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,...
Ancient Egyptians were closer to Armenians than to Africans; a new genetics study reveals
A recent study sheds light on the age old question “who were the ancient Egyptians?” A team of international scientists from the University of Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany analyzed the DNA of 93 Egyptian mummies dating from approximately 1400 BCE to 400 CE. The...
Reconstructing the Artaxiad Flag
Background The Artaxiad (pronounced Artashes in Armenian) was a royal dynasty of ancient Armenia. They are believed to have been related to the older dynasty the Orontids (Yervanduni in Armenian), and ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until their overthrow by the Romans in AD 12. Under king Tigranes II the Great of...
From Dragon Stones to Kings Bones – 9 Recent Archaeological Discoveries Made in Armenia
The abundance of ancient ruins, monuments and archaeological sites, have earned Armenia the title of: “an open air museum”. While this is certainly true, everything known of ancient Armenia to date is but a tip of the iceberg, as most is still lying beneath the soil silently awaiting discovery. Some of the worlds oldest human settlements have...
DNA from a 7 thousand year old tooth found in a Cave in Artsakh perfectly matches with modern Armenians
Scholars from Britain, US, Denmark and Armenia led by Prof. Levon Yepiskoposyan have been examining prehistoric caves near the village of Azokh in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and found unique artifacts from different periods, among them a tooth from a human who lived 7000 years ago. Due to the cave’s climate DNA was preserved inside the...
Armenia – The Cradle of Wine
Wine is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the world and has a fascinating ancient history that goes back to the dawn of civilization some 10,000 years ago. Once considered the beverage of the Gods worshiped and praised in many cultures by priests, poets and scholars alike. The Armenian Highlands played an important role in the history of the...
Stephen Hawking Pays Tribute to his Armenian Teacher in a Powerful Video Message
Famous physicist Stephen Hawking has paid tribute to the teacher who inspired his early steps into scholarship and “changed his life”. Dikran Tahta at St Albans School opened his eyes to mathematics. Hawking says: “I have to admit – I wasn’t the best student – but with his support I became a professor of mathematics at...
Old Photographs of Armenians from Tiflis (1881)
These old photographs were taken by Mr. Ernest Chantre, assistant-director of the Museum of Lyon (France) in 1881. During his travels, as seen in the map above, he collected pictures of many different ethnic groups for scientific and medical purposes, among others pictures of Armenian residents of the Old Tiflis (Tbilis, capitol of Georgia)....
The Aragats Foundation Promoting Armenian Heritage
I absolutely love this project. The Aragats Foundation is dedicated to promoting and preserving Armenian heritage and at the same time helping local communities in Armenia to improve education, encourage tourism and foster sustainable development. An absolutely wonderful project founded in 2014 as a non-profit organization directed by Lori Khatchadourian, Adam T. Smith and Elen...
The Ethnic Origins of Beauty – Ethnographic Project
This is a very interesting project that was initiated a few years ago by Natalia Ivanova a Russian photographer and photojournalist with the aim to show the scale of ethnic diversity in a visually appealing and a creative manner. I personally love such projects and the original idea behind it. This ambitious project aims to cover all ethnic groups...
