List of ancient Armeno-Phrygian peoples and tribes

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This is a list of the hypothetical Armeno-Phrygian peoples and tribes. Armeno-Phrygians is the name given to the hypothetical common ancestors of both Phrygians and Armenians .

Contents

Even if Armenians are not more closely related to the Phrygians, some scholars think that there is some closer connection from common ancestors between Greeks, Phrygians and Armenians and their languages that between them and other Indo-European peoples (as the model tree of Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow).

Regardless of their Ethnogenesis, Armenians (հայեր - Hayer or Հայք - Hayq or Hayk - Հայկ - self name in their own language) are one of the oldest ethnic groups that live until modern times, they live or lived in the Armenian Highlands and eastern Asia Minor or Anatolia, in the historical regions of Armenia, and today's Armenia for about or more than three millennia, by this standard they are clearly a native people of their land. Like many other, or even most, ethnic groups, Armenian ethnogenensis and origin was the result of a complex process and blend between older and later peoples that formed a new ethnic identity. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Ancestors

Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony Indo-European Migrations. Source David Anthony (2007), The Horse, The Wheel and Language.jpg
Map 1: Indo-European migrations as described in The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David W. Anthony

Possible Direct Ancestors

Map 2: Paleo-Balkan peoples and their languages between the 5th and 1st century BC. Paleo-Balkan languages in Eastern Europe between 5th and 1st century BC.png
Map 2: Paleo-Balkan peoples and their languages between the 5th and 1st century BC.

Possible Armeno-Phrygians

Map 3: Historical Armenia, 150 BC Arshakuni Armenia 150-en.svg
Map 3: Historical Armenia, 150 BC
Map 4: The location of Ayrarat in Greater Armenia, a core Province in Ancient Armenia. Ayrarat.jpg
Map 4: The location of Ayrarat in Greater Armenia, a core Province in Ancient Armenia.

May have been part of the older and larger Graeco-Phrygians.

Possible Armenian peoples or contributors to the Armenians’ ethnogenesis

Armenians, Hurro-Urartians or Kartvelians

Contributors to the Armenians’ ethnogenesis (Non-Armenian in origin)

Criticism

A number of linguists have rejected a close relationship between Armenian and Phrygian, despite saying that the two languages do share some features. [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] Phrygian is now classified as a centum language more closely related to Greek than Armenian, whereas Armenian is mostly satem. [23]

Recent research suggests that there is lack of archaeological [24] and genetic evidence [25] for a group from the Balkans entering eastern Asia Minor or the Armenian Highlands during or after the Bronze Age Collapse (as was suggested by Diakonoff).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paeonia (kingdom)</span> Ancient region and kingdom in the Balkans

In antiquity, Paeonia or Paionia was the land and kingdom of the Paeonians or Paionians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phrygians</span> Ancient Indo-European-speaking people of Anatolia

The Phrygians were an ancient Indo-European speaking people who inhabited central-western Anatolia in antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mushki</span> Iron Age people of Anatolia

The Mushki were an Iron Age people of Anatolia who appear in sources from Assyria but not from the Hittites. Several authors have connected them with the Moschoi (Μόσχοι) of Greek sources and the Georgian tribe of the Meskhi. Josephus Flavius identified the Moschoi with the Biblical Meshech. Two different groups are called Muški in Assyrian sources, one from the 12th to the 9th centuries BC near the confluence of the Arsanias and the Euphrates and the other from the 8th to the 7th centuries BC in Cappadocia and Cilicia. Assyrian sources clearly identify the Western Mushki with the Phrygians, but later Greek sources then distinguish between the Phrygians and the Moschoi.

The Paleo-Balkan languages are a geographical grouping of various Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans and surrounding areas in ancient times. In antiquity, Dacian, Greek, Illyrian, Messapic, Paeonian, Phrygian and Thracian were the Paleo-Balkan languages which were attested in literature. They may have included other unattested languages.

Paeonian, sometimes spelled Paionian, is a poorly attested, extinct language spoken by the ancient Paeonians until late antiquity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trialeti–Vanadzor culture</span> Bronze Age archaeological culture in the Caucasus

The Trialeti–Vanadzor culture, previously known as the Trialeti–Kirovakan culture, is named after the Trialeti region of Georgia and the city of Vanadzor, Armenia. It is attributed to the late 3rd and early 2nd millennium BCE. The Trialeti–Vanadzor culture emerged in the areas of the preceding Kura–Araxes culture. Some scholars speculate that it was an Indo-European culture. It developed into the Lchashen–Metsamor culture. It may have also given rise to the Hayasa-Azzi confederation mentioned in Hittite texts,and the Mushki mentioned by the Assyrians.

