ARAGATS OR ARAGATS
Dear Arsen, Hope this communication finds you well and receptive to what I have to pass on to you for your considered opinion. I saw your lecture - (on Vishapakars on YouTube when you were a guest at The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research NAASR advances Armenian Studies) - and was very impressed and it helped me tremendously in my effort to put a paper or a book which has the aim of throwing light on the meaning of Hay and Hayastan, to correct the erroneous etymology of the name 'Aragats' and offer new insight and information about the origin and meaning behind the symbolism of the carved Vishap stelas, the Vishapakars.
Ancient, historical and still active volcanism of the Armenian highlands, especially the still active volcanoes under lakes and thermal springs is the starting point for this hypothesis regarding Vishapakars.
The evidence I offer for my opinion that the the legends regarding vishapakars are very likely related to the phenomenon of a subaqueous volcanic eruption is mind expanding. A subaqueous volcano is a volcano formed beneath freshwater and which never builds above lake level.
It is believed by experts studying the historical evidence about volcanism in Armenia and adjacent areas that the testimony below unequivocally attests to the subaqueous volcano eruption that occurred on October 27, 1650 in lake Van. In the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research Rouben A.Haroutiunian published the following:
“On Sunday, October 27, 1650, the Feast of the Apparition of the Cross, an amazing thing happened, which nobody had seen or heard before. Amazing noises were heard coming from the lake, which sounded like cannon fire. All those who heard them became uneasy, wondering about the source of those noises. Then, after a certain period of time, a resounding noise, as if emanating from a thousand mouths, was heard, which was audible at a distance of a 20–30-day journey. Then fire appeared in the lake, stones and soil flew up in the air and fell back into the water. The stones were floating on the surface of the lake. Each stone, which was the size of a human being, weighed no more than 1 hokha (about 1.35 kg or 2.75 lbs.). They were floating like mushrooms on the surface of the water. People picked them up and were surprised at how light they were. When the fire burned, a bitter smell spread all around and people held their noses; everybody's silver ornaments turned black and the lime-covered walls turned black.”
To cut my personal story short I wish to first tell you that my given name is Karekin Sevan Tateossian, I became Karl S Tate after the Turks kicked me out of Kyrenia Cyprus in 1974. I was born in Jaffa 'Palestine' and arrived in Cyprus aged four, went to Armenian School till 11 and after getting British papers, went to a British Colonial school until I got the opportunity to go to California (without family) at the age of 14 and finished High School and collage there. On my way back to Cyprus the war started and I got stuck in London where I spent the next 12 years in the Music business. In 1969 I met David Bowie and until 1974 I was his 'assistant manager'. Since 1979 I have been back in Cyprus where I brought up a family and now am the proud grandfather of nine. 10 years ago I went into semi retirement in Polis Chrysochous Cyprus and have been a part time philologist/philosopher working on a book possibly titled "What is an Armenian" or "Who wants to be an Armenia"
I think I have something to contribute to help raise our Armenian spirit or at least our profile but I will let you be the judge of that.
Let me start by first sharing the existing information on the Mountain and follow up with what new informationI on the s believe I have to contribute that might suggest that academia should revisit Armenia starting with the etymology of Aragats, Vishap, Ara, Armenia, Hayk and Hayr.
Mount Aragats (Armenian: Արագած, pronounced [ɑɾɑˈgɑts]) variously spelt today, is an isolated four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. It is the highest point in the Armenian Highlands. Its northern summit, at 4,090 m (13,420 ft) above sea level, is the highest point of the Lesser Caucasus and Armenia. Aragats is a large volcano with numerous fissure vents. Numerous large lava flows descend from the volcano and are constrained in age between middle Pleistocene and as recent as 3,000 BCE. Numerous engravings have been around the volcano, including rock paintings portraying animals and human-like figures in the north and in on the southern side of the volcano are petroglyphs showing animals that were created from the 5th to 1st millennia BCE.
The circumference of the massif is around 200 km (120 mi), and covers an area of 6,000 km2 (2,300 sq mi) or around 1⁄5 of present Armenia's total area. Aragats Stratovocano's four main peaks surround one of the largest caldera in the world. Steep ridges, open to all winds lead to the summits, deep crater lies between saddles, the cascade of waterfalls makes an amazing sound in deep valley between Eastern and Sothern tops.
Mt Aragats is a very old volcano, with four main cardinal peaks along/around the Caldera.
Before I go into the etymology of the ancient name of Mount Aragats, I must explain that it was named anciently, probably 2400 B.C. and the name was recorded in classical Armenian as 'Otn Aragatsoy not Aragats.
The Armenian word for cauldron/caldera pronounced Katsay, is 'կաթսայ. Gatsay in Armenian is a noun which translates to Cauldron, or pot or boiler and more interesting is the fact that it also translates to kettle, which suggests that it became what etymology claims is the Old Norse variant 'ketill' which is the word for "cauldron". Thus the internal etymology of the word Gatsay, կաթսայ in Armenian translates to cauldron/kettle and if suggests that the original Proto-Proto Indo European for cauldron/kettle is Armenian word 'kats'. Also that the original name 'Otn Aragatsoy' was an accurate scientific description meaning 'Atmosphere of Ara's Cauldron'.
A caldera is a modern description by the contemporary geologists for Mount Aragats and before the introduction of the word Caldera, similar volcanoes were referred to as large cauldron-like hollows that form shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. The etymology of caldera is a "cavity on the summit of a volcano," the word comes from Spanish, literally a "cauldron, kettle," from Latin caldarium "hot-bath", from caldarius "pertaining to warming," from calidus "warm, hot" (from PIE root *kele- "warm"). Caldera is a doublet of cauldron. The existing etymology has a hypothetical source and the evidence for it is provided from the Sanskrit carad- "harvest," literally "hot time;" Latin calor "heat," calidus "warm," calere "be hot;" I posit that the Armenian word "gats' which takes us directly to kett, kettle is the original. The Armenian word for cauldron/caldera is pronounced Katsay, 'կաթսայ. Katsay in Armenian is a noun which translates to Cauldron, or pot or boiler and more interesting is the fact that it also translates to kettle, a borrowing of the Old Norse variant ketill for "cauldron".
The term caldera comes from Spanish caldera, and Latin caldaria, meaning "cooking pot". In some texts the English term cauldron is also used, though in more recent work the term cauldron refers to a caldera that has been deeply eroded to expose the beds under the caldera floor. The term caldera was introduced into the geological vocabulary recently by the German geologist Leopold von Buch when he published his memoirs of his 1815 on a visit to the Canary Islands. The etymology of the word cauldron/caledera/caldron, is also a large pot (kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire. The etymology of the word cauldron from when it was first recorded in Middle English is caudroun (13th century). It was borrowed from Norman caudron (Picard caudron, French: chaudron). This is a phonetical evolution of Vulgar Latin *caldario from Classical Latin caldārium "hot bath" and caldarium derives from cal(i)dus "hot". The Norman-French word replaces the Old English ċetel (German (Koch) Kessel "cauldron", Dutch (kook)ketel "cauldron"), Middle English chetel. The word "kettle" is a borrowing of the Old Norse variant ketill "cauldron".It seems obvious Gatsoy in the Armenian is more than likely the origin of Indo-European.
