NCIE
NCIE
The Armenian inscriptions of Shobak Castle in Jordan can be dated to the 17th-18th centuries
According to preliminary data, the Armenian inscriptions found in Shobak Castle in Jordan can be dated to the 17th-18th centuries. This was announced by the head of the chair, archaeologist Hamlet Petrosyan, who recently returned from Jordan, during the extended seminar of the chair of cultural studies of Yerevan State University.
He said that the records, which he first announced on his Facebook page on November 28, were discovered by scientists from the University of Florence in August of this year. For a long time, Hamlet Petrosyan cooperates with archaeologists from the University of Florence, who participate in several campaigns in Armenia. Realizing that the inscriptions were in Armenian, the head of the expedition, Michele Nuchoti, contacted Hamlet Petrosyan and organized a trip for Armenian archaeologists to Jordan to evaluate and study the find on the spot.
As told by Hamlet Petrosyan, Shoubak Castle is the most powerful fortress in Jordan, which was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century. A few decades later, the fortress was captured by Sultan Salah ad-Din. The Armenian archaeologist reminded, by the way, that Salah ad-Din was born and educated in Dvin.
Italian archaeologists are studying the history of Jordan, particularly related to the Crusader period. Despite their short stay here, the Crusaders created significant architectural structures that were used for a long time. Hamlet Petrosyan recalled the ties of the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia with the Crusaders and Salah ad-Din and added that the Armenian community in Jordan has an ancient history.
After the crusaders left, the castle was repaired and rebuilt several times. Many Arabic inscriptions about the history of the fortress have been preserved on its walls. they were deciphered and studied.
There are no inscriptions in Armenian in them, Hamlet Petrosyan said, adding that, nevertheless, during the next expedition, they will certainly study the walls of the fortress again.
The crusaders built two Christian churches in the fortress.
During the cleaning work in the courtyard of the bigger church, the slabs with Armenian inscriptions were found.
The study of the place where the slabs were found allows us to assume that there could have been a cemetery there, and the stones were part of some religious building in that cemetery.
Hamlet Petrosyan drew the audience's attention to the serial number of one of the slabs: 4108. In other words, there are thousands of such fragments in this area, and all of them are collected, numbered and carefully studied.
The slabs are cut from sandstone, a stone similar to our limestone, but harder. The thickness of the slabs and the method of processing are identical, the method of carving the letters, the depth as well, from which it can be concluded that the inscriptions were made by the same master, or at least they were made in the same period. Although the stones do not stick to each other due to the fracture, they can be part of one wall, Hamlet Petrosyan assumes.
The inscriptions are taken in a special frame or cartouche. According to the archaeologist, the cartouche is very rare in Armenian lithography. And, as a rule, it is found in memorial inscriptions.
The inscriptions are written in capital letters characteristic of the Armenian cursive script, which descends from the ancient Armenian Iron Script script. The name Hakob or Yaqub can be read on the first tile. According to Hamlet Petrosyan, such transformation of classical Armenian names was quite possible in the Muslim environment. The name Circassian is engraved on the second tile.
And although the cursive script became widespread from the 11th century, judging by other signs, these inscriptions were made no earlier than the 17th century, the scientist claims. According to him, in archeology there are no exact methods of dating inscriptions on stones. if the slabs were in their original place, the age of the building could be determined by the cultural layer. But in this case, other methods should be used to compare with different inscriptions, the dates of which are known. And now the researchers have to compare these slabs with the Armenian inscriptions, which have been preserved, for example, in Jerusalem, Isfahan, Aleppo.
Summarizing, Hamlet Petrosyan noted that although these inscriptions are not a great discovery historically, the find is important in several ways
First, it is the academic cooperation and the benevolence of scientists, when the Italian archaeologists did not ignore even such a small find and contacted their Armenian colleagues.
Secondly, many international expeditions work in Armenia, all of which study Armenian monuments, but Armenian scientists rarely study the monuments of other countries. And this could be the beginning of such work.
The third important circumstance is that the Armenian expedition in Jordan can study other historical monuments, as well as the cultural life of the small but ancient Armenian community.
