Author Archives: Admin

“THE CASE OF DASHNAK TERRORISTS” – 2017-2

Summary

Ararat M. Hakobyan

Key words – ARF Dashnaktsutyun, CCK (b)PA, N. Aghdjagala, Manuk Khushoyan, secretary of the village council, murder, Supreme Court of the ASSR, trial, F. Ashrafyan, P. Sinoyan, S. Stepanosyan, defendant, expulsion, political persecution.

After Armenia became a Soviet republic, the Communist Party began to pursue dissident political parties and, above all, the most influential Armenian party – ARF Dashnaktsutyun. One of the ways to achieve the dissolution of the party were the trials where the party was accused of organizing terrorism. For these purposes, a high-profile trial was organized and conducted at the highest level in connection with the murder of a small official, the secretary of the council of one of the villages of Armenia – M. Khushoyan. In fact, the murder was committed on the basis of domestic problems and personal enmity, but it was given a political character, attributing it to the ARF Dashnaktsutyun governing members, in order to discredit the party and accelerate its disintegration. But a study of the materials of the case and the trial shows that the political color of the case is artificial and unjustified.

HOVHANNES TUMANYAN IN THE MAELSTROM OF THE GENOCIDE – 2017-2

Summary

Susanna G. Hovhannisyan

Key words – Hovhannes Tumanyan, Echmiadzin, refugees, orphans, genocide, diaries, drafts, records, children, Nvard, Satenik Ohanjanyan, Western Armenia, Van, Alashkert, Erzrum, Mush, Berkri, Tiramerik, Abaga, Khndzorken, Bitlis, Datvan, Panchi, Manazkert.

The article introduces a few episodes of Tumanyan’s activities in Echmiadzin during the period of the Armenian Genocide, particularly August-September of 1915. Tumanyan’s diaries kept many testimonies about the life of orphans and refugees sheltered in Echmiadzin during that period.

Heroism of a teacher Hakob Jrbashyan and Arpiar Safrastyan to save 300 children of a bording school of Varag is represented, the incidents, which took place while migrating to Igdir from Shatakh, Archesh, Van, Alashkert, Erzrum, Mush and other regions of Western Armenia, as well as description of massacre which took place in Gortsot, Tiramerik, Abagha, Berkri, Khndzorken, Bitlis, Mush, Datavan, Panchi and other places are represented. There are also facts about material losses of the Armenian people in Manazkert and Western villages: statistical data about the refugees who had become victims of epidemic during a month in Echmiadzin, which are expressed in Tumanyan’s telegrams sent to the Armenian National Bureau.

18 out of 100 articles of literary-critical, political-public nature written by the poet during the period from 1914 to 1918 remained unfinished and in draft condition which often remind records. Today these drafts have also value of ratification: they express testimonies and thoughts of the poet as a witness of Genocide. The author emphasized horrors of Genocide and created an image of human-beast.

The poet’s orphan-protecting activities started in Echmiadzin which continued until the end of his life. In February of 1920 by the initiative of Haskel / High Commissioner Colonel of Allies (appointed in summer of 1919) / Armenian Orphans and Refugees Subscription Committee was formed and Tumanyan was elected as chairman.

Tumanyan’s selfless bravery and multi-layer devoted activities carried out during Genocide period are considered to be a striking example of humanity and patriotism in the history of all nations.

LEOPARD AS THE SYMBOL OF THE KING – 2017-2

Summary

Sargis G. Petrosyan

Key words – Armenian highland, king, epic hero, leopard, leopard skin, etymology, taboo, anagram, man, morning, the vernal equinox, New Year, offering, arrow, noose, chamois, pictography

The leopard’s mythological image is the famous zoomorphic symbol of the ancient Mideast legendary king which was associated with the leopard and was drawn primarily on the leopard, afterwards in the leopard’s skin. As informed by Movses Khorenatsi, the Midian king Azhdahak, the rival of the Armenian King TigranYervandian (VI c. B.C.), told that he had the following evil dream: in the country of Haykids (i.e. Armenia), on the top of a high mountain (mount Masis – Big Ararat is meant) a beautiful woman (Mother Goddess is meant) gave birth to three godlike heroes, the first of which headed towards the West, riding a lion, the second, on a leopard, headed for the North, and the third attacked Midia, bridling a dragon.

