Prehistory of the Armenians

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Urartian deity Urartian Art 04a~.jpg
Urartian deity

The recorded history of Armenia dates back to the 6th century BC Orontid Dynasty [1] The earliest attestations of the exonym "Armenia" date to the Achaemenid Empire. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription, Darius the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu (in Babylonian-Assyrian) as Armina (in Old Persian) and Harminuya (in the Elamite language). Greek : Αρμένιοι "Armenians" is attested from about the same time, perhaps the earliest reference being a fragment attributed to Hecataeus of Miletus (476 BCE).

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Armenians

Armenians (Armenian : հայեր, hayer [hɑˈjɛɾ] ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia. [2] [3]

Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the de facto independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around 5 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was mainly formed as a result of the Armenian Genocide. [4]

Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus' death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew. [5] In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion. [6]

Armenian is an Indo-European language. [7] It has two mutually intelligible and written forms: Eastern Armenian, today spoken mainly in Armenia, Artsakh, Iran, and the former Soviet republics; and Western Armenian, used in the historical Western Armenia and, after the Armenian Genocide, primarily in the Armenian diasporan communities. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots.

Armenian historiographic tradition

According to the story of Hayk, the legendary founder of Armenia, in either 2492 BCE or 2107 BCE Hayk fought against Belus, the Babylonian God of War, at Çavuştepe along the Engil river to establish the very first Armenian state. Historically, this event coincides with the destruction of Akkad by the Gutian dynasty of Sumer in 2115 BC, [8] a time when Hayk may have left with the “more than 300 members of his household” as told in the legend, and also during the beginning of when a Mesopotamian Dark Age was occurring due to the fall of the Akkadian Empire in 2154 BC which may have acted as a backdrop for the events in the legend making him leave Mesopotamia. [9]

Armenian tradition has an eponymous ancestor, Aram, a lineal descendant of Hayk (Հայկ), son of Harma and father of Ara the Beautiful (according to classical Armenian historian Moses of Chorene). [10] [11] A much older Aram, the son of Shem, is also mentioned from the Book of Genesis, Historian Flavius Josephus [12] , and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as being the sovereign over "all the land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris and the Euphrates to the north of the Chaldees to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of 'Arara." [13] Aram is sometimes equated with Arame of Urartu, the earliest known king of Urartu. [14] The endonym Hayk’ (from Classical Armenian) in the same tradition is traced to Hayk himself. [15]

Antiquity

Bronze Age burial site Zorats Karer (also known as Karahunj). Zorats Karer 2008, part of the stone circle.jpg
Bronze Age burial site Zorats Karer (also known as Karahunj).
The King of Kings Tigranes the Great with four vassal Kings surrounding him Tigranes four Kings.jpg
The King of Kings Tigranes the Great with four vassal Kings surrounding him

Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the mountains of Ararat. There is evidence of an early civilisation in Armenia in the Bronze Age and earlier, dating to about 4000 BC. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 at the Areni-1 cave complex have resulted in the discovery of the world's earliest known leather shoe, [16] skirt, [17] and wine-producing facility. [18]

From 2200 BCE to 1600 BCE, the Trialeti-Vanadzor culture flourished in Armenia, southern Georgia, and northeastern Turkey. [19] [20] It has been speculated that this was an Indo-European culture. [21] [22] [23] Other, possibly related, cultures were spread throughout the Armenia Highlands during this time, namely in the Aragats and Lake Sevan regions. [24] [25] [26]

Several Bronze Age states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittites (at the height of their power), Mitanni (southwestern historical Armenia), and Hayasa-Azzi (1500–1200 BC). The Nairi people (12th to 9th centuries BC) and Urartu (1000–600 BC) successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highlands. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. [27] [28] [29] [30] A large cuneiform lapidary inscription found in Yerevan established that the modern capital of Armenia was founded in the summer of 782 BC by King Argishti I. Yerevan is the world's oldest city to have documented the exact date of its foundation.

Armenian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief. Xerxes I tomb Armenian soldier circa 470 BCE.jpg
Armenian soldier of the Achaemenid army, circa 470 BC. Xerxes I tomb relief.

