【简译】瓦加尔沙帕特（Vagharshapat）
Vagharshapat (Valarsapat), located some 20 km west of modern Yerevan, was an ancient city in Armenia founded in the 2nd century CE. Serving as the capital, the city prospered and, under the new name of Echmiadzin, became the spiritual capital of Christian Armenia from the 4th century CE. Still an important pilgrimage site today, the building of the cathedral at Vagharshapat is attributed to Saint Gregory the Illuminator who was, in a vision, instructed by Christ to build it there after he descended and struck the ground at the very spot. The site is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
瓦加尔沙帕特（Valarsapat）位于现代埃里温以西约20公里处，是亚美尼亚的一座古城，建于公元2世纪。作为首都，该城繁荣昌盛，并以新名称埃奇米阿津 (Echmiadzin) 从公元 4 世纪起成为基督教亚美尼亚的精神之都。今天，瓦加尔沙帕特大教堂至今仍然是一处重要的朝圣地，其建造归功于启蒙者圣格雷戈里，他在异象中得到了基督的指示，在其降临并在该地点落地后，在那里建造了这座大教堂。该遗址被联合国教科文组织列为世界文化遗产。
皇家住宅
Vagharshapat was founded during the reign of the Arsacid king Vagharsh I (r. 117-140 CE), who gave his name to the new city, a common practice of the period. Artashat (Artaxata) remained the capital but Vagharshapat became the royal residence. The city was not entirely built from scratch but expanded upon the existing settlement of Vardgesavan. The city was protected by a new and encircling fortification wall.
瓦加尔沙帕特 (Vagharshapat) 建于安息国王瓦加尔什一世 (Vagharsh I，公元 117-140 年在位) 统治时期，新城以自己的名字命名，这是当时的常见做法。阿尔塔沙特（Artaxata）仍然是首都，但瓦加尔沙帕特成为皇家住所。这座城市并不完全是从零开始建造的，而是在现有的Vardgesavan定居点的基础上进行了扩建，这座城市受到新的环绕式防御墙的保护。
In 166 CE Vagharshapat became the first city in Armenia following the sack of Artashat by a Roman army led by Statius Priscus. The Roman and Persian Empires had been constantly bickering over control of Armenia for its vital strategic value in the region. Priscus established a Roman garrison at Vagharshapat, and the city, known to them by its Greek name, Kaine Polis or New City, was made the new administrative capital, a position it kept even after Artashat was rebuilt a few years later. Vagharshapat was attacked and destroyed during the Sasanid invasions of 368 and 369 CE. The city was then replaced as the political capital by Dvin sometime in the 4th century CE.
公元166年，斯塔提乌斯·普里斯库斯 (Statius Priscus) 领导的罗马军队洗劫了阿尔塔沙特 (Artashat)，瓦加尔沙帕特 (Vagharshapat) 成为亚美尼亚的首都。罗马帝国和波斯帝国一直在争夺对亚美尼亚的控制权，因为它在该地区具有重要的战略价值。普里斯库斯在瓦加尔沙帕特驻军，这座被他们称为“Kaine Polis”或“新城”的城市成为了新的行政首都，即使在几年后阿尔塔沙特被重建后，它仍然保持着这一地位。在公元368年和369年萨珊王朝的入侵中，瓦加尔沙帕特遭到攻击和摧毁。在公元4世纪的某个时候，德温取代了这座城市作为政治首都。
The move of the political capital to Dvin was designed to disassociate the new regime from that of the former Armenian ruling dynasty the Arsacid dynasty (12 CE - 428 CE) and increase loyalty to Persia, which now controlled that part of Armenia. A Persian viceroy or marzpan had his palace at Dvin but Vagharshapat was not about to be consigned to obscurity for it became the religious capital of Armenia under the new name of Echmiadzin (aka Etchmiadzin or Edjmiadsin).