Mount Aragats which is (between the rivers Kour and Arax) is often refer to as Aragats the “White Glory". It is shaped like an oval shield. A circle with four peaks (cardinally positioned) that rise from the middle of the shield. I offer that this visual could be why the Kurds call it the 'giant yurt.' It is the circle within the summits whick is the remains of a crater named a cauldron from a very ancient volcano.
It is worth mentioning at this point that the mountains' named Ara's Cauldraon could be traced in the Avesta which is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism and the Indian Rigveda, for they both speak of a mountain named HAra or HAra Berezaiti or High Harat, which they say is the first mountain created on earth. Though scholars still differ regarding the exact location of High Hara and 'Airanem Vaejah' said to be the territory within which
iMount Hara and the river Arax are placed, enough of them place it in Armenia for me to bring it up and believe that the new information regarding the new etymology of Ara-Gatsay will confirm or in the least reinforce if not confirm the position of Mount Hara and river Arax in favour of Armenia. Given my etymology holds, the implications are great and many, most importantly, it will define Aragatsoy as the axis mundi of Armenia as well as the intelectual leader of the neighbouring countries as well as strengthen the Armenian hypothesis, also known as the Near Eastern model, which is a theory of the Proto-Indo-European homeland, initially proposed by linguists Tamaz V. Recent DNA-research has led to renewed suggestions of a Caucasian homeland for a 'pre-proto-Indo-European'.that the Armenian language came before Indo-Aryan and is the Proto-Proto-Indo-European.
HOW THE ORIGINAL ARMENIAN NAME 'ARAGATSAY' BECAME MODERN ARMENIAN ARAGATS & TURKISH ARAGOZ WHICH TRANSLATS TO ARA'S THRONE OR ARA'S EYE.
The name in the west is today spelled Aragats,, alternatives are many, Alagez or Alagez Peak, Alago'z, Alagyaz Lerrnagagat. A relatively modern name for the mountain is Alagöz (Russian, Алагёз), which literally means "variegated eye" in Turkish and Azeri. When one looks at the pictures taken from above Aragats one can see clearly that, the caldera between the four peaks looks exactly like a variegated eye. Alagyaz (Ալագյազ), was also used in Armenian however it is the name of a village on the foot of Aragats. Lernagagat means 'mountain top' in Armenian, 'lern' for mountain+gagat; գագաթ which means top, peak, summit, head, height, pinnacle etc.
The name in the west is today spelled Aragats,, alternatives are many, Alagez or Alagez Peak, Alago'z, Alagyaz Lerrnagagat. A relatively modern name for the mountain is Alagöz (Russian, Алагёз), which literally means "variegated eye" in Turkish and Azeri. When one looks at the pictures taken from above Aragats one can see clearly that, the caldera between the four peaks looks exactly like a variegated eye. Alagyaz (Ալագյազ), was also used in Armenian however it is the name of a village on the foot of Aragats. Lernagagat means 'mountain top' in Armenian, 'lern' for mountain+gagat; գագաթ which means top, peak, summit, head, height, pinnacle etc.
So who changes the original Ara-gatsay to Ara-kah, was it Semiramis. Today it is asserted by all authorities on the subject and accepted by all peoples that Ara+gats should be blindly taken as Ara+ gah, Արա+գահ which means "Ara's throne". The fact is that the name and meaning were changed and what stands out is the fact that firstly we are not offered a logical etymology for the suffix 'gats' 'կաթս and secondly, more importantly, that we are not offered a logical reason as to why we have to accept a phonetic leap of faith from 'gats' to 'kah', when the original classical Armenian rendering we know is 'gatsay' which is the name as offered by the very early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi. It is difficult to accept the change without an etymologically sound explanation as to how Aragats becomes Arakah.
Not only have we are asked to accept a phonetic change from Ara+gats to Ara+kah an arbitrary change from its meaning of cauldron to throne but also we are asked to accept that the prefix Ara of Ara-Gatsay refers to the legendary hero Ara the Beautiful, whom we know was murdered by Semiramis around 800 B.C. and tha Ara is not the original Armenuk/Armenak, son of Hayk that the very early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi informes us was the one who gave the name to the mountain.
For reasons unknown to me,- (possibly because Ara the Beautiful is a better, more recent known historic figure, or perhaps it was altered by Semiramis and nobody bothered to go into the etymology of Aragatsay which does not do justice to the savvy scientist who knowingly named the geological phenomenon, describing it exactly for what it is named by science today.
Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the period of Late Antiquity and the author of the History of Armenia. Movses is credited with the earliest known historiographical work on the history of Armenia written in Armenian, but was also a poet, or hymn writer, and a grammarian. Movses Khorenatsi, in his History of Armenia claimed that the mountain was named after Aramaneak, who was the son of Hayk, the legendary father of the Armenian people, not Ara the Beautiful.
We are told by the very early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi that Aramenak chronologically speaking on or about the year 2400 B.C. after the death of his father Hayk, went farther north, descending onto a relatively deeper plain which was between lofty mountains and which was crossed by a fast-moving rivers. Crossing this river, Aramenak and company settled there and built up the territory of his inheritance, a mountainous rocky place with a great atmosphere which he named 'ոտն Արագածոյ, otn Aragats'oy; His eldest son Aramayis begat many sons and daughters, the eldest being Amasia. Amasia begat many sons and daughters, the eldest being Gegham. Gegham begat many sons and daughters, the eldest being Harma. Harma begat many sons and daughters, the eldest being Aram. Aram begat many sons and daughters, the eldest being Ara the Handsome. Now Ara is sometimes associated Arame of Urartu, Arame ruled the Kingdom of Urartu also known as Biainili during the 9th century BC thus there is a period of more than a thousand years between Armanuk the first son of Hayk and Ara the handsome.
Aramaneak's possessions at the foot in classical Armenian, 'ոտն Արագածոյ, otn Aragats'oy;' in modern Armenia has been transformed to Aragats-otn, where the 'oy seems to have dissapeared and the prefix otn attached as a suffix to Aragats. The modern Aragatsotn Province, dominated by the mountain, was formed in 1995.
Air or atmosphere in Armenia is 'ot' thus Otn Aragats'oy.
ARAGATSAY A SACRED MOUNTAIN IN MYTHS AND LEGENDS AN AXIS MUNDI
According to an ancient Armenian legend, Mount Aragats and Mount Ararat were loving sisters who parted after a quarrel and separated permanently.
A relatively recent Christian legend regarding Aragats tells us that Gregory the Illuminator, who converted Armenia into Christianity in the early 4th century, "used to pray on the peak of the mountain at nighttime and it is said that there an icon-lamp shone bright to give light for him. It is also said that the lamp was hanging from 'heaven' and that no rope was attached to it. Some say that the icon-lamp is still there, but only the worthy ones can see it.
Heaven, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as gods, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to Earth or incarnate and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife or, in exceptional cases, enter Heaven alive. It is the above of an axis mundi, the vertical connecting line between the world below, our world and the world above.
Heaven is often described as a "highest place", the holiest place, also a Paradise, The word for heaven in ancient and modern Armenia is դրախտ sounded 'turagt', which translates to paradise which later became referred to as the garden of Edan.
Paradise was referring to the celestial circling sky, or the cyclical path of the sky and spheres, the place of the sun, moon, planets and stars and most importantly the source of light.
