Daranali or Daranaghi () was a district (''gavar'') of the province of

Upper Armenia Upper Armenia ( ''Bardzr Hayk‘'') was the first province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in present-day Turkey, roughly corresponding to the modern province of Erzincan, to the west of the Kura River. Within the borders of the kin ...

of Greater Armenia. It was located in the basin of the Western Euphrates (Karasu), near modern-day Kemah (Kamakh, Kamacha,

Camachus Camachus was a town in the Roman province of Armenia III. The true primitive name seems to have been Camacha. Camachus, Camachum and Camache are later forms. It is today Kemah in eastern Turkey. History The town enclosed a celebrated temple o ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its center was the fortified settlement of Ani (not to be confused with the medieval Armenian capital), which was located on the right bank of the Western Euphrates, across from Kemah. It was famous for its fertile lands, plentiful waters and salt mines. It likely fell into the region of

Acilisene Acilisene (), known as Ekegheats or Yekeghyats () in Armenian, was a region of the Upper Armenia province of historical Armenia. It was a strip of land along the Upper Euphrates or Arsanias roughly corresponding to today's Erzincan Province of Tur ...

(later Ekegheatsʻ) mentioned in Strabo's ''Geography''. It is first mentioned in Armenian sources by

Faustus of Byzantium The name Faustus primarily refers to Faust, the protagonist of the German legend. Faustus may also refer to: * Faustus (praenomen), a Latin personal name * Faustus of Alexandria (died 250), priest and martyr * Faustus of Byzantium, 5th-centur ...

, who describes it and the district of Ekegheatsʻ as the property of Gregory the Illuminator's family. Daranali is most famous for having contained the burial-place of the

Arsacid The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

Armenian kings at Ani. It was also a major religious center in pagan times, as it was home to a temple to

Aramazd Aramazd was the chief and creator god in the Armenian version of Zoroastrianism.; ; ; ; ; The deity and his name were derived from the deity Ahura Mazda after the Median conquest of Armenia in the 6th century BC. Aramazd was regarded as a gene ...

at Ani and a temple to Mihr at Bagayarichʻ built by

Tigranes the Great Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great (''Tigran Mets'' in Armenian language, Armenian; 140–55 BC), was a king of Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Armenia. A member of the Artaxiad dynasty, he ruled from 95 BC to 55 BC. Under hi ...

. The entire district may have belonged to the temple of Mihr. Following the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of Armenia in the 4th century, the temple at Bagayarichʻ was destroyed by Gregory the Illuminator and Daranali became the property of the Armenian church.

References

Early medieval Armenian regions {{MEast-hist-stub

See also

References