Kemah ( ku, Kemax), known historically as Ani-Kamakh ( hy, Անի-Կամախ), Gamakh, Kamacha or Kamachon ( el, Κάμαχα, Κάμαχον) is a town and district of

Erzincan Province Erzincan Province ( tr, ; ku, Parezgêha Erzînganê) is a province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. In Turkey, its capital is also called Erzincan. The population was 236,034 in 2018. Geography Erzincan is traversed by the northeaste ...

in the

Eastern Anatolia Region The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Black S ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

History

Ancient and medieval

Kemah is a town with a present population of 2141 (2010 est.). The town is located almost in the centre of Erzincan Province. In ancient times, the town was known as Ani-Kamakh, and was the cult center of the Armenian goddess

Anahit Anahit ( hy, Անահիտ, fa, آناهید) was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology. In early periods she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BCE she was the main deity in Armenia along with Ar ...

(Ani). It may be what the Hittites referred to as Kummaha (if that was not just a variant of Kummuh). The necropolis of Armenia's Arsacid Dynasty was located in Kemah, including the tomb of Tiridates III who was instrumental in the conversion of the Armenian people to Christianity. During the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Kemah was a strategically important border fortress in the border wars between the Byzantines and the Umayyads and

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

. It first fell to the Muslims in 679 and changed hands frequently until the mid-9th century (cf. Siege of Kamacha (766)), when Byzantine control was consolidated. According to

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe ...

, in the late 9th century Kemah formed a '' tourma'' in the '' thema'' of Koloneia. Under Emperor

Leo VI the Wise Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well ...

, Kemah was joined with the district of Keltzene to form the new ''thema'' of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

. Little is known of the site thereafter, except that it was the seat of a bishopric named "Armenia". The Byzantines lost control of the area following the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, theme of Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army and ...

in 1071.

Modern

The Kemah Gorge was the scene of massacres during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

. In one instance, 25,000 Armenians were killed in one day by throwing the victims off a steep gorge and into the Euphrates river.

Demographics

In the 19th century, Armenian Catholic geographer Rev. Ghukas Injijian wrote that the Muslim population in Kemah were of Armenian origin but had converted to Islam during the devastation caused by the Persian-Ottoman wars in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Fundamental Armenology

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Erzincan Province Districts of Erzincan Province Kurdish settlements in Turkey