Origin of the Armenians, Urartu, goddess Anahit, Semitic blood. National traditions of the Armenian people

YEREVAN, Oct 22 – Sputnik. Armenians are an ancient people who predominantly speak the Armenian language. Formation Armenian people on the territory of the Armenian Highlands began from the end of the 2nd millennium BC. e. and ended by the 6th century BC. e.

Despite the fact that Armenians are united by one history, one blood and many common features, both externally and internally, representatives of this nation are radically different from each other. The Sputnik Armenia portal tried to understand what an Armenian really is like.

One heartbeat

Representatives of Armenian communities live predominantly in all major countries of the world. Most Armenians live in Russia, France and the USA. In particular, Armenians moved to many countries after the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire. The most interesting thing is that Armenians have about 50 dialects, while there are Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian languages, which are spoken by the vast majority of representatives of this nation. As for Eastern Armenian, this is one of the modern options the Armenian language spoken in modern Armenia.

The second variety of the Armenian language is common among the Armenian diaspora, which appeared after the Genocide. This group of Armenians mainly lives in Northern and South America, Europe and the Middle East. Despite the fact that the dialects are very different, Armenians can easily communicate with each other, speaking in their own dialect. The most difficult to understand Armenian dialects are among residents of the Syunik region and the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (Artsakh). It is for this reason that many Armenians do not speak native language, but have an excellent command of the language of the country in which they live.

If you communicate with Armenians, then, undoubtedly, you have noticed that these people have a bright sense of humor. They can cheer you up in a few minutes, tell you a huge number of funny stories, anecdotes, and make you walk around in high spirits for the next few days.

It is impossible not to note the fact that there are a lot of famous Armenian comedians in the world. In particular, everyone knows Evgeny Petrosyan, Garik Martirosyan and Mikhail Galustyan. In fact, despite their cheerful disposition and enthusiasm, Armenians are very serious people, especially if we're talking about about people of the older generation who have suffered many difficulties.

There are also eternally dissatisfied Armenians. Usually, these are those people who cannot find their place in life. In my opinion, the most dissatisfied are Armenian taxi drivers and public transport drivers. It is clear - the driving style in Yerevan and other cities of Armenia is distinguished by a special temperament.

© Sputnik/Asatur Yesayants

If you are a person close to an Armenian, then, most likely, he is ready for a lot, and maybe even everything, for your sake. Probably only Armenians know how to give everything to a loved one without reserve, to surround him with care, attention and affection.

Armenians love and value family very much. In an Armenian family, the parent is the king. And in fact, this is all mutual, since many Armenian parents raise their children with great love and do everything for them, even the impossible. The attitude towards children in our country is special, and this can be called a cult of children. Also, an Armenian man idolizes his beloved women (mother, sister, wife).

Hospitality

Another one national trait- this is hospitality. If you are visiting a “correct” Armenian, he will definitely treat you to something. But if you have agreed in advance to visit an Armenian or an Armenian family, then a whole festive treat awaits you! And especially, delicious Armenian cognac.

One can talk about Armenian dishes forever and write for a long time, but the most favorite dishes of Armenians are dolma (stuffed cabbage rolls made from grape leaves), khash - a spicy soup made from beef legs with garlic, spas - a healthy soup based on matsoni, Armenian tabbouleh salad made from bulgur grains and finely chopped parsley.

Armenian habits

Most Armenians are hard-working. If an Armenian finds a job he likes, then he works tirelessly.

Armenia's sunny weather allows residents of the country to hang out their laundry on the streets. This habit is traditional, for example, for residents of Italy, when a huge amount of clothing is hung from building to building.

© Sputnik / Asatur Yesayants

The “classic” Armenian is distinguished by the fact that he loves to consume large quantities of bread and coffee, organizes luxurious weddings, birthdays, engagements, christenings and other holidays. And in fact, the Armenian may not have money... He will take it on credit and will repay the debt for months. But if the soul wants a holiday, then he will not be able to deny himself and his loved ones this.

Armenians love expensive cars, clothing and accessories. This trait is probably characteristic of all nationalities.

And many Armenians open all the windows in the car when their favorite song is playing, regardless of whether you like this music or not. But a music lover will drive around the city after listening to his favorite track several times, even in winter.

If you decide to use public transport in Armenia, and there is no longer a place where you can sit, then they will definitely give it to you.

Armenians also love to greet each other. "Barev" and "Bari luys" ("hello" and " Good morning") is something that can lift a person’s spirits or become a reason for further communication. It’s not for nothing that they say in Armenia that “greeting belongs to God.”

Very often, instead of the traditional “thank you,” Armenians say “merci.” Maybe I'm just too lazy to say it every time beautiful word"shnorakalutsyun".

By the way, only an Armenian will buy himself an expensive gadget - a phone, laptop, tablet or netbook, and will be too lazy to study it in order to use it correctly. He will definitely start asking people around him how to set everything up and make it work.

In fact, Armenians have a lot of habits, both positive and negative, and their character traits are very diverse. The temperament and mentality of Armenians is very complicated thing. However, this article contains everything that can distinguish an Armenian from representatives of other nationalities.

We are glad if Armenian habits are also characteristic of you.

Armenians live in more than 85 countries around the world, mostly in cities. In total, there are about 7-11 million Armenians in the world. Armenians are Christians, mostly believers of the Armenian religion apostolic church, belonging to the group of pre-Chalcedonian (miaphysite) ancient eastern Orthodox churches. There are believers of the Uniate Armenian Catholic Church, as well as Protestants.

