Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

[Anoush]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

Thank you Armenian jan for these sites. They certainly more than prove to us that our Urartian monument was first and utmost when it was built as ancient as from the 9th century before Christ and the ones in Phrygia and then the Panthenon only followed our Urartian monument more than 400+ years later.

Indeed this is enough proof to me, it's great and thank you again as this is our national pride for us. We were the creators and everyone else copied from us!!!!!

Yes you're right. Garni Keghart is 8th centuries more recent than Musasir. The Romans or the Greeks they stress only about Garni to materialize our first and utmost Musasir's structure, to conceal the fact that they copied it. Rather they are bringing up only Garni Keghart to make the world believe otherwise. And now I also know and I am the one who should thank you Armenian jan for educating me of our national pride monuments and our great architectural Armenian builders and our forefathers' creative minds and capacities who thought the world on building, creating vast culture and great monuments around the globe!!!!!

[Anoush]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

Yes quite unfortunately but we as a nation do have a great deal of insecurities; because for a few centuries we had no country or a king, unfortunately most Armenians look to the West being higher and greater and better than us. Most Armenians now continue to have disbeliefs and insecurities. I have also noticed that most of our people kiss up to odars and put each other down which that too stems from insecurities. Too bad indeed. I wish now that we have a country, we start changing and start having national pride and love towards ourselves and our nation; especially when we have every right to have it and feel that way.

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

The Location of Aratta - and Variants of Sumerian Epics

ԱՐԱՏՏԱ ՄԱՍ_1_ԻՆ ARATTA PART_1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcgoqjuvxbQ
ԱՐԱՏՏԱ ՄԱՍ_2_ՐԴ ARATTA PART_2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JprbzfP0g_g

By Gevork Nazaryan

Before making our remarks on the location of Aratta and the relations it had with Sumer, we deem it necessary to summarize some of the salient features of the four variants of the Sumerian epic tale which is, in general, based on the interrelationships of the lords of the two city-states. Aratta and Erech.

1. Inanna, the goddess of love and war, first belonged to Aratta where she had her temple, but later Enmerkar took her to Erech and built there the temple Eanna for her.

2. Inanna is considered to be the sister of Enmerkar who is assumed to be the son of the sun-god Utu.

3. In one variant of the epic tale, Enmerkar demands the submission of the lord of Aratta, in another he asks he asks Aratta’s help to save Erech from the siege laid by the enemy Martu; at other times it is the lord of Aratta that demands Enmerkar to submit to him.

4. There are exceptionally close political, religious, and cultural ties between Aratta and Erech.

5. Erech asks Aratta to supply precious metals (gold, silver, lapis lazuli), building stones (sons of the mountain), metal and stoneworkers, masons, and receives them sending wheat in return.

6. Enmerkar demands that the people of Aratta come down and build temples and shrines, particularly, the temple of Eridu.

7. As for transporting construction materials and craftsmen from Aratta to Erech, there is mention of a certain river and some unusual fish in the river, as well as water vessels which Enmerkar is supposed to build.

8. On his way to Aratta, Enmerkar’s emissary passes seven mountains going “from one end of Anshan to the other. “ This does not mean that he has crossed the Anshan range from one side to the other, but rather that he has gone “from one end to the other” in its direction, passing on his way seven (other) mountains, the most important of which was
Mount Hurum. It is probable, therefore, that Anshan is the Zagros range which stretches from Elam to Vaspurakan, to the west of Lake Urmia.

9. On the road from Sumerian Erech to Aratta there is Mount Hurum, which Kramer assumes to be the home of the Hurrian people in the neighborhood of Lake Van. For the location of Aratta we find the following indications in the epic tale:

a) As it was just said, between Erech and Aratta, in the vicinity of Lake Van, there was Mount Hurum of the Hurrian people. Writes Kramer: “The Hurrians, as it is well known, lived originally on Mount Hurum, the region about Lake Van.” According to this indication, this mountain corresponds to the Haria highland below Lake Van where is the Uruatri range (the Ararad range, as mentioned by Khorenatsi). Therefore Aratta was situated above Haria-Uruatri. Since Mount Hurum was between Erech and Aratta, Aratta could not have been situated in the east of Lake Urmia, in the region of the Caspian Sea, because in that case, first, Mount Hurum would not have fallen between Erech and Aratta, and, secondly, Aratta’s metal and stone mines would have been far and out of the water-ways leading to Sumer. Aratta’s mashmash presumptuously states that he will subdue all the lands above and below, from the sea (the Persian Gulf) to the cedar (Amanus) mountain. If follows, then, that Aratta was situated directly above these regions, and not so far as the south of the Caspian Sea.

b ) In the epic tale mention is made of a river and vessels to transport the construction materials from Aratta to Erech. In Mesopotamia the only navigable rivers leading to Sumer are the Tigris and the Euphrates; therefore, the reference must be to one of these rivers. This is a second proof that Aratta was situated in the highland where the headwaters of the Tigris and the Euphrates were. The details in the tale suggest that for the identification of this river we should consider particularly the Tigris and its important tributary, the Greater Zab, since both pass through the region or the vicinity of the Haria-Hurum highland.

