The overthrow of that empire by the Mongols afforded a passage to these savage hordes towards the south. They became masters of the city in 1245. We are informed that they made it over to a Georgian princess, who had married a son of one of the Shahs of Armenia.[12] To this period are due the mausolea which we still admire, and some of which appear to have been erected to princes of Mongol origin. My authorities throw no light upon the point. I am not aware that Nughatay, or Hasan Agha, or the son of Saughur are known to history. They preserve equal silence upon the period which produced the tomb of Bayindar, master of the sword and of the pen. But we can scarcely doubt that he was a chieftain of the Turkoman horde of the White Sheep into whose possession the greater part of the country had passed during the progress of the fifteenth century.[13] Akhlat was incorporated in the Ottoman dominions under Sultan Suleyman the First in A.D. 1533–1534.[14]
That the place continued to prosper after the catastrophe of the great siege by the Sultan of Kharizme is attested not only by the monuments which have been described, but also by the evidence of books. It was known to Abulfeda at the end of the thirteenth century as a flourishing town, which he compares to Damascus. A century later, it is described by Bakoui as one of the principal cities of Armenia. Its decline appears to date from the commencement of the sixteenth century, though the district no doubt derived a certain glamour from the erection of the fortress on the shore.[15]
[1] Coracias garrulus, belonging to a family closely allied to the kingfishers and bee-eaters. But what hideous names have been given to this beautiful bird! [↑]
[2] The credit of whatever information we already possess is due, among modern travellers, almost exclusively to Englishmen. I may cite Brant (Journal R.G.S. 1840, vol. x. pp. 406 seq.), Layard (Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, London, 1853, pp. 24 seq.), and Tozer (Turkish Armenia, London, 1881, pp. 315 seq.). The last of these writers does not appear to have read Layard’s account, which would have saved him some lengthy speculations. Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. x. p. 326) may also be consulted. [↑]
[3] The white stone which may be seen inserted in the masonry of some of the tombs at Akhlat is not a true marble, but a compact limestone, easy to chisel. It must have been brought from a distance, perhaps from the opposite shore of the lake, as we met with no such stone in situ during our wanderings. [↑]
[4] I am indebted to my friend, Mr. E. Denison Ross, for careful translations of these and the following inscriptions. [↑]
[5] Brant (op. cit. p. 407) attests its existence at the time of his visit. [↑]
[6] Woodcuts of this tomb are given by Layard (op. cit. p. 24) and by Müller-Simonis (op. cit. p. 313). [↑]
[7] Madavantz belongs to the caza but not to the casaba, or home district, of Akhlat. [↑]