There are not only legends about the education of the Armenian people, but also numerous scientific theories. But the case with the Armenians is precisely the case when the legend explains everything, and scientific theory everything just gets confusing.

The history of the Armenians began when the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel, inhabited by ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. The entire population of the kingdom was taken away in a direction unknown to the Jews. However, being unknown to the Jews, this direction was well known to the Assyrians themselves.
They were taken to the Armenian Highlands, to the place where the state of Urartu, also defeated by Assyria, had recently been located. The inhabitants of Urartu were taken to the western coast of the Persian Gulf, the inhabitants of those places were resettled to the site of the former Kingdom of Israel, and the Israelis themselves were settled around Lake Van and at the foot of Ararat. There, merging with the remnants of the local population formerly under the rule of Urartu, the former Israelis adopted their language, but basically retained their anthropological type. This is why Armenians are so similar to Jews.

This legend is also confirmed by genetics - most Armenians have haplogroup J2. Although she is non-Jewish, she has a common ancestor with Jews. This ancestor lived long before Abraham. The bearer of the original basic haplotype of the Armenian and Jewish populations lived 6200 years ago, that is, two and a half thousand years before the exodus of Abraham from Ur to Canaan.

In Armenia itself, another version of the origin of the Armenians is more widespread: the Armenian state, from the name of which the self-name of the Armenians comes, was Hayasa, which is described in sufficient detail in ancient Hittite cuneiform writings between 1500-1290. BC e., even earlier, between 1650-1500. BC e. this country was found in Hittite cuneiform writings under the name Armatana. The Armenians themselves call themselves Hay, and their country - Hayastan. However, the second version does not at all contradict the first: first the Urartians captured Hayasa, and then they brought proto-Jews to this territory, and they mixed with the Hayastanis to form the Armenian ethnic group.

The Armenian language belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. The latest researchers suggest that in ancient times it, together with the Thracian and Phrygian languages, was part of the southern group of Indo-European languages. At the same time, the Armenian language has similarities with the Caucasian languages. They can be traced in vocabulary, phonetics and grammatical structure.

The ancient Armenian language survived until the 19th century. as a literary language. However, due to the evolution of living speech and interaction with other languages ​​(Persian, Greek, Arabic, Georgian, Turkic), the ancient Armenian language gradually became only a written language, receiving the name “grabar” (“written language”). The common people ceased to understand him, and he became the property of only a narrow circle of educated people and the church.

In the language of the Armenian people, 31 dialects were discovered and briefly described. Some of them have such deep sound differences with the national language that they are incomprehensible to Armenians who do not speak this dialect. These are MSgrip, Karadag, Karchevan, Agulis, Zeytun, Malatian, Sasup and many other dialects. The urban population of modern Armenia speaks literary Armenian, and Diaspora Armenians use the Western Armenian dialect.

The basis of men's and women's traditional clothing of Armenians is a low-necked shirt and wide trousers, gathered and secured at the ankles for women and wrapped with a wide winding for men. An arkhalukh (a type of long frock coat) was worn over the shirt; in Western Armenia, instead of arkhalukh, men wore shorter and open vests and jackets. Citizens, artisans, and rich peasants had belts made of massive silver plaques. Were put on over different kinds outerwear type chukha (Circassian), girded either with a belt or (more often among women) with a long scarf.

Women wore an embroidered apron. Headdresses for men were fur hats in Eastern Armenia, felt and woven hats in Western Armenia, for women - capes complemented by a headband with various decorations, shoes - pistons made of rawhide, low-heeled shoes with a curved toe or boots made of soft leather. From the end of the 19th century, these forms of clothing were gradually replaced by clothes of European cut.

Of all the components traditional culture Armenians preserve food most completely. Traditional food is based on grain products. Thin bread - lavash - is baked from wheat (in the past, barley) flour in tonirs, butter cookies and other flour dishes are made, including noodles - arshta. Porridge is used to cook porridge, make pilaf, and season soups with it.

Dairy products are common: cheeses, butter, sour milk - matsun and buttermilk - tan, used both as a soft drink and as a base for making soups. The poor rarely ate meat: boiled meat was used in ritual dishes, and fried meat was used on holidays. A diverse set of mixed vegetables, cereals and meat dishes: arisa - porridge with meat boiled until fibers, kyufta - meat and cereal meatballs in soup, tolma - vegetable cabbage rolls with meat and cereals, etc. There is a very wide range of preservatives prepared from grapes and fruits. Characterized by the widespread use of fresh and dried herbs.

The traditional family is large, patriarchal, with clear gender and age regulation of the rights and responsibilities of its members. The traditions of kinship and neighborly mutual assistance in the 19th century began to be destroyed as a result of the development of capitalist relations, especially in Eastern Armenia, which was part of the Russian Empire.

The first mention of the name of Armenia, which was then synonymous with Urartu, is found in the Behistun inscription, dated back to 520 BC. e. After the defeat of the Persian Empire by the troops of Alexander the Great, Armenia became dependent on the Seleucids and was ruled by special governors, of whom. two, Artaxias and Zariadr, in 190 BC, declared themselves independent and formed two states: Greater and Lesser Armenia.

The ruler of the first of them, Tigran the Great, united both in 70 BC. Under Tigran II, Great Armenia turned into a large state stretching from Palestine to the Caspian Sea, but soon the Armenian Kingdom fell into semi-vassal dependence, first on Rome, and then on Byzantium, which eventually divided its territory with the Persians.

