It was situated north of the previous ancient capital of Armenia, the city of Artaxata, along the banks of the Metsamor River, 35 km to the south of modern Yerevan.

[4][a] The early medieval Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi explains the name of Dvin as coming from a (Middle) Persian word (*duwīn) meaning 'hill'.

[7] According to Erich Kettenhofen, Khorenatsi's explanation of the name resulted from an incorrect interpretation of the aforementioned passage in Faustus's history.

[4] Marie-Louise Chaumont writes that Khorenatsi's etymology became more accepted after Vladimir Minorsky pointed out the use of the word dovīn to mean 'hill' in Persian place names.

Dvin boasted a population of about 100,000 citizens in various professions, including arts and crafts, trade, fishing, etc.

[16] Following a devastating Buyid raid in 1021, which sacked the city, Dvin was captured by the Kurdish Shaddadids of Ganja, and ruled by Abu'l-Aswar Shavur ibn Fadl,[17] who successfully defended it against three Byzantine attacks in the latter half of the 1040s.

Saladin was born in Tikrit, Modern Iraq, but his family had originated from the ancient city of Dvin.

The temple was rebuilt in the 4th century as a Christian church, with a pentahedral apse that protruded sharply on its eastern side.

By the middle of the 7th century, the cathedral was rebuilt into a cruciform domed church with apses that protruded off of its lateral facades.