Bitlis

Abstract

Bitlis (Ott. Bidlīs

Arm. Baghesh or Baghaghesh) is a city in present-day Turkey, to the southwest of Lake Van, and at the top of the long Bitlis valley. From a height of circa 1,800 metres at Bitlis, the valley drops about 1,000 metres to the upper Tigris basin. The kernel of the city lies on and near a ridge between two deep valleys, each running southward

these two valleys then curve round the ridge’s final nose and unite. The powerful citadel lies on a waist towards the ridge’s end

the ent...