Constant relations with new peoples developed a love of trade in the Armenians, and they soon realized what a huge force capital is in the everyday life of not only individuals, but also entire states. In 301 AD, Armenia became the first Christian country in the world, but by not taking part in the IV Ecumenical Council, the Armenians retained, that is, their rejection of the God-Man in Jesus Christ.

In 405, the Armenian scientist and educator Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet, which is still used by Armenians. Before Mashatots, the Armenians, as in other Hellenistic states of Western Asia, in the state and cultural life used Syriac and Greek writing.

“So he endured many hardships in [the matter of] providing good help to his people. And he was granted such happiness by the most merciful God with his holy right hand; he, like a father, gave birth to a new and wonderful child - the writing of the Armenian language. And there he hastily drew, gave names and arranged [the letters in order], arranged [them] according to syllabic syllables.”

In the middle of the 7th century, the Armenian lands were captured by the Arabs, but in the 860s, the princely family of the Bagratids united most of the Armenian lands and overthrew the power of the Arab Caliphate.

In 885, the Arabs and Byzantines recognized the independence of the Armenian Bagratid kingdom, which was the largest and most powerful feudal state of ancient Armenia.

In 908, the Vaspurakan kingdom was formed, in 963 - the Kars kingdom, in 978 - the Tashir-Dzoraget kingdom, and in 987 - the Syunik kingdom.

All these Armenian states were in vassal relations with the Bagratid family. In 1064, most of the Armenian lands, with the exception of Syunik and the Tashir-Dzoraget kingdom, were conquered by the Seljuk Turks.

At the end of the 12th century, during the reign Georgian queen Tamar, the Armenian lands became part of the strengthened Georgian kingdom. In the first half of the 13th century, the Armenians were attacked by the Mongols, and later by the troops of Tamerlane. As a result of centuries-old foreign invasions, the Armenian lands were inhabited by Turkic nomadic tribes. In the mid-16th century, the Ottoman Empire and Persia, after a 40-year war, agreed to divide spheres of influence. The eastern Armenian lands went to the Persians, and the western lands to the Turks.

Under the rule of the Turks, who were rather indifferent in all respects to the peoples they conquered, the Armenians calmly practiced their religious cult and, uniting around the Catholicos - the head of the Armenian church - were able to preserve their language, writing and culture. But sometimes Turkish indifference disappeared by itself, and the conquerors turned to the pockets of the conquered.

This, of course, was most painful for the Armenians, who set capital as their main goal in life. Resistance awakened the fighting instincts of the Turks, and therefore Armenian pogroms often began.

In the 17th century, the Turks had a mortal enemy - Russia. The Armenians noticed this and, when they saw that this enemy was little by little inflicting heavy blows on Turkey and gradually moving south, despite the fact that Russia was still far from Armenia, they took advantage of this and began to ask for protection from the Russians. Potemkin already became their ardent defender.

In order to further arouse sympathy, the Armenians resorted to deception with their religion and presented themselves as equally Orthodox. When Emperor Paul assumed the title of Grand Master of the Order of Malta and at the same time the title of protector of Christians around the world, the Armenians sent a deputation to him asking him to accept him under their protection. In 1799, Paul I was even presented with the rite of the liturgy, compiled specifically for this by Bishop Joseph of Argutinsky. This liturgy said that it is necessary to pray for the Orthodox Emperor of All Russia and the Most August House. Since then, in Russia, Armenians began to be considered “Orthodox brothers.” The deception was revealed only in 1891, when Eastern Armenia was already part of Russia.

Back in 1779, Armenians appeared on the Don. The resettlement of Armenians to the Don from Crimea was commanded by the famous commander Suvorov. They founded Nakhichevan-on-Don, which merged with Rostov in 1928. That's why there are so many Armenians in Rostov-on-Don.

As a result of the Russian-Persian War (1826-1828), Russia took possession of the Erivan and Nakhichevan khanates and the Ordubad district. By the 19th century, in these territories, as a result of centuries of emigration and expulsion of the Armenian population], Armenians accounted for only 20% of the population. The Russian authorities organized a mass resettlement of Armenians from Persia and Turkey to the Transcaucasus, which led to significant changes in the demography of the region, also taking into account the presence of mass emigration to Turkey of the Muslim population from areas annexed to Russia.

According to General Merlini’s office description of the Armenian region for 1830, 30,507 people lived in the Nakhchivan province (this did not include Sharur and Ordubad), of which 17,138 people were Muslims, 2,690 people were native Armenians, 10,625 people were Armenians resettled from Persia and 27 people - Armenians resettled from Turkey. In 1830, approximately 45 thousand more Armenians from Erzurum and Bayazet pashalyks immigrated to the lands of the former Erivan Khanate and settled southeast of Lake Sevan. By 1832, the Armenian population of the Erivan province reached 50%. The ethnic composition of the region also underwent great changes in the second half of the 19th century. As a result of the war of 1877-1878 Russian empire defeated Turkey and captured part of southern Georgia, which later formed the Batumi region. In two years (1890-1891), more than 31 thousand Muslims were evicted from the region, whose place was taken by Armenian and partly Georgian settlers from the eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire. The resettlement of Armenians from these areas to the Batumi region continued until the beginning of the 20th century.

In Turkey, relations between Armenians and Muslims worsened in the 2nd half of the 19th century. Repeatedly, the Turks slaughtered the Armenian population of entire regions (Sasun massacre of 1896, Adana massacre of 1909), and during the First World War the Turks decided to exterminate the Armenians without exception. On the personal orders of Nicholas II, Russian troops took a number of measures to save the Armenians, as a result of which, out of 1 million 651 thousand souls of the Armenian population of Turkey, 375 thousand, that is, 23%, were saved.