Sacred mountains are central to some myths and are the subjects of many legends. For many, the most symbolic aspect of mountains are the peaks because they are the closest point to heaven or other imagined worlds below and above. Also many religions have traditions centered on sacred mountains, which either are or were considered holy, such as Mt. Olympus in Greek mythology and Mount Kailash which is believed to be the abode of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati, and is considered sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism.The sacred mountain Hara Berezaiti mentioned above, which by some is thought to be purely mythical, is the one I wish to bring attention to, for I intuitively feel that it is related to mount Aragats and the river Arax in Armenia.
In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi — also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree —has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing "the connection between Heaven and Earth" or the "higher and lower realms." Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the omphalos (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the axis mundi by comparative mythologists include a tree. a mountain, a pillar, a column of smoke or fire, or a product of human manufacture (such as a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a spire. Its proximity to heaven may carries implications that are chiefly religious.
(pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church or secular obelisk, lighthouse. "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all."
E.kur (𒂍𒆳), also known as Duranki, is a Sumerian term meaning "mountain house". It is the assembly of the gods in the Garden of the gods, parallel in Greek mythology to Mount Olympus and was the most revered and sacred building of ancient Sumer.(pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church or secular obelisk, lighthouse. "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all."
Where there was no mountain the axis mundi was the 'mooring-rope' of heaven and earth as in the Sumerian/Mesopotamian world and it was called Enlil who was the god of the atmosphere, the word for air/atmosphere is 'Otn' in Armenian. Enlil was a member of the triad of gods completed by Anu (Sumerian: An, the highest heaven above) and Ea (Enki, the earth below). Enlil's primary center of worship was the Ekur temple in the city of Nippur, which was believed to have been built by Enlil himself and was regarded as the "mooring-rope" of heaven and earth. Enlil plays a vital role in the Sumerian creation myth; he separates An (heaven) from Ki (earth), thus making the world habitable for humans!
Mountain houses play a certain role in Mesopotamian mythology and are associated with deities such as Anu, Enlil, Enki. In the Hymn to Enlil, the Ekur is closely linked to Enlil whilst in Enlil and Ninlil it is the abode of the Annanuki, from where Enlil is banished. The fall of Ekur is described in the Lament for Ur. In mythology, the Ekur was the centre of the earth and location where heaven and earth were united, the axis mundi.
The word Paradise in late Old English is "the garden of Eden," from Old French paradise "paradise, garden of Eden", from Late Latin paradisus " a garden" "an orchard." The abode of the blessed," from Greek paradeisos "a park; paradise, or the garden of Eden," from an Armenian PIE Bardez a source similar to Avestan pairidaeza "enclosure, park" a garden. It is a compound of pairi- "around" (from PIE root *per- "around" + diz "to make." The concept is also projected into the upper sky, as the firmament. Spiritually speaking it is the place of bliss, utter happiness, peace of mind, in total unity with the All. Thus the sky day and night going round and round. Or it could mean a place of eternal bliss where one's the Deity resides. In a cosmogonical contexts 'paradise' describes the world before it was tainted by evil (the separation from the one.) Paradise is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, in contrast to this world of separateness from the One.
Thutmose III of Egypt says in the land of the Ermenen "Heaven rests on its four pillars" International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1915 Archived 2012-02-21 at the Wayback Machine; Eric H. Cline and David O'Connor (eds.) Thutmose III, University of Michigan, 2006, ISBN 978-0-472-11467-2.In old Egyptian beliefs, this paradise is named Aru, they are the reed-fields, the ideal hunting and fishing grounds where man did not have to toil, where the dead lived after judgment.
Worshippers of Vishnu, the Preserver, who was very present in the Armenian Highlands before and during the Bronze Age.
To this day the Turks and Assyrians refer to Armenians as Ermeni/Armani. The Pharaoh of Egypt, Thutmose III of, also referred to the people living in the Highlands of Armenia across the Euphrates river as the Ermenen. He said on record that in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars". I could not believe my luck when I came across this item while I was researching Mount Aragats with its four cardinal peaks. I published this on my blogpost a few years ago and in this age of overload of information, I realised that the connection though obvious to me had to be elaborated on and put forward as a hypothesis, through official channels before the world accepted that the Ermenen were one and the same as the Armenians and that Mount 'Otn Aragatsoy' with its four peaks/pillars, is obviously the one referred to by Thutmose III of Egypt (1466 BC in his 23rd year) in his annals recorded on the inside walls of the chamber housing the "holy of holies" at the great Karnak Temple of Amun. The space containing these inscriptions (measuring just 25 meters in length and 12 meters wide), presents the largest and most detailed accounts concerning military exploits of all Egyptian Kings.
We know, or it is on record that after Thutmose III had taken control of the Syrian cities, on his eighth campaign, to reach Mitanni, he had to cross the Euphrates River, where he confronted a Hurrian country with an Indo-Aryan ruling class. This is possibly when and where Thutmose met the people he referred to as the ‘Ermenen’ and recorded in his annals that they say in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars.” A second mention by pharaoh Thutmose III is in the 33rd year of his reign (1456 BC) and this time it reads that in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars” that is the people of Ermenen (”in the Region of the Minni”). There is also a tantalizing Babylonian inventory of the Akkadian Empire that locates the land of the Armanî next to Lullubi.
Till today the earliest certain attestation of the name Armenia comes from the Behistun Inscription (c. 500 BC). The Bronze Age records of Thutmoses III which make reference to a people and country of RMN/RMNN where "heaven rests upon its four pillars in their land", opens up a new debate. All said, I believe that once the connection of the four pillars is made with the four peaks of Aragatsay there can be no doubt left that the reference rmnn in the annals of Thutmose III are the Armenians of Armenia. It is my belief that the Ermenen who made the allegoric or metaphoric reference about their land to Thutmose III, were alluding to the four peaks of Aragatsay in Armenia. Aragatsay as Ara's cauldron, gives new meaning to the concept we today call axis mundi. I see it as the original, most natural phenomenal Axis mundi the ancients contemplating heaven, earth and the underworld could have and behold. The vertical line, within a circle crossed by four peaks/pillars which connect the terrestrial world to heaven and through the Caldera also the underworld. Otn Aragats'oy
The name Mitanni is first found in the “memoirs” of the Syrian wars (ca. 1480 BC) of the official astronomer and clockmaker Amememhet, who returned from the “foreign country called Me-ta-ni” at the time of Thutmose I. Mitanni kings and other members of royalty bore names of Indo-Aryan origin, and invoked Indo-Aryan deities attested in the Rigveda. Mitanni was probably originally part of an exchange network connected to Aleppo that previously linked the Euphrates, North Syria, and Central Anatolia. For a time the Mitanni controlled trade routes down the Khabur to Mari and up the Euphrates from there to Carchemish.
Thutmose III again waged war in Mitanni in the 33rd year of his rule. The Egyptian army crossed the Euphrates at Carchemish and reached a town called Iryn (maybe present day Erin, 20 km northwest of Aleppo.) They sailed down the Euphrates to Emar (Meskene) and then returned home via Mitanni.
