This nation has a self-name - ah, hai (or gai). Where did the Armenians come from? No one can give absolutely accurate evidence, since they are considered to be “original”, and there are very few such nationalities. In addition, not everyone can boast that the basis of the origin is an interesting biblical legend about the flood, when Noah and his family miraculously saved themselves on Mount Ararat.
Disputes do not subside
Armenian studies have a very long history. However, the most important question has not yet been answered unequivocally. Where did the Armenians come from? The information varies. Moreover, there are even diametrically opposed versions. Where was the cradle of this people? When exactly did he manage to form a separate ethnic unit? What are the oldest references to it in written sources?
Researchers argue not only on cardinal issues, but also on their individual points. And the whole point is that even in the ancient primary sources, information about where the Armenians came from is contradictory. And researchers are often too interested in the political side of the issue. However, facts are available, even if they contradict each other in some way.
The level of research in our time has become much higher, so it is possible to get more accurate answers about the origin and formation of the people, to establish where the Armenians came from. It is necessary to carefully study the traditions that came from ancient centuries, to compare historiographic theories with modern research.
Traditions of antiquity deep
In the Book of Genesis, Noah's offspring is named by name, the resettlement of people along the Sanaar Valley near Ararat is also indicated there. Greek, Syrian, Chaldean ancient historians confirm almost all of this information. When Noah's great-grandson named Forgom (the son of Homer, the grandson of Japheth) grew old, he divided his own lands between his sons. Armenia went to Nut (aka Hayk). From here the Armenian kings of Gaikida went. They are rightly considered the ancestors of an entire nation. That is, who the Armenians are and where they came from, it is already becoming clear.
There are a lot of legends about King Gadget. In addition to the Armenian, he gave rise to a significant part of the Babylonian people, even built the famous tower at the invitation of the founder of the Chaldeans Nemvrod (aka Bel). Feeling that the Supreme Chaldean did not want to share power, Gayk easily yielded to him (but did not obey) and returned to his lands. But Nemvrod held a grudge. He knew well who the Armenians were and where they came from, and therefore he really wanted to subjugate this marked people to God.
The nut was smart, did not fall into the traps set for him, even refused the choice of land in Babylon. Nemvrod also failed to conquer the Armenians. Note, this was the very first documented real war between people. Near Lake Van, Nemvrod’s army was defeated, and he himself fell. At the site of the battle, the city of Haik was built. This is where the roots of the Armenians come from. The whole story is described in detail in the Bible.
From the point of view of historians
Researchers all the same do not undertake for certain to state where the Armenians came from. They believe that the process of nation formation is much more complicated. The fact is that any sufficiently large people always consists of hundreds and hundreds of diverse clans, tribes and groups. Relocations, conquests, raids, victories and defeats in wars take place. All this necessarily adds “fresh blood” to any ancient nation.
Therefore, scientists can’t find out for sure where the Armenians came from as a nation. Too long a period of time must be taken into account, too many conflicting sources that claim to be the only correct one. In addition, religious traditions influence the formation of a people. This must also be reckoned with. Where the Armenians came from is understandable. How has this nation changed over the millennia? This is no less important, since the formation of the nation took place according to general laws.
"Fresh blood"
Ancient written monuments testify that the territory where the Armenians came from gradually became a residence for many small tribes. These are the Karkarians, Dzotians, Dzhanarians, Cartmanites, Utians, Albans, Aguvans and others. They settled in all parts of Armenia and were assimilated. This means that they created families with representatives of the local population. In a marriage, children were born.
In addition, a million million Semites who were captured by King Rook, completely disappeared among the local population. It was from the Semitic Armenians that the magnificent Bagratuni clan appeared - princes, generals. The most famous among them is Bagration. They replenished the royal dynasty, first in Armenia, then in Georgia.
Immigrants from China, who owned lands bordering Georgia, were also assimilated. They made a huge contribution to the origin of the Armenians, whence came the princely title of the famous Mamikonyans and Orbelians.
Resettlement
Human migrations have existed at all times. Armenians, too, were not all centuries in full force in the shadow of Ararat. They actively settled around the world. There were various reasons for this. Today, practically on all continents and in all countries, their representatives live in large numbers.
For example, in Central Asia, Armenians appeared around the third or fourth centuries. This was facilitated not only by the persecution of the spread of Christianity, but also by trade - the Great Silk Road. You can find representatives of this people in Iran, in Tajikistan, in Turkestan, there are Ferghana Armenians. Where they came from is understandable. Everyone came out of the Sanaar Valley.
The process of nation formation is very long, but the Armenians are different from other nations. The fact is that self-consciousness was acquired from them very early, and since then, these people have not allowed serious changes in ethnic composition to this day. However, the most interesting thing in history is where the Armenians came from. This issue, as already mentioned, is very controversial, so at least some of the existing versions should be considered.
Tradition from the Armenians
Now the most popular is the history of the origin of the nation, described above. This is the version of the Armenians themselves (according to the records of the medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi). Many fragments of this legend are mentioned by other historians of this period. Ike (or Gadget) in them is endowed with the godlike son of a titan.