c) A third proof that Aratta was situated around the upper streams of the Mesopotamian rivers is provided by the fact that the grain was transported to Aratta by pack animals and not by boats; obviously it would have been extremely difficult to navigate upstream.

d) Having in view the Greater Zab-Tigris waterway, we think that the mentioning of the Unusual fish in the river is very significant. This is not a figment of imagination in a legend but represents a reality. In fact, there is, in these regions, a certain species of fish that is unusually large for a river. Before the Second World War I have had personal experience of seeing some of these giant fish, about two meters long, that were brought to Mosul, cut into pieces and sold. It was incredible, indeed, that such a huge fish could live and grow in a river.

There is an interesting tradition in that part of the country today which, I think, must be somewhat related to the existence of this fish of uncommon size. Near Mosul, on the small hill of the ruins of Nineveh, there is a village called Nebi-Yunes. In the mosque of this village (built on the site of one of the oldest Christian monasteries that stand on the ruins of a pagan temple), in a deep and dark room, there is, hanging from a wall, a big bone, which, the natives traditionally believe, belonged to the fish that “swallowed the prophet Jones.” (In fact, Jones has been identified with the Babylonian fishgod Oannes.). It seems probable that the remote past (probably from Assyro-Babylonians) related to a kind of big and unusual fish that lived in the river nearby.

Sargon II in his invasion of Mana encountered a river called Aratta. This river could have been far from the city-state of Aratta and still carry that name merely by repetition, just as it is the case with two Haburs (one a branch of the Euphrates and the other of the Tigris), and the two Ararats (one in the south in Kortuk, on the eastern Tigris, and the other in the north on the Arax river). According to Sargon’s statement, the Aratta river appears to be the northernmost branch of the Lesser Zab, whose source is near Kelishin (south of Musasir) in the southern part of the Vaspurakan range and, perhaps, is reminiscent of the old name of this highland. From this region originates also the Araskh (<Aratta(?) ) river which flows into the southern shores of Lake Urmia. In the Louvre listing, the river Aratta is mentioned along with a number of mountains, among which is Mount Sinabir. That corresponds to the country of Sinibir-ni, one of the known 23 countries of Nairi(old Armenia).

All these considerations allow us to assume that what is said about the river (and its unusual fish) in the Aratta-Erech epic tale, relate to the Greater Zab and the Tigris. A look at the map of the region shows that the Greater Zab, emerging in the north from the Vaspurakan mountains, cuts across the Haria-Uruatri (Hurum) range in the Hakkiari Region and flowing down joins the Tigris just south of Mosul. (In this connection one must, of course, have also in view the Euphrates which, by means of its tributary, the Aradzant, links Sumer with the land of Ayrarat). It must be accepted, therefore, that the land of the city-state of Aratta was situated in the extending from Hayots Tsor and Arberani, near Lake Van, to the north, spreading from the Arme-Arhi-Aradzani-Hark regions to those of Aragadz-Aria-Arevik-Arhu. In one word, it covered the land of Ayrarat, having as center the Eritia (<Arata?) mountain near Aramali, mentioned by Shalmaneser III, and Mount Ararat.

It is assumed that the name Ararat (or Ayrarat) is derived from the name Urartu. If this is the case, then why is it that the name Ararat is given to this particular mountain and not to any one of those mountains that are situated much centrally in Urartu near its capital Van or near Lake Van, such as the Nemrut, the Sipan, or the Varag? Besides, there already was Mount Ararad (the Uruatri in the south of Lake Van), as mentioned by Khorenatsi. It is not unlikely, therefore, that this mountain may have been called earlier by a name derived from Ara, such as Aratta.

Deimel considers it probable that the word Aratta, had in fact, the composition ar-ar-ta. Ararta had become Aratta (apparently by the second r being pronounced as t influenced by the adjacent t) just as the Sumerian reduplicated word barbar had changed to babbar, ‘sun’ (by the change in pronunciation of the first r to b under the influence of the adjacent b ). In this case, Ararta would mean ‘the land of Ars’. In fact, the name Ararat could have originated more easily from the form Ararta (ta>at) rather than from
Urartu, just as the place-name Ararad, mentioned by Khorenatsi, could be derived more easily from the name of the Arardi mountain of the same region, as mentioned by Assurnasirpal II, rather than from the name Uruatri.

It is obvious that the radical element Ar (or Ara) is a component of Aratta (or Ararta). It seems its composition is either Ara(t)ta or Ar-ar-ta, a reduplicated form, which can be compared with Horhoruni, Susuku, Haha, and other reduplicated names. It must have meant ‘Ar’s place (Ara-ta) or ‘the city-land of the Ar’s (Ar-ar-ta). Compare it with the land –name Baruata, mentioned in Arartian inscriptions, which was called Bit-Barrua, ‘house of Barrua’, in Assyrian. Hence the toponymic ending –ta of the form Barua-ta corresponds to the component bit ( ‘house, city-land’, cf. Arabic beit, ‘house) of Bit-Barrua. It seems, then, that Aratta (Ararta) meant ‘Ara’s house’ to which corresponded semantically the names Ayrarat ( Ara’s plain’) and Urartu/Ur-ardi (place of Ardi-Ara).