During the late 6th century BCE, the first geographical entity that was called Armenia by neighbouring populations was established under the Orontid Dynasty within the Achaemenid Empire, as part of the latters' territories. The kingdom became fully sovereign from the sphere of influence of the Seleucid Empire in 190 BC under King Artaxias I and begun the rule of the Artaxiad dynasty. Armenia reached its height between 95 and 66 BC under Tigranes the Great, becoming the most powerful kingdom of its time east of the Roman Republic.

In the next centuries, Armenia was in the Persian Empire's sphere of influence during the reign of Tiridates I, the founder of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, which itself was a branch of the Parthian Empire. Throughout its history, the kingdom of Armenia enjoyed both periods of independence and periods of autonomy subject to contemporary empires. Its strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples, including Assyria (under Ashurbanipal, at around 669–627 BCE, the boundaries of Assyria reached as far as Armenia and the Caucasus Mountains), [31] Medes, Achaemenid Empire, Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Sasanian Empire, Byzantine Empire, Arabs, Seljuk Empire, Mongols, Ottoman Empire, the successive Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar dynasties of Iran, and the Russians.

The pagan Garni Temple, probably built in the first century, is the only "Greco-Roman colonnaded building" in the post-Soviet states. Garni Temple 02.JPG
The pagan Garni Temple, probably built in the first century, is the only "Greco-Roman colonnaded building" in the post-Soviet states.

After the fall of the Kingdom of Armenia in 428, most of Armenia was incorporated as a marzpanate within the Sasanian Empire. Following the Battle of Avarayr in 451, Christian Armenians maintained their religion and Armenia gained autonomy.

Religion

The earliest religious beliefs of Armenians are believed to have been a blend of Indo-European, Mesopotamian, and native Anatolian beliefs. Native gods and goddesses worshipped included Ar (Arev, Areg), Angegh, Astghik, Ayg, Vanatur, and others.

During Median and Persian domination, Iranian religious influences began to mix with native Armenian beliefs, leading to the worship of new, syncretic deities such as Mihr, Aramazd, Vahagn, and Anahit.

Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion in 301, [33] [34] partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems, [35] becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36 years before Constantine the Great was baptised. Prior to this, during the latter part of the Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian country. [35]

Armani/Arme

Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name "Armenia" may have possibly been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions Armanî (or Armânum) together with Ibla, from territories conquered by Naram-Sin (2300 BCE) identified with an Akkadian colony in the current region of Diyarbekir; however, the precise locations of both Armani and Ibla are unclear. Some modern researchers have placed Armani (Armi) in the general area of modern Samsat, [36] and have suggested it was populated, at least partially, by an early Indo-European-speaking people. [37] Today, the Modern Assyrians (who traditionally speak Neo-Aramaic, not Akkadian) refer to the Armenians by the name Armani. [38] Thutmose III of Egypt, in the 33rd year of his reign (1446 BCE), mentioned as the people of "Ermenen", calming that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars". [39] Armenia is possibly connected to Mannaea, which may be identical to the region of Minni mentioned in The Bible. However, what all these attestations refer to cannot be determined with certainty, and the earliest certain attestation of the name "Armenia" comes from the Behistun Inscription (c. 500 BCE).

Hayasa

Location of Hayasa-Azzi Hayasaa.jpg
Location of Hayasa-Azzi

Hittite inscriptions deciphered in the 1920s by the Swiss scholar Emil Forrer testify to the existence of a mountain country, the Hayasa and/or the Azzi, lying around Lake Van. Several prominent authorities agree in placing Azzi to the north of Ishuwa. Others see Hayasa and Azzi as identical.

Records of the time between Telipinu and Tudhaliya III are sketchy. The Hittites seem to have abandoned their capital at Hattusa and moved to Sapinuwa under one of the earlier Tudhaliya kings. In the early 14th century BC, Sapinuwa was burned as well. Hattusili III records at this time that the Azzi had "made Samuha its frontier." The modern Georgian name for Armenians "Somkheti" may ultimately derive from Samuha.

