Garni ("Գառնի" in
Armenian) is a village in the
Armenian province of
Kotayk', situated approx. 32 km southeast from
Yerevan, notable for its
fortress complex. As it lies on the road to the well known
monastery of
Geghard (further 7 km southeast) it receives a large number of visitors.
In the 3rd millennium BC the first fortification was constructed on an easily defendable terrain at one of the bends of the
Azat river. It was conquered in the 8th century BC by the
Urartian king
Argishti I and the site became a military base and the king's summer residence. Several additional buildings were constructed since then, such as the king's palace, baths and the site's most famous and best preserved building, a
Parthenon like temple. Of particular interest is the bathhouse, located in the northern part of the site which has a preserved heating reservoir. The interior floor is decorated with a colour mosaic with depictions of Greek mythological figures, such as
Tethys. One of the intact inscriptions in
Koine Greek reads: ΜΗΔΕΝ ΛΑΒΟΝΤΕΣ ΗΡΙΑΣΑΜΕΘΑ ΚΑΝΕΝΑ ΝΕΚΡΟ ΔΕ ΜΑΣ ΕΔΩΣΕ Η ΘΑΛΑΣΣΑ ΟΥΤΕ Ο ΩΚΕΑΝΟΣ (We receive no dead from the sea neither from the ocean).