In 1918, the Armenians gained independence, but were left alone with the Turks and Azerbaijanis, who did not even think of abandoning their plans for the wholesale extermination of all Armenians. On September 24, 1920, the Armenian-Turkish war began. Turkish troops under the command of Kazim Karabekir first took Sarykamysh, then Ardahan, and on October 30 Kars fell. In response to an inquiry about the intentions of the Entente made in Tiflis by the Armenian representative Alexander Khatisov, the British representative Stokes said that Armenia had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils: peace with Soviet Russia.

On November 29, 1920, a group of Armenian Bolsheviks, with the help of the Soviet 11th Army and troops of Soviet Azerbaijan, entered the city of Ijevan and proclaimed the creation of the Revolutionary Committee, an uprising against the Armenian government and the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia. The Turks did not fight the Russians, especially since the Bolsheviks supported their leader Mustafa Kemal with money and weapons.

Armenia entered the Transcaucasian Federation, and as part of it joined the USSR in 1922. In 1991, with the collapse of the USSR, Armenia became independent. For several years by that time, it had been waging a war with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ultimately ended in an Armenian victory.

The most common question in the history of Armenian studies has been and continues to be the question of the origin and formation of the Armenian people, which is controversial in some issues. Where do the Armenian people come from, where is their cradle located, when did it form as a separate ethnic unit, and since when has it been mentioned in ancient written sources. The controversy of these issues or their individual points is due not only to the diversity of information from primary sources, but also to the frequent political or other interests of those involved in these issues. However, the available facts, as well as the level modern research fully allows us to answer the question about the origin of the Armenian people and its formation. Let us touch, first of all, on the legends about the origin of the Armenian people, recorded in the ancient and Middle Ages, common line Let's present the most widespread theories in historiography, then the current state of the issue under study and the surviving ancient facts about Armenia and the Armenians.

In the ancient and Middle Ages, a number of legends were recorded about the origin of the Armenians, the most interesting of which, from the point of view of Armenian studies, (as primary sources) are the Armenian, Greek, Hebrew, Georgian and Arabic versions.

a) Armenian legend

It was created from time immemorial and came to us from the recording of Movses Khorenatsi. Certain fragments of the legend are also mentioned in the works of other Armenian medieval bibliographers. In this legend, two layers can be distinguished, the first - the most ancient layer, was created and existed in pre-Christian times. According to ancient legend, Armenians descended from a god-like ancestor Aika, who was one of the titanic sons of the gods. This is how Movses Khorenatsi presents its origin: “The first of the gods were formidable and prominent, the cause of the virtues of the world, and the beginning of the multitude and the whole earth. Before them came a generation of titans, and one of them was Hayk Apestostyan.”

In Christian times, the Armenian legend is modified, adapting to Biblical views, according to which, after the Flood, all humanity descended from the three sons of Noah - Ham, Shem and Japheth. According to the new Christian version, Hayk is considered a descendant of Japheth, the son of the ancestor Torgom, hence the name “Torgom’s House” and “Torgom’s Nation” given to Armenia by medieval written sources.

The legend says that Hayk fought with the tyrant of Mesopotamia Bel, defeated him, and as a sign of this, the Armenians began to celebrate the original Armenian date (according to the famous Armenian scholar Ghevond Alishan it was August 1, 2492).

According to the Armenian version, after the name of the ancestor Hayk, the Armenian people are called “Ay”, and the country “Ayastan”, and after the name of his descendant Aram, the names “Armenia” and “Armenians” appeared. Also, from the names of Hayk and other Armenian ancestors, numerous names of the Armenian Highlands received their names (from Hayk - Haykashen, Aramanyak - Mount Aragats and the Aragatsotn region, from Aramais - Armavir, from Erast - Yeraskh (Araks), from Shara - Shirak, from Amasia - Masis, from Gegham - Lake Gegharkunik and Gegharkuni region, from Sisak - Syunik, from Ara the Beautiful - Airarat, etc.).

b) Greek legend

The Greek legend telling about the origin of the Armenians is connected with the beloved and widespread legend of the Argonauts in Ancient Greece. According to which the ancestor of the Armenians, who gave them the name Armenos of Tesal, who with Jason and other Argonauts participated in the journey to find the Golden Fleece, settled in Armenia, which was named after him Armenia. Tradition says that he originally lived in the Thessalian (region in Greece) city of Armenion. This legend is told in more detail by a Greek bibliographer of the 1st century BC. Strabo, who says that the source of his information was the stories of the military leaders of Alexander the Great. Judging by the facts, the legend about the Armenians was created and associated with the Argonauts during the Macedonian campaigns, since there are no earlier sources telling about this. In all likelihood, this had the same political orientation as the legends about the Greek origin of the Persians and Medians. There are quite a few cases in history when some conqueror, in order to present his goals in a “legal” form, comes up with false reasons in advance. Thus, the axial information about the Thessalian (Greek) origin of the Armenians cannot be considered reliable. The Greek authors Herodotus (5th century) and Eudoxus (4th century) also had incoherent information about the Western (Phrygian) origin. These the information relates to the similarity in clothing of Armenian and Phrygian warriors and the presence of numerous Phrygian words in the Armenian language. This, of course, cannot explain the origin of one people from another. Phrygians and Armenians are related nations (they have the same Indo-European origin), therefore, the presence of cognate words in the Armenian and Phrygian languages ​​can be considered a pattern.

c) Georgian legend.

