ERIVAN

ERIVAN. — A city in the Kotajkh district, about 10 km east of Egimadzin, on the Zanga River, in a plain over 1,000 meters high in the Caucasus. Before the 7th century, there are no records of E. Katholikos Abraham I (607–615/17), at the synod he held in Dwin in 609, classified E. among the principal centers of monasticism. From the 8th century onward, the Arabs, Tartars, and Persian Sih repeatedly destroyed and sacked II.
In E. the churches of St. James of Nisibis, St. Sergius the Martyr, and the hero known as Anapa were famous. E. is now the capital of the Soviet Republic of Armenia. Since becoming the capital, it has an university, a conservatory, many scientific institutes, and a rich library.