In world history, civilizations have changed, whole peoples and languages have appeared and disappeared without a trace. Most of the modern nations and nationalities were formed already after the first millennium of our era. However, along with the Persians, Jews, Greeks, there is still another ancient original people, whose representatives found the construction of the Egyptian pyramids, the birth of Christianity and many other legendary events of ancient times. Armenians - what are they? How do they differ from neighboring Caucasian peoples and what is their contribution to world history and culture?
The appearance of Armenians
Like any nation whose origin goes back far into the past, the history of the emergence of Armenians is closely intertwined with myths and legends, and sometimes it is oral tales that have been transmitted for millennia that give clearer and clearer answers than numerous scientific hypotheses.
According to folk legends, the founder of the Armenian statehood andactually the entire Armenian people is the ancient king Hayk. In the distant third millennium BC, he, along with his army, came to the shores of Lake Van. August 11, 2107 B. C. e. a battle took place between the ancestors of modern Armenians and the troops of the Sumerian king Utuhengal, in which Hayk won. This day is considered the starting point of the national calendar and is a national holiday.
The name of the king gave the name to the people (the self-name of the Armenians is hai).
Historians prefer to operate with more boring and vague reasoning, in which much remains unclear about the origin of such a people as the Armenians. What race they have is also the subject of controversy between different researchers.
The fact is that in the territory of the Armenian Highlands in the first millennium BC. e. there was a state with a highly developed civilization - Urartu. Representatives of this people, the Hurartians, mixed with the local population, gradually adopted the language, and such a nation as the Armenians was formed. What they have become over two millennia, what they had to face is a separate drama.
History of the struggle for identity
Every nation is faced in its history with a foreign invasion, with attempts to change the very essence of the nation. The whole history of Armenians is a struggle against numerous invaders. Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks - they all left their mark on the history of Armenians. However, the ancient people with their own script, language and stable family ties were not so easy to assimilate, dissolve among the foreign-speaking settlers. The Armenians resisted all this. What religion they have, what their neighbors - these issues also became the subject of friction.
In response to this, measures were repeatedly taken to forcibly deport these people to the territory of Iran, Turkey, and genocide was organized. The result of this was the mass migration of Armenians around the world, which is why the national diasporas are very large and one of the most united communities in the world.
In the 18th century, for example, Caucasians were resettled to the banks of the Don, where the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don was founded. Hence the large number of Armenians in southern Russia.
Religion
Unlike many other nations, it is possible to determine exactly in which year the Armenians converted to Christianity. The national church is one of the oldest in the world and gained independence a long time ago. Folk tradition clearly gives the names of the first preachers of the young faith at that time - Thaddeus and Bartholomew. In 301, King Trdat III finally decided on Christianity as the state religion.
Many people are often lost in answering the question of what faith the Armenians have. Which trend do they belong to - Catholics, Orthodox? In fact, back in the middle of the fourth century AD, a decision was made on the independent election of clergy and primates. Soon the Armenian Apostolic Church finally separated from the Byzantine one and became completely autonomous.
The Council of Chalcedon in 451 determined the main dogmas of the local church, which in some respects differed significantly from the norms of neighboring Eastern Orthodox churches.
Language
Language determines the age of the people, distinguishes it from other ethnic groups. The Armenian language began its formation in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. on the territory of Urartu. The newcomer conquerors of the Hurartians assimilated with the local population and adopted its dialect as a base. Armenian is considered one of the most ancient languages of the Indo-European family. It is the Indo-European family that includes the languages of almost all the peoples of modern Europe, India, Iran.
Some researchers even put forward a bold hypothesis that it was the ancient Armenian dialect that became the Proto-Indo-European language, from which modern English, French, Russian, Persian and other languages of a significant part of today's population of the globe later emerged.
Writing
It is difficult to preserve the language, culture, national identity without preserving the information unchanged. Own writing is another answer to the question of what Armenians are like.
The first rudiments of their own alphabet appeared before the beginning of our era. The priests of the Armenian temples invented their own cryptography, on which they created their sacred books. However, after the establishment of Christianity, all written monuments of ancient Armenia were destroyed as pagan. Christianity also played a major role in the emergence of the national alphabet.
AfterAfter the Armenian Apostolic Church gained independence, the question arose of translating the Bible and other sacred books into their own language. It was also decided to create their own recording facilities. In 405-406, the enlightener Mesrop Mashtots developed the Armenian alphabet. From the printing press, the first book in Armenian graphics was published in Venice in 1512.
Culture
The culture of a proud people goes back to the depths of the 1st millennium BC. e. Even after the loss of independence, the Armenians retained their originality and a high level of development of art and science. After the restoration of the independent Armenian kingdom in the 9th century, a kind of cultural renaissance began.
The invention of their own writing was a powerful impetus to the emergence of literary works. In the 8th-10th centuries, the majestic epic "David of Sasun" was formed about the struggle waged by the Armenians against the Arab conquerors. What other literary monuments they created is the subject of a separate extensive discussion.
The music of the peoples of the Caucasus is a rich topic for discussion. The Armenian one stands out with a special variety.
The original people have original musical instruments. Duduk music was even included in the UNESCO lists as one of the intangible objects of the cultural heritage of mankind.
However, among the traditional elements of culture, Armenian cuisine is best known to ordinary people. Thin cakes - pita bread, dairy products - matsun, tan. No self-respecting Armenian family will sit down at a table without a bottle of wine, often homemade.production.
Black pages of history
Any original people, fiercely resisting absorption and assimilation, becomes the strongest object of hatred for the invaders. The territory of Western and Eastern Armenia, divided between Persians and Turks, was repeatedly subjected to ethnic cleansing. The most famous is the Armenian genocide, which has never happened before in history.
During the First World War, the Turks organized a real extermination of Armenians living in the territory of Western Armenia, which was then part of Turkey. Those who remained alive after the massacre were forcibly evicted to barren deserts and doomed to death.
As a result of this unprecedented act of barbarism, between 1.5 and 2 million people died. The terrible tragedy is one of the factors that unites Armenians around the world even more with a sense of involvement in the events of those years.
The shamelessness of the Turkish authorities lies in the fact that they still refuse to recognize the obvious facts of the deliberate extermination of people on a national basis, referring to the inevitable losses of wartime. The fear of losing face by admitting guilt still prevails over the sense of conscience and shame of Turkish politicians.
Armenians. What are they like today
As they often joke now, Armenia is not a country, but an office, since most of the representatives of the nation live outside the mountainous republic. Many people were scattered throughout the world as a result of wars of conquest and invasions of the country. Armenian diasporasalong with the Jewish ones, they are today the most united and friendly in many countries of the world - the USA, France, Germany, Russia, Lebanon.
Armenia itself restored its independence not so long ago, along with the collapse of the USSR. This process was accompanied by a bloody war in Nagorno-Karabakh, which the Armenians call Artsakh. By the will of politicians cutting the borders of the Transcaucasian republics, the territory with a predominantly Armenian population turned out to be part of Azerbaijan.
During the collapse of the Soviet empire, the Karabakh Armenians demanded the legal right to determine their own destiny. This resulted in an armed struggle and the subsequent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite the support of Turkey and some other powers, the overwhelming advantage in numbers, the Azerbaijani army suffered a crushing defeat and left the disputed territories.
Armenians have been living in Russia for many years, especially in the south of the country. During this time, they ceased to be foreigners in the eyes of local residents and became part of a cultural community.
