Van
Situated
on the eastern shore of the Van Lake in the ancient Vaspurakan province
of the Greater Armenia (now in Turkey). The name Van derived from Biayna,
other names applied to Van were Tosp or Tushpa. Some historians called
Van, city of Semiramis, because the old legend attributed the building
of Van to the legendary Assyrian Queen. The kings of the Kingdom of
Ararat made Van their capital. The city especially prospered in the
9-10th centuries, under the princes and kings Artsrouni. At the time
of the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Van became symbol of the heroic Armenian
resistance.
www.ArmenianHistory.info