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INTERPRETATION OF HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHICAL CONCEPT OF MOVSES KHORENATSI – 2016-1

Part one. History as culturally significant presence of the past of short-lived life

Summary

Romik Kh.Kocharyan

Keywords – history, language, being, Movses Khorenatsi, hermeneutics, understanding, culture, meaning, historical text.

This paper presents the problematic of understanding and interpretation in the realization of the genuine destination of history and, thus, in the being-oftruth of history. Understanding and interpretation are necessarily interwoven in the being of history as such. Into this problematic are necessarily and preferably involved both the historian author – during all stages of his history-creation (selecting and collecting historical material, research and exposition) and the reader – in his perusal relatedness with the historical text. History is the understanding and interpretation of the genuine sense (meaning) and spirituality of the narrated in itself essential and significant bygones or yores of the world and in it also of mankind՛s self-identity, life and culture, and as such it is a message to a “reading-lover” striving for understanding wisdom, valiance and heroism, every virtue and good-orderliness. And in its inner interrelation with history hermeneutics builds the foundation, forms the adequate construction, improves and leads to the completion of its necessary and preferable fulfillment the truth of the being of history as such and the sense, which reveals that truth.

IDOL, PAGAN GOD, NOT GOD – 2016-1

And their names in the Holy Bible

Summary

Parandzem G. Maetikhanyan

Key words – God, not God, idol, pagan gods, Supreme idols, title, idolatry, translation and semantic options, biblical usage.

The Old Testament contains a vast amount of material on the idolatry, different manifestations of paganism are displayed through their names, which are manifold and have different shades of meaning. Considering the different testimonies of the Holy Bible it could be implied that the names կուռք (idol), դիք (pagan gods), չաստված (not gad) or աստված (pagan god) have not only common semantic characteristics, but also certain outlined distinctions.

The names of supreme idols are introduced with various interpretations and translated versions, e.g. Աստարտ (Astarte), Բահաղ, (Vaal), Բեեղզեբուղ (Beeghzebugh) and Բելիար (Belial), the examination of which we have touched upon in this article, comparing the rich material of the Old Armenian, Eastern and Western Armenian languages, as well as the Greek and Russian originals of biblical texts.

“GARDENS OF SILIHTAR” BY ZAPEL ESAYAN – 2016-1

Summary

Albert A. Makaryan

Key words – Zapel Esayan, “Gardens of Silihtar”, “Autobiography”, autobiographical novel, genre peculiarities, contemplation, range of novels, plot, self-portrait, lyricism, imaginal system.

The articles is dedicated to the study of ideological and aesthetic values , as well as, peculiarities of the autobiographical novel ‘Gardens of Silihtar’ by one of the famous masters of Armenian prose Zapel Esa yan. It particularly states the originality of this literary piece in the context of similar works by Gurgen Ma hari, Vahan Totovents and Stepan Zoryan. This literary work stands aside ,first of all, for its dominating lyri cism and the author’s contemplation. The composition structure of the ‘Gardens of Silihtar’ is also very ap pealing: each chapter of the novelette makes an impression of a completed novel-sketch. Besides, while creating the core issue of autobiographical genre, i.e. self-portrait, the novelist outlines rather wide scope of au to biographical materials: in the novelette she includes not only the characters of her family, relatives and fel lows, but also the images of her farthest ancestors, and, thus, finally creates the chronology of several of her native generations.

CHURCH IN SPIRITUAL POEMS (TAGH) OF GRIGOR NAREKATSI – 2016-1

Summary

Haykazun S. Alvrtsyan

Keywords – Treasury, church, star, moon, bride, groom, Jesus Christ, the High Priest, Collegium, icon, wedding, gold, silver.

The allegorical image of the church of Jesus Christ in Armenian spiritual poems is an unprecedented manifestation of symbolic speech, which in fact was out of scientific attention. In the best case, they deployed such biblical stable and common symbols as the Moon and the bride in order to comprehend the church. The reason is that metaphor is not perceived in this kind of works, and therefore, these poems are interpreted as secular works.

This article attempts to review these works as manifestations of spiritual allegory and interpret them as such. The theory bases of such approach are not only the Bible and theological literature but also theoretical works of the poets of the era, such as the famous interpretation of “The Songs of the Songs” by Grigor Narekatsi, which is not only necessary but also irreplaceable in evaluation of spiritual songs.

ARMENIAN-KURDISH RELATIONS IN THE PERIOD OF THE FIRST REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA – 2016-1

Summary

Avag A. Harutyunyan

Keywords – the Armenian Genocide, Sherif Pasha, the Ottoman Empire, the Kurdish organizations, the United Kingdom, the Armenian issue, the First Republic of Armenia, Paris Conference, K. Sasuni, Armenian-Kurdish agreement of 1919, Poghos Nubar, Hamo Ohandzhanyan, Avetis Aharonyan, the Treaty of Sevres.

After World War I, being deprived of statehood, the Kurds presented their requirements at the Paris peace conference, acting under the dictation of the Turkish authorities of Sherif Pasha. Nobody officially recognized Sherif as the representative of Kurdistan and his memorandum was simply rejected. Thus, it is because of Sherif that the Armenian-Kurdish agreement signed in November 1919 did not led to the actual results.

Armenian and Kurdish problems should be regarded in unity. Both are interrelated and require some balanced solution. The Armenian-Kurdish nowadays distrust is due to unreasonable territorial claims of Kurds.

