The caption under the map reads “Old Azeri state Atrpatakan”․
Atrpatakan is part of the Persian world and this is a well-known fact.
Here are the first sentences in English Wikipedia about Atropatene. “… was an ancient kingdom established in c.323 BC by the Persian satrap Atropates. The kingdom, centered in present-day northern Iran, was ruled by Atropates’ descendants until the early 1st-century AD, when the Parthian Arsacid dynasty supplanted them. Atropatene was the only Iranian region to remain under Zoroastrian authority from the Achaemenids to the Arab conquest without any interruption, aside from being briefly ruled by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great”.
Here the borders of Caucasian Albania are distorted. This map is acceptable only for Azerbaijan, as the one accepted in the world of Caucasian Albania has a different look.
Their expansionist aspirations thus become clear. A number of territories of the present-day Republic of Armenia – Syunik, Gegharkunik, Lake Sevan – are wrongfully presented as Albania.
Here is what an acceptable version of Caucasus Albania map looks like․
Here, Lake Sevan is very far from the border with Albania and cannot be divided between Albania and Armenia.
Here they talk about the monastery of Amaras, which is supposed to be Albanian. This monastery, located on the territory of Artsakh, was built in the 4th century․ According to Pavstos Buzand (Armenian 5th-century historian), this monastery was founded by Gregory the Illuminator and his grandson Grigoris is buried here.
In this paragraph, they speak of “Christianity propaganda” and the forced conversion to Christianity. It is claimed that Christianity did not have strong roots here, but it should be highlighted that Aghvank is perceived in the world as one of the main centers of Christianity in the Middle East at that time.
Researchers claim that the Christian culture in Aghvank was influenced by Armenia and was Armenianized. In this context, it’s important to mention that Gregory, who was buried in the monastery of Amaras, was killed while preaching Christianity in Aghvank.
Sources:
- Atropatene, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropatene
- Amaras Monastery, Nagorno Karabakh Republic, http://www.amaras.org/
- Алексей Муравьёв, Христианская культура Кавказской Албании, https://postnauka.ru/video/50071.
