History
Gyumri is one of the oldest localities in Armenia. The region of Gyumri is mentioned in different Urartian inscriptions since the 8th century BC. The first settlement at the location occupied by today's city of Gyumri is believed to have been founded some time in the 5th century BC, perhaps ca. 401 BC, by Greek colonists. An alternative theory suggests that the city was founded by Cimmerians, based on the fact that Cimmerians conquered the region in 720 BC and that the original name of the city was Kumayri, which bears phonetic resemblance to the word used by ancient Armenian in reference to Cimmerians. Historians believe that Xenophon passed through Gyumri during his return to the Black Sea, a journey immortalized in his Anabasis.
During the Middle Ages Gyumri was known as a large and important settlement, and a centre of Armenian rebellion against the Islamic Arab Caliphate between 733-755.
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