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The villages of Ashaghi Aylis and Yukhari Aylis are located in the Ordubad region of the Nakhijevan Autonomous Republic. Ashaghi Aylis is Nerkin Agulis, also known as Dasht, while Yukhari Aylis is Verin Agulis. Both villages were part of the town of Agulis in the Goghtn canton of the Vaspurakan province of Greater Armenia, which was occupied, destroyed, and its population massacred by Turkish-Tatar forces in 1919.
Verin Agulis housed most of the town’s administrative, public, religious, commercial, artisanal, and residential buildings. Meanwhile, Lower Agulis, also called Dasht, was a suburban part of the town, where the ruins and remnants of the city’s defensive walls and fortresses are still preserved. The name Dasht, or Agulyats Dasht, is also attested in Armenian manuscripts written in this area. The renowned ethnographer Yervand Lalayan noted that it was called "Dasht" due to its geographical location.
Agulis was also the name of a left tributary of the Araks River, which originates in the southern part of the Syunik mountain range, as well as a mountain peak in the Syunik mountain range near the town of Agulis.
According to popular belief, the name Agulis means “full of gardens,” and there are beautiful legends about its origin. One legend states that when Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, they feared that eternal darkness would prevail. However, when they reached the place where Agulis is located, the light of day appeared, and Adam exclaimed, “Ayg-luys” (light). Another story claims that the Apostle Thaddeus spent the night there and, upon waking in the morning, said “Akn i luis” (Eye to the light).
Ghevond Alishan mentions that in the local dialect, the town’s name was pronounced as Igulis, Yugyulis, Ěgulis, Igalis, and he interprets it as “Aygeok-liq”, meaning “rich in gardens”. It should be noted that the town was always distinguished by its beautiful and dense gardens.
In Armenian manuscripts, Agulis is referred to as the "village-town," "mother city," and "commercial town." Today, it is divided into two villages and is known by the Turkicized name Aylis.
From the 16th century, Agulis was one of the key commercial and economic centers of Eastern Armenia. It was a prosperous trading town with commercial ties to Russia, Iran, Western Europe, and India, and the wealthiest class in Agulis consisted of Armenian khodjas (merchants).
In Agulis, commerce was considered a profession that required education and was practiced within the Armenian merchant school, whose center was New Julfa. This is also mentioned by Zakaria of Agulis in his work "Diary" (Orogrutyun), which serves as a 17th-century historical record containing valuable information about trade routes, inns, and customs houses in Western Asia. Zakaria of Agulis wrote, “By God’s will, we learned commerce....”
Commerce-related manuals were also copied in Agulis. Notably, the merchant handbooks of Kostand of Julfa, a teacher at the Holy Savior Monastery School in New Julfa, were transcribed there.
The trade routes of Agulis extended through major commercial hubs, including Agulis–Tabriz–Isfahan, Agulis–Tabriz–Maragha, Agulis–Yerevan–Karin–Tokat, and Agulis–Smyrna–Istanbul, among others. Armenian merchants from Agulis actively participated in Safavid Iran’s trade with the Ottoman Empire, as well as in commerce between the Ottoman territories and Europe. The merchants of Agulis owned extensive lands.
This commercially important Armenian town, which and possessed considerable capital, began to suffer from plundering and looting from the 18th century onward. Agulis endured severe devastation in 1752, when Afghan invaders raided the town. It suffered further destruction in 1754, during the invasion of Nakhijevan by Azad Khan of Atrpatakan.
As a result of these events, many Agulis residents emigrated, with a significant number relocating to Shushi, where they established the Agulis quarter and built the renowned Aguletsvоts Church. This church was once the largest in the city and was referred to as the “avag” (senior) church. During the Soviet era, in the 1970s, Azerbaijani authorities demolished the Aguletsvots Church and built an Azerbaijani school in its place.
Evidence of educational activities, manuscript copying, and cultural life in Agulis dates back to the 12th–17th centuries. During this period, significant work was carried out in the schools and scriptoria affiliated with the Monastery of St. Tovma and the Church of St. Christaphor, where manuscripts featuring remarkable examples of miniature painting and bookbinding art were copied and illuminated.
The Monastery of St. Tovma the Apostle, which played a central role in the cultural life of Agulis, also served as a repository for manuscripts. The philologist and translator Mesrop Vardapet Maksoudyants, who was the abbot of the monastery in 1906–1907, compiled records of Armenian manuscripts kept in the monastery, local churches, and private collections. He described these manuscripts and published his findings in the journal "Ararat" between 1911 and 1915.
Manuscripts were also copied in other churches of Agulis, including St. Shmavon, Surb Hovhannes Mkrtich (St. John the Baptist) Mets Astvatsatsin (Great Holy Mother of God), and the churches of Lower Agulis (Dasht Agulis).
In Agulis, the renowned 17th-century painter and poet Naghash Hovnatan worked as a teacher. In 1867, with the direct involvement and leadership of Perch Proshyan, the Agulis coeducational school was established, and a school charter was written. Later, prominent intellectuals and educators such as Raffi, Mesrop Vardapet Maksudyants, Nikoghayos Ter-Ghevondyants, and others also taught. The famous artist Martiros Saryan described Agulis as “a miniature beauty”.
Today, like other settlements in Nakhijevan, Azerbaijani authorities have distorted the name of Agulis, forcibly depopulated it of its Armenian inhabitants, and erased its Armenian historical and cultural heritage.
Bibliography
Argam Ayvazyan, Agulis: Historical and Cultural Monuments, Yerevan, "Hayastan" Publishing, 1984.
Argam Ayvazyan, The Epigraphic Heritage of Nakhijevan, Vol. B, Agulis, Antelias, Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia, 2005.
Gor Margaryan, Anahit Tovmasyan, Kristine Kostikyan, “Agulis on the crossroads of international trade through Caucasus in 17th-18th centuries”, History, Arсhaeology and Ethnography of the Caucasus 17/4, 2021, pp. 848-858.
Dictionary of Toponyms of Armenia and Adjacent Regions, Vol. A, compiled by T. K. Hakobyan, St. T. Melik-Bakhshyan, H. Kh. Barseghyan. Yerevan State University Press, 1986.
M. V. Maksoudyants, “The description and colophons of the manuscripts of the Monastery of Saint Thomas the Apostle and the churches of Upper Agulis, the church of the village of Tanakert, and private individuals” - Ararat, 1911, 1915.