From what has been reported by Khorenatsi, we already know that Ayrarat meant ‘Ara’s plain’.

He writes: “Shamiram came in haste to the plain of Ara that was called Ayrarat after his name.” We also know that the Arartian divine name Ardi (‘sun’) corresponds to Ara. (This will be shown later in the section of Nuard.) In our previous works we have shown (and shall still show later) that the name Urartu, or Urardi (Ur-ardi) as written by Sargon II, meant ‘the place of Ardi’, that is, ‘the land of Ara’. This already corresponds to the name Ayrarat (Ara’s plain’). It is possible, therefore, that the name Urartu (Urardi, Uratri, or Uru-atri) is perhaps a later cuneiform expression of the name Ayrarat (Ararat) or Aratta (Ararta).

Thus it becomes apparent that the name Aratta (or Ararta) belongs to the group of place-names in the Armenian highland which are formed with Ar or Ara. It follows, then, that Aratta turns out to be the oldest city-state of the Armenian Highland known so far, dating from the beginning of the third and possibly from the end of the fourth millennium B.C., the memory of which persists, most probably, in the name Ayrarat (<Ararat).

As mentioned earlier, even though all the information regarding the ancient ties and relations between Aratta and Erech (hence Sumer) have reached us in the form of epic poems of some 1500 lines preserved on a series of cuneiform tablets, still they constitute a valuable source where we find the reflections of real historical events and socio-economic conditions. One must remember that the epic tale was the main and only style of historiography in that remote past, at the very beginning of written history.

We find, therefore, that what is transmitted to us through the four variants of this epic tale has inestimable value for the history of the most ancient period of the Armenian Highland., the land wherein lie the sources of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

These tales are like beams of light that pierce the obscurity of the past and shed a momentary glow on the political, social, religious, economic and cultural conditions of the peoples of the Armenian Highland in that very early period (the beginning of the third millennium B.C.), which is still dark for modern historiography. They elucidate, in particular, their ties and interrelations with Sumer, about which we shall speak again in our next chapter.

[...]

The religious tie between Aratta and Erech (hence Sumer) is striking in the epic tale. Inanna, the goddess of love and war, who is considered Sumerian (and whom the Semites identify sometimes with Ishtar), belonged earlier, according to the tales, to Aratta, and it was none other Enmerkar himself who brought her to Erech. As we have seen, it was Enmerkar who asked Inanna of Aratta of intervene in favor of securing Aratta’s help to save Erech from the siege of the enemy Martu, and Inanna had warm welcome for Enmerkar’s herald Lugalbanda ir Aratta.

In the epic tale the goddess Inanna is figured as the supreme power, since Enmerkar’s envoy asks her for help. She had the highest authority in her hand and her will was decisive, indicating that in those days the idea of matriarchy had not yet vanished entirely in Aratta, and that particular social order was still maintained to a certain extent under the supremacy of the goddess Inanna. She is represented as the mother and the patron of her people and her land. This particular characteristic of Inanna’s nature has persisted for millenniums, and in the last centuries of paganism has been represented by the goddess. ANAHIT as the patron mother of Armenia.

Moris Jstow writes that Assyria had only one goddess, Ishtar, who had the same rank in the Semitic pantheon as the goddesses Nana, Nina, Ninni, Inanna, and Anunit had in Sumer. This shows that the forms Anunit (Anahit) and Inanna represented variants of the same name of the same goddess. It is clearly seen, then, that in Armenia, in the later periods of paganism, Inanna appears as Anahit (sometimes as Nane). Nu, as the abbreviated from of these names (in derivation), is the first component of the name of the Armenian goddess Nuart (Nuard), who was the consort of the sun-god Ara. In the times of Urartu, the name Ara appears sometimes in the derivative form Ar-di (Ardi), which, as is obvious, is the second component of Nu-ard. The word nu is preserved in Armenian with the meaning of ‘bride’. Hence Nu-ard means ‘the nu of ard’, that is “Ara’s bride or wife’. This agrees with Khorenatsi’s testimony that Nuard was Ara’s wife.

[...]

Source: http://www.arattakingdom.com/The%20L...%20Aratta.html

[Anonymouse]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

In a sense, yes, a lot of interpretations of history are more-or-less conjecture. This notion applies to 'all' interpretations of history and not just us Armenians. However, there are degrees of probabilities that one should consider when looking at various theories. Regardless, this is 'our' interpretation of 'our' history and thus far it is more credible than what you have been taught in western schools or seen on the History Channel.

I don't know what your intentions here are but you are being hard headed again. While you chose to question certain well established facts in Armenology, I wouldn't be surprised if you take as fact various very questionable materials put forward by western academia. Westerners don't question fables produced by Eurocentric historians because the information/fable is so ingrained in them that they simply don't even think about it.