Eusebius, writing in the early 4th century, quoting fragments of Eupolemus, a now-lost Jewish historian of the 2nd century BC, says that “around the time of Abraham, the Ermenen invaded the Syrians”. This corresponds to the arrival of the Mitanni, since Abraham is traditionally assumed at around the 17th century BC. However if one looks into theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni they exhibit close similarities to Indo-Aryan, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrian and Armenian populations in the course of the Indo-Aryan expansion. In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are invoked.
The ethnicity of the peoples within the Powerful Mitanni kingdom is difficult to ascertain. I believe that Mitanni territory, was just south of the Armenian Highlands and in 1446 BC, Thutmose III in the 33rd year of his reign, was not fighting the Ermenen when he made reference to the land of the Ermenen, and said they say in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars”.
Till today the earliest certain attestation of the name Armenia comes from the Behistun Inscription (c. 500 BC). The Bronze Age records of Thutmoses III which make reference to a people and country of RMN/RMNN where "heaven rests upon its four pillars in their land", opens up a new debate. All said, I believe that once the connection of the four pillars is made with the four peaks of Aragatsay there can be no doubt left that the reference rmnn in the annals of Thutmose III are the Armenians of Armenia. It is my belief that the Ermenen who made the allegoric or metaphoric reference about their land to Thutmose III, were alluding to the four peaks of Aragatsay in Armenia. Aragatsay as Ara's cauldron, gives new meaning to the concept we today call axis mundi. I see it as the original, most natural phenomenal Axis mundi the ancients contemplating heaven, earth and the underworld could have and behold. The vertical line, within a circle crossed by four peaks/pillars which connect the terrestrial world to heaven and through the Caldera also the underworld. Otn Aragats'oy
The name Mitanni is first found in the “memoirs” of the Syrian wars (ca. 1480 BC) of the official astronomer and clockmaker Amememhet, who returned from the “foreign country called Me-ta-ni” at the time of Thutmose I. Mitanni kings and other members of royalty bore names of Indo-Aryan origin, and invoked Indo-Aryan deities attested in the Rigveda. Mitanni was probably originally part of an exchange network connected to Aleppo that previously linked the Euphrates, North Syria, and Central Anatolia. For a time the Mitanni controlled trade routes down the Khabur to Mari and up the Euphrates from there to Carchemish.
Thutmose III again waged war in Mitanni in the 33rd year of his rule. The Egyptian army crossed the Euphrates at Carchemish and reached a town called Iryn (maybe present day Erin, 20 km northwest of Aleppo.) They sailed down the Euphrates to Emar (Meskene) and then returned home via Mitanni.
Eusebius, writing in the early 4th century, quoting fragments of Eupolemus, a now-lost Jewish historian of the 2nd century BC, says that “around the time of Abraham, the Ermenen invaded the Syrians”. This corresponds to the arrival of the Mitanni, since Abraham is traditionally assumed at around the 17th century BC. However if one looks into theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni they exhibit close similarities to Indo-Aryan, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrian and Armenian populations in the course of the Indo-Aryan expansion. In a treaty between the Hittites and the Mitanni, the deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatya (Ashvins) are invoked.
The ethnicity of the peoples within the Powerful Mitanni kingdom is difficult to ascertain. I believe that Mitanni territory, was just south of the Armenian Highlands and in 1446 BC, Thutmose III in the 33rd year of his reign, was not fighting the Ermenen when he made reference to the land of the Ermenen, and said they say in their land “heaven rests upon its four pillars”.
Before I go into the Vishabakar legends, I would like the reader to take a close look at a phenomenon that I believe to be directly connected to or responsible for the Dragon from Hell.
A subaqueous volcano is a volcano formed beneath freshwater and which never builds above lake level. Subaqueous volcanoes are most commonly formed in oceans, but can also form in lakes, rivers and subglacial lakes. In improving our understanding of subaqueous volcanoes, it is important to consider the differences between the characteristics of modern and ancient approaches to the study. Modern studies offer fresh and unaltered observances and ancient studies. Not to be confused with Submarine volcanoes which are underwater vents or fissures in the Earth's surface from which magma can erupt. Many submarine volcanoes as well as subaqueous valcanoes are located near areas of tectonic plate formation, known as ridges. Hydrothermal vents, sites of abundant biological activity, are commonly found near submarine volcanoes.The presence of water can greatly alter the characteristics of a volcanic eruption and the explosions of underwater volcanoes in comparison to those on land.
For instance, water causes magma to cool and solidify much more quickly than in a terrestrial eruption, often turning it into volcanic glass. The shapes and textures of lava formed by submarine volcanoes are different from lava erupted on land. Upon contact with water, a solid crust forms around the lava. Advancing lava flows into this crust, forming what is known as pillow lava.
Underwater acoustics is the study of the propagation of sound in water and the interaction of the mechanical waves that constitute sound with the water, its contents and its boundaries. The water may be in the ocean, a lake, a river or a tank. Typical frequencies associated with underwater acoustics are between 10 Hz and 1 MHz.
VISHAPAKARS ARE ROCKS EJECTED FROM ARMENIAS VOLCANOES AND THESE SYMBOLICALLY CARVED HYBRID 'VISHAP'S' I POSIT REPRESENTED THE FIRST AND LAST CONSTALLATIONS TO SHOW THAT THEY, THE OCCUPANTS, WERE AWARE OF THE NEW GLOBAL REALITY, THE COMMING OF AGE INTO THE NEW GREAT YEAR, FROM THE AGE OF THE CONSTALLATION OF TAURUS THE BULL WHICH HAD PASSED TO THE NEW AGE OF ARIES OR AS THE SUMERIANS VISUALISED THE CONSTALATION, THE NEW AGE OF THE HUSBANDMAN - ( AYR IN ARMENIAN FROM WHERE DERIVES THE WORD HAYR, FATHER IN ARMENIAN) - THE NEW AGRICULTURAL HUSBANDMANS CALANDER THAT WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE ASTRONOMERS NOW FOLLOWED THE ANNUAL CYCLE FROM THE RAM THE FIRST SIGN 21st OF MARCH TO THE LAST THE 20th OF MARCH WAS PISCES THE FISH. THE NEW STARTING AND ENDING POINT OF THE SPRING EQUANOX WAS ESTABLISHED AT THE DAWN OF ARMENIAN HISTORY (2492 B.C.) THIS IS CONSIDERED TO BE THE CUSP OF REBIRTH. THE ARMENIAN PHONEME 'AR' WHICH IN THE LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR TAKES THE PLACE OF THE 'FIRST' THE 'GIVEN' APPEAR TO LEND ITSELF TO THE WORD ARIES THE RAM AS WELL AS REPRESENTING FIRE AND AT THE END OF THE ANNUAL 360* CYCLE, PISCES THE FISH WAS REPRESENTING THE WATERS. I POSIT THAT VISHAPAKARS WERE SYMBOLIC OF THE CUSP OF REBIRTH AND MUCH MUCH MORE. THEY DEMONSTRATE SCIENTIFIC ASTRONOMICAL AND METEOROLGICAL KNOWLEGE OF THE LAWS OF HEAVEN AND OF EARTH. THEY ALSO SUGGEST THAT ARMENIAN COULD BE A PROTO-PIE LANGUAGE, A PRIORI LANGUAGE WHERE THE NEW BEGINNING WAS MARKED BY 'AR' THE FIRST 'GIVEN' OF A NEW PRIORI LANGUAGE. THE POINT OF UNITY OF FIRE&WATER, LIKE VAHAGNI&ANAHID.
