For those who still haven’t heard the news, a brutal conflict was recently reignited between Azerbaijan and the ethnic Armenian people of Nagorno-Karabakh. Hostilities between Christian Armenians and Muslim (Trukic) Azerbaijanis have a long history, but this specific conflict could be best traced to the early days of the Soviet Union. After the 1st...
Did the Sassanids adopt an Armenian banner?
When researching Persian dynasties I came across a curious symbol on wikipedia. It was the Sassanid banner called Derafsh-e Kaviani “the standard of Kāva”. It caught my attention because I remembered having seen this symbol in ancient Armenian art as well. Or at least something very similar. After reading up on this symbol I...
The mind-blowing secret of the Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is a true masterpiece of its era and knows many secrets. However, there is one in particular that still blows my mind. As some people know the Armenian alphabet was (re)invented in 405 AD by the Armenian linguist and theologian Mesrop Mashtots with the help of the patriarch Sahak Partev and...
Tracing the oldest Armenian script
Simple questions rarely have simple answers. That’s certainly true for the following question: “What is the oldest extant example of the Armenian alphabet?” Initially I though it was a fairly straightforward question to ask and a simple google search would provide the answer. Surely there has to be the oldest surviving image of Armenian...
Armenian atlas sold for $37,500 at an Auction in New York
This beautiful atlas was created by Hovhannes Amira Dadian from the Armenian Mekhitarist monastery located on the Venetian island of San Lazzaro in 1849. This is the first atlas in the Armenian language and boasts ten hand-colored double-page maps, including one of the solar system. During the Swann Galleries’ biannual auction of Maps & Atlases,...
Old Armenian Bible Covers
Armenia holds some of the worlds oldest illuminated manuscripts. I’ve came across quite a few online and what struck me perhaps the most is that the covers of these manuscripts are absolutely stunning as well as their contents. In this post I would like to share some of the stunning old Bible covers that...
The Last King of Babylon – The Armenian Rebel Arakha
The last independent king of Babylon was an Armenian by the name of Arakha also known as Nebuchadnezzar IV. After the Achaemenid conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, several attempts were made by the Babylonians to rebel against the Persian conquerors. The first attempt was led by Nidintu-Bêl and was violently suppressed by Darius the...
“Luys i Luso” Multimedia Art Project with Tigran Hamasyan
Recently I was made aware of an awesome art project called Luys i Luso featuring the internationally renowned jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan. For the commemoration of the centennial year of the Armenian Genocide, last year Armenia’s musical prodigy Tigran Hamasyan, along with the Yerevan State Choir embarked on a special journey through music and history. They...
Armenia as Represented on a Roman Temple (2nd century AD)
This marble statue of Armenia was adorned on a Roman temple of Hadrian erected by Antoninus Pius in 145 AD. The Roman temple depicted statues representing Roman provinces among them the Roman province of Armenia. The Temple of Hadrian is a temple to the deified roman emperor Hadrian on the Campus Martius in Rome, Italy, built by his...
Armenian Queens of Jerusalem
It’s no secret that the Armenian kingdom in Cilicia was instrumental for the Crusades. The Crusaders were welcomed in Armenia perhaps more than in any other place at the time. Pope Gregory XIII in his Ecclesia Romana attested to this by writing: “Among the good deeds which the Armenian people has done towards the church...