It is pretty much well established that "Nefertiti" was a "Mittani" princess. Look it up. Thus, in a sense, yes, she was white, as were most of the early pharaohs.

Have you seen images of Nefertiti? Here is one: http://interdenominationaldivineorde.../nefertiti.jpg

Does she look "Black" to you, Anon? Regarding Blacks, since when did you begin taking them seriously??? Blacks also claim Hannibal, who was a Phoenician, and Cleopatra, who was an inbred Greek, were also Blacks. You stated that you have seen "Afrocentrists claim Nefertiti is black or Nubian and offer all sorts of evidence to support their claim." Please, Anon, since you claim to have seen these "evidences," refer them to us. I would like to see what you are talking about.

Allow me to save you time, Anon: no such "evidence" exists. What you so foolishly claimed is as shallow as the notion that Kwanzaa is an African holiday.

The Armenian claim is simply based on the historical evidence/fact that Nefertiti was a Mittani. But here you are, for some reason, lowering Armenian studies to the level of what Blacks do in America.

What a shame. Great job, Anon!

In your attempt to make 'me' look bad you just undermined the work of Armenian historians and our heritage. Isn't this is typical of us Armenians, anything goes to make the other Armo look bad, even if you have to tear down the entire house to do so...

Before you criticize or discount certain aspects of Armenology, first familiarize yourself with the vast amounts of information produced by ethnocentric Armenologists and western academia regarding the ancient Armenian Highlands. This does not mean, however, that you should do a fast last minute web search to prove 'your' point, like you did regarding the Crusades... Practice intellectual honesty, if you can. Take in the information provided and base your opinions on the available evidence.

It's as if you and others here get so psyched up about proving 'me' wrong that you end up making a joke of our national heritage in the process. This is pathetic. When non-Armenians do it is understandable, when Armenians do it, it's a damn shame. And in the big picture. this is our fundamental problem as a nation.

It's not about me, Anon, it's about objectivity and intellectual honesty.

You get very melodramatic when people disagree with your assertions and now I stand accused of "lowering Armenian studies". That is hardly the hallmark of keeping an intellectual atmosphere. I'm not here to prove you or anyone else 'wrong'. I'm merely making inquiries. You do not have to like it, but you don't have to get emotional when people inquire and question.

As far as 'objectivity', there is no such thing, only the nerfbrains pretend. While there is indeed an objective world, we can only come to know of it subjectively. Therefore, there cannot possibly be the way or version of events. There are perspectives.

One can list many 'fundamental problems' with the nation, one being how intolerant we are of those that disagree. This goes down the board on all sides. Why is it always one thing that is the 'fundamental problem'? You sit here and accuse me of somehow being "intellectually dishonest" because I haven't necessarily made the time to sit here and read all the Armenology as you have, but what remains is that you yourself are engaged in armchair academia on the internet. Aren't we all? Is any of this 'official academia'? No. It is just internet discussions. It's akin to yelling in the canyons and hearing our echoes. And by the way, why were you not able to discount my information on the crusades? Instead, you resorted to wily discussion tactics of shifting the burden on me by accusing me of 'last minute research' to 'have the last word'. In the end, it seems, all this is about you.

We Armenians can believe in whatever version of events we like. It remains that to the world we are an insignificant little people, with little to nothing left and with delusions of grandeur about our past, present and future.

If these 'Armenian studies' about Nefertiti are considered top notch academic truths in Armenia, then who cares, right? And is this what is taught in the academia in Armenia? Why and to whom are we trying to convince? To the world which barely even cares about our genocide, to much less care more about what Nefertiti's origins may have been?

My only point is that often times nationalism creates blinders in interpreting the past and when it does so, it is ahistorical, and we Armenians are no less guilty of it, than Europeans, or Afrocentrists, or whatever else group has tried to project itself into the past and create a narrative.

This is not to establish whether this may or may not be true - indeed it may be true, I don't know - but that we should be cautious in casting stones at others when we also engage in the same thing. You, apparently, cannot take inquiries lightly because to you it seems like a personal affront on you.

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

You get very melodramatic when people disagree with your assertions and now I stand accused of "lowering Armenian studies". That is hardly the hallmark of keeping an intellectual atmosphere...

You know I love melodrama, Anon. My melodrama makes this place exciting. No? But your less than intellectual comments regarding Nefertiti's origin created anything but an intellectual atmosphere. I don't go to loggerheads with you regarding economics (your area of expertise), likewise when it comes to Armenology I would expect you to at least do some research about what I am talking about before you attempt to form an opinion.

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

Although historians do not agree on where the ancient Sumerians first originated, many Armenian historians claim that they originated within the Armenian Highlands due to the following reasons:

If the general vicinity of the Armenian Highlands hosted the oldest known advanced human settlements on earth, then logic would dictate that Sumerians emerged from Asia Minor, or the Caucasus.