Nairi

Nairi (Armenian: Նայիրի in TAO or Նաիրի in RAO) was the Assyrian name (KUR.KUR Na-i-ri, also Na-'i-ru) for a confederation of tribes in the Armenian Highlands, [40] roughly corresponding to the modern Van and Hakkâri provinces of modern Turkey. The word is also used to describe the Armenian tribes who lived there. [41] Nairi has sometimes been equated with Nihriya, known from Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Urartean sources. [42] However, its co-occurrence with Nihriya within a single text may argue against this. [43]

Prior to the Bronze Age collapse, the Nairi tribes were considered a force strong enough to contend with both Assyria and Hatti. The Battle of Nihriya, the culminating point of the hostilities between Hittites and Assyrians for control over the remnants of the former kingdom of Indo-European Mitanni, took place there, c. 1230 BC.

Nairi was incorporated into Urartu during the 10th century BC. In fact, the first kings of Urartu referred to their kingdom as Nairi instead of the native self-appellation Bianili. [44]

Urartu

Urartu ( /ʊˈrɑːrtuː/ ), which corresponds to the biblical mountains of Ararat, is the name of a geographical region commonly used as the exonym for the Iron Age kingdom also known by the modern rendition of its endonym, the Kingdom of Van, centered around Lake Van in the historic Armenian Highlands (present-day eastern Anatolia).

The written language that the kingdom's political elite used is referred to as Urartian , which appears in cuneiform inscriptions in Armenia and eastern Turkey. It is unknown what language was spoken by the peoples of Urartu at the time of the existence of the kingdom, but there is linguistic evidence of contact between the proto-Armenian language and the Urartian language at an early date (sometime between the 3rd—2nd millennium BC), occurring prior to the formation of Urartu as a kingdom. [45] [46] [47] [48] [49]

The kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but went into gradual decline and was eventually conquered by the Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC. [50] The geopolitical region would re-emerge as Armenia shortly after. Being heirs to the Urartian realm, the earliest identifiable ancestors of the Armenians are the peoples of Urartu. [48] [51] [52] [53]

Assyrian inscriptions of Shalmaneser I (c. 1274 BC) first mention Uruartri as one of the states of Nairi, a loose confederation of small kingdoms and tribal states in the Armenian Highland in the 13th to 11th centuries BC which he conquered. Uruartri itself was in the region around Lake Van. The Nairi states were repeatedly subjected to further attacks and invasions by the Assyrians, especially under Tukulti-Ninurta I (c. 1240 BC), Tiglath-Pileser I (c. 1100 BC), Ashur-bel-kala (c. 1070 BC), Adad-nirari II (c. 900 BC), Tukulti-Ninurta II (c. 890 BC), and Ashurnasirpal II (883–859 BC).

Urartu re-emerged in Assyrian inscriptions in the 9th century BC as a powerful northern rival of Assyria, which lay to the south in northern Mesopotamia and northeast Syria. The Nairi states and tribes became a unified kingdom under king Aramu (c. 860–843 BC), whose capital at Arzashkun was captured by the Assyrians under Shalmaneser III. Roughly contemporaries of the Uruartri, living just to the west along the southern shore of the Black Sea, were the Kaskas known from Hittite sources.

Urartologist Paul Zimansky speculated that the Urartians (or at least the ruling family) may have emigrated northwest into the Lake Van region from their religious capital Musasir (Ardini). [54] According to Zimansky, the Urartian ruling class were few in number and governed over an ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse population. Zimansky went so far as to suggest that the kings of Urartu might have come from various ethnic backgrounds themselves. [55]

The presence of a population who spoke proto-Armenian in Urartu prior to its demise is subject to speculation, but the existence of Urartian words in the Armenian language suggests early contact between the two languages and long periods of bilingualism. [56] [57] It is generally assumed that proto-Armenian speakers entered Anatolia around 1200 BC, during the Bronze Age Collapse, which was three to four centuries before the emergence of the Kingdom of Urartu. The presence of Armenian speakers in the Armenian Highlands prior to the formation of the Kingdom of Urartu is supported by a reference to "the king of Uiram" in an 11th-century BCE list of lands conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I. [58]

The most generally accepted theory about the emergence of Armenian in the region is that Paleo-Balkan-speaking settlers related to Phrygians (the Mushki and/or the retroactively named Armeno-Phrygians), who had already settled in the western parts of the region prior to the establishment of Urartu, [59] [60] [61] had become the ruling elite under the Median Empire, followed by the Achaemenid Empire. [62] According to the Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture :

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. [63]

However, this theory is somewhat problematic as the Assyrians referenced the Armenians and the Mushki as separate groups, and the Armenians never identified themselves as Mushki (although the -k in Mushk(i) is believed to be an Armenian plural marker, which suggests Armenians were aware of the Mushki). Additionally, some modern studies show that assertions about the proximity of the Greek and Phrygian (Mushki) languages with Armenian are not confirmed in the language material and that Armenian is as close to Indo-Iranian as it is to Greek and Phrygian. [64] [65] [66]

An alternate theory suggests that Armenians were tribes indigenous to the northern shores of Lake Van or Urartu's northern periphery (possibly as the Hayasans, Etuini, and/or Diauehi, all of whom are known only from references left by neighboring peoples such Hittites, Urartians and Assyrians). [67] While the Urartian language was used by the royal elite, the population they ruled may have been multi-lingual, and some of these peoples would have spoken Armenian.

The Urartian confederation united the disparate peoples of the highlands, which began a process of intermingling of the peoples and cultures (including possibly Armenian tribes) and languages (potentially including proto-Armenian) within the highlands. This intermixing would ultimately culminate in the emergence of the Armenians as the dominant polity and culture of the Armenian Highlands, and as the direct successors and inheritors of the Urartian domain. [48] [51] [68] [53]

An addition to this theory, supported by the official historiography of Armenia and experts in Assyrian and Urartian studies such as Igor M. Diakonoff, Giorgi Melikishvili, Mikhail Nikolsky, and Ivan Mestchaninov, suggests that Urartian was solely the formal written language of the state, while its inhabitants, including the royal family, spoke Armenian. [59] This theory primarily hinges on the fact that the Urartian language used in the cuneiform inscriptions were very repetitive and scant in vocabulary (having as little as 350–400 roots). Furthermore, over 250 years of usage, it shows no development, which is taken to indicate that the language had ceased to be spoken before the time of the inscriptions or was used only for official purposes. [59] [ better source needed ]

A complimentary theory, suggested by Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov in 1984, places the Proto-Indo-European homeland (the location where Indo-European would have emerged from) in the Armenian Highlands (see: Armenian hypothesis), which would entail the presence of proto-Armenians in the area during the entire lifetime of the Urartian state. [69] The Armenian hypothesis supports the theory that the Urartian language was not spoken, but simply written, and postulates that the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language. [69]

The Orontid dynasty

The Orontid dynasty, also known by their native name Eruandid or Yervanduni (Armenian : Երվանդունի), was a hereditary Armenian [70] dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Ararat). [71] [72] [73] The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Median invasion in the 6th century BC.

Members of the Orontid dynasty ruled Armenia intermittently during the period spanning the 6th century BC to at least the 2nd century BC, first as client kings or satraps of the Median and Achaemenid empires who established an independent kingdom after the collapse of the Achaemenid empire, and later as kings of Sophene and Commagene who eventually succumbed to the Roman Empire. The Orontids are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the ancient Kingdom of Armenia (321 BC–428 AD).

Little is known about the origins of the Orontid dynasty. [73] [74] [75] Some historians believe that the Orontid kings were of Armenian or Urartian origin. [73] [76] [75] In addition, historians believe the dynasty may have had Iranian origin through a possible relation to the Achaemenids, either through marriage or blood. [73] [77]

The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of a masculine name of Iranian origin; Երուանդ Eruand in Old Armenian. [78] The name is only attested in Greek (Gr.:Ὀρόντης). Its Avestan connection is Auruuant (brave, hero) and Middle Persian Arwand (Modern Persian اروند Arvand). [78] Some have suggested a continuity with the Hittite name Arnuwanda. Various Greek transcriptions of the name in Classical sources are spelled as Orontes, Aruandes or Ardoates. The presence of this dynasty is attested from at least 400 BC, and it can be shown to have ruled originally from Armavir and subsequently Yervandashat. Armavir is called the "first capital of the Orontid dynasty" — a few Greek language inscriptions have been found, but the penetration of Hellenistic culture in Armavir seems to have been limited. [79]

The precise date of the foundation of the Orontid Dynasty is debated by scholars to this day but there is a consensus that it occurred after the destruction of Urartu by the Scythians and the Medes around 612 BC.

