orum, the royal residence, and metropolis of Armenia Major, (Strabo, Pliny, Juvenal), and built according to a plan of Hannibal, for king Artaxias, after whom it was called. It was situated on an elbow of the river Araxes, which formed a kind of peninsula, and surrounded the town like a wall, except on the side of the Isthmus, but this side was secured by a rampart and ditch. This town was deemed so strong, that Lucullus, after having defeated Tigranes, durst not lay siege to it; but Pompey compelled him to deliver it up without striking a blow. It was then levelled with the ground; but the Armenians have a tradition that the ruins of it are still to be seen at a place called Ardachat. Sir John Chardin says, that it has the name of Ardachat from Artaxias, whom in the east they call Ardachier. Here are the remains of a stately palace which the Armenians take to be that of Tiridates who reigned in the time of Conflantius the Great. One front of this building is but half ruined, and there are many other fine antiquities which the inhabitants call Taft Tardat, that is, the throne of Tiridates. Tavernier also mentions the ruins of Artaxata between Erivan and mount Ararat, but does not specify them. The ancient geographers mention another city of the same name, likewise situated on the Araxes, but in the northern part of Media, known among the ancients by the name of Artropatia.