Travel – Armenia – Garni

This is an excerpt from my book Travels through History : Armenia and Georgia currently available at a discount.

Looking like a mini-Parthenon the temple at Garni is the only Graeco-Roman type structure in the whole of Armenia. The temple is situated on a triangle of land thrusting out above the Azat River in a naturally defensible position above a spectacular gorge where basalt columns, similar to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland, can be seen. Indeed, walking along the gorge is a great way to start a visit to the temple, as the spectacular columns are quite a sight as they occupy the entire side of the gorge in some places.  

The oddest thing about the temple is that the precise date of construction is unknown and the subject of debate. The dominant view is that Garni Temple was built in 77 AD, during the reign of king Tiridates I. In 1945, the Armenian painter Martiros Saryan discovered an inscription naming Tiridates I as founder of the temple. The date is primarily linked to the visit of Tiridates I to Rome in 66 AD, where he was crowned by Nero. Nero gave Tiridates I 50 million drachmas and provided him with Roman craftsmen to rebuild the city of Artaxata after it had been destroyed by the Roman general Corbulo. This reconstruction included the rebuilding of the fortified city of Garni and the construction of the temple, which was dedicated to Mihir, the sun god in the Zoroastrian-influenced Armenian myths.

It would make perfect sense to me to have Roman craftsmen build a Roman-style temple. The correct materials would be required, the right proportions would need to be engineered, and the building would have to be planned by a skilled architect, who’d seen an existing structure and would therefore know where all the weight-bearing load would have to be placed. There’s also the little matter of lifting heavy basalt blocks around twenty feet off the ground. 

Different theories suggest the erection of the temple started in 115 AD as Armenia was declared a Roman province at that time and the temple would have housed an imperial effigy of the Emperor Trajan. A newer alternative theory suggests that the building is a tomb, probably constructed circa 175 AD. This theory is based on a comparison to Graeco-Roman buildings of western Asia Minor and the argument that a pagan temple would be unlikely to survive destruction during Armenia’s conversion to Christianity when all other such temples were destroyed. If Garni Temple should be referred to as Garni Tomb, then it is most likely the tomb of an Armeno-Roman ruler such as Sohaemus. 

The structure has nine steep steps at the front and 24 columns supporting the roof with Ionic capitals. Inside is a reconstructed altar and a sacrificial pit. When I was there, a man was playing a duduk, an ancient double-reed woodwind flute made of apricot wood and indigenous to Armenia. The duduk has a haunting quality and many Armenians consider it the instrument that most eloquently expresses warmth, joy, and the history of their country. It was easy to close my eyes and be transported back, by the music, to an earlier time when Garni was newly built and another musician was playing a similar instrument. Sometimes all it takes is a sound to transport me out of my time and I then realised not much has changed here at Garni in the last 1800 years.