Later, the Armenian tradition changed, adjusted to the information provided by the Bible: the three sons of Noah gave birth to humanity - Ham, Shem and Japheth. Nut is a descendant of the latter. His father was Torg, which is why in the Middle Ages the country was called the Torgom House, and the Armenians - the trading nation. The starting date for the appearance of Armenia is the day of victory in the first human war - August 1 (2492).
Gayk (or Hayk), the founder of this nation, his name sounds everywhere directly in the names - localities, rivers, lakes, settlements. His descendant is Aram, hence Armenia. It is enough to listen to the names: Aykashen, Aragats, Aragatsotn, Araks, Ararat.
Tradition from the Greeks
In this country, the myth of the Argonauts spread, connected with the origin of the Armenians in the closest way. The Greeks are called the ancestor of this people by Armenos of Tesals. He is an active participant in the expedition beyond the Golden Fleece along with Jason and his other comrades. This argonaut decided to leave his native region of Tesalia and the native city of Armenion and settle on new lands. The country he founded began to bear his name.
This information was given by the Greek bibliographer of the 1st century BC, Strabo, who obtained it from the stories of the military commanders of the army of Alexander the Great. Everything suggests that the myth of the Argonauts itself originated during the campaigns of the great commander. No earlier source found.
The Greeks had such a turn: they wanted to consider almost all people immigrants from Hellas. We see the same thing in their relation to the Media, the Persians, and to many other nations. So always the legal form fits on false grounds, many conquerors sinned with this approach. Apparently, such information cannot be considered reliable.
However, both Herodotus and Eudoxus wrote about the same Phrygian origin of the Armenians, cited a large number of identical words in languages, as well as similarities in the clothes of soldiers. Of course, the origin of both the people and the other is Indo-European, and these nations are related. Therefore, some similarity is quite natural.
Tradition from the Georgians
According to another legend, which was clearly created under the influence of already existing legends in neighboring territories (the time of the first known Georgian record dates back to the 9-11th centuries, that is, it is much later evidence), Torgom (called Targamus) had eight sons, from which happened all the Caucasian peoples.
The eldest was Ayios, the ancestor of the Armenians. Georgians come from his brother Kartlos. It is possible that the record of this legend had a certain source, which has not reached our time. However, in the legend under consideration there are obvious political motives that correspond exactly to the era when this document was drawn up. The influence of the Bagratids in the text is already visible throughout the Caucasus.
Tradition from the Arabs
In the legends of this people, the origin of the Armenians is associated with a special idea of ​​the resettlement of people after the flood through the efforts of the sons of Noah. The written works here are voluminous and very detailed, dating from the 12th-13th centuries.
Arabs fully agree with the biblical interpretation of this process: Noah gave birth to Yafis (Japheth), then Avmar was born, then from him - Torg (the Arabs called him Lanthan), and then the direct ancestor of all Armenians - Armini appeared. He had a brother, from whom the Caucasian Albanians (Aghvans) and Georgians descended. The most interesting thing about this legend is that it preserves the oldest memory from the period of complete unity of all Indo-Europeans.
Arabs rightly consider relatives not only Georgians, Armenians and Greeks, but also Slavs, Iranians, even Franks.
Tradition from the ancient Jews
Joseph Flavius ​​(I century BC), on the pages of his work "Jewish Antiquities", you can get acquainted with a legend claiming that Armenia was founded not by Hayk, but by Uros.
It can be assumed that this refers to the son of the ancestor - Ara the Beautiful. But another interpretation is also possible: Uros is the son of Rus Erimeny. Such a king was mentioned in cuneiforms in the Kingdom of Van.
Assyrian written sources transparently hint that the name of Erimen is quite comparable with the name of the Armenian family. True, Rusa in these documents sounds like Ursa. However, Armenians cannot fully agree with the Hebrew interpretation of the origin of their people.
What historiography says
From the 5th century until the 19th, the Armenian version of ethnogenesis was accepted implicitly. It was she who was published in the writings of the already mentioned Mosves Khorenatsi. It was both a history textbook and evidence of genealogy. But at the end of the 19th century, new monuments were found, due to which the reliability of the information of the most authoritative historian was under suspicion.
At the same time, new sciences appeared, including comparative linguistics, thanks to which the Armenians became clearly the Indo-European peoples. They were united in prehistoric times and lived on the same territory (Indo-European ancestral home). Further, theories of the origin of the Armenian people arose frequently, but not one of them was truly reliable. Some were even used for political purposes (by the Turks, for example).
The point of view regarding the location of the Indo-European ancestral homeland is constantly being revised. Many facts indicate that she was in Asia Minor on the Armenian Highlands. Most experts are sure of this. Judging by this point of view, the resettlement of the Armenians did not occur. They were originally where they live now.
What can I say for sure
To date, according to available information, it can be argued that in the fifth and fourth millennia BC Armenians were part of the Indo-European people, and at the beginning of the third millennium they were separated from this community. It was then that they began to form their own nation - at first through the merger of the clans into an early state association, then (by the sixth century BC) a unified statehood was created.
They became independent in the fourth century BC. At that time, mentions began in written monuments of a mountainous country, where an active and enterprising Armenian people created its rich and very long history.