The Kurds understand that in the absence of the existence of their own state, the existence of the Republic of Armenia is an important geopolitical factor. From the perspective of a full implementation of their maximalist objectives, the strengthening of the Armenian factor is not favorable to the Kurds in Turkey.

Taking into account the historical lessons of the past, it should be stated that the Kurds are untrustworthy neighbors for the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, the possibility of participation of the Kurds on the Turkish side during a military conflict between Armenia and Turkey should never be excluded.

HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY IN THE EPICAL IMAGE OF KING SINAM – 2016-1

Summary

Sargis G. Petrosyan

Keywords – the Armenian Highland, Sophene, Mesopotamia, Sumer, Armenian-Indo-European roots, Akkadian, Hittite inscriptions, legend, popular belief, the road along the Euphrates, mythological, theonym, heliolater, with eagle’s wings, with a lion’s head, Peacock, The Firebird.

In the Sophenic folk novel “Mokos” it is told how the 12 sons of the Mesopotamian King Bagh (Bal) came to Armenia and became independent kings in Sophene and adjoining territories. From this point of view it is noteworthy that in the present-day region of Keban there used to exist a settlement of migrants of the Sumeric Uruk IV civilization (3500-3100 BC). According to the “Mokos” some of thoe twelve “sons” were Armenians, and one of them, Sinam, was the founder of the city of Sinamut, later – Kharberd. The name Sinam is also found in the Shenaminda (<*Sinam-inda) and Sinamuna (<*Sinam-una) cuneiform toponyms which are all of Indoeuropean-Armenian origin.

In the epical image called Sinam the historical and mythological features of his prototypes are merged. His historical prototype (or prototypes) was a king (or kings) who reigned in ancient Sophene and whose kingdom included both the present-day Keban with its adjacent area and Kharberd with its surroundings. The imagination of the border-lines of Sinam’s kingdom is mentioned in the following record made by the king of Akkad. Akkadian king Naram-Sin (2236-2200 BC) “(that) year when Naram-Sin reached the springheads of the Euphrates and the Tigris he defeated the country of Shenaminda”. Here the Euphrates is the Western Euphrates, the Tigris is the Western Tigris and the area between their springheads is Sophene.

The mythological prototype of the epic King Sinam is, to our mind, the God of the Sun, called Sinam because of his bird symbol-eagle. The words of the same root with Sinam are the Armenian tsin “black kite”, Greek ỉκτĩνος, Old Indian (Sanscrit) śyēná “eagle, falcon”, Avestian saēna “a big bird of prey”. The two companions of the Sun, the two manifestations of Venus sometimes at dawn and sometimes at sanset, also had their bird symbols. In the Armenian mythology they were considered the birds of king Sinam and were called Sinamahavk (Sinam’s bird) or for short Sinam-havk.

THE IDEA OF METAHISTORY BY HAYDEN WHITE – 2016-1

In the context of linguistic turn

Summary

Davit R. Mosinyan

Key Words – history, historiography, world history, linguistic turn, narrative, analytical philosophy of history, White, metahistory, trop

The twentieth century philosophy is considerable, among other things, with the linguistic turn, which was intended to resolve the current confusion in philosophy. Linguistic turn declares that the only subject matter of philosophy is a language. That is the essence of the linguistic turn. Subsequently, it also took place in the theory and philosophy of history, because the history is presented as a linguistic text, which has its own logic. Therefore, the written history is not the description of the past, as it were, but is a text on a past built within language and its logic. Hayden White’s “Metahistory: historical imagination of the 19th century in Europe” is a work which marked a new stage in the theory and philosophy history, as it presents the history of historiography for the first time.

HISTORICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC IMAGE OF WESTERN ARMENIA ON THE EVE OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE – 2015-4

Part three: central and western provinces of Erzurum vilayet and the cities of Erzurum (Karin) and Erznka

Summary

Gegham M. Badalyan

Keywords – Vilayet of Erzurum, Erzurum (city), Erznka (city), Erzurum province, Derdzhan province, Bayburt (Baberd) province, Kamakh province, İspir province, Kiskim (Berdagrak) province, Khotorjur (Sırakonak).

The article presents the list of the Armenian-populated areas by individual districts (Kaza in Turkish) in Western Armenia on the eve of the Armenian Genocide and villages (in the tour. Nahiye) in the vilayet of Erzurum. Lists are made up of the same principles that have been applied in the case of Van province: the list includes villages, churches, monasteries, schools and different information about the collections of manuscripts and books. In addition, it presents statistical data on the Armenian population in the most densely populated areas (city, district, town, village, large village).

COLLECTED WORKS OF TAGUHI SHISHMANYAN – 2015-4

Taguhi Shishmanyan (Oriord Menik), works (examined by Al. A. Makaryan), Yerevan, “Nairi” Pub., 2015, 204 p.

Summary

Hayk A. Hambardzumyan

Key words – Taguhi Shishmanyan, Miss Menic, Western Armenian literature, novel, Albert Makaryan, “Falling star of the spring”, Tserents, literary movement of the 1880s.

The review presents the book of Collected Works of Taguhi Shishmanyan Melik-Azaryants (pen name Oriord Menik – 1859-1885). Taguhi Shishmanyan is the daughter of the famous novelist Tserents and also talented author of little prose. Shishamanyan’s short story “A Meteor of Spring” is the first in this genre in Western Armenian literature. After the publication in 1883, this work has got some large attention by the Western Armenian literary workers.

The book contains not only previously published author’s works but also unprinted literary heritage and letters. Texts are accompanied by numerous comments and thoroughly analyse of the authoress life and work by editor of the book A. Makaryan.