Related Research Articles

Hurrians Historical ethnic group of Southwest Asia

The Hurrians were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurro-Urartian language called Hurrian and lived in Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia. The largest and most influential Hurrian nation was the kingdom of Mitanni, the Mitanni perhaps being Indo-Iranian speakers who formed a ruling class over the Hurrians. The population of the Indo-European-speaking Hittite Empire in Anatolia included a large population of Hurrians, and there is significant Hurrian influence in Hittite mythology. By the Early Iron Age, the Hurrians had been assimilated with other peoples. Their remnants were subdued by a related people that formed the state of Urartu. The present-day Armenians are an amalgam of the Indo-European groups with the Hurrians and Urartians.

History of Armenia aspect of history

Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat. The original Armenian name for the country was Hayk, later Hayastan, translated as the land of Haik, and consisting of the name of the ancient Mesopotamian god Haya (ha-ià) and the Persian suffix '-stan' ("land"). The historical enemy of Hayk, Hayastan, was Bel, or in other words Baal.

Armenians Ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands

Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.

Mushki 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 BCE near the confluence of the Arsanias and the Euphrates and the other from the 8th to the 7th centuries BCE in Cappadocia and Cilicia. Earlier Assyrian sources clearly identify the Western Mushki with the Phrygians, but later Greek sources then distinguish between the Phrygians and the Moschoi.

Argishti I of Urartu King of Urartu

Argishti I, was the sixth known king of Urartu, reigning from 786 BC to 764 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Alternate transliterations of the name include Argishtis, Argisti, Argišti, and Argishtish. Although the name is usually rendered as Argišti, some scholars argue that Argisti is the most likely pronunciation. This is due to the belief that the Urartians used the cuneiform symbol š to voice an s-sound, as opposed to representing the diagraph sh.

Armenian mythology body of myths and teachings of Armenians

Armenian mythology originated in ancient Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Anatolian, Hurro-Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities.

The Orontid dynasty, also known by their native name Eruandid or Yervanduni, was a hereditary Armenian dynasty and the rulers of the successor state to the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu (Ararat). The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Median invasion in the 6th century BC.

Nairi was the Assyrian name for a confederation of tribes in the Armenian Highlands, roughly corresponding to the modern Van and Hakkâri provinces of modern Turkey and West Azerbaijan province of Iran. The word is also used to describe the Armenian tribes who lived there. Nairi has sometimes been equated with Nihriya, known from Mesopotamian, Hittite, and Urartian sources. However, its co-occurrence with Nihriya within a single text may argue against this.

Satrapy of Armenia period of Yervanduni kingdom

The Satrapy of Armenia (Armenian: Սատրապական Հայաստան Satrapakan Hayastan; Old Persian: Armina or Arminiya, a region controlled by the Orontid Dynasty was one of the satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC, which later became an independent kingdom. Its capitals were Tushpa and later Erebuni.

The name Armenia enters English via Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἀρμενία.

Proto-Armenian language 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.

Tushpa human settlement

Tushpa was the 9th-century BC capital of Urartu, later becoming known as Van which is derived from Biainili the native name of Urartu. The ancient ruins are located just west of Van and east of Lake Van in the Van Province of Turkey. In 2016 it was inscribed in the Tentative list of World Heritage Sites in Turkey.

Shupria or Shubria Armenian: Շուպրիա; Akkadian was a Hurrian kingdom, known from Assyrian sources from the 13th century BC onward, in what is now the Armenian Highlands, to the south-west of Lake Van, bordering Urartu. The capital was Ubbumu. The name Shupria is often regarded as derived from, or even synonymous with, the earlier kingdom of Subartu, mentioned in Mesopotamian records as early as the 3rd millennium BC. However, the Sumerians appear to have used the name Subartu to describe an area corresponding to Upper Mesopotamia and/or Assyria.

Prehistoric Armenia refers to the history of the region that would eventually be known as Armenia, covering the period of the earliest known human presence in the Armenian Highlands from the Lower Paleolithic more than 1 million years ago until the Iron Age and the emergence of Urartu in the 9th century BC, the end of which in the 6th century BC marks the beginning of Ancient Armenia.

