Artze (; ) was a town in Medieval Armenia in the 10th–11th centuries. It was located some 55 km east of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

city of Theodosiopolis, in the district of Phasiane on the borderlands between

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

and

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

, on the left bank of the Araxes River. It is mentioned as the seat of a Byzantine ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' in the ''

Escorial Taktikon The ''Escorial Taktikon'' (other spellings: ''Escurial Taktikon'', ''Escorial Tacticon'', ''Escurial Tacticon''), also known as the ''Taktikon Oikonomides'' after Nicolas Oikonomides who first edited it, is a list of Byzantine Empire, Byzantine of ...

'' (). It was ceded along with other cities to

David III of Tao David III Kuropalates (, ''Davit’ III Kurapalati'') or David III the Great (დავით III დიდი, ''Davit’ III Didi''), also known as David II, (c. 930s – 1000/1001) was a Georgia (country), Georgian prince of the Bagrationi, B ...

in 979 for his assistance in suppressing the rebellion of Bardas Skleros, but recovered after David's death in 1000, when it became part of the catepanate of

. The town is chiefly known from the report of John Skylitzes, who writes that it was a popular trade centre, attracting merchants from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

and elsewhere. The town was sacked by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

in 1048/49, and its surviving inhabitants moved to Theodosiopolis, which they started to call in Armenian ''Arcn Rum'' ("Artze of the Romans .e., Byzantines). From this the later and current name of Theodosiopolis,

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

, derives. Artze should not be confused with the ancient and medieval town of

Arzen Arzen (in Syriac ''Arzŏn'' or ''Arzŭn'', Armenian ''Arzn'', ''Ałzn'', Arabic ''Arzan'') was an ancient and medieval city, located on the border zone between Upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands. The site of the ancient Armenian capital ...

, which was farther south.

References

Sources

* * * * {{coord missing, Turkey 10th century in Armenia Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine–Seljuk wars Former populated places in Turkey Bagratid Iberia Provinces of the Byzantine Empire 11th century in Armenia 1040s disestablishments in Asia