ArmavirArmavir (known as Hoktemberyan during the Soviet era up to 1992, and Sardarapat before 1932) is a city located in western Armenia. The 2008 census counted a total population of 26,387 people. It is the capital of the Armavir province.
Armavir was regarded as an old capital of Armenia, said to have been founded by King Armais in 1980 BCE. King Argishtis I of Urartu built a fortress in the area and named it Argishtikhinili. In 331 BC, when Armenia reasserted its independence under the Orontid Dynasty from the Achaemenid Empire, Armavir was chosen as the capital of Armenia. Armavir was taken by the Seleucids, Parthians, Kingdom of Armenia, Roman Empire, Sassanids and Byzantine Empire before it was taken over by the Arabs in 645.
This region formally passed from Persian sovereignty to a Russian one after the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828. Armavir became the Serdarapat uyezd of the Armenian Oblast, which itself became the Erivan guberniya in 1840. This situation lasted until the February Revolution in 1917.
The name of the city was changed from Sardarapat to Hoktemberyan in 1935, after it was called Armavir.
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