The history of this area goes back to the settlement of the banks of the
Çoruh River by the
Hurri and
Mitanni branches of the
Hittites in 2000 BC. The first mention of Ardanuç was in a
Urartu monument to the defeat of the local people in battle by King
Sarduri II in 753 BC. Then in the 7th century BC the
Saka or
Scythians are known to have settled and they dominated Artanuj.The castle of Artanuj was built by Georgian king
Vakhtang Gorgasali (5th century AD). The castle was besieged by Arab caliph Marwan II (688–750)
Umayyad in 744 AD. and was restored by Ashot I
Bagrationi in the 8th century. He also founded a city, which became the center of the "Kingdom of Georgians" of
Tao-Klarjeti. Fighting between the
Bagrationi and
Anatolian beyliks began in 1080. Artanuj being a mountain stronghold was hard to capture, although it did fall to the
Mongols during their wars with the Turks and Georgians in the 13th century and was brought into the
Ottoman Empire in 1551 by
Suleiman the Magnificent following yet another siege, this time to overturn the local ruler,
Atabeg of
Samtskhe Jakeli. Following the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) Artanuj/Ardanuç was ceded to
Russia. During the early stages of the
First World War, Ottoman irregular forces carried out massacres of the local Armenian and other members of the Christian population. After the
Russian Revolution Artanuj became part of
Democratic Republic of Georgia. The young state placed itself under
German protection and ceded its largely
Muslim-inhabited regions (including the cities of
Batum,
Ardahan,
Artvin,
Akhaltsikhe and
Akhalkalaki) to the Ottoman government (
Treaty of Batum, June 4). Following the end of the war, in 1920 Georgia regained control over Artvin, Ardahan, Akhaltsikhe and Akhalkalaki. However, after the
Red Army's invasion of Georgia, the region was occupied by the newly formed Republic of Turkey. ==Iskender Pasha Mosque==