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CULTURE, ARCHITECTURE AND CIVILIZATIONS

THE CILICIAN KINGDOM

Photo: One of the gates of Soback castle built in 1115 by the Crusaders in Jordan. The wide door with its curved architectural lines is typical of the early-Cilician-Crusaders architectural design.

The kingdom of Cilicia  is considered by eminent historians, archaeologists and anthropologists as one of the greatest ancient empires of all time. It did not last very long  in the history of human kind but, most certainly, it made an immense mark on the European civilization, its way of life, its trade and commerce, its arts and laws, its architecture and above all, it left an extra-ordinary impact on early Christianity edifices, castles, palaces, cathedrals and churches, as well as on  the Crusaders who learned from the Armenians how to build circular- round-shaped castles and towers. Back then, the Crusaders in Europe knew only how to build square-shaped towers and castles. They did not know how to build fully circular  towers and round castles until they learned the trade  from their teachers the Armenian architects, and castles and towers builders in pre-medieval Armenia! Europe began to erect really  fabulous castles in the 10^th century, while Armenia by the 9^th century has already demonstrated to the world its superior architecture mastery in building elegant and prestigious castles, palaces and fortresses, long long time before Europe!

Photo, below: Crusaders’ Shoback Castle in Jordan. Its architecture was influenced by the Cilician architecture. Its two  front round shaped towers are clearly the product and direct influence of Armenian architecture.

One of the most predominant effects of Cicilian art  and direct impact on Europe was obviously  the Armenian architecture. More precisely, the architecture of churches, cathedrals, religious buildings and monasteries.  The Cilician kingdom architects invented the church pentacle domes and the cross-shape lay-out of early European churches and cathedrals including those of Venice, Florence, Rome, Constantinople, Moscow, Leningrad, Nantes, Reims, Orleans, Paris, Maronite Lebanon, Coptic Egypt, Syriac-Aramaic Syria, Assyrian (Ashourian) Iraq, Orthodox Greece and Cyprus, Nestorian, Gnostic, Agnostic, Reformed, Orthodox and Medieval Christian Turkiye,  the Near East, the Middle East and wherever there is a Christian church  or an iron bell on the face of the earth. Among the greatest architects of ancient and medieval centuries, the world witnessed and recognized the Babylonians, Assyrians, Hittites,  Egyptians, Ionians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Armenians. Cilician Armenia gained knowledge and experience in many human endeavors  throughout  many centuries beginning with  the majestic reigns, epochs and times of the Armenian kingdoms of Mitanni and Ararat (2^nd  millennium B.C), when Armenian architecture has already  reached a level of almost perfection and was in those days considered as the most advanced architecture in the known world. The early Armenians of Ararat were already master-builders and accomplished architects. They were among the first architects of the nations of the ancient world to design and build multi-story edifices and buildings, including domestic houses, residences and centers of learning. Some of the Cilician palaces, temples, theistic and  pre-theistic foundations were recently   found in excavations and were acknowledged to be as the world’s first multi-story architecturally designed edifices.