[78] Du Caucase au Golfe Persique, Paris, 1892, p. 190. [↑]
[79] One lira or Turkish pound contains 100 piastres and is equal to 18 shillings. [↑]
[80] I append the names and situations of the Armenian schools. Private schools are marked with a P.
| Name ofSchool. | No. of MalePupils | No. ofFemale Pupils | Wheresituated. |
| 1. | Arakh | 450 | 150 | Arakh quarter of the gardens. |
| 2. | Norashen | 300 | ... | Norashen quarter of the gardens. |
| 3. | Yisusean | 200 | 100 | Walled city. |
| 4. | Hankusner | ... | 250 | Hankusner quarter of the gardens. |
| 5. | Sandukhtean | ... | 150 | Norashen |
| 6. | Khach-poghan | 155 | ... | Central avenue of gardens. |
| 7. | Lusavorchean P. | 90 | 30 | |
| 8. | Haykavank | 85 | 15 | Haykavank quarter. |
| 9. | Paragamean P. | 50 | 25 | Norashen quarter of gardens. |
| 10. | Pusantean P. | ... | 75 | |
| 11. | Lukasean | 45 | 10 | Norshen-Sufla quarter of gardens. |
| 1375 | 805 | |
[81] The text of the slab in this mosque (which he calls the Kurshun mosque) has been copied and published by Dr. Belck in the Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 1892, vol. vii. pp. 257 seq. See also Verhandlungen der Berl. Gesell. für Anthropologie, 1898, pp. 570, 575 (Sayce, No. LXXX., Journal R.A.S. 1894, p. 707). [↑]
[82] For the cuneiform inscriptions in Surb Paulos (Boghos) see Schulz’s Memoir, pp. 298–99; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 400 (I do not know why he calls it the church of St. Peter and St. Paul); Verhandlungen der Berl. Gesell. für Anthropologie, 1898, pp. 570 and 573, and Zeitschrift für Assyriologie, 1899, p. 320. They are being subjected to fresh examination by Messrs. Belck and Lehmann (Sayce, Nos. XXXI. and XXXII.). In addition to these I noticed a mutilated inscription on a stone in the doorway of Surb Vardan (see Verh. Anthrop. 1898, p. 572), and two inscribed slabs in the apse of the ruined Surb Petros, one in fair preservation (Sayce, No. XLVIII.). I was unable to penetrate into the chapel of Surb Sahak, into the walls of which similar fragments of the stelai of the Vannic kings have been inserted (Sayce, Nos. XLV. and XLVI.). [↑]
[83] The most detailed, as well as the most lucid and impressive, account of the Gurab, or rock of Van, is still that of Schulz (Journal Asiatique, 1840, vol. ix. ser. iii. pp. 264 seq.). But the remarks of Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 395 seq., with woodcuts of the rock chambers), Tozer (Turkish Armenia, London, 1881, pp. 347 seq.) and Müller-Simonis (Du Caucase au Golfe Persique, Paris, 1892, pp. 246 seq.) may be consulted. The only entrance to the citadel is by a path which is conducted up the western declivities of the rock from a point closely adjacent to the gate called Iskele in the north-west angle of the fortified town. In Schulz’s time this path ascended in a north-easterly direction between a double row of modern walls, composed for the most part of mud. After following these walls for some little distance it arrived in front of a solid wooden door, studded with large nails and strengthened by bars of iron. This gate afforded access to the castle, and was never opened except by an express order from the Pasha. The castle enclosure was flanked by walls of greater height and solidity than those without; it contained a number of modern buildings, such as barracks, a small mosque, and a powder magazine. Mr. Tozer was shown a very deep naphtha well in this neighbourhood, running down vertically into the rock. The oil, which he describes as a brown, half liquid mixture, could be reached by means of a pole. The house of the commandant and the prison are situated within the enclosure, where may be seen a number of old bronze cannons, curiously ornamented and quite obsolete. Schulz describes the antiquities upon this portion of the rock as consisting of two groups of cave chambers. 1. The southern front of a mass of rock which immediately adjoins the most elevated part of the whole formation—that part which lower down displays the tablet of Xerxes, and which is crowned by the powder magazine—has been hewn down in a vertical direction for a space of about 60 feet. Nearly in the centre is situated an open doorway, surmounted by a smaller aperture to admit light. Both openings have been damaged by human hands, evidently with intention; and no trace of any ornaments or inscriptions remains. The doorway conducts into a vaulted cave chamber, some 45 feet long and 25 feet high. The rock has been less carefully worked than in the case of the caves of Khorkhor. Nearly in front of the entrance, a second doorway in the opposite wall gives access to a smaller apartment, 20 feet long and 10 feet broad, called the Neft Koïou or spring of naphtha, the fumes of which fill the room. At the time of Schulz’s visit this inner chamber was nearly filled up by a structure in kiln-burnt bricks and very hard mortar, of which the purpose was not apparent. 2. Quite close to the Neft Koïou, in the block of limestone, adjoining it on the left hand, which rises from the tablet of Xerxes to the powder magazine, may be seen a hole of irregular shape and some 3 feet in diameter, through which one crawls into a group of five rock chambers, of which the largest is 30 feet long and 20 feet broad. The walls of these caves are rudely fashioned, without ornament or niches. In one of them Schulz found human bones.