将政治首都迁往德温的目的是为了使新政权与前亚美尼亚统治王朝阿尔萨息王朝（安息帝国，公元12年-公元428年）的政权脱离关系，并提高对波斯的忠诚度，因为波斯现在控制着亚美尼亚的这一部分。波斯总督Marzpan在德温有自己的宫殿，但瓦加尔沙帕特并没有被废弃，因为它以新名称埃奇米阿津（又名埃奇米阿津或埃德吉米阿津）成为亚美尼亚的宗教首都。
宗教之都：埃奇米阿津
During the reign of Tiridates the Great (r. c. 298 - 330 CE) Christianity was formally adopted as the state religion of Armenia, and the king himself was said to have been converted in 301 CE by Saint Gregory the Illuminator in the royal palace at Vagharshapat. Some of the earliest churches in the country were built in the city. In the latter half of the 4th century CE the seat of the first bishop of Armenia, the katholikos, was moved from Artashat to Vagharshapat (it would later be moved again, this time to Dvin). This is traditionally seen as the work of the katholikos Sahak (r. 387-428 CE). The city became a focal point from which the tentacles of the Armenian Apostolic Church spread out to convert the entire country. The famed clergyman and scholar Mesrop Mashtots (360/370 - c. 440 CE), who invented the Armenian alphabet, resided here.
在梯里达底三世（Tiridates the Great，约公元298-330年）统治时期，基督教被正式定为亚美尼亚的国教，据说国王本人也于公元301年在瓦加尔沙帕特王宫中由启蒙师圣格雷戈里皈依。该国最早的一些教堂就建在这座城市。公元4世纪后半叶，亚美尼亚第一任主教卡托利科斯 (katholikos) 的所在地从阿尔塔沙特搬到了瓦加尔沙帕特（后来又再次迁至德温）。这在传统上被认为是萨哈克大主教（公元387-428年）的工作。这座城市成为亚美尼亚使徒教会的触角延伸到整个国家的焦点。发明亚美尼亚字母的著名牧师和学者梅斯罗普·马什托茨（ Mesrop Mashtots ，公元 360/370 - 公元 440 年）曾居住在这里。
One of the most tangible and long-lasting manifestations of Vagharshapat's roles as the spiritual centre of Armenia was, and is, the great cathedral dedicated to the Mother of God. Said to have been built by Saint Gregory following a vision in which Christ descended to earth and indicated the very spot, the cathedral thus explains the city's new name of Echmiadzin, meaning “The Only-Begotten-One Descended”. Archaeological evidence suggests that the cathedral was built, no doubt intentionally, on the site of a pagan fire altar, as revealed by archaeological excavations in 1957 CE. The version of the cathedral which stands at the site today dates to 483 CE after the then ruler Vahan Mamikonian commissioned an upgrade on Saint Gregory's first structure. The cathedral was a compensation, perhaps, for the moving of the church's headquarters to Dvin in 485 CE.
瓦加尔沙帕特作为亚美尼亚精神中心的最具体和最持久的体现之一是，献给上帝之母的大教堂过去和现在都是如此。据称，该大教堂是圣格雷戈里在看到基督下凡并指出这个地方后建造的，因此该城市的新名字埃奇米阿津，意思是“独生子降临”。考古学证据表明，大教堂无疑是故意建在一个异教火坛的遗址上的，这一点在公元1957年的考古发掘中得到了证实。今天矗立在这个地方的大教堂版本可以追溯到公元483年，当时的统治者瓦汉·马米科尼安 (Vahan Mamikonian) 委托对圣格雷戈里的第一座建筑进行升级。这座大教堂也许是对公元485年教会总部迁往德温的一种补偿。
朝圣之地
Another 5th-century CE addition to the city's Christian architecture was a monastery with its first prior being the famous scholar and historian Ghazar Parpetsi. In time, the monastery accumulated an impressive manuscript library. Over the following two centuries, successive bishops ensured the building programme continued. In the 7th century CE, under the guidance of the bishop Komitas of Aghdzk (r. 615-628 CE), Echmiadzin began to pull in even more pilgrims following the construction of the particularly splendid church of Saint Hripsime which was named after the virgin who had been martyred by Tiridates the Great prior to his conversion to Christianity. Indeed, the church was said to have been built on the very spot of Hripsime's death. The church of Saint Gayane was added around 616 CE and, in the 650s CE, the completion of the impressive Zvartnots cathedral nearby only added to the attractions which ensured Echmiadzin became one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Armenia.
