The excavations in Artashat, the ancient capital of Greater Armenia, have been marked by one more interesting discovery.
Pavel Avetisyan, Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, has told ArmInfo that this year the excavations found a construction with frescoes. Such a construction has been found in Artashat for the first time. The fragments of the frescoes have been preserved rather well, however, only the recovery work can show the images on the frescoes.
The construction with the frescoes dates back to approximately I-II centuries. "This construction is one more thing to give us an idea of the architecture and interior of the buildings in the ancient Armenian capital", says Avetisyan.
To note, King Artashes I founded Artashat in 185 BC in the region of Vostan within the historical province of Ayrarat. According to the accounts given by Greek historians Plutarch and Strabo, Artashat is said to have been chosen and developed on the advice of the Carthaginian general Hannibal. Strabo and Plutarch describe Artashat as a large and beautiful city and call it the "Armenian Carthage".