Port · Ahlat: the Begtimurids, heirs of the Shah-Armens · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Ercis

Ercis, on the north shore, was important enough that the early geographers called Lake Van the lake of Arjish.

It lies on the old road from Tabriz, Marand and Khoy to Ahlat, in a grain-growing plain. The medieval town stood on the shore (the site later drowned by the lake).

Who holds it

Title
Governor for the ruler of Ahlat
Since
not pinned
Confidence
medium

Part of Ahlat's state (TDV).

Lord in 1200

A governor for Muhammad of Ahlat (name not pinned).

How things stand that morning

Ahlat's.

Charter

None: a lord's town, not a commune.

Council

No council recorded; the lord's governor (shihna or subashi) and the judge (qadi).

Communities

Muslims and Armenians; not recorded.

Fairs and markets

None recorded for 1200.

Militia

The lord's garrison in the citadel.

Walls and castle

A walled town (fortified again under the Ilkhans).

Trade and crafts

Lake port; grain; the Tabriz road.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Geographers' descriptions only.

On the map: Point at the modern town; the medieval site lay on the shore to the south.

Primary sources for Ahlat

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of Michael the Syrian (Michael the Great), Michael the Syrian, patriarch of Antioch 1166 to 1199 (about 1180 to 1195). The Jacobite patriarch's world chronicle, in parallel columns of church, secular and miscellaneous events, ending four years before 1200 and shortly before his own death on 7 November 1199, which left the Syrian Orthodox church with a disputed succession in 1200. Read online
  • The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
  • History of the Armenians, Kirakos Gandzaketsi (1241 to 1265). Written at Getik and Gandzak in the Zakarid lands of Georgian Armenia. Read online
  • The Georgian Chronicles: the Histories and Eulogies of the Sovereigns, and the Life of Queen Tamar, Anonymous, attributed to the chancellor Theodore of Chqondidi and to Basili, master of the court (about 1210 to 1225). Two court histories of Queen Tamar written within a generation. Read online
  • Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), the Lake of Van, Akhlat and the roads (after Yaqut, Istakhri, Muqaddasi, Mustawfi)
  2. TDV Islam Ansiklopedisi, 'Van' (O. Kilic, history)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.