[65] Samuel of Ani; the continuation of Matthew of Edessa; the Georgian annalist in Brosset (Hist. de la Géorgie). [↑]

[66] Brosset, Ruines d’Ani, p. 131, and Voyage Archéologique, livraison 1, rapport 1, p. 94. [↑]

[67] The Georgian annalist, ap. Brosset, Hist. de la Géorgie. [↑]

[68] The various emigrations of the inhabitants of Ani are exhibited by Minas Bejeshkean (Travels in Lehastan (Poland) and other Countries inhabited by Armenian Emigrants from Ani, Venice, 1830 (in Armenian)). His account is summarised by Brosset (Ruines d’Ani, pp. 138 seq.) and by Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. x. pp. 597 seq.). For the code of the Armenians of Lemberg see Sitzungsberichte der phil.-hist. Klasse der k. Akad. der Wissenschaften, Vienna, 1862, pp. 255 seq. [↑]

[69] Let me catalogue in this place the works of previous travellers having reference to Ani which I have collected. I shall annex the date of visit whenever I have been able to ascertain it. I have purposely omitted works written in Russian or in Armenian. The full titles will be found in the bibliography attached to Vol. II.

(1) 1621, Poser (Reyse, etc., Jena, 1675, 4o). His account is confined to a few sentences. He mentions the existence of 200 churches in Ani and the immediate neighbourhood. (2) Tavernier (edit. Paris, 1679, Livre Premier, p. 24). A few misleading sentences. (3) 1817, Ker Porter (Travels in Georgia, etc., London, 1821–22, vol. i. pp. 169 seq.). A fantastic description. (4) 1836, Hamilton (Researches in Asia Minor, etc., London, 1842, vol. i. pp. 197 seq.). The best of these older notices. (5) 1837, Wilbraham (Travels, etc., London, 1839, pp. 287 seq.). The hasty but vivid impressions of a tourist, from which the following is an extract: “The shapeless mounds of Babylon are like the skeleton; but the deserted, yet still standing city (Ani) resembles the corpse whose breath has fled, but which still retains the semblance of life.” (6) 1837, Abbott (Notes of a Tour, Journal R.G.S., 1842, vol. xii. pp. 215 seq.). Not important. (7) 1838, Eugène Boré (Corr. et Mém., Paris, 1840, vol. ii. p. 2) mentions a mémoire in which he was about to resume the results of his seven days’ sojourn in Ani, during which he copied inscriptions. The mémoire has been lost. (8) 1839, Texier (Description de l’Arménie, etc., Paris, 1842, folio, pp. 93–116), with a plan, which is not oriented, and ten fine plates. Texier’s account is both defective and unsatisfactory; but it is the first detailed description. I must warn my reader against accepting his history; he seems to confuse Timur with Alp Arslan in some places. (9) 1844, Herrmann Abich (Bull. hist.-phil. de l’Acad. de Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 1845, vol. ii. pp. 369–76, with notice by Brosset; Aus kaukasischen Ländern, Reisebriefe, Vienna, 1896, pp. 176–200). The distinguished geologist devoted four days to the study of the ruins and drew out a plan of the site. His full account, for which consult the latter of the two references, had not been published, so far as I could ascertain, at the time of my own journey. But Brosset had already published the plan, the substantial accuracy of which I was able to test upon the spot (Voyage Archéologique, St. Petersburg, 1849–51, Atlas), and the inscriptions copied by Abich (in the same work, livr. 1, rapp. 3, pp. 86–111). (10) 1846, Muravieff, quoted by Khanikoff ap. Brosset (Voy. Arch. livr. 1, rapp. 3, pp. 121–52). (11) 1847, Nerses Sargisean of the Society of the Mekhitarists of Venice copied a number of the inscriptions. See Brosset (Ruines d’Ani, St. Petersburg, 1860, p. 5), and especially Brosset’s article in the Bull. Acad. Sciences St. P., 1862, vol. iv. pp. 255–67. (12) 1848, Khanikoff copied the Mussulman inscriptions. See Brosset (Voy. Arch. livr. 1, rapp. 3, pp. 121–52). (13) 1850, Kästner (Lieut. Julius) was commissioned by Prince Vorontsoff, Governor of the Caucasus, to explore Ani, and spent forty-four days within its walls. He collected fifty inscriptions and made numerous drawings, which have been made use of by Brosset (Ruines d’Ani, pp. 4 seq.). (14) 18—, Ussher (Journey from London to Persepolis, London, 1865, pp. 243–45). A sketchy description.

The whole subject has been fully treated, but unfortunately at second hand, by Brosset (Ruines d’Ani, St. Pet. 1860, and Bull. Acad. Sciences St. P., 1862, vol. iv. pp. 255–67). The traveller is deeply indebted to Brosset for these two valuable treatises. Fergusson has devoted a few pages to Ani in the first volume of his History of Architecture (see pp. 473–75).

I ought not to close this list without referring to two works in Armenian which are of special value: Sargis Dgalaleantz (Journey in Great Armenia, Tiflis, 1842 and 1858, 8vo), and Alishan (Description of Great Armenia, Venice, 1855). Both these works contain accounts of Ani. [↑]

[70] This ravine is the Armenian Tsaghkotzadzor or Valley of the Flower-garden. [↑]

[71] The moat may have united the waters of the Alaja and the Arpa Chai. See Ruines d’Ani, p. 60. [↑]