ABSTRACT
When we turn to examine the visual expression of kingship employed by the Artsrunik‘, we find two surviving contemporary images and one description of a lost portrait – and all are, or were, depictions of Gagik Artsruni. In the early tenth century, shortly after his investiture as king of Vaspurakan by the caliph, Gagik sought a fitting site upon which to construct a new royal city. He chose a small island in Lake Van (now eastern Turkey) which offered superior defensive capabilities, a reliable freshwater spring, and the beauty appropriate for a royal setting (Figure 4.1). The planning and building of ‘the splendid, famous, and stupendous city of Aght‘amar’ are described in The History of the House of the Artsrunik‘.1 According to the anonymous continuator, Gagik first secured the harbour and fortified the island with massive walls. He then directed the construction of princely residences, terraced gardens, and parks filled with trees and flowers. The centrepiece of the city was the royal palace, which ‘appeared from all sides of the province as a great hill in the middle of the city’.2 The palace church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, faced the north façade of the palace.3