KRIOS KHRYSOMALLOS (Crius Chrysomallus) was a fabulous, flying, golden-fleeced ram. It was sent by the cloud-nymph Nephele to rescue her children Phrixos (Phrixus) and Helle when they were about to be sacrificed to the gods. The ram carried Phrixos all the way to Kolkhis (Colchis) at the far end the Black Sea and then instructed the boy to sacrifice him to the gods and lay his fleece in the grove of Ares. Khrysomallos was afterwards placed amongst the stars as the constellation Aries and his shining fleece became the goal of the quest of Iason (Jason) and the Argonauts.Phrixus was told to sacrifice his rescuer, the Golden Ram, to honour the god Poseidon. Thus, the life of the Golden Ram came to an end, but in undertaking the sacrifice, Phrixus came into possession of the Golden Fleece. Poseidon would ensure that the Golden Ram would forever be remembered for the Crius Chrysomallus would be transformed into the constellation Aries. Interesting to note that in the 20th century, some scholars suggested that the story of the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of sheep husbandry to Greece from the east.
According to ancient legends, Vishap the 'dragon' fought Vahagn who became the Dragon Slayer. Vahagn Vishapakagh (Վահագն Վիշապաքաղ, Vahagn the Dragon Reaper) or Vahakn (Armenian: Վահագն) was a god of fire, thunder, and war, most revered in ancient Armenia. Anahit (Armenian: Անահիտ) was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and most importantly the source of all water.
The natural creative forces of fire and water, which perceptibly exclude each other, are brought together in a unity of opposites in the worldviews of early archaic civilizations.
Both forces are purifying as well as protective and I will show that the early civilization of Hayg's Armenia viewed these two forces as being connected with the cosmic powers of the sun and moon. Where they are combined, anthropomorphically, fire (as the sun) is usually male, and water (as the moon) female.
THE ASTRONOMER PROGENITOR OF THE ARMENIANS HAYK IT SEEMS WAS WELL AWARE OF THE ECLEPTIC. BY NAMING HIS FIRST SON - (HIS 'MANUK' AS THEY SAY IN ARMENIAN FOR 'CHILD') - ARMENAK HE MARKED A NEW BEGINNING IN MORE WAYS THEN ONE. AR, ARA, IS LIKE THE FLOATING POINT IN MATH, IN THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE IT TAKES THE PLACE OF THE FIRST WHICH IN A CYCLE IS BEFOREW THE LAST. IN TIME AND SPACE WITHIN THE ETERNAL CYCLE AR IS THE POINT THAT DEFINES THE BREAKING OF THE LIGHT OF THE SUN EVERY MORNING AND EVERY SPRING EQUANOX. ARMENIAN AR I POSIT IS THE ROOT PHONEME THAT GIVES INDOEUROPEAN ITS NEW 'GIVEN' ARIES THE RAM AND MEENA THE LAST IS FROM SANSKRIT FOR PISCES THE FISH THE AVATAR OF MANU, THE FIRST MAN, THE FIRST MIND BORN. (Meena, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Pisces, and tuday overlaps with about the later half of March and about the early half of April in the Gregorian calendar.)
A vishapakar (Armenian: Վիշապաքար) also known as vishap stones, vishap stelae, "serpent-stones", "dragon stones", are characteristic monoliths found in large numbers in the Armenian Highlands. In Armenia's Gegham mountains, as far as Lake Sevan's north-east coast, Mount Aragats's slopes, Garni, the valley of Çoruh River, as well as other places all in a circumference around Aragatsoy.
When one reads the ancient medieval legends one learns that the peaks of the Armenian mountains were populated by giant dragons, semi-god like beings that had the task of guarding the sacred springs, and perhaps personified in megalithic steles symbolically decorated mostly in the places where they were found, most are located in high altitude pastures, between 2,000 and 3,000 metres. We are told that these steles are called ‘vishap’, meaning ‘dragon’ or 'serpent' stones in Armenian, and alternately the Armenian dictionary defines the word vishap/վիշապ as a noun for dragon, leviathan, typhon, or a vortex. I note that the word in Armenian for Dragon is "Azhdahak" not Vishap.
They are commonly carved from one piece of stone, into cigar-like shapes with a fish's head. Supposedly they are images of vishaps, a fire and water dragon of Armenian folklore. There are about 150 known extant vishap stelae, of which 90 are found in Armenia.
These megalithic steles are basalt monoliths, placed in a vertical position, can reach 5 metres in height. Three main types have been found.
The first flat type have carved on them a Ram or a Bulls head, on the top front, most have a rams head, very reminiscent of the sign some of Taurus and most of Aries. Also carved are images of a pelt of a bull or a ram, like a fury pelt, - (a fleece I prefer to call it for it appears to me reminiscent of the fleece in Greek Myth of the sacrificed Ram, the golden fleece,Crius Chrysomallus.) - obviously a removed and worked upon skin, with the head still attached, as well as curved or straight horns on extremities.
The second main type is worked into an oval shape of a fish, with gills and fins It can be assumed that it is directly related to water, rivers, rain, lakes, springs, possibly representing the season er the comming of the rains as in the time of Pisces. Also the fish is very reminiscent of the fish-man Hovhanes who is said to have brought civilization to Sumer and Armenia, but that is another story. The carvings resemble and are probably related to the fish of mountain lake. The Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan) is an endemic fish species of Lake Sevan in Armenia, known as ishkhan (իշխան, pronounced [iʃˈχɑn]) in Armenian. It is a salmonid fish related to the brown trout.
The third most sophisticated iconographic type are hybrid. On the same stele, that is worked into the shape of a fish, with gills and fins, they have the representation a goat’s/rams skin draped on the belly of a fish, demonstrating a union of two symbols in one - (like the goatfish symbol of Capricorn) - obviously a cultural phenomenon. For me these are a very obvious representation of the new horticultural, agricultural, Husbandman's marker for the first and last of the season on the new beginning of the 'great year ' of Aries/Pisces.
The Indo - Iranian word vishap, which could be Armenian in origin, they say was borrowed or used by Armenians even in early Aryan times. It is found in Avesta as visapa as an epithet applied to azi, in Armenian izhi is snake. Armenian carpet - Page xxi (Manya Ghazarian)
In the story about the slaying of the dragon, we read: “ Dardzealer vishap mi mets vnasakar i Kapetolin ” 61 (Near the Capitolium the big and harmful dragon again appeared). East and West in the Crusader States: Context, Contacts,... - Page 88 (Krijna Nelly Ciggaar)
In the epos about the heroes of Sasun, the brothers Sanasar and Bagdasar save from drought a city which was without water because a vishap had dammed the sources of the river in the mountains. Semiotica - Volumes 1-25; Volume 27 - Page 273 (1979)
To find and understand the source of the fear expressed by the images and words in myth and ledged regarding the phenomenon of Vishaps in the real world, one looks with an open mind for traces other than the Stella - (which more than likely have a connection to the phenomenon) - that might explain the root of the idea of larger than life monsters in the imagination. This phenomenon obviously dates back to the beginning of the creation of the Highlands now Armenia. We are told that vishabs exist or existed in high mountains, in big lakes, in the sky, and in the clouds. They are believed to roar and sweep away everything in their path, especially after ascending into the sky and descending onto lakes. According to ancient beliefs, the Vishap singular ascended to the sky and descended therefrom to earth, causing thunderous storms, whirlwinds, absorption of the sun (causing an eclipse).