History of the Caucasus

The history of the Caucasus region may be divided into the history of the Northern Caucasus (Ciscaucasia), historically in the sphere of influence of Scythia and of Southern Russia, and that of the Southern Caucasus in the sphere of influence of Persia, Anatolia and for a very brief time Assyria.

Urartu Iron Age kingdom located in a large region around Lake Van

Urartu is a geographical region commonly used as the exonym for the Iron Age kingdom also known by the modern rendition of its endonym, the Kingdom of Van, centered around Lake Van in the historic Armenian Highlands.

Ancient Armenia refers to the history of Armenia during Antiquity. It follows Prehistoric Armenia and covers a period of approximately one thousand years, beginning at the end of the Iron Age with the events that led to the dissolution of the Kingdom of Urartu, and the emergence of the first geopolitical entity called Armenia in the 6th century BC. Highlights of this period include the rise of ancient Armenia as an important state in Western Asia in the 4th century BC; a briefly held empire under Julius Caesar's contemporary the Great King Tigranes II ; the kingdom's official conversion to Christianity in 301; and the creation of the Armenian alphabet in the year 405. It concludes with the demise of the Armenian kingdom and the country's partition later in the 5th century, marking the beginning of Medieval Armenia.

Armeno-Phrygian

The Armeno-Phrygians are a hypothetical people of South West Asia in prehistory.