According to Sumerian texts, their national gods and goddesses had an intimate relationship with the Armenian Highlands.

Sumerians also thought that life originated within the Armenian Highlands. This belief of theirs is echoed by their epic tale pertaining to the great deluge.

Depictions of Sumerians resemble typical Armenian phenotypes.

Sumerians seem to have built pyramid shaped temples called ziggurats upon the flat topography of Mesopotamia (similar to the early Egyptians) to mimic sacred mountains upon which to pray.

The famous Sumerian epic tale of ARATTA describes the cultural and economic relations between Sumer and the Armenian Highlands.

Even before the dawn of Sumerian civilization, various localities within the Armenian Highlands such as Metsamor, Shenkavit, Karahunj, Catal Huyuk and Gobekli Tepe were already prominent centers for urban planning, art, theology, astronomy and metallurgy.

Moreover, the Armenian language shares hundreds of words with the now extinct Sumerian language, evidence that the two nations had contact with each other.

All the aforementioned point to the Armenian Highlands as the probable location where Sumerians first emerged. Throughout the twentieth century, the western world was clueless about the decades of studies conducted within Soviet Armenia regarding these topics. Information such as the ones I have posted here is only now beginning to see light in the West.

Armenian

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

The significance of connecting Armenia to Sumer? Sumer is considered to be by western academia the world's first advanced civilization. Armenian highlanders were their contemporaries and according to Sumerian accounts the Armenian highlands were considered to be a mystical holy place were gods dwelt. There is also the strong theory that Sumerians themselves originated in the Armenian Highlands and/or Caucasia and were one of the survivors of the great flood. Some versed in ancient history may have heard that the Sumerians spoke a Turkic language - which unfortunately gave rise to Turkic wet dreams such as the "Sun Language Theory" that preposterously suggests the first civilization on earth was Turkish and all the rest were derived from it... The position by western academics that Sumer was a Turkic language was simply based on the agglutinative nature of the language spoken by Sumer. Fortunately, modern linguistics and common sense has now all but abolished this baseless theory. It is now believed by Sumerologists that the language spoken in Sumer is either unique (has no relations to other known languages) or is a Caucasian language...

Armenian

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Sumer and Ararat

The Sumerians, an ancient peoples and one of the first civilizations in the world called Ararat, Arrata. In their great epic poems of Gilgamesh and Arrata, they tell of the land of their ancestors, the Arratans in the Highlands of Armenia. The Sumerians also in the epic poems describe the Great Flood and the rebirth of life after the terrible deluge that fell from the Highlands of Armenia unto the lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent. The Sumerians had a very close connection with the ancestral Land of Ararat and considered it as their ancestral homeland (many historians and archaeologists are convinced that the Sumerians initially lived in Northern Mesopotamia and Armenian Highland).The Greeks believed that the people who first worked with bronze and iron came from the same area, they called them Khaldi.

"The great majority of the cultivated plants of the world trace their origin to Asia. Out of 640 important cultivated plants, about 500 originated in Southern Asia. In Asia alone we have established five of the principle regions of cultivated plants.... The fifth region of origin in Asia is the Southwestern Asiatic centre and includes Asia Minor, Trans-Caucasia, Iran and Western Turkmenistan. This region is remarkable, first of all, for its richness in numbers of species of wheat resistant to different diseases...There is no doubt that Armenia is the chief home of cultivated wheat. Asia Minor and Trans-Caucasia gave origin to rye which is represented here by a great number of varieties and species....

Our studies show definitely that Asia is not only the home of the majority of modern cultivated plants, but also of our chief domesticated animals such as the cow, the yak, the buffalo, sheep, goat, horse, and pig...The chief home of the cow and other cattle, the Oriental type of horse, the goat and the sheep is specifically Iran....

As the result of a brilliant work of Dr. Sinskaya, the discovery was recently made that the home of alfalfa, the world's most important forage crop, is located in Trans-Caucasia and Iran....

From all these definitely established facts the importance of Asia as the primary home of the greatest majority of cultivated plants and domesticated animals is quite clear."

The above quotes from the book by Vavilov, N. , "Asia: Source of Species" in Asia, February 1937, p. 113, indicate a long held belief by many that cradle of civilization was in the hills of Armenia. Also the location of the Garden of Eden and the location of the flood and the landing place of the Ark of Noah! More recent studies conducted by Melinda A Zeder and Brian Hesse (Science 287 (2000) 2254-57) place the initial domestication of goats to the Zargos Mountains at about 10,000 years ago. And Manfred Heun's (Science 278 (1997) 1312-14) studies indicate that large scale wheat cultivation began from 8,000 to 9,000 years ago near the Karacadag Mountains. Both areas are very near where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come close together.

Source: http://www.accuracyingenesis.com/ararat.html#urartu

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

The sacred Mt. Mashu of the Sumerians was non other than our twin peaked sacred Mt. Massis.