The Georgian legend was written under the influence and was recorded in the 9th – 11th centuries. Georgian authors (Unnamed historian, Leonti Mroveli, etc.). According to Georgian legend, numerous nations descended from the eight sons of Targamos (Torgom), from the eldest son Ayos - the Armenians, Kartlos - the Georgians, and from other sons many peoples of the Caucasus. Judging by the endings of proper names, this legend had some kind of Georgian primary source that has not reached us. It partially bears traces of the political situation of that era, when the influence of the Bagratids was widespread throughout the Caucasus. This should explain the fact that the founder of the Armenians, Ayos, was the eldest of the brothers.

d) Arabic legend.

Connects the origin of the Armenians with the idea of ​​the emergence of nations from the sons of Noah after the flood. It is presented in most detail in the works of the Arab bibliographers of the 12th-13th centuries, Yakut and Dimashki. According to this legend, from the son of Noah Yaphis (Japheth) came Avmar, then his grandson Lantan (Torgom), whose son was Armini (the ancestor of the Armenians), from the sons of his brother came the Agvans (Caucasian Albanians) and Georgians. This legend considers the Armenians, Greeks, Slavs, Franks and Iranian tribes to be related. It is interesting that this legend preserves a memory coming from the period of related unity of the Indo-European peoples.

e) Hebrew tradition.

It was recorded on the pages of “Jewish Antiquities” by Josephus Flafius (1st century BC - 1st century AD). According to the source, “Uros founded Armenia.” In Armenian studies there is no single point of view regarding the primary source of this information and its reliability. There is an opinion that it talks about the son of the ancestor Aram Ara the Beautiful. According to other opinions, Uros could be the “son of Rus Erimena” - the king mentioned in the cuneiform writings of the Kingdom of Van. In Assyrian written sources, the name "Rusa" is also mentioned under the name "Ursa", and the name "Erimena" can be interpreted as an anthroponym and as a genus name.

In addition to those noted, there are other legends telling about the origin of the Armenians, which, however, to one degree or another repeat the above and are not of interest.

f) The question of the ethnogenesis of Armenians in historiography.

From the 5th century to the 19th century, the Armenian version was unquestioningly accepted on the issue of the ethnogenesis of the Armenians, formed on the pages of the “History of Armenia” by Movses Khorenatsi, which for many centuries was a textbook and evidence of genealogy for the Armenian people. However, news that appeared in science in the 19th century cast doubt on the reliability of the historian’s information, and the veracity of national version about the origin of the Armenians.

In the 19th century, comparative linguistics arose, according to which the Armenians are of Indo-European origin, along with other peoples in prehistoric times they formed one ethnic unity and occupied one territory, which in science is conventionally called the “Indo-European ancestral home”. The question of the origin of these peoples within the framework of this theory is related to the location of the Indo-European ancestral home. IN different times in science, various versions of the location of the ancestral home prevailed (Southeastern Europe, southern Russian plains, northern Western Asia, etc.).

In the 19th century, the version of the location of the Indo-European ancestral home in South-Eastern Europe became widespread in comparative linguistics. On the other side - Greek sources Regarding the Balkan origin of the Armenians, a theory was put forward about the resettlement of Armenians. An opinion was formed according to which the Armenians, having left the Balkan Peninsula in the 8th-6th centuries, invaded Urartu, conquered it and, after the fall of the latter in the 6th century, created their own state (the Kingdom of Ervandi). This theory is not based on a set of facts and cannot be considered true for several reasons; it became and still continues to be the subject of political manipulation (in particular by Turkish falsifiers of history).

The next theory about the origin of the Armenian people is the Abetian or Asinic theory, according to which the Armenian language is a mixed non-Indo-European language, therefore, the Armenians did not take part in the Indo-European migration and descended from local Asian tribes. This theory could not withstand serious scientific criticism and is still denied, since there cannot be mixed languages: from mixing two languages ​​a third does not appear.

In the early 1980s, the view that the Indo-European ancestral home in the 5-4 millennium BC was revised. was located in the north of Western Asia, more precisely on the territory of the Armenian Highlands, in the regions of Asia Minor, in the northern Mesopotamia and in the north-west of the Iranian Plain. This point of view is still supported by many facts and is accepted by most specialists. The question of the ethnogenesis of the Armenians received a new explanation. In itself, the thesis about the resettlement of the Armenians was rejected, since the Indo-European ancestral home was located precisely on the territory where the Armenian people were formed and went through their entire formation.

Now we can say for sure that the Armenians in the 5th-4th millennium BC. formed part of the Indo-European people and at the end of the 4th millennium and at the beginning of the 3rd millennium they separated from the Indo-European community. It was from this time that the formation of the Armenian people began, which occurred in two stages. The first stage, which can be described as the period of clan associations and early state formations, took place in the 3-2 millennia BC. At the second stage, in the 5th-6th centuries BC. The stage of formation of the Armenian people through the creation of a unified statehood ended.

Summarizing all that has been said, it can be argued that the Armenian language and all those who spoke it separated from the Indo-European community and became independent in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. It was from these times that the Armenian people are mentioned in the territory of the Armenian Highlands, where they carried out their activities , existed and created their own history.

Movsisyan A.

The Armenian people are one of the oldest peoples in the world. They have come a long way through the centuries and their history goes back thousands of years. IN different periods in their lives, the Armenian people received various characteristic features. You will learn about them later in this article.

