanctuary were discovered under its foundations, which has been interpreted as an Urartian temple.
Temple
The prevailing view, especially among Armenian scholars, attributes its construction to king Tiridates I around 77 AD. This date derives from a Greek inscription, discovered in 1945, naming Helios Tiridates as the founder, stating it was built in the eleventh year of his reign. While Movses Khorenatsi attributed it to Tiridates III, most scholars now favor Tiridates I. This dating connects to Tiridates's 66 AD visit to Rome, where Emperor Nero crowned him following the peace treaty ending the Parthian-Roman war over Armenia. Nero provided 50 million drachmas and Roman craftsmen to help rebuild the capital Artaxata destroyed by Roman general Corbulo. Its construction may have occurred during this reconstruction period.File:Greek inscription of Tiridates I, Garni.jpg|thumb|325px|The Greek inscription of Tiridates I
| Greek text | Translation |
| Ἥλιος Τιριδάτης μεγάλης Ἀρμενίας ἄνα ὡς δεσπότης. Αἴκτισε ναΐ βασιλίσα τὸν ἀνίκητον κασ-\ αιτούς. Αι. Τῆς βασιλεί με. Ὑπὸ ἐξουσίᾳ στεγάν λίτουργος τῷ μεγάλῳ σπ μετὰ ματήμι καὶ εὐχαρ τοῦ μαρτυρίου. | The Sun Tiridatēs of Greater Armenia, lord as despot, built a temple for the queen; the invincible... in the eleventh year of his reign. ...Under the protection of the... may the priest to the great cave in the vain of the witness and thanks. |
In Armenia, the temple is commonly believed to have been dedicated to Mihr, the sun god in the Zoroastrian-influenced Armenian mythology and the equivalent of Mithra. Tiridates, like other Armenian monarchs, considered Mihr his patron. Some scholars argue that, given the historical context in which the temple was constructed—after his coronation in Rome—it would be logical to assume that Tiridates dedicated the temple to his patron god.
Scholars differ on who built the structure: Telfer attributed it to Greek workmen, Fetvadjian to Roman architects, and Maranci proposed involvement of imperial Roman workmen. In contrast, Nersessian and Harutyunyan argued that local craftsmen, skilled in basalt carving, were responsible.
Mausoleum or tomb
Not all scholars agree that the structure was a temple. Among early sceptics, Kamilla Trever suggested in 1947 that it was built between 115-117 AD when Armenia was briefly declared a Roman province under Trajan, as such occasions typically involved building temples housing emperor statues. However, she later concluded that if the temple were solely for imperial cult worship, it would likely have been destroyed after the end of Roman rule.In 1982 Richard D. Wilkinson suggested that the building is a tomb, probably constructed in honor of one of the Romanized kings of Armenia of the late 2nd century. This theory is based on a comparison to Graeco-Roman buildings of western Asia Minor, the discovery of nearby graves that date to about that time, and the discovery of a few marble pieces of the Asiatic sarcophagus style. Wilkinson furthermore states that there is no direct evidence linking the structure to Mithras or Mihr, and that the Greek inscription attributed to Tiridates I probably refers to the fortress and not to the colonnaded structure. He also notes that it is unlikely that a pagan temple would survive destruction during Armenia's 4th-century conversion to Christianity when all other such temples were destroyed.
Wilkinson's theory has found some support, especially outside Armenia. James R. Russell finds the view of the structure being a temple of Mihr baseless and is skeptical that the Greek inscription refers to the temple. He suggested that the "splendid mausoleum" was erected by Romans living in Armenia. Russell agreed with Wilkinson's interpretation that it was a 2nd-century tomb, "possibly of one of the Romanized kings of Armenia", such as Sohaemus, and that it is "unique for the country and testifies to a particularly strong Roman presence." Felix Ter-Martirosov also believed it was built in the latter half of the 2nd century. Robert H. Hewsen argued, based on the construction of a church in the 7th century next to it rather than in its place, that the building was "more likely the tomb of one of the Roman-appointed kings of Armenia", such as Tiridates I or Sohaemus.
Medieval history
In the early fourth century, when King Tiridates III adopted Christianity as Armenia's state religion, all pagan places of worship in the country were destroyed by Gregory the Illuminator. Scholars regard it as the only pagan, Hellenistic, or Greco-Roman structure to have survived the widespread destruction. Scholars continue to debate why it was exempted from destruction. Zhores Khachatryan argues that it underwent depaganization and was thereafter seen as a fine structure within the royal palace complex.According to Movses Khorenatsi a "cooling-off house" was built within the fortress of Garni for Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. Some scholars believe the temple was thus turned into a royal summer house. The structure presumably underwent some changes. Cult statue in the cella were removed, the opening in the roof for skylight was closed, and the entrance was transformed and adjusted for residence.
Ter-Martirosov argued that after Armenia's Christianization, it was initially a royal shrine, but after Khosrovidukht's death it was transformed into a Christian mausoleum dedicated to her. Hamlet Petrosyan and Zhores Khachatryan rejected the postulated Christianization of the temple. Dickran Kouymjian also rejected its use as a Christian building. In the Middle Ages, variously dated between the 7th and 10th centuries, a round church of St. Sion was built immediately west of it. Their relationship remains unclear, but Maranci suggested that "it seems likely that one did exist". Hewsen suggested that the church was built next to it rather than in its place because it was a tomb, not a pagan temple.
A recent study by Armenuhi Magarditchian suggested that the structure was transformed into a baptistery between the fifth and seventh centuries, based on a newly discovered early Armenian inscription inside the cella.
The walls of the temple bear six Arabic inscriptions in the Kufic style and one in Persian in the naskh script, which have all been paleographically dated to the ninth to tenth centuries. They commemorate the capture of the fortress and may point to the temple's conversion into a mosque. On its entryway, there is a large Armenian inscription from 1291, left by Princess Khoshak of Garni and her son, Amir Zakare. Khoshak, the granddaughter of Ivane I Zakarian, recorded the exemption of the people of Garni from taxes paid in wine, goats, and sheep.
Medieval Christian Armenian chroniclers referred to it as the "throne of Trdat". In the 13th century, Kirakos Gandzaketsi called it the "marvellous throne of Trdat". In the last major written record about the temple before its collapse, poet penned a lament in 1593. He grieved the past greatness of Armenia and mentioned the number of its columns and steps, and noted the use of iron clamps and lead. It was also visited by in the early 1600s.