In the Indo-European poetic texts of mythological nature the ancient poets chose the words so as to reproduce the sounds of the heroes’ names or the epithets of the characters the poem (hymn) was dedicated to. In the ancient Armenian poem about the New-year death desire of the Armenian King ArtashesPartev (told by GrigorMagistros) the person of the hero-king as a male-leopard was coded via the anagram. On one of the rock drawings on mount Ukhtasar in Syunik (pic. 3) the hunter is standing on a leopard. He is armed with a bow, arrows and a lasso, that is to say as a neolithic foot hunter – the prototype of the hero-king. His figure/ body is drawn on the central part of the stone and is surrounded by wild she-goats (on the left stone) and he-goats (on the right stone). The drawing represents the motives of the ancient Armenian myth about the ritual new-year hunting of the King-Leopard.

THE IDEA OF HISTORICAL (IN)JUSTICE AND THE APOCALYPTIC TRADITION – 2017-2

Summary

Naira Zh. Mkrtchyan

Key words– historical (in)justice, discourse, apocalyptic eschatology, time, event, truth, delusion, the nodal point

There are close interconnections between the Jewish-Christian understanding of history, apocalyptic tradition based on the procedures of distinctions between truth/delusion, good/evil, friend/enemy, justice/injustice and the idea of historical (in)justice. The concept of ‘justice means to give each his due’ is at the foundations of the idea of historical (in)justice. It is enormously important with regard to the present predominant public discourse in Armenia and its practical implications as the idea of historical (in)justice plays the role of a nodal point in that discourse. As a nodal point it partially and temporarily fixes the meanings of all so-called floating signifiers-security, democracy, social justice et c. Depending on that fixations and actual meanings social reality is not only represented in a certain way but also provides an amplitude of social opportunities and restrictions.

THE WORD IN CHARENTS’ “I LOVE MY DEAR ARMENIA…” POEM – 2017-2

Summary 

Tadevos V. Tonoyan

Key words – words, context, textual logic, contextual logic, abstract, tangible symbols.

Charents’s attitude toward word (language) is one of the main realities in Armenian lingual-thinking and value system. Due to intertextual logic, it was considered for a while that in the text of Charents there was the word “harvest” instead of the word “word”. It is understandable that the “harvest” is a more tangible symbol than the “word”. However, in the context of the Armenian language, the word “word” seems more logical.

HAKOB PARONYAN AND ARISTOTLE – 2017-2

Sammary

Arsen M. Gljyan

Key words – Paronyan, Aristotle, philosopher, culture, Aristophanes, tragedy, comedy, mimesis, catharsis, Goldoni, Boileau, Moliere, Shakespeare.

Paronyan, like Goethe, understood that it is necessary to learn from Shakespeare, Moliere, Boileau, but above all among the ancient Greeks, since their knowledge and experience are an important criterion for humanity. He learned a lot, studying ancient Greek mythology, legends and myths, as well as the heritage of artists and theorists of art. Among the theorists of Greek art, Paronian’s special attention was attracted especally to Aristotle. Artists of the Ancient World – Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and others, reviving the appropriate artistic forms, made the theory of classical folklore of a more serious nature, and Aristotle summed up the experience and ideas of all of them.

Paronyan learned a lot from Aristotle, but never imitated him. The younger generations are generally involved in literary culture, appropriating the experience and knowledge of various cultures, but they compose on the basis of a clear understanding of folklore, which is the result of a person’s psychologic development. Paronyan, having passed through the Aristotelian readings, using his knowledge as a methodological index, built his own individuality and created his immortal works on his own heights of the folklore genre.

WESTERN CANON OF HISTORIOGRAPHY IN HELLENISTIC ARMENIA – 2017-2

Albert A. Stepanian
The western canon implied rational perception of history with a purpose formulated still by Herodotus as follows – to find out how, when and why (pw~§, potev, dia; tiv) happened important events of history [Herod., I, 1, 1].1 Efforts of Herodotus and his close contemporaries reformed the logographic genre of storytelling in an area of rationalistic study and explanation of the past. In accordance with this approach, the term iJstoriva was coined for denoting investigation in its proper sense.2 From this time, the image of historians gained a particular social significance since the investigation of the past (despite pure curiosity) pursued practical interests.

CARL FRIEDRICH LEHMANN-HAUPT AND THE URARTIAN KING LIST – 2017-2

Summary

Yervand H. Grekyan

Key words – C.F. Lehmann-Haupt, Biainili-Urartu, chronology, king list, Rusa Sarduriḫi, Rusa Erimenaḫi, Rusa Argištiḫi, Toprakkale, Keşiş-Göl, Gövelek (Ermanc‘).

