ART OF VANISHED CIVILIZATIONS By Maximillien de Lafayette
THE
CILICIAN
KINGDOM
Photos from L to R: #1: 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.#2. Cilician minted coins.
The kingdom
of Cilicia is considered by eminent historians, archaeologists and
anthropologists as one of the greatest ancient empires of all times. 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
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.
Photos from L to R: #1. 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.
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 (2nd
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.