Akhurian

The Akhurian River is a river in the South Caucasus that runs for 205 kilometers and has a basin area of 9,500 square kilometers. The river runs from Lake Arpi in Armenia, crosses the Armenia-Turkey border, and empties into the Aras River. The Akhurian River passes through many cities, including Yerazgavors, Yervandashat, Bagaran, Ani, and Gyumri.

When the Byzantine army landed in Shirak in 1041, local Armenian nobility (nakharars) banded together to fight them under the direction of Pahlavuni commander Vahram Pahlavouni. Vahram then chose a force of 30,000 infantry and 20,000 horse to fight the Byzantines in three divisions. The invaders were beaten with tremendous death in the ensuing fight. The conflict was so intense that the effusion of blood that flowed into the Akhurian River is supposed to have turned its waters totally scarlet. The Byzantines left 21,000 dead in their wake. This victory enabled Vahram Pahlavuni and Catholicos Petros Guedadarts to anoint Gagik II king of Armenia and conquer the citadel of Ani, which had previously been held by Vest Sarkis.

Several medieval bridges previously crossed the Akhuryan River. The bridge in Ani may have been built during the Bagratuni Dynasty. It is most likely to be from the thirteenth century. An inscription discovered nearby said that construction on the bridge's approach began in the early fourteenth century. The bridge's single arch has collapsed, leaving only towering abutments, maybe part of a defended gate. Travelers in the nineteenth century remembered a guardhouse near the bridge, but it has since vanished.

Length: 205 km