Among the pioneers of Urartian studies C.F. Lehmann-Haupt was the first scholar who compiled and presented the chronology of the Urartian kings on a scientific basis. In his study published in 1894 he considered Rusa, the son of Erimena as the first king who bore that name.

Like C.F. Lehmann-Haupt, another prominent Assyriologist of that period – François Thureau-Dangin, presumed that Ursa of Urartu, the adversary of Sargon II of Assyria in 714 B.C., was Rusa, the son of Ermiena, whom he considered to be the founder of a new dynasty.

Later on, C.F. Lehmann-Haupt, whom already became known the existence of another king named Rusa, the son of Sarduri, considered him to be the king of Urartu during the Sargon II’s campaign to Urartu in 714 B.C. In contrast to his previous opinion, he positioned Rusa, the son of Erimena at the end of the Urartian king list, after Rusa, the son of Sarduri, and Rusa, the son of Argišti, naming him “Rusa III”.

Apart from the succession of the Urartian kings, many other ideas of Lehmann-Haupt were refused by almost all following researchers. On the other hand, the Keşiş-Göl inscription ascribed by Lehmann-Haupt to Rusa, the son of Sarduri, was connected with the foundation of the new city Rusaḫinili named after the Urartian king. It was considered as a new political center of the Urartian kingdom after the devastation of the old capital city Ṭušpa by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria during his campaign to Urartu in 735 B.C. Thus, Rusa, the son of Sarduri became Rusa I, the son of Sarduri II.

Publication of the inscription on a preserved upper part of a stele discovered not far from the modern city Van in 2002, near the ancient Armenian village Ermanc‘ (Ermanis, nowadays, Gövelek), opened a new page in these discussions, as soon as it became clear that it was the missing upper part of the well-known Keşiş-Göl inscription. In 2006 another inscribed stele, the duplicate of that inscription was also discovered at Hefšesorik (nowadays, Savacık). Thus, there was no doubt that both stelae were left by Rusa, the son of Erimena. This discovery made to review the chronology of the Urartian kings in the 8th7th centuries B.C.

The article discuss the arguments, which allow to consider Rusa, the son of Erimena as “Rusa I” (variant A), “Rusa II” (variant B) and “Rusa III” (variant C) and offers succession of the Urartian kings of the 8th-7th centuries B.C. with different variations. The “variant B” seems more convincing. Moreover, it seems possible to date the period of his reign between 713- 708 B.C. The possible short-term reign of Rusa, the son of Erimena, could explain the small number of monumental stone inscriptions left by him, informing us only about the king’s building activity, and the fact, that one of these inscriptions remained unfinished.

HISTORY, LANGUAGE, EXPERIENCE – 2017-2

Summary

Davit R. Mosinyan

Key words – history, past, presence, memory, narrative, experience, language, text, historical knowledge, philosophy of history, phenomenology

What makes it possible to talk about history and understanding relating to the history of consciousness? The fact is that history is not a simple given, that is, it seems that it makes no sense or it is impossible to fix the history here and now, due to which it is difficult to separate history from non-history. If we approach the problem from a different point of view, it becomes clear that we are not talking about what is history in itself, or as a form of historical knowledge about historical reality, but rather about how the history is presented for consciousness, i.e. whether there is an experience of history or history is represented exclusively through linguistic texts. Therefore, the question is not ontological or epistemological, but rather phenomenologic.

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE ANNALES SCHOOL: THE NEW HISTORY – 2016-2

Part II. The History of Mentalities: the three paradigms “Structural”, “Quantitative” or “Serial” and “Integration”

Summary

Smbat Kh. Hovhannisyan

Key words – History of Mentalities, “History Without People”, Human-Centered History, “Structural”, “Serial” or “Quantitative” and “Integrative” History of Mentalities.

The article discusses history of mentalities – the new paradigm worked out by the third generation of Annales School. Already in 1960s, a research project was developed in history focused on sociology and ethnology, semiotics and linguistics. It was aimed at overcoming the opposition of the two approaches in history – “history without people” and “anthropocentric history” – present already in the days of F. Braudel. The desire to respond to the like challenges led to the reconsideration of the problems of determinism in Braudel’s historical conception. Scholars traced a serious danger that the “mental framework could form a jail for the long time dimension of history.”

This was assessed as a failure of Braudel’s theory and marked a very considerable intellectual shift: if the representatives of the third generation of Annales initially followed the concept History without people”, now they intended to restore the former Anthropocentric approach to history. Consequently, the third generation again activated the concept of history of mentalities.

In general, differences in understanding of mentality are classified in the article as follows: a. structural, b. serial or quantitative, d. integrative.