It is also said that a thousand-year-old vishap can absorb the whole world. To my mind the description above and the one below by Hesiod describe a major volcanic eruption.
I find that the closest description to the Armenian Vishap as above comes from Hesiod, when he describes Typhon and states that it was "terrible, outrageous and lawless", immensely powerful, and on his shoulders were one hundred snake heads, that emitted fire and every kind of noise. Strength was with its hands in all that he did and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvelous heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps.In Armenian mythology, in folklore it is actually said to be a dragon which is very closely associated with fire and water.
Dating the Vishabakars has been a difficult task however I believe my hypothesis dates the beginning of Vishaps at 2400 B.C. which is also the new beginning of the Hay and Hayastan/Armenia.
The natural creative forces of fire and water, which perceptibly exclude each other, are brought together in a unity of opposites in the worldviews of early archaic civilizations.
Both forces are purifying as well as protective and I will show that the early civilization of Hayg's Armenia viewed these two forces as being connected with the cosmic powers of the sun and moon. Where they are combined, anthropomorphically, fire (as the sun) is usually male, and water (as the moon) female.
THE ASTRONOMER PROGENITOR OF THE ARMENIANS HAYK IT SEEMS WAS WELL AWARE OF THE ECLEPTIC. BY NAMING HIS FIRST SON - (HIS 'MANUK' AS THEY SAY IN ARMENIAN FOR 'CHILD') - ARMENAK HE MARKED A NEW BEGINNING IN MORE WAYS THEN ONE. AR, ARA, IS LIKE THE FLOATING POINT IN MATH, IN THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE IT TAKES THE PLACE OF THE FIRST WHICH IN A CYCLE IS BEFOREW THE LAST. IN TIME AND SPACE WITHIN THE ETERNAL CYCLE AR IS THE POINT THAT DEFINES THE BREAKING OF THE LIGHT OF THE SUN EVERY MORNING AND EVERY SPRING EQUANOX. ARMENIAN AR I POSIT IS THE ROOT PHONEME THAT GIVES INDOEUROPEAN ITS NEW 'GIVEN' ARIES THE RAM AND MEENA THE LAST IS FROM SANSKRIT FOR PISCES THE FISH THE AVATAR OF MANU, THE FIRST MAN, THE FIRST MIND BORN. (Meena, is a month in the Indian solar calendar. It corresponds to the zodiacal sign of Pisces, and tuday overlaps with about the later half of March and about the early half of April in the Gregorian calendar.)
A vishapakar (Armenian: Վիշապաքար) also known as vishap stones, vishap stelae, "serpent-stones", "dragon stones", are characteristic monoliths found in large numbers in the Armenian Highlands. In Armenia's Gegham mountains, as far as Lake Sevan's north-east coast, Mount Aragats's slopes, Garni, the valley of Çoruh River, as well as other places all in a circumference around Aragatsoy.
When one reads the ancient medieval legends one learns that the peaks of the Armenian mountains were populated by giant dragons, semi-god like beings that had the task of guarding the sacred springs, and perhaps personified in megalithic steles symbolically decorated mostly in the places where they were found, most are located in high altitude pastures, between 2,000 and 3,000 metres. We are told that these steles are called ‘vishap’, meaning ‘dragon’ or 'serpent' stones in Armenian, and alternately the Armenian dictionary defines the word vishap/վիշապ as a noun for dragon, leviathan, typhon, or a vortex. I note that the word in Armenian for Dragon is "Azhdahak" not Vishap.
They are commonly carved from one piece of stone, into cigar-like shapes with a fish's head. Supposedly they are images of vishaps, a fire and water dragon of Armenian folklore. There are about 150 known extant vishap stelae, of which 90 are found in Armenia.
These megalithic steles are basalt monoliths, placed in a vertical position, can reach 5 metres in height. Three main types have been found.
The first flat type have carved on them a Ram or a Bulls head, on the top front, most have a rams head, very reminiscent of the sign some of Taurus and most of Aries. Also carved are images of a pelt of a bull or a ram, like a fury pelt, - (a fleece I prefer to call it for it appears to me reminiscent of the fleece in Greek Myth of the sacrificed Ram, the golden fleece,Crius Chrysomallus.) - obviously a removed and worked upon skin, with the head still attached, as well as curved or straight horns on extremities.
The second main type is worked into an oval shape of a fish, with gills and fins It can be assumed that it is directly related to water, rivers, rain, lakes, springs, possibly representing the season er the comming of the rains as in the time of Pisces. Also the fish is very reminiscent of the fish-man Hovhanes who is said to have brought civilization to Sumer and Armenia, but that is another story. The carvings resemble and are probably related to the fish of mountain lake. The Sevan trout (Salmo ischchan) is an endemic fish species of Lake Sevan in Armenia, known as ishkhan (իշխան, pronounced [iʃˈχɑn]) in Armenian. It is a salmonid fish related to the brown trout.
The third most sophisticated iconographic type are hybrid. On the same stele, that is worked into the shape of a fish, with gills and fins, they have the representation a goat’s/rams skin draped on the belly of a fish, demonstrating a union of two symbols in one - (like the goatfish symbol of Capricorn) - obviously a cultural phenomenon. For me these are a very obvious representation of the new horticultural, agricultural, Husbandman's marker for the first and last of the season on the new beginning of the 'great year ' of Aries/Pisces.
The Indo - Iranian word vishap, which could be Armenian in origin, they say was borrowed or used by Armenians even in early Aryan times. It is found in Avesta as visapa as an epithet applied to azi, in Armenian izhi is snake. Armenian carpet - Page xxi (Manya Ghazarian)
In the story about the slaying of the dragon, we read: “ Dardzealer vishap mi mets vnasakar i Kapetolin ” 61 (Near the Capitolium the big and harmful dragon again appeared). East and West in the Crusader States: Context, Contacts,... - Page 88 (Krijna Nelly Ciggaar)
In the epos about the heroes of Sasun, the brothers Sanasar and Bagdasar save from drought a city which was without water because a vishap had dammed the sources of the river in the mountains. Semiotica - Volumes 1-25; Volume 27 - Page 273 (1979)
To find and understand the source of the fear expressed by the images and words in myth and ledged regarding the phenomenon of Vishaps in the real world, one looks with an open mind for traces other than the Stella - (which more than likely have a connection to the phenomenon) - that might explain the root of the idea of larger than life monsters in the imagination. This phenomenon obviously dates back to the beginning of the creation of the Highlands now Armenia. We are told that vishabs exist or existed in high mountains, in big lakes, in the sky, and in the clouds. They are believed to roar and sweep away everything in their path, especially after ascending into the sky and descending onto lakes. According to ancient beliefs, the Vishap singular ascended to the sky and descended therefrom to earth, causing thunderous storms, whirlwinds, absorption of the sun (causing an eclipse).
It is also said that a thousand-year-old vishap can absorb the whole world. To my mind the description above and the one below by Hesiod describe a major volcanic eruption.