The linguistic classification of the ancient Thracian language has long been a matter of contention and uncertainty, and there are widely varying hypotheses regarding its position among other Paleo-Balkan languages. It is not contested, however, that the Thracian languages were Indo-European languages which had acquired satem characteristics by the time they are attested.

The origin of the Armenians is a topic concerned with the emergence of the Armenian people and the country called Armenia. The earliest universally accepted reference to the people and the country dates back to the 6th century BC Behistun Inscription, followed by several Greek fragments and books. The earliest known reference to a geopolitical entity where Armenians originated from is dated to the 13th century BC as Uruatri in Old Assyrian. Historians and Armenologists have speculated about the earlier origin of the Armenian people, but no consensus has been achieved as of yet. Genetic studies show that Armenian people are indigenous to historical Armenia, showing little to no signs of admixture since around the 13th century BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proto-Armenian language</span> Reconstructed language

Proto-Armenian is the earlier, unattested stage of the Armenian language which has been reconstructed by linguists. As Armenian is the only known language of its branch of the Indo-European languages, the comparative method cannot be used to reconstruct its earlier stages. Instead, a combination of internal and external reconstruction, by reconstructions of Proto-Indo-European and other branches, has allowed linguists to piece together the earlier history of Armenian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paeoplae</span>

Paeoplae were an ancient Paeonian tribe in Thrace. The name is suggested to have Thracian origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siropaiones</span>

Siro-Paeonians or Siropaiones were an ancient Paeonian tribe inhabiting the ancient city of Siris and the Strymon plain. They were one of eight (Herodotus) or ten (Thucydides) tribes of Paeonia. They were situated from the Bisaltae and Odomanti to the south, Sinthi to the north, the Strymon to the east, Maedi to the west, and a mountain chain separating them from Crestonia. Their capital was Siris (Serres). They were defeated by Persian general Megabazus. They were expelled by the Persians to Asia Minor, where they are assumed to have founded Serraepolis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scyrmiadae</span>

Scyrmiadae is the name of a Thracian tribe. They are mentioned by Herodotus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armeno-Phrygians</span>

The Armeno-Phrygians are a hypothetical people of West Asia during the Bronze Age, the Bronze Age collapse, and its aftermath. They would be the common ancestors of both Phrygians and Proto-Armenians. In turn, Armeno-Phrygians would be the descendants of the Graeco-Phrygians, common ancestors of Greeks, Phrygians, and also of Armenians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armeno-Phrygian languages</span> Hypothetical branch of Indo-European

The name Armeno-Phrygian is used for a hypothetical language branch, which would include the languages spoken by the Phrygians and the Armenians, and would be a branch of the Indo-European language family, or a sub-branch of either the proposed "Graeco-Armeno-Aryan" or "Armeno-Aryan" branches. According to this hypothesis, Proto-Armenian was a language descendant from a common ancestor with Phrygian and was closely related to it. Proto-Armenian differentiated from Phrygian by language evolution over time but also by the Hurro-Urartian language substrate influence. Classification is difficult because little is known of Phrygian, but Proto-Armenian arguably forms a subgroup with Greek and Indo-Iranian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paeonians</span> Ancient Indo-European people from Paeonia

Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their land was in the Axios river basin, roughly in what is today North Macedonia.

The Urumu were a tribe attested in cuneiform sources in the Bronze Age. They are often considered to be one of the ancestors of the Armenians being one of the tribes which were part of the Armenian Hayasa-Azzi confederation.