Perhaps the most remarkable and certainly the most famous series of such excavations upon the rock of Van are known by the name of the caves of Khorkhor. They are situated in the steep south-west side of the mass, overlooking a garden which in Schulz’s time belonged to the Pasha, but which is now in a desolate and weed-grown condition. The garden bears the same name as the caves—a name of which the etymology is neither Armenian nor Turkish, and which, according to Professor Sayce, may perhaps be taken back to the word Kharkhar, signifying to excavate, found in Vannic texts (J.R.A.S. 1882, p. 572). The chambers are visited from the same side as the citadel, and at first by the same path. The remains of steps and of even spaces, hewn out of the rock, suggest that one of the principal approaches to the platform in antiquity was taken by this way. But, after following this avenue for some little distance, you turn to the right, leave the stairs, and clamber along the side of the rock, until you emerge through a fissure upon the southern face and see the garden at your feet. From here a staircase of twenty steps, almost obliterated in some places, slopes along the face of a mass of precipitous crags, in which is placed the entrance to the chambers. The limestone has been carefully flattened and polished, and is covered with inscriptions outside. At the commencement of the stair is seen a little grotto, containing a seat which commands fine views over town and plain. On the right of the grotto is a long inscription in three columns, separated from one another by vertical lines. It has suffered not a little from the impact of cannon balls; but is still in a fairly legible condition. It records the conquests of Argistis I. (Sayce, Nos. XXXVII. XXXVIII. XXXIX.). The continuation of this record is found a little further on, at the end of the stair, and after turning an angle of the rock. It is incised upon the outer face of the polished limestone about the doorway to the caves (Sayce, Nos. XL.–XLIV.; see also Hyvernat’s memoir in Müller-Simonis, op. cit. p. 531). This aperture, some 6 feet by 5 feet in dimensions, leads into a chamber 32 feet long, 19 feet broad, and 10½ feet high, which again communicates with four lesser rooms. The walls are hewn out with extraordinary care, and ten niches or oblong recesses, 3 feet high and 2 feet broad, are distributed over the sides of the principal apartment about 3½ feet above the ground. Incisions with holes in the centre are placed in the spaces between each pair of niches, and may have held metal lamps. The floor has been excavated in two places into squares a few inches deep. The smaller rooms are furnished with recesses similar to those described. One of them adjoins a space resembling the head of a pit or shaft, which, however, has been completely filled in with rubble. It probably represents a subterraneous communication with a spring which gushes from the foot of the rock in the garden below.
The remaining excavations and inscriptions are disposed as follows over the circumference of the ridge:—1. East of the Khorkhor, but on the same south face, and approached from the side of the gate of Tabriz, you easily recognise a partly natural and partly artificial platform, fairly high up on the rock. A spacious doorway connects this ledge with a cave of which the dimensions, according to my own measurements, are 31 feet by 21 feet. This chamber communicates with three smaller grottos, one approached by a door in the wall opposite the entrance, and the other two by similar apertures in the adjacent walls. The three subsidiary rooms are long and narrow. The one opposite the entrance contains a daïs and steps at its narrow west end; and that on the left hand is furnished with recesses at each extremity. Lower down on the side of the rock one observes a small aperture to which it is possible to gain access. It only measures some 4 feet by 3 feet. In the stone above has been hewn a long but shallow recess, about 3 feet in width. One wonders whether it may have been destined to receive a coffin. The hole gives access to a chamber 23 feet 7 inches in length and 14 feet in breadth. Three sides are furnished with recesses 2 feet 6 inches in depth, placed 3 feet 4 inches from the ground. 2. Inscription on the rock near the gate of Tabriz, much effaced, but copied and deciphered by Messrs. Belck and Lehmann. It contains the names of the kings Menuas and Ispuinis, together with those of the father of Ispuinis, Sarduris, and his grandson Inuspuas (Verhandlungen der Berl. Gesell. für Anthropologie, 1898, pp. 571, 575). The same travellers mention the discovery by them of three new inscriptions on the ridge, which appear, however, to be of minor importance (ibid. p. 571). 3. On the northern face of the rock, not far from the Tabriz gate and below the line of fortifications, are situated two artificial recesses at an interval of about twenty paces. That on the right contains a long inscription upon the wall which is on your left as you stand within the recess; it records conquests by Sarduris II. (Sayce, No. XLIX.). This grotto bears the name of Khazane-Kapusi or gate of treasure. 4. On the same side, a short distance further west, and upon a surface which has been hewn down vertically and flattened, are seen three tablets incised into the rock, one of them being on a level with the base of the ridge. Each member of the group contains an inscription; and the three inscriptions have one and the same text. It is of Menuas, and appears to commemorate a restoration of the tablets by that monarch (Sayce, No. XX.). 5. On the same side, near the summit, and almost directly above the grotto Khazane Kapusi (Hyvernat ap. Müller-Simonis, op. cit. p. 548), is a large cave, at present comprised within the fortifications, and inaccessible from below. On the right of the entrance is an inscription of King Menuas, purporting that a series of chambers were constructed by him as tombs in this place (Sayce, No. XXI.). [↑]
[84] The Armenian gentleman in whose company I visited the locality regarded Ak Köpri as a Turkish misnomer for Ak Karapi, a word which he derived from Kar, a stone, and Ap, narrow way in Armenian. The word would signify the narrows of the white crag, or the narrow way separating the crag from the hill. That is a sample of Armenian etymologies. Another derivation is from Ak Kirpi, the white hedgehog. [↑]