I find that the closest description to the Armenian Vishap as above comes from Hesiod, when he describes Typhon and states that it was "terrible, outrageous and lawless", immensely powerful, and on his shoulders were one hundred snake heads, that emitted fire and every kind of noise. Strength was with its hands in all that he did and the feet of the strong god were untiring. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of a snake, a fearful dragon, with dark, flickering tongues, and from under the brows of his eyes in his marvelous heads flashed fire, and fire burned from his heads as he glared. And there were voices in all his dreadful heads which uttered every kind of sound unspeakable; for at one time they made sounds such that the gods understood, but at another, the noise of a bull bellowing aloud in proud ungovernable fury; and at another, the sound of a lion, relentless of heart; and at another, sounds like whelps.In Armenian mythology, in folklore it is actually said to be a dragon which is very closely associated with fire and water.
Dating the Vishabakars has been a difficult task however I believe my hypothesis dates the beginning of Vishaps at 2400 B.C. which is also the new beginning of the Hay and Hayastan/Armenia.
Vishapakars the 'kars,' the actual stones are made of local materials (mainly basalt). They are basalt monoliths which can reach 5 metres in height and can be of two or three main types.
Basalt magma often forms shield volcanoes, (Giant Yurt in Kurdish?) Andesite magma often forms cone volcanoes. Rhyo
Basalt magma often forms shield volcanoes, (Giant Yurt in Kurdish?) Andesite magma often forms cone volcanoes. Rhyo
lite magma often forms calderas. Depending on how much gas the magma contains, it can also form cone volcanoes. More than 90% of all volcanic rock on Earth is basalt. Rapid-cooling, fine-grained basalt is chemically equivalent to slow-cooling, coarse-grained gabbro. The eruption of basalt lava is observed by geologists at about 20 volcanoes per year. Basalt is also an important rock type on other planetary bodies in the Solar System. The chemistry of basalts thus provides clues to conditions deep in Earth's interior.
Columnar Basalt like observed at Garni forms during the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or when fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it cannot easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
The submarine basalt eruptions is largely determined by depth of water, snow or ice, since increased pressure restricts the release of volatile gases and results in effusive eruptions.
Submarine eruptions are often explosive, tending to produce pyroclastic rock rather than basalt flows. These eruptions, described as Surtseyan, are characterised by large quantities of steam and gas and also the creation of large amounts of pumice.
Columnar Basalt like observed at Garni forms during the cooling of a thick lava flow, contractional joints or when fractures form. If a flow cools relatively rapidly, significant contraction forces build up. While a flow can shrink in the vertical dimension without fracturing, it cannot easily accommodate shrinking in the horizontal direction unless cracks form; the extensive fracture network that develops results in the formation of columns. The size of the columns depends loosely on the rate of cooling; very rapid cooling may result in very small columns, while slow cooling is more likely to produce large columns.
The submarine basalt eruptions is largely determined by depth of water, snow or ice, since increased pressure restricts the release of volatile gases and results in effusive eruptions.
Submarine eruptions are often explosive, tending to produce pyroclastic rock rather than basalt flows. These eruptions, described as Surtseyan, are characterised by large quantities of steam and gas and also the creation of large amounts of pumice.
When a stratovolcano erupts, it ejects a great deal of pyroclastic material into the air, which then settles back down on the Earth. Intrusive rocks have a coarse grained texture and Extrusive, or volcanic, igneous rock is produced when magma exits and cools above (or very near) the Earth's surface. These are the rocks that form at erupting volcanoes and oozing fissures.
No large submarine explosive eruption has ever been witnessed, yet such eruptions are known to be fairly common from deposits of ancient seafloors, from tiny eruptions recently witnessed by remote vehicle, and from when submarine explosions breach the ocean surface. Most of the seafloor comprises basaltic lavas, but on seamounts and even some seafloor spreading centers explosive eruptions have produced primary volcaniclastic deposits up to hundreds of meters thick. Particles are characteristically glassy, dense to highly vesicular, and in some cases comprise tiny folded glass sheets, the remnants of burst bubbles. The eruptions producing all these deposits are seafloor-specific, modulated both by the ocean environment and the extent of pre-eruption volatile exsolution and escape from magma. Surtsey’s birth in 1963 highlighted features of submarine basalt eruptions as they breach the ocean surface, while in Japanese waters Myojinsho’s 1957 eruption had showcased explosive submarine eruption of silicic magmas. The modern seafloor south of Japan, and in many other places in the geological past have hosted large-scale, caldera-forming explosive submarine eruptions of silicic magmas, and in 2012 the sea-surface expression of such a large-scale explosive eruption was identified for the first time ever. Our understanding of submarine explosive volcanism grows as the seafloor becomes better known, but much remains to be learned.
In the modern-day Armenian territory - a country of extinct volcanoes - there are no active volcanoes todat. The last eruptions were a million years ago, but you can see andfeel the whole power of those eruptions even now.
From the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (~ 3.25-2.05 Ma), 200-400 m thick basalt lavas outcrops in the South Caucasus region, include the Kars-Erzurum Plateau (northeastern Turkey), the Javakheti Plateau (Georgia-Armenia), and the Lori Plateau (northern Armenia). These fissure-fed, rapidly erupted fluid lavas filled pre-existing river valleys over many tens of kilometers.
The basalts exposed in the Debed River canyon, northern Armenia, are ~ 200 m thick and of three morphological types: (1) basal pillow basalts and hyaloclastites, overlain by (2) columnar-jointed pahoehoe sheet flows, in turn overlain by (3) slabby pahoehoe and rubbly pahoehoe flows.
The scientists who discovered and researched these sculptured megalithic stones in the Armenian mountains informed us that the Kurds referred to it as the "giant Yurt". Most of these mega stones were in the form of a fish with the underbelly of the skin of a goat or a ram. The biggest Vishap measured 4.75m high, and 55cm wide. In 1909, all the Vishaps were destroyed, and a part of them were buried in the soil. They were carved from massive stones (the biggest being 5.06m high), in a fish form, with a snake, a bull, a ram, a stork, all obviously symbolic to Armenians. The only thing that can be assumed is that these slabs were connected to agriculture, possibly also both to fire and water. There is no evidence that they were being worshiped or were personal deities.
The question is if there is a more logical explanation to the folklore, whether they have any scientific significance or not. The Vishap (Վիշապ) in classical Armenian translates to Typhon.
VISHABAKAR ELEMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE: ARA/RAM/FIRE & MENA/FISH/WATER
The Ram or the Rams head carved on the Vishap's we see with the lines coming down from the chin are most probably Bezoars, a male goat a Ram. Bezoar goats male do have a long, dark beard & the lines on the carvings most probably are representing the beard.
I’d venture to guess that the fish and wild rams in combination, both on one veshapakar are representations of fire and water, an idea, a concept representing the elements and forces of nature.
The natural forces of fire and water, which evidently exclude each other, are brought together in a unity of opposites in the worldviews of early archaic civilizations. Both forces are purifying as well as protective and are viewed by many as being connected with the cosmic powers of the sun and moon. Where they are truly combined, often genetically, fire (as the sun) is usually male, and water (as the moon) female. Where the fire is included more into the chthonic (earthly) sphere, it may also receive a feminine character (e.g., fire in the earth, preserved in the womb); where rain is viewed as the semen of heaven, which is usually personified as male, it takes on a male character.