References

  1. PETROSYAN, Armen. (2007). "The Problem of Identification of Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review." in Journal of the Society for the Armenian Studies (JSAS), vol. 16
  2. 1 2 "The Armenians according to Diakonoff, are then an amalgam of the Hurrian (and Urartians), Luvians [Luwians] and the Proto-Armenian Mushki who carried their IE [Indo-European] language eastwards across Anatolia. After arriving in its historical territory, Proto-Armenian would appear to have undergone massive influence by the languages it eventually replaced. Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism." in "Armenians" in Adams, Douglas Q. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   978-1-884964-98-5.
  3. "Armenian (People) | Description, Culture, History, & Facts | Britannica". 31 July 2024.
  4. "Armenia | Geography, Population, Map, Religion, & History | Britannica".
  5. "The Ancient Kingdom of Paionia". Balkan Studies 6. 1965.
  6. 1 2 Early symbolic systems for communication in Southeast Europe, Part 2 by Lolita Nikolova, ISBN   1-84171-334-1, 2003, page 529, "eastern Paionians (Agrianians and Laeaeans)"
  7. The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Robert B. Strassler, Richard Crawley, and Victor Davis Hanson, 1998, ISBN   0-684-82790-5, page 153,"... of them still live round Physcasb- and the Almopians from Almopia.
  8. The Cambridge Ancient History, Martin Percival Charlesworth, ISBN   0-521-85073-8, ISBN   978-0-521-85073-5 Volume 4, Persia, Greece and the Western Mediterranean, C. 525 to 479 B.C, John Boardman, page 252, "The Paeonians were the earlier owners of some of these mines, but after their defeat in the coastal sector they maintained their independence in the mainland and coined large denominations in the upper Strymon and the Upper Axius area in the names of the Laeaei and the Derrones"
  9. The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN   0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 452, "... Then he passed through the country of the Doberes and Paeoplae (Paeonian tribes living north of Pangaeum), and continued in a ..."
  10. An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis: An Investigation Conducted by The Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation by Mogens Herman Hansen and Thomas Heine Nielsen, 2005, ISBN   0-19-814099-1, page 854, ... Various tribes have occupied this part of Thrace: Bisaltians (lower Strymon valley), Odomantes (the plain to the north of the Strymon) ...
  11. Thrace in the Graeco-Roman world, p. 112 but others claim that together with the Agrianes and Odomanti, at least the latter of which were with certainty Thracian, not Paeonian.
  12. The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN   0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 315, ... "was that a number of Paeonian tribes – the Siriopaeones, Paeoplae, ..."
  13. The Histories (Penguin Classics) by Herodotus, John M. Marincola, and Aubery de Selincourt, ISBN   0-14-044908-6, 2003, page 315, "... was that a number of Paeonian tribes – the Siriopaeones, Paeoplae, ..."
  14. 1 2 3 I. M. Diakonoff The Problem of the Mushki Archived August 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine in The Prehistory of the Armenian People
  15. 1 2 Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, p. 262
  16. Hrach Martirosyan “Origins and historical development of the Armenian language” (p. 7-9) in Journal of Language Relationship, International Scientific Periodical, n.º10 (2013). Russian State University for the Humanities, Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  17. Martirosyan, Hrach (2014). "Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language" (PDF). Leiden University: 1–23. Retrieved 5 August 2019.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. Bartomeu Obrador Cursach. "On the place of Phrygian among the Indo-European languages." Journal of Language Relationship. 2019. https://www.academia.edu/42660767/On_the_place_of_Phrygian_among_the_Indo_European_languages
  19. Clackson, J. P. T., 2008, “Classical Armenian”, in Woodard, R. D., The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 124–143
  20. Martirosyan, H., 2013, “The place of Armenian in the Indo-European language family: the relationship with Greek and Indo-Iranian”, Journal of Language Relationship10, 85—13
  21. Hamp, Eric P. (August 2013). "The Expansion of the Indo-European Languages: An Indo-Europeanist's Evolving View" (PDF). Sino-Platonic Papers.
  22. Kim, Ronald (2018). "Greco-Armenian: The persistence of a myth". Indogermanische Forschungen. The University of British Columbia Library.
  23. "On the place of Phrygian among the Indo-European languages." Journal of Language Relationship. 2019. https://www.academia.edu/42660767/On_the_place_of_Phrygian_among_the_Indo_European_languages
  24. Kossian, Aram V. (1997), "The Mushki Problem Reconsidered." pp. 260-261
  25. Haber, Marc; Mezzavilla, Massimo; Xue, Yali; Comas, David; Gasparini, Paolo; Zalloua, Pierre; Tyler-Smith, Chris (2015). "Genetic evidence for an origin of the Armenians from Bronze Age mixing of multiple populations". European Journal of Human Genetics. 24 (6): 931–6.