References

  1. ↑ Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. pp. 278ff.
  2. ↑ "Armenia: Ancient and premodern Armenia". Encyclopædia Britannica Online . Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 17 July 2018. The Armenians, an Indo-European people, first appear in history shortly after the end of the 7th century BCE[, d]riving some of the ancient population to the east of Mount Ararat [...]
  3. ↑ Tiratsʻyan, Gevorg Artashesi (2003). Vardanyan, Ṛuben (ed.). From Urartu to Armenia: Florilegium Gevork A. Tiratsʻyan in Memoriam. Neuchâtel / University of Michigan: Recherches et publications. p. 51. Retrieved 29 January 2019. In the early 6th century BC, the Urartian state was replaced by the Armenian kingdom in the territory of the Armenian Highlands.
  4. ↑ Richard G. Hovannisian, The Armenian people from ancient to modern times: the fifteenth century to the twentieth century, Volume 2, p. 427, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997.
  5. ↑ see Hastings, Adrian (2000). A World History of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 289. ISBN   978-0-8028-4875-8.
  6. ↑ "Armenia first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion". Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 2007-02-27.
  7. ↑ "Armenian (people) | Description, Culture, History, & Facts".
  8. ↑ De Mieroop, Marc Van. (2004). A History of the Ancient Near East: c. 3000-323BC. (pp.67) Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing
  9. ↑ Movses Khorenatsi, History of Armenia. Ed. by G. Sargsyan. Yerevan: Hayastan, 1997, (pp. 83,286)
  10. ↑ Moses of Chorene,The History of Armenia, Book 1, Ch. 12 (in Russian)
  11. ↑ History of Armenia by Father Michael Chamich from B.C. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian era, Bishop's College Press, Calcutta, 1827, page 19: "[Aram] was the first to raise the Armenian name to any degree of renown; so that contemporary nations ... called them the Aramians, or followers of Aram, a name which has been corrupted into Armenians; and the country they inhabited, by universal consent, took the name of Armenia."
  12. ↑ Josephus, Flavius. Antiquities of the Jews. Book 1, section 143.
  13. ↑ Charles, R.H. (1913). The Book of Jubilees 9:5 from The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Clarendon Press. http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/9.htmhttps://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=papers
  14. ↑ "Արամ" in H. Ačaṙean (1926–35), Hayocʿ Anjnanunneri Baṙaran (Yerevan: Yerevan State University), 2nd ed., 1942–62
  15. ↑ Razmik Panossian, The Armenians: From Kings And Priests to Merchants And Commissars, Columbia University Press (2006), ISBN   978-0-231-13926-7, p. 106.
  16. ↑ "Armenian cave yields what may be world's oldest leather shoe". CNN. 9 June 2010. Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "5,900-year-old women's skirt discovered in Armenian cave". News Armenia. 13 September 2011. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  18. ↑ "Earliest Known Winery Found in Armenian Cave". National Geographic. 12 January 2011. Archived from the original on 8 January 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2018.
  19. ↑ Joan Aruz, Sarah B. Graff, Yelena Rakic, Cultures in Contact: From Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean in the Second Millennium B.C. The Metropolitan Museum of art symposia. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013 ISBN   1588394751 p12-24
  20. ↑ Aynur Özifirat (2008), The Highland Plateau of Eastern Anatolia in the Second Millennium BCE: Middle/Late Bronze Ages pp.103-106
  21. ↑ John A. C. Greppin and I. M. Diakonoff, Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians Journal of the American Oriental Society Vol. 111, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1991), pp. 721
  22. ↑ Joan Aruz, Kim Benzel, Jean M. Evans, Beyond Babylon: Art, Trade, and Diplomacy in the Second Millennium B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) (2008) pp. 92
  23. ↑ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered pp. 254
  24. ↑ Daniel T. Potts A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East. Volume 94 of Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World. John Wiley & Sons, 2012 ISBN   1405189886 p.681
  25. ↑ Simonyan, Hakob Y. (2012). "New Discoveries at Verin Naver, Armenia". Backdirt. The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA (The Puzzle of the Mayan Calendar): 110–113. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  26. ↑ Martirosyan, Hrach (2014). "Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language" (PDF). Leiden University: 1–23. Retrieved 5 August 2019.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  27. ↑ Kurkjian, Vahan (1958). History of Armenia (1964 ed.). Michigan: Armenian General Benevolent Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  28. ↑ Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Encyclopedia. 1987. p. v. 12.
  29. ↑ Movsisyan, Artak (2000). Sacred Highland: Armenia in the spiritual conception of the Near East. Yerevan.
  30. ↑ Kavoukjian, Martiros (1982). The Genesis of Armenian People. Montreal.
  31. ↑ Joshua J. Mark. "Assyria". Ancient History Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  32. ↑ Charles W. Hartley; G. Bike Yazicioğlu; Adam T. Smith, eds. (2012). The Archaeology of Power and Politics in Eurasia: Regimes and Revolutions. Cambridge University Press. p. 65. ISBN   978-1-107-01652-1. ...the unique temple-tomb at Garni, just east of Yerevan – the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building anywhere in the Soviet Union.
  33. ↑ "The World Factbook: Armenia". CIA. Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
  34. ↑ Brunner, Borgna (2006). Time Almanac with Information Please 2007. New York: Time Home Entertainment. p. 685. ISBN   978-1-933405-49-0.
  35. 1 2 Mary Boyce. Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices Archived 19 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Psychology Press, 2001 ISBN   0-415-23902-8 p. 84