Armenian

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Sumerian and Near Eastern Mythology

Mount Mashu

[16] To the Sumerians, Mashu was a sacred mountain. Its name means "twin" in Akkadian, and thus was it portrayed on Babylonian cylinder seals --a twin-peaked mountain, described by poets as both the seat of the gods, and the underworld (60). References or allusions to Mt.Mashu are found in three episodes of the Gilgamesh cycle which date between the third and second millennia B.C.

Mashu was located in a forest in the "land of the Living", where the names of the famous are written(61). It is alluded to in the episode "Gilgamesh and Humbaba". In this story, Gilgamesh and his friend, Enkidu, travel to the Cedar (or Pine) Forest which is ruled over by a demonic monster named Humbaba. While their motives for going to the Forest included gaining renown, it is also clear that they wanted the timber it contained. Humbaba, who had been appointed by the god Enlil to guard the Forest, is depicted as a one-eyed giant with the powers of a storm and breath of fire, perhaps the personification of a volcano (62). It is only with the help of another god, and a magically forged weapon that Gilgamesh triumphs over Humbaba. But before his battle, Gilgamesh and Enkidu gaze in awe at the mountain called "the mountain of cedars, the dwelling-place of the gods and the throne of Ishtar"(63).

They climb onto the mountain, sacrifice cereals to it, and, in response, the mountain sends them puzzling dreams about their futures (64). When they begin to fell trees, Humbaba senses their presence and, enraged, fixes his eye of death on the pair. [17] Although Gilgamesh finally defeats the monster, Enkidu eventually weakens and dies from Humbaba's gaze and curse (65). In addition to its reputation as the "land of the Living", this forest is also a way to the underworld or the other world. For right after killing Humbaba, Gilgamesh continues in the forest and "uncovered the sacred dwelling of the Anunaki"--old gods who, like the Greek Titans, had been banished to the underworld (66). Furthermore, Gilgamesh seems to go into a death-like trance here (67); and in the same general region, the goddess Ishtar, whom Gilgamesh spurned, threatened to break in the doors of hell and bring up the dead to eat with the living (68).

Mashu is mentioned directly in the episode "Gilgamesh and the Search for Everlasting Life". This story unfolds after the death of Gilgamesh's friend, Enkidu, a wrenching experience which makes Gilgamesh face his own mortality and go searching for eternal life. It is en route to Utnapishtim, the one mortal to achieve immortality, that Gilgamesh comes to Mashu "the great mountain, which guards the rising and setting sun. Its twin peaks are as high as the wall of heaven and its roots reach down to the underworld. At its gate the Scorpions stand guard, half man and half dragon; their glory is terrifying; their stare strikes death into men, their shining halo sweeps the mountains that guard the rising sun"(69). Gilgamesh is able to convince the Scorpion-people to open the gate and let him enter the long tunnel through the mountains. Eventually Gilgamesh emerges from the tunnel into a fantastic Garden of the gods, whose trees bear glittering xxxels instead of fruit (70).

In the view of several scholars, Mashu is also the mountain mentioned in the story that Utnapishtim told Gilgamesh. [18] Utnapishtim, sometimes called the "Sumerian Noah", told Gilgamesh how the gods had become angered with humanity and decided on the Flood as one means to exterminate it. A sympathetic god warned Utnapishtim and told him to build a boat and board it with his family, relatives, craftsmen, and the seed of all living creatures (71). After six days of tempest and flood, Utnapishtim's boat grounded on a mountain. He released a dove and a swallow, both of which returned to him. Then he released a raven which did not return; Utnapishtim and his family came down from the mountain. When the disgruntled gods are finally reconciled with the re-emergence of humanity, Utnapishtim and his wife are taken by the god Enlil to live in the blessed place where Gilgamesh found him "in the distance, at the mouth of the rivers"(72).

In his classic study, Armenia in the Bible, father Vahan Inglizian compared the above myths with the Biblical accounts of the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2) and the Flood (Gen.7-8), both of which he sited in eastern Asia Minor (73). Accepting Lehmann-Haupt's equation of the tunnel through Mashu with the naturally occuring subterannean Tigris tunnel near Bylkalein, Inglizian suggested that Mashu should be sought in the Armenian Taurus mountain range, south of Lake Van (74). It is in this same southern area, rather than at Mt. Ararat, that many scholars, including Inglizian, place the mountain of Noah (Gen. 8.4)(75). Inglizian suggested that the phrase "at the mouth of the rivers" describing the blessed land where Utnapishtim lived, should be understood to mean "at the sources of the [Tigris and Euphrates] rivers"(76). This heavenly Dilmun of Mesopotamian mythology was later identified with Bahrain on the Persian Gulf (77).

Aratta

[19] Aratta was a city, city-state, or country with which Sumerians had close trade and religious ties in the third millennium B.C. Its location is not known. Of four general sites suggested for Aratta, two are located in eastern Asia Minor: the Van-Urmia area and the Ayrarat district of historical Armenia. The Anshan-Hamadan area of western Iran was the choice of S. Cohen who translated one of four sources to mention Aratta, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta. However, since the publication of that work (1973), several of the criteria he used for locating Aratta have been challenged (78).

