Bagavan (also known as Baguan or Atshi Bagavan) was a district in

Caspiane Caspiane or Kaspiane ( gr, Κασπιανή, hy, Կասպք ''Kaspkʿ'') was the land populated by the tribe of Caspians, after whom it received its name. Originally a province of the Medes in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC, the land of the Caspians was ...

, the land of the

Caspians The Caspians ( fa, کاسپی‌ها, ''Kaspyn''; el, Κάσπιοι, ''Káspioi''; Aramaic: ܟܣܦܝ, ''kspy''; xcl, Կասպք, ''Kaspk’''; la, Caspi, ''Caspiani'') were a people of antiquity who dwelt along the southwestern shores of the ...

. It was located on the right bank of the

Araxes , az, Araz, fa, ارس, tr, Aras The Aras (also known as the Araks, Arax, Araxes, or Araz) is a river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan e ...

(Aras), roughly corresponding to the northeastern part of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

's historic

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

region. Within Bagavan, there was the historic town of Bagaran, which was also known as Atshi Bagavan. Attested as "Bagarvan" or "Bajarvan" in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

and

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

, this town is identified with the city of

Göytəpə, Jalilabad Göytəpə (also, Goytepe, Göytäpä, Prišib, Prishib, Prishibinsk, Prishibinskoe, and Prishibinskoye) — is a city and the most populous municipality, except for the capital Cəlilabad, in the Jalilabad Rayon of Azerbaijan. It has a populatio ...

, within the contemporary

Republic. In ancient times, the Bagarvan river flowed nearby Bagaran; nowadays the river is known as ''Bazarchai''. However

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

and the local

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

Talysh still refer to it as the ''Bagaru'' river. Until the 17th century, the district of Bagavan was still referred to as "Bejirvan". The name "Atshi" probably derives from

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...

''atash'' ("fire"), which, according to

Robert H. Hewsen Robert H. Hewsen (May 20, 1934 – November 17, 2018) was an American historian and professor of history at Rowan University. He was an expert on the ancient history of the South Caucasus. Hewsen is the author of ''Armenia: A Historical Atlas'' ...

(citing

Suren Yeremian Suren Tigrani Yeremian ( hy, Սուրեն Տիգրանի Երեմյան; russian: Сурен Тигранович Еремян; – 17 December 1992) was a Soviet and Armenian historian and cartographer who specialized in the study of the ea ...

), implies that the town "may once have been a center of

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

worship".

Notes

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* {{refend Geographic history of Iran History of Azerbaijan (Iran) Former populated places in Iran History of Talysh

See also

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Sources