It is important to note that along with the Armenian people, the Babylonians and the Hittites existed. Today, however, they are only part of world history; there is no future, but the Armenian people continue to exist and develop.

Origins of the Armenian people

The origins of the Armenians have always been a subject of historians, linguists and archaeologists. Linguists began to pay attention to the many similarities that the Indo-European and Semitic languages ​​had. The only explanation for the linguistic similarities between them would be the movement of the cradle of Indo-European language groups geographically further to the east, that is, in the Armenian Highlands.

Humans have inhabited the Armenian Highlands since approximately 2,000,000 BC. People have settled in the mountains since the Stone Age, the Paleolithic era. The Armenians call the sons Haya, who was the regional god then. The source of this is the Armenic Sumerian record from 2700 BC, which is most likely the earliest record ever of the Armenian nation.

Many underground to historical sites have revealed the existence of civilizations in Armenia with advanced agricultural knowledge, metallurgy, and industrial production.

Based on another record (Akkadian inscriptions) from 2300 BC, Armani is located together with Ib, as the territory of the conquered Nar-Sin.

Thutmose III of Egypt also mentions the people Ermenen in 1446 BC. He says that in his land “the sky lies on its four pillars.” Until now, Turks and Kurds call them Armenians Ermen I.

The Kingdom of Ararat was the first large state. It appeared around Lake Van in the 13th century. BC

The first pre-Armenian tribes had references in the chronicles of the 4th – third millennium BC. Throughout history, the Armenian people have inherited the physical characteristics of certain tribes.

Especially the Khurrito - Urartian tribes played a large role as the most widespread ethnic element of the highlands. In this regard, the physical basis of the Armenians was drawn up.

The Armenian Highlands and its people faced many invasions. One example is Alexander the Great's expeditions to the east. The Armenian people fought the Roman legions and the Sassanid Persians. They also stopped Arab expansion.

For about two centuries, the war between the Iranian and Ottoman Empires literally destroyed Armenia.

In the 20th century, Armenia was divided between the Russian and Ottoman (Turkish) empires. Since the 1890s, Turkish authorities organized massacres of the Armenian people, which culminated in the genocide of 1915-1923. The leadership of the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire willingly took advantage of the First World War to physically remove the Armenian population .

The Armenians who lived under Turkish rule had to go through cruelty and were eventually completely wiped out. The survivors, however, fled to various places around the world. This later became known as the first documented genocide of the 20th century. During the genocide, more than 1.5 million Armenians died.

The Armenian people are ethnos and the descendants of the Indo-Europeans branch.

There are about 10 million Armenians around the world. However, only 3 million people live in Armenia. Armenian diasporas live in Russia, France, Iran, the USA, Canada, Ukraine and Georgia. Many Armenians also live in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Most Armenians belong to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Armenians have their own language, which is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family.

Armenians call themselves “Ay” and the country “Hayastan”. They love their country, a lot, and they express their love through art, literature, and sometimes even daily work.

Armenia has constantly suffered from being a battlefield between numerous peoples and tribes. It was also under foreign control. Due to the past full of difficulties, the Armenian people have formed various characteristics national character, such as expressive national pride, deep love to his land, perseverance, high interest in sciences and crafts, hospitality, the ability to self-irony and a great sense of humor.

Fortunately, today every Armenian lives happily in , and they have all put their efforts into the development of their country.

Characteristics of the Armenian people

Most countries have their own unique character that describes them. Their way of speaking, their reaction to things, and how they treat foreigners says a lot about them.

The Armenian people adapt well. They are able to easily adapt to new conditions, such as changing countries (traveling abroad), learning new languages ​​is relatively easy, and also that they have a pronunciation very similar to native speakers. This is one of the most important features Armenian mentality. The reason for this may be the constant forced migration of Armenians to foreign countries throughout history.

Armenians are very proud people and honest as well. They value family a lot and try their best to maintain unity. They also have great respect for older people and always learn from their experiences. In this way, they pass on their knowledge from one generation to another.

Armenian people are polite, hard working and very hospitable.

They love to gather with family and close friends during special occasions and more. During these occasions, be it weddings, birthdays or christenings, Armenians are always happy to spend their time and money generously.

They love to gather with family and close friends during special occasions and more. During these occasions, be it weddings, birthdays or christenings, Armenians are always happy to spend their time and money generously.

Just like everyone else, Armenians have both positive and negative sides. To talk about the negative, the first thing that could be jealousy. Armenians tend to have a dominant "jealousy" gene in their characters. This may be bad, but it also has its advantages, as this is the reason why Armenians are generally hard working people.

Most of the times, they do not accept the fact that some other person is better or more endowed than them, hence, they work very hard and eventually surpass them.

Another negative side could be that most Armenians can be selfish. Besides, sometimes nothing can satisfy them all. The fact is that they are self-centered, causing them to think and care only about themselves and constantly ask for free help from other people. The Armenian proverb, “You stretch your hand to help, they want your whole hand” describes this symbol very well.

physical characteristics

IN clean An Armenian is called Aryan especially with blond colored hair and blue eyes. Today, however, a very small percentage of Armenians have these pure traits. Armenians tend to have expressive facial characteristics. Color ranges from olive to dark, and most are black or Brown hair. Eye color varies from black and hazel to light gray and sometimes of blue color. As a rule, Armenians have brown/dark brown eyes.

Eyes

Everyone knows that eyes are the mirror of the soul. The eyes of the Armenian people symbolize their true nature along with their character. They are very deep and they show all the difficulties they have gone through.

