
Melik
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thumb|250px|right|The five principalities of Karabagh (Gyulistan, Jraberd, Khachen, Varanda, Dizak), the last remnant of Armenian statehood (16th century)
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- მელიქი
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Article
15 sectionsContents
- History
- Origins
- Melikdoms of Karabagh and Syunik
- Other meliks
- Meliks of Erivan
- After Russian conquest
- Melik families of Eastern Armenia
- Prominent members of melik families
- Popular culture
- References
- Notes
- Citations
- Bibliography
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|250px|right|The five principalities of Karabagh (Gyulistan, Jraberd, Khachen, Varanda, Dizak), the last remnant of Armenian statehood (16th century)
Мelik (, from ) was a hereditary Armenian noble title used in Eastern Armenia from the Late Middle Ages until the nineteenth century. The meliks represented some of the last remnants of the old Armenian nobility, as well as Persian nobility in Shirvan and other areas of the Persian Empire. The most prominent and powerful meliks were those of Karabagh (Artsakh) and Syunik, which ruled autonomous or semi-autonomous principalities known as melikdoms () under Iranian suzerainty. Meliks also existed in Yerevan, Nakhichevan, Sevan, Lori, Northwestern Persia, and other areas, although outside of Karabagh and Syunik most were merely hereditary leaders of local Armenian communities, not rulers of principalities.