  36. ↑ Archi, Alfonso (2016). "Egypt or Iran in the Ebla Texts?". Orientalia. 85: 3. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  37. ↑ Kroonen, Guus; Gojko Barjamovic; Michaël Peyrot (9 May 2018). "Linguistic supplement to Damgaard et al. 2018: Early Indo-European languages, Anatolian, Tocharian and Indo-Iranian": 3.Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  38. ↑ Martiros Kavoukjian, "The Genesis of Armenian People", Montreal, 1982.
  39. ↑ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915 ; Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) Thutmose III, University of Michigan, 2006; ISBN   978-0-472-11467-2.
  40. ↑ Redgate, Anne Elizabeth (2000). The Armenians. Wiley-Blackwell. p.  27. ISBN   978-0631220374.
  41. ↑ Redgate, Anne Elizabeth (2000). The Armenians. Wiley-Blackwell. p.  27. ISBN   978-0631220374.
  42. ↑ Trevor Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites 2005:316; Bryce locates Nairi north or northeast of modern Diyarbakir.
  43. ↑ M. Salvini "Nairi, Na'iri" Reallexikon der Assyriologie 9. Edited by Erich Ebeling and Bruno Meissner. New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1998–2001. p. 87.
  44. ↑ Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire, Paul Zimansky, Page 103 of 103–115
  45. ↑ Diakonoff, Igor M (1992). "First Evidence of the Proto-Armenian Language in Eastern Anatolia". Annual of Armenian Linguistics. 13: 51–54. ISSN   0271-9800.
  46. ↑ Róna-Tas, András.Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History. Budapest: Central European University Press, 1999 p. 76 ISBN   963-9116-48-3.
  47. ↑ Greppin, John A. C. (1991). "Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 3 (4): 720–730. doi:10.2307/603403. JSTOR   603403. Even for now, however, it seems difficult to deny that the Armenians had contact, at an early date, with a Hurro-Urartian people.
  48. 1 2 3 Chahin, M. (2001). The kingdom of Armenia: a history (2nd revised ed.). Richmond: Curzon. p. 182. ISBN   978-0700714520.
  49. ↑ Scarre, edited by Chris (2013). Human past : world prehistory and the development of human societies (3rd ed.). W W Norton. ISBN   978-0500290637.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  50. ↑ Jacobson, Esther (1995). The Art of the Scythians: The Interpenetration of Cultures at the Edge of the Hellenic World. BRILL. p. 33. ISBN   9789004098565.
  51. 1 2 Frye, Richard N. (1984). The History of Ancient Iran. Munich: C.H. Beck. p. 73. ISBN   978-3406093975. The real heirs of the Urartians, however, were neither the Scythians nor Medes but the Armenians.
  52. ↑ Redgate, A. E. (2000). The Armenians. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 5. ISBN   978-0631220374. However, the most easily identifiable ancestors of the later Armenian nation are the Urartians.
  53. 1 2 Lang, David Marshall (1980). Armenia: Cradle of Civilization (3rd ed.). London: Allen & Unwin. pp. 85–111. ISBN   978-0049560093.
  54. ↑ Zimansky, Paul Urartu and the Urartians, pp. 557
  55. ↑ Urartian Material Culture As State Assemblage: An Anomaly in the Archaeology of Empire, Paul Zimansky, Page 103 of 103–115
  56. ↑ Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. Mallory, J. P., Adams, Douglas Q. London: Fitzroy Dearborn. 1997. p. 30. ISBN   978-1884964985. OCLC   37931209. Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; ... Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.CS1 maint: others (link)
  57. ↑ Greppin, John A.C. and Igor Diakonoff Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians, Oct–Dec 1991, pp. 727.
  58. ↑ "Assyrian Catalogue of Anatolian lands and leaders".
  59. 1 2 3 (in Armenian) Katvalyan, M. and Karo Ghafadaryan. Ուրարտու [Urartu]. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, vol. 12, pp. 276–283.
  60. ↑ Samuelian, Thomas J. (2000). Armenian origins: an overview of ancient and modern sources and theories. Iravunq Pub. House.
  61. ↑ Uchicago.edu
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  65. ↑ Vavroušek P. (2010). "Frýžština". Jazyky starého Orientu. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze. p. 129. ISBN   978-80-7308-312-0.
  66. ↑ J. P. Mallory, Douglas Q. Adams. (1997). Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture. London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. p. 419. ISBN   9781884964985.
  67. ↑ Armen Petrosyan (January 1, 2007). The Problem Of Identification Of The Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review. Society For Armenian Studies. pp. 46, 49. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  68. ↑ Redgate, A. E. (2000). The Armenians. Oxford: Blackwell. p. 5. ISBN   978-0631220374. However, the most easily identifiable ancestors of the later Armenian nation are the Urartians.
  69. 1 2 Gamkrelidze, Tamaz V.; Ivanov, Vyacheslav (1995). Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and Proto-Culture. Part I: The Text. Part II: Bibliography, Indexes. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   978-3-11-081503-0.
  70. ↑ David M. Lang (2008) [1983]. "Iran, Armenia and Georgia". In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.). The Cambridge History of Iran Volume 3: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods, Part 1. Cambridge University Press. p. 510. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521200929.016. ISBN   9781139054942.
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  73. 1 2 3 4 Krause, Todd B. and John A.C. Greppin, and Jonathan Slocum. "The Yervanduni Dynasty." The A. Richard Diebold Center for Indo-European Language and Culture at the University of Texas. Jan. 22, 2009.
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  77. ↑ Garsoïan, Nina (1997). "The Emergence of Armenia" in The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I, The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, pp. 46–47. ISBN   0-312-10169-4.
  78. 1 2 Schmitt 2002.
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