Armenians are very good at knowing that their eyes are unique and different, hence there are many songs and poems associated with them.

Today, however, Armenians have different eye shapes and colors. Mostly the color is dark, brown or black, sometimes blue, green or honey-colored.

Armenians have big eyes and, as a rule, their eyes hold some sadness. No matter how joyful and young people are, they still have that universal sadness in their eyes.

brows

Armenian Eyebrows

Eyebrow shapes are also very different. Armenian men typically have thick, long eyebrows that curve downwards towards the eyes.

Armenian women typically have arched eyebrows.

Hair

Armenian hair

Like the Armenian states of mythology, the ancestor of the Armenians Hayk had curly/wavy golden hair that reached his shoulders. Today, however, most Armenians have either black or brown hair. Some have light colored hair too, but dark is the most common.

In former times, Armenian men were long hair. Currently, however, short hair, as a rule, is more preferable.

Women, nowadays, as in ancient times, generally have long and beautiful hair.

Nose

Armenians usually have a hook-shaped (eagle) nose. Tall, proud and honest; this is how Armenians describe their noses. They are actually proud of their big noses and are often humorous about them.

Armenian diaspora

The Armenian people are communities outside the Republic of Armenia, which is called the Armenian Diaspora. There are about 10 million Armenians around the world, 3 of them live. Thus, about 7 million Armenians represent the diaspora.

The diaspora mainly formed after 1915, as a direct result of the genocide of the Armenian people.

Currently, the largest diasporas exist in Russia, Ukraine, USA, France, Brazil, Georgia, Lebanon, Iran and Syria.

IN Lately attempts at appropriation by the Armenian side historical monuments and examples of Azerbaijani culture began to acquire greater scope. Our poor neighbors steal and appropriate everything from history to culinary recipes.

From this point of view, the research conducted in the book “Armenian Foreign Tales” by the head of the State Copyright Agency is very interesting and indicativeKamran Imanov.

The book had already been published previously and was displayed on the Internet, however, given that the information war against Azerbaijan is gaining momentum, we considered it necessary to again present it to the attention of readers.

The book thoroughly and cogently examines the roots, causes and consequences of Armenian falsifications and plagiarism.

We offer our readers chapters from this book.

The “History of the Armenian People” states that “...the cradle of humanity, its ancestral homeland is Armenia.” The Armenians are the most ancient people and the language of the Armenians is the oldest known. The idea of ​​exclusivity and the special mission of the Armenian ethnos continues to remain manic today, despite the warnings of some realistic politicians Armenia that inflating exclusivity and exclusion is a dead end for the Armenian ethnic group. “To see everyone as an enemy means to become an enemy to everyone. This is not a path, this is an abyss” (Suren Zolyan).

One of the many facets of the ongoing legend of Armenian exceptionalism is the widespread affirmation by Armenians of the opinion that they are the natives of the Caucasus, the heirs of “Great Armenia from sea to sea.” The arrival of the Armenians, their settlement in today's and previous "transit" habitats has long been proven by historical science. Herodotus, the “father of the history of nations,” writes: “The country located on the upper reaches of the Euphrates was called Armenia.” The Armenians “lived in the western part of the highlands, called the Armenian” (Herodotus, “History”; Publishing House “Nauka”, Leningrad, 1972). But here is the opinion of the famous historian I. Dyakonov, reflected in his monograph published in Armenia: “Armenian Ethnicity formed outside the Caucasus" (I. Dyakonov, "Prehistory of the Armenian People", Yerevan, 1958). It is now common knowledge that Armenia is not the homeland of the Armenian ethnic group. And the Armenian scientists themselves are forced to reckon with this.

Academician M. Abeghyan: “... where are the roots of the Armenian people, how, when, at what time, where and in what ways did they come here... We do not have accurate and clear evidence of this” (“History of Armenian Literature”, Yerevan, 1975).

“The ancestors of the Armenians came from the Balkans” (“History of the Armenian People”, Yerevan, 1980).

As the Armenian authors themselves now claim, “the most ancient core of the Armenians was the population of the northeastern part of Asia Minor. This country... was called Armatana, and later Hayasa. From there the ancestors of the Armenians moved to the southeast of Lake Van (XII century. BC).

It is historically known that in the 9th century. BC. in Eastern Anatolia, near Lake Van, the state of Urartu (Biani) was formed, which in the middle of the 8th century BC. annexed Hayasa under the name Arme. Thus, “Arme”, as well as “Hayasa”, the name and self-identification of today’s Armenia comes precisely from these geographical areas.

It is no coincidence that Dyakonov believes that “since the ancient Armenian language is not related to the languages ​​of the autochthons of the Armenian Highlands, it is clear that it was brought here from the outside.”

Moreover, in early middle ages and subsequently, the presence of Armenians on land inhabited by the Turkic ethnic group allowed them to survive and preserve ethnically. Well-known specialist Levon Dabegyan: “...Armenians truly owe their national existence to the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks. If we had remained among the Byzantines or other Europeans, Armenian name everything could only be preserved in history books.”

One cannot but agree with such an Armenian revelation, since the Armenians themselves in their book “Armenian medieval literature", prepared by the Institute of Literature named after M. Abeghyan and published by the publishing house "Sovetan Grokh" in Russian in Yerevan in 1986 with reference to its medieval historian Sebeos, provides a historical document - a letter from the Byzantine emperor Mauritius (582-602) to the king of Persia Khosrow : “...the people (Armenians) ... live among us and stir things up...” And further it is said that they need to be expelled from the lands of Byzantium and Iran. Comments here, as they say, are unnecessary.

