Egil

History

Most scholars identify Eğil with the ancient city of Carcathiocerta (; ). It was the first capital of Sophene until Arsames I founded the new capital Arshamshat around 230 BCE. Its original site is located on a rocky plateau just east of Eğil (). The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes renamed the city into Epiphania. Strabo in his Geography, calls it "The royal city of Sophene". It was assigned to the late Roman province of Mesopotamia. The city was known as Ingalawa by the Hittites. The city, with its strategic location overlooking the west bank of the Tigris, is the oldest in the region, with remains dating back to the Assyrian and Hellenistic periods. Later on, the city was known in Armenian as Angł, capital of the district of Angełtun, which was known as Ingilene in Greco-Roman sources. It was part of the larger province of Sophene. Armenian sources described Angł as housing "the tombs of the former kings of Armenia", apparently taking the rulers of Sophene as a branch of the Armenian kings' dynasty. The rock-cut tombs still exist today at Eğil.