公元5世纪，这座城市的基督教建筑中的另一座建筑是一座修道院，其创始人是著名学者和历史学家加扎尔·帕尔佩齐 (Ghazar Parpetsi)。随着时间推移，修道院积累了令人印象深刻的手稿。在接下来的两个世纪里，历任主教确保了建筑计划的继续进行。公元7世纪，阿格兹克 (Aghdzk) 主教科米塔斯 (Komitas of Aghdzk，公元615-628年在位) 的指导下，埃奇米阿津 (Echmiadzin) 开始吸引更多的朝圣者，因为这建造了特别辉煌的圣赫里普西姆教堂 (Saint Hripsime)，该教堂是以梯里达底大帝在皈依基督教之前殉道的处女命名的。事实上，据说这座教堂就是在赫里普西姆去世的地方建造的。圣加亚内教堂于公元616年左右建成，而在公元7世纪50年代，附近令人印象深刻的兹瓦尔特诺茨大教堂的竣工不仅增加了景点，也确保了埃奇米阿津成为亚美尼亚最重要的朝圣地之一。
后期历史
Following the invasion and occupation of Armenia by the Rashidun and then Umayyad Caliphate from 640 CE, the position of Echmiadzin as a major religious centre became precarious. Dvin and then Ani were the political and religious capitals, and Echmiadzin slowly fell into decline. A major earthquake struck the region in the 10th century CE which caused the collapse of the church of Zvartnots, amongst other buildings. By the late 13th century CE the site was so dilapidated that the celebrated poet Stepanos Orbelian (d. 1304 CE) felt compelled to compose his Lamentations on the Holy Cathedral of Vagharshapat.
公元 640 年，正统哈里发和倭马亚哈里发入侵并占领亚美尼亚后，埃奇米阿津作为主要宗教中心的地位变得岌岌可危。德温（Dvin）和阿尼（Ani）是政治和宗教首都，埃奇米阿津（Echmiadzin）慢慢衰落。公元10世纪，一场大地震袭击了该地区，导致兹瓦尔特诺茨教堂和其他建筑物倒塌。到了公元13世纪末，这个地方已经非常破旧，以至于著名的诗人斯特帕诺斯·奥贝利安（Stepanos Orbelian，卒于公元 1304 年）不得不写下他的《瓦加尔沙帕特圣大教堂哀歌》。
Echmiadzin's fortunes revived when the Armenian church decided to restore the catholicosate to the site in the mid-15th century CE. The country and its Christians endured troubled times under Turkish rule but Echmiadzin's monastery was given certain economic privileges which at least ensured the site could maintain itself until better days arrived. These days did come but not until the late 18th century CE. It was then that the bishop Simon of Yerevan (r. 1763-1780 CE) embarked on an ambitious plan to make the site a great centre of learning, aided by generous donations from Armenians abroad, especially in India. The process began with the installation of Armenia's first printing press and a paper mill to keep it well-supplied with raw material, a new archive was established for the Armenian church's records, and a general rebuilding programme was initiated which included a new cupola and three new belfries for the cathedral. After surviving the anti-religious Soviet regime of the 20th century CE, present-day Echmiadzin has once more become a major pilgrimage centre and tourist attraction for its excellent surviving examples of Armenian medieval architecture.
公元15世纪中叶，亚美尼亚教会决定在该地恢复天主教教区，埃奇米阿津的命运也随之复苏。在土耳其的统治下，这个国家和它的基督徒经历了一段混乱的时期，但埃奇米阿津的修道院被赋予了某些经济特权，这至少保证了这个地方能够维持自身，直到更好的日子到来。这些日子确实到来了，但直到公元18世纪末。就在那时，埃里温的主教西蒙（公元1763-1780年）开始了一项雄心勃勃的计划，在海外亚美尼亚人，特别是印度的亚美尼亚人的慷慨捐助下，将该地打造成一个伟大的学习中心。在这个过程中，首先安装了亚美尼亚的第一台印刷机和一家造纸厂，以保持原材料的充足供应，为亚美尼亚教会的记录建立了一个新的档案馆，并启动了一项总体重建计划，其中包括一个新的圆顶和三个教堂大教堂的新钟楼。在经历了公元20世纪的反宗教的苏维埃政权之后，如今的埃奇米阿津因其现存的亚美尼亚中世纪建筑的优秀范例而再次成为主要的朝圣中心和旅游景点。
参考书目：
Adalian, R.P. Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Chahin, M. The Kingdom of Armenia. Routledge, 2018.
Hovannisian, R.G. The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
Kurkjian, V.M. A History of Armenia. IndoEuropeanPublishing.com, 2014.
Panossian, R. The Armenians. Columbia University Press, 2006.
Payaslian, S. The History of Armenia. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
原文作者：Mark Cartwright
驻意大利的历史作家。他的主要兴趣包括陶瓷、建筑、世界神话和发现所有文明的共同思想。他拥有政治哲学硕士学位，是《世界历史百科全书》的出版总监。
原文网址：https://www.worldhistory.org/Vagharshapat/