According to historical chronicles, after the Armenian pogroms committed by Byzantium at the end of the first millennium, the Armenian Catholicos, in order to save the nation, turns to the Seljuk Sultan Arp-Aslan with a plea for help, and the Sultan takes the Armenians under the protection. We present the opinion of the 26th Armenian Catholicos Barces about Sultan Melik Shah, who improved the position of the Armenian Church after appealing to him: “He managed to create a peaceful and fair government everywhere... due to his greatness, he did not cause harm to anyone.”

And here is a quote taken from the Armenian historian Matevos about the residence of Armenians in the lands inhabited by the Turkic ethnic group, and the attitude of the Turks towards them. “The reign of Melik Shah was pleasing to God. His power extended to distant countries. It brought peace to the Armenians... He was full of mercy towards Christians, showed fatherly concern for the peoples...” AND last quote, which we present, is an Armenian testimony characterizing the reign of Sultan Fateh: “To say that with the conquest of Istanbul (Constantinople) by Sultan Fateh a star lit up for the Armenian destinies means to emphasize the historical truth...”. It all ended, as we know, with Armenians everywhere trying to impose fabrications on the world community about the so-called genocide in Ottoman Turkey.

The penetration of Armenians into the South Caucasus region is associated with much later times. However, in Soviet time The Armenians perpetrated a farce on the 2750th anniversary of the Erebuni fortress, the name of which was identified with Iravan (Yerevan). During the distant years of the heyday of Urartu, this Transcaucasian territory, according to sources, was considered by the Urartians as “enemy land” and which they subsequently conquered. It turns out that Erebuni was founded in an enemy country by the Armenians in those years when they were part of the state of Urartu as a region.

Armenians, as an alien ethnic group, have been settling on the territory of historical Azerbaijan since the 15th century, penetrating here from the territories of modern Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. In the 16th century, the process of resettlement of Armenians to the lands of the Azerbaijani khanates intensified, and their penetration into the lands of the Iravan Khanate, a territory that is essentially today the territory of the Republic of Armenia, especially intensified. It was during these years that Revankhan, the ruler of the khanate, wrote to the famous Shah Ismail Khatai: “... from Mesopotamia, to the coast of Lake Van, and from there here, to the Caucasus, to the Oghuz-Turkic lands, moving in small parties of 5-10 people, Armenians instead of engaging in crafts, as agreed, they strive to settle down, build churches and thereby try to create the impression that they are natives of the Caucasus, and this will bring us a lot of trouble in the future... All this is financed from the money located in Ag Kils (Etchmiadzin) Catholicasata..."

Indeed, these were prophetic words testifying to the origins of the settlement of lands by Armenians: first by individual families, then by small groups and colonies, and thereby creating the territorial prerequisites for Armenian statehood on the ancestral lands of the Iravan Khanate.

In order to create Armenian statehood on the lands of Azerbaijan, the Armenian church with the patriarchal throne was transferred to Ag Kils (Etchmiadzin) in the 15th century, taking over political and government functions in the absence of Armenian statehood. From that time on, the history of Iravan, Nakhchivan and Zangezur was presented by Armenians as the history of “Eastern Armenia”.

And, of course, the resettlement of Armenians to the Caucasus, especially on the territory of the Nakhichevan, Iravan and Karabakh khanates, to the ancestral Azerbaijani land, received powerful impulses after Gulistan and Turkmenchay. However, if in the 16th century 15 thousand newcomer Armenians lived in the Iravan Khanate, then, despite the sharp increase in the number of colonists at the time of the creation of the Erivan region in 1828 by the tsarist government to replace the liquidated Erivan Khanate, its population still consisted of 80% Azerbaijanis.

Squeezing out the indigenous Turkic element from their ancestral lands in subsequent years, including Soviet period, acquired the character of deportation and, in essence, the resettlement of Armenians represented the occupation of Azerbaijani lands. All this was accompanied by the provision of greater rights and privileges to the Armenian settlers compared to those enjoyed by the local Azerbaijani population. It should be recalled that after the Treaty of Gulistan (1813), Russia consistently carried out the liquidation of the Azerbaijani khanates, and in 1822 the Karabakh Khanate was liquidated. And when, a year after its liquidation, in 1823, the “Description of the Karabakh Province” was compiled, despite the adoption of measures to exclude Azerbaijanis from here, in this document, out of 18,563 families registered by the tsarist administration, only 8.4% were Armenian Melikstvo

During the years of Soviet power, along with the eviction of Azerbaijanis from their historical places of residence, the territory of Azerbaijan was successively annexed to Armenia. If before May 1920 the territory of Azerbaijan was 114 thousand square meters. km, then it was subsequently cut by 28 thousand square meters. km and became equal to 86 thousand square meters. km. Thus, it was reduced to a volume approximately equal to the territory of Armenia (29.8 thousand sq. km).

That's it in a nutshell historical chronology settlement of the South Caucasus by Armenians at the expense of Azerbaijani lands, now declared by the Armenians to be the historical place of residence of their ethnic group. This process could not proceed peacefully; it was initiated by Armenian terror, persecution against the local population, which took on the nature of genocide. He always covered up historical lies, forgeries and distortions, hypocrisy towards those who gave shelter to Armenian settlers, and continues to be accompanied by territorial claims to our lands in parallel with claims to our cultural heritage.