Aratta, apparently, was under the special protection of the Sun god's daughter, Inanna, the goddess of love and war. In "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta", the goddess and/or her statue were taken from Aratta to the Sumerian city of Uruk by the ruler of Uruk, Enmerkar. Now believing himself to have the goddess' protection, the Sumerian king challenged the lord of Aratta. Enmerkar ordered him to send to Sumer precious metals, precious stones, building materials and the craftsmen to transform them into shrines (79). The lord of Aratta is willing to provide the materials if Enmerkar will send him large amounts of barley. When the barley arrives in Aratta, its lord unexpectedly refuses to fulfill his part of the agreement. After ten years, Enmerkar again sends his herald to Aratta. This time, the lord of Aratta challenges Enmerkar to select one of his champions to fight in single combat with one of Aratta's champions. Enmerkar accepts. Because his response was lengthy and his herald was "heavy of mouth", Enmerkar inscribed his message on [20] clay tablets and sent them to Aratta with his herald. The poet implies that this was the beginning of writing (80). However, at this point the famine, which apparently had been plaguing Aratta, lifts and Aratta's ruler takes courage, believing Inanna had not really abandoned him. Although the ending is fragmentary, Aratta eventually seems to provide the materials and craftsmen.

In a second Sumerian myth, "Enmerkar and Ensuhkeshdana", the lord of Aratta demands the submission of Enmerkar, king of Uruk, and the return of the goddess Inanna to her home in Aratta. Enmerkar refuses and demands Aratta's submission. The lord of Aratta consults with his advisors who urge him to capitulate, which he angrily refuses to do. Then his priest comes forward and boasts that he will subdue Uruk and other territories through magic. The lord of Aratta delightedly rewards the priest and sends him to Uruk. But the priest is assassinated there; and the lord of Aratta submits to Uruk (81).

Aratta is mentioned again in a third, briefer story known as "Lugulbanda and Enmerkar". In this myth, Enmerkar of Uruk is under military attack from the Martu people. Enmerkar desperately sends his messenger, Lugulbanda, to Aratta to the goddess Inanna, here called his sister. Inanna's response is unclear (82). However, it appears that Aratta again supplied Enmerkar with metals, precious stones, and craftsmen; and there is a suggestion that the materials were transported to Uruk by river (83). Finally, Aratta appears in a fourth myth, "Lugulbanda and Mount Hurum". Enmerkar and his army are traveling to Aratta to make it a vassal state. En route they stop at Mount Hurum where Lugulbanda becomes ill and "dies". His comrades place his body on Mount Hurum, [21] intending to retrieve it after their war in Aratta. However, Lugulbanda was not really dead. After praying to the sun, moon, and the star Venus, he emerges from his trance and wanders the highlands. Unfortunately, the ending of this story is lost (84).

The four myths outlined above portray Aratta as a wealthy and militarily powerful state with which Sumer had relations from very early times. It was located some distance from Sumer and protected by its forbidding mountains, but it was not so distant as to prevent trade relations. Aratta had building materials, precious stones, metals and craftsmen skilled in their transformation. Aratta also had primacy with regard to the religion of the mother goddess, Inanna, who resided in Aratta, was the patron of that state, and was taken or lured south to Sumerian cities. Uruk and Aratta also were in contest for military superiority--each demanding the submission of the other. The method of transporting the "stones of the mountain" from Aratta to Uruk and of transporting grain from Uruk to Aratta seems consistent with such trade historically between the Armenian highlands and areas to its south, namely, by boat from Aratta south, and by pack animal from Uruk north. If Aratta is indeed located in eastern Asia Minor, the general implication of the Aratta cycle of myths is that Aratta played a seminal role in the development of religion in Sumer, as well as in the construction of its cult structures; and that trade and diplomacy between the two states was of such importance that writing was developed specifically for them.

Kummiya/Qumme

[22] The city of Kummiya appears in the mythology of the Hurrian-speaking populations dwelling around Lake Van. This city, which has not been positively identified, is described as the home of the Hurrian weather god, Tessub, and the city which Ullikummi, the stone monster, was created to destroy. R. T. O'Callaghan, in his study, Aram Naharaim, suggested that Kummiya should be sought "somewhere between the Tigris and Lake Van" (85). Igor Diakonoff placed it, generally, on the Upper Zab river (86).

The story of Ullikummi is one episode in a cycle of related "songs" about the god Kumarbi. Kumarbi's overarching aim was to overthrow the weather god, Tessub, who was, through a curious circumstance, his own son (87). Kumarbi tries to achieve his end by producing monsters capable of destroying Tessub. First, Kumarbi and his wife, Sertapsuruhi, bear the dragon (or serpent) Hedamu. But Tessub's sister Sauska/Ishtar seduces and neutralizes Hedamu (88). Then Kumarbi has sexual intercourse with a rock cliff. The result of that union was a genderless, deaf, blind, yet sentient pillar of volcanic rock named Ullikummi. To hide Ullikummi during its "minority", Kumarbi has it taken to the underworld. Ullikummi is perched on the shoulder of Ubelluri, an Atlas-like figure who is holding up the world and does not seem to notice the additional weight. Ullikummi begins to grow like Jack's Beanstalk. Soon it emerges from the underworld into a body of water. The Sun God on his rounds sees this baleful phenomenon and quickly reports it to Tessub (89).

