Ganzak

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Author: Laxman Burdak, IFS (R)
Greater Armenia within the borders of King Tigranes II's brief-lived empire (ca. 80 BC)

Ganzak is an ancient town founded in northwestern Iran.

Variants

Jat Gotras Namesake

Jat Gotras Namesake

Location

The city stood somewhere south of Lake Urmia, and it has been postulated that the Persian nobleman Atropates chose the city as his capital.[1] The exact location, according to Minorsky, Schippmann, and Boyce, is identified as being the ruins (37.011555°N, 46.193187°E) at Leylan, Malekan County in the Miandoab plain.[2][3]

Etymology

The word means “treasury” and is of Median origin (ganǰəm), and was adopted into Persian by the Achaemenid Empire. The name is related to the Persian word for treasury i.e. گنج Ganj.

History

Ganzak was built by the Achaemenids and was the seat of the satrap of Media. During the 4th century BC, the city became part of the domains of the Persian aristocrat Atropates, who had deserted to Alexander the Great, and had probably made Ganzak his capital. The kingdom of Atropates became known as the “Atropatene”. During the rule of this kingdom, the sacred fire temple Adur Gushnasp was constructed.

In ca. 148 BC, the kingdom of Atropatene became a vassal state of the Parthian Empire. In 36 BC, the Romans besieged Ganzak. Still, they were defeated by a combined force under the Atropatenian king Artavasdes I and the Parthian king Orodes II. In ca. 224 AD, the Sasanian king Ardashir I (r. 224-242) put an end to the Atropatenian kingdom. However, the name still survived, and instead of being merged with Media was a province of its own, where Ganzak continued to be the capital.

In 591, the Battle of Blarathon occurred near Ganzak between the Sasanian king Khosrau II (590-628) and the usurper Bahram Chobin (r. 590-591). The battle ended in a defeat for Bahram Chobin, who fled to Khorasan. In 622, Ganzak was destroyed by the Roman/Byzantine emperor Heraclius, who also had the sacred fire temple Adhur Gushnasp destroyed. The Byzantine sources reported that Ganzak was a large town with “about 3,000 houses”.

The governor of Atropatene, Farrukh Hormizd, did not resist the Byzantines due to an alliance he had made with them along with the military rebel Shahrbaraz. In 651, during the Muslim conquest of Persia, the governor of Atropatene, Isfandyadh, became a vassal of the Rashidun Caliphate. Some years later, however, Isfandyadh disappeared from mention, and Atropatene thus must have been incorporated into the Rashidun administration. Ganzak, no longer the capital of Atropatene, survived under the Muslims but was destroyed sometime during the late medieval era. Leylan, a town close to Ganzak, became its successor.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny[4] mentions Adiabene.... The kingdom of the Persians, by which we now understand that of Parthia, is elevated upon the Caucasian chain between two seas, the Persian and the Hyrcanian. To the Greater Armenia, which in the front slopes towards Commagene, is joined Sophene, which lies upon the descent1 on both sides thereof, and next to it is Adiabene, the most advanced frontier of Assyria; a part of which is Arbelitis,2 He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which engagement the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil, where Alexander conquered Darius, and which joins up to Syria. The whole of this country was called Mygdonia by the Macedonians, on account of the resemblance it bore to Mygdonia3 in Europe. Its cities are Alexandria,4 and Antiochia, also called Nisibis5; this last place is distant from Artaxata seven hundred and fifty miles. There was also in former times Ninus6, a most renowned city, on the banks of the Tigris, with an aspect towards the west. Adjoining the other front of Greater Armenia, which runs down towards the Caspian Sea, we find Atropatene7, which is separated from Otene, a region of Armenia, by the river Araxes; Gazæ8 is its chief city, distant from Artaxata four hundred and fifty miles, and the same from Ecbatana in Media, to which country Atropatene belongs.

1 35 See c. 10.

2 He alludes to the town of Arbela, where, as it is generally said, the army of Darius was defeated by Alexander the Great; by which engagement the conflict was terminated. It was the fact, however, that Darius left his baggage and treasures at Arbela, while the battle really took place near the village of Gaugamela, about twenty miles to the north-west of Arbela. This place still retains its name of Arbil.

3 A district in the east of Macedonia, bordering on the Thermaic gulf and the Chalcidic peninsula.

4 Nothing is known of this place. Hardouin suggests that it may have been built on the spot where Alexander defeated Darius.

5 Also known as Antiochia Mygdoniæ, the capital of Mygdonia. Its ruins are still to be seen near a place called Nisibin. It stood on the river Mygdonius, now the Nahral Huali.

6 Or Nineveh, the capital of the great Assyrian monarchy, destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians about B.C. 606.

7 There is great difficulty in ascertaining, from the accounts given by the ancient writers, the exact limits of this district, but it is supposed to have included a considerable portion of the province now known by the name of Azerbaijan. It derived its name from Atropates or Atropes, who was governor of this district under the last Darius.

8 Most probably the place now known as Gazæa, the royal residence of the Parthian kings, and, as its name would imply, their treasure city. Colonel Rawlinson thinks that this place underwent many changes of name according to the rulers who successively occupied it; among other names, it appears to have borne that of Ecbatana.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny[5] mentions Arabia....Next after them are the Nabatæi, who have a city called Petra10, which lies in a deep valley, somewhat less than two miles in width, and surrounded by inaccessible mountains, between which a river flows: it is distant from the city of Gaza, on our shores, six hundred miles, and from the Persian Gulf one hundred and thirty-five. At this place two roads meet, the one leading from Syria to Palmyra, and the other from Gaza.

On leaving Petra we come to the Omani11, who dwell as far as Charax, with their once famous cities which were built by Semiramis, Besannisa and Soractia by name; at the present day they are wildernesses.

10 Mentioned in B. v. c. 21, if, indeed, that is the same Petra.

11 Omana or Omanum was their chief place, a port on the north-east coast of Arabia Felix, a little above the promontory of Syagros, now Ras el Had, on a large gulf of the same name. The name is still preserved in the modern name Oman.

Mention by Pliny

Pliny[6] mentions Troglodytice....Beyond it is the Port of Isis, distant ten days' rowing from the town of the Adulitæ: myrrh is brought to this port by the Troglodytæ. The two islands before the harbour are called Pseudepylæ18, and those in it, the same in number, are known as Pylæ19; upon one of these there are some stone columns inscribed with unknown characters. Beyond these is the Gulf of Abalites, the island of Diodorus20, and other desert islands; also, on the mainland, a succession of deserts, and then the town of Gaza, and the promontory and port of Mossylum21, to the latter of which cinnamon is brought for exportation: it was thus far that Sesostris led22 his army.

18 The "False Gates."

19 The "Gates."

20 D'Anville and Gosselin think that this is the island known as the French Island.

21 Ansart thinks that this promontory is that known as Cape de Meta, and that the port is at the mouth of the little river called Soul or Soal.

References

  1. ↑ M. Boyce, Ganzak, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 10, 2001.
  2. ↑ M. Boyce, Ganzak, in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 10, 2001.
  3. ↑ Christensen, Peter (1993). The Decline of Iranshahr. Museum Tusculanum Press. pp. 323–324, note 10. ISBN 978-87-7289-259-7.
  4. ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 16
  5. ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 32
  6. ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 34

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