Wild sheep (mouflon) & the Ishkhan fish (trout) are/were native to Armenia’s highlands, along with the Bezoar goat. The veshapakars are paying homage..... It’s possible the fish-goat combination vishapakars are celebrating the sigil of Aries and Pisces. The Astronomical animals representing Fire and Water. On the ecliptic they mark the equinoxes the first, of the 12 is the ram, the sun, fire and the last, the fish, the waters.
The cycle of the sun, the accurate calendar of the seasons were the most important elements for human survival and life in nature.
THE INTERNAL ETYMOLOGY OF VI-SHAP-A-KAR
վիհ in Armenian is a noun meaning Abyss, hell, unfathomable depth, a precipice, a whirlpool a vortex.
շապ in classial Armenian is Alum. Alums are produced by precipitation from an aqueous solution. Alum is processed in nature from an aqueous solution followed by an extreme hot dry summer heat.
քար noun Rock, stone.
In the modern-day Armenian territory - a country of extinct volcanoes - there are no active volcanoes todat. The last eruptions were a million years ago, but you can see andfeel the whole power of those eruptions even now.
From the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (~ 3.25-2.05 Ma), 200-400 m thick basalt lavas outcrops in the South Caucasus region, include the Kars-Erzurum Plateau (northeastern Turkey), the Javakheti Plateau (Georgia-Armenia), and the Lori Plateau (northern Armenia). These fissure-fed, rapidly erupted fluid lavas filled pre-existing river valleys over many tens of kilometers.
The basalts exposed in the Debed River canyon, northern Armenia, are ~ 200 m thick and of three morphological types: (1) basal pillow basalts and hyaloclastites, overlain by (2) columnar-jointed pahoehoe sheet flows, in turn overlain by (3) slabby pahoehoe and rubbly pahoehoe flows.
The scientists who discovered and researched these sculptured megalithic stones in the Armenian mountains informed us that the Kurds referred to it as the "giant Yurt". Most of these mega stones were in the form of a fish with the underbelly of the skin of a goat or a ram. The biggest Vishap measured 4.75m high, and 55cm wide. In 1909, all the Vishaps were destroyed, and a part of them were buried in the soil. They were carved from massive stones (the biggest being 5.06m high), in a fish form, with a snake, a bull, a ram, a stork, all obviously symbolic to Armenians. The only thing that can be assumed is that these slabs were connected to agriculture, possibly also both to fire and water. There is no evidence that they were being worshiped or were personal deities.
The question is if there is a more logical explanation to the folklore, whether they have any scientific significance or not. The Vishap (Վիշապ) in classical Armenian translates to Typhon.
VISHABAKAR ELEMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE: ARA/RAM/FIRE & MENA/FISH/WATER
The Ram or the Rams head carved on the Vishap's we see with the lines coming down from the chin are most probably Bezoars, a male goat a Ram. Bezoar goats male do have a long, dark beard & the lines on the carvings most probably are representing the beard.
I’d venture to guess that the fish and wild rams in combination, both on one veshapakar are representations of fire and water, an idea, a concept representing the elements and forces of nature.
The natural forces of fire and water, which evidently exclude each other, are brought together in a unity of opposites in the worldviews of early archaic civilizations. Both forces are purifying as well as protective and are viewed by many as being connected with the cosmic powers of the sun and moon. Where they are truly combined, often genetically, fire (as the sun) is usually male, and water (as the moon) female. Where the fire is included more into the chthonic (earthly) sphere, it may also receive a feminine character (e.g., fire in the earth, preserved in the womb); where rain is viewed as the semen of heaven, which is usually personified as male, it takes on a male character.
Wild sheep (mouflon) & the Ishkhan fish (trout) are/were native to Armenia’s highlands, along with the Bezoar goat. The veshapakars are paying homage..... It’s possible the fish-goat combination vishapakars are celebrating the sigil of Aries and Pisces. The Astronomical animals representing Fire and Water. On the ecliptic they mark the equinoxes the first, of the 12 is the ram, the sun, fire and the last, the fish, the waters.
The cycle of the sun, the accurate calendar of the seasons were the most important elements for human survival and life in nature.
THE INTERNAL ETYMOLOGY OF VI-SHAP-A-KAR
վիհ in Armenian is a noun meaning Abyss, hell, unfathomable depth, a precipice, a whirlpool a vortex.
շապ in classial Armenian is Alum. Alums are produced by precipitation from an aqueous solution. Alum is processed in nature from an aqueous solution followed by an extreme hot dry summer heat.
քար noun Rock, stone.
Vishap can be divided into two roots with meaning and a scientific meaning can be gleaned from the resultant. As above the prefix, root syllable, phoneme Vih, վիհ a noun translates to English as abyss, hell, unfathomable depth, precipice, whirlpool and the word the stem the suffix shap, շապ again a noun found in classical Armenian translates to Alum.
Alums were very important manufactured/naturally processed and produced by Alchemists anciently. The process entailed the collecting in pools or underground in caves, in the winter wet season, 'a precipitation' a mineral rich soup, an aqueous solution which was processed by in time by the extreme hot dry summer heat of summer. Cyprus got its sacred name from this 'ontological process' of a natural Alchemical process, a 'becoming' from a sulfide to a sulfate of iron and copper. It was called in the Mycenaean age 'Kypariyo' which literally translates to the fixed sugary compound we know today as Copper Sulphate, it was distributed throughout the civilized world and used anciently for fixing colour when dying sheep's wool. The golden fleece rears its head again and the Husbandman in the age of the sheep, the male sheep the Ram in Armenian. The Dictionary of Alchemy printed 1500 A,D. tells us that Alum from Armenia was the most prised in the copper and bronze ages.
ARAGATSOY COULD BE THE FIRST MOUNTAIN CREATED ON EARTH OR HIGH HARA.
Airyanem Vaejah, is the territory whose location is disputed, contained it is said the first mountain created on earth, named Hara or Ara Berezaiti or High Hara. The Vedas, which do not mention Airyanem Vaejah directly, nonetheless are familiar with this premier mountain. Close to the mountain was a sea, called Vourukasha in the Avesta, where the "Tree of All Seeds" grew. Coursing down the mountain, or near it, was a mighty river. The early Indo-Iranians believed that all mountains were connected by their roots to High Hara; and that all bodies of water were connected to the magical sea. Darmesteter in his translation of the Avesta, Bundahishn 29:12 directly states that the mountain was beside Azerbaijan.
Airyanem Vaejah was the legendary home of the Indo-Aryan, or the 'Iranian people.' It is believed that between ca. 5000 B.C. and 2000 B.C., Indian and Iranian tribes lived there together in one place and they spoke a mutually intelligible language. Sometime in the third millennium B.C., it is believed the two groups separated, first reaching Iran and then India via much-debated routes. Not surprisingly, the Avesta and the Rig Veda, the literary monuments of the Iranians and Indians respectively (second millennium B.C.) have similarities which extend beyond linguistics, to the very gods themselves, and the themes of parts of the narratives. Regrettably, the Iranian epic material in the Avesta was purged, sanitized or recast by the zeal of Zoroaster and his followers in the 7th century B.C. and later. Complicating matters is the fact that only a tiny percentage of the historically known Avesta has survived. It is