Tessub, his brothers and sister Sauska/Ishtar go up onto Mt. Hazzi and view the ever-growing monster in panic (90). [23] Once again, Tessub's sister tries to seduce the monster, but this time she is literally romancing a stone, and is unable to stop Ullikummi. By now, Ullikummi has grown up into the land of the gods itself, and is blocking the doorway of Tessub's wife, Hebat. "It took its stand before the gate of the city of Kummiya (Tessub's city) like a shaft" (91). The crisis is finally ended by Ea, the god of wisdom. Ea visits the place of the ancient primeval gods, gets from their storehouse a copper cutting instrument "which was used to separate the earth and the sky", and,using it, cuts Ullikummi from Ubelluri's shoulders (92).

Source: http://rbedrosian.com/Memyth.htm

[Anoush]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

Armenian, Sumer sounds to me were the then Aramais or the Assyrian nationality, is that right? Probably as far south as to Mesopotamia.

[Armenian]

Re: Հայաբանութիւն - Armenology

As was said earlier, the world famous Queen Nefertiti of Egypt was a Mitanni princes. The Mitannis were related to the proto-Armenian Hurrians (Arm: Huri) of the Armenian Highlands. One of the historic significances of the Hurrian nation is their probable link to the ancient Hebrews whom the Armenians call Hria. The following information is taken from a Georgian website. Since it is thought that the Hurrians as well as the Sumerians may have spoken a Caucasian language, Georgians are also attempting to lay claim to their legacy.

Armenian

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Hurri n.

( pl. same or Hurris) a member of a people, originally from Armenia, who settled in northern Mesopotamia and Syria during the 3rd-2nd millennium bc and were later absorbed by the Hittites and Assyrians. (See also Mitanni.) Hittite & Assyrian Harri, Hurri (The Oxford English Reference Dictionary, © Oxford University Press 1996).

Hurrians

A people living in E Anatolia and N Mesopotamia during the 2nd millennium bc. The Hurrians probably originated in the Armenian mountains before their expansion. Their language, which is extinct, was neither Indo-European nor Semitic, but may be related to Georgian and the Caucasian languages. It is largely known from cuneiform tablets from Hattusas, the capital of the Hittites, whose civilization the Hurrians greatly influenced. There was never a Hurrian empire, but the powerful kingdom of Mitanni (1550-1400 bc) was largely Hurrian in population.

Nefertiti (14th century BC)

Wife of King Amenhotep IV of Egypt. Probably born in Mitanni, an empire based in what is now northern Iraq, Nefertiti became the chief wife of the intellectual Egyptian ruler Amenhotep IV (reigned about 1379-1362 BC). She bore him six daughters but no son. His reign was distinguished by a religious revolution, strongly supported by Nefertiti, that renounced the established pantheon of gods in favour of a single, supreme deity, Aton. Aton, represented by a sun disc, was revered as the source of life and the bounties of nature (The Penguin Biographical Dictionary of Women, © Market House Books Ltd 1998).

Nuzi

An ancient Hurrian city SW of Kirkuk (N Iraq). Nuzi flourished in the 15th century bc before being absorbed into the Assyrian Empire. Excavations here in the 1920s revealed a prosperous trading centre with archives detailing legal, commercial, and military activities (The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001, © Market House Books Ltd 2000).

Urartu (biblical name: Ararat)

A kingdom flourishing between about 850 and 650 bc in E Turkey. The inhabitants, of Hurrian stock, made their capital at Van (ancient Tushpa). Their metalwork was famous, examples even reaching Etruscan Italy. Urartu was frequently at war with neighbouring Assyria (The Macmillan Encyclopedia 2001, © Market House Books Ltd 2000).

Mitanni

A member of the predominant people of a largely Hurrian kingdom centred on the Khabur and Upper Euphrates rivers which flourished in the 15th and early 14th centuries bc.

Sumerian

A people speaking a non-Semitic language and civilization native to Sumer in the 4th millennium bc. The Sumerians were a hybrid stock speaking an agglutinative language related structurally to Turkish, Hungarian, Finnish, and several Caucasian dialects. As the first historically attested civilization they are credited with the invention of cuneiform writing, the sexagesimal system of mathematics, and the socio-political institution of the city-state with bureaucracies, legal codes, division of labour, and a money economy. Their art, literature, and theology had a profound cultural and religious influence on the rest of Mesopotamia and beyond, which continued long after the Sumerian demise c. 2,000 bc, as the prototype of Akkadian, Hurrian, Canaanite, Hittite, and eventually, biblical literature. Two of their main cities were Ur and Lagash.

Source: http://www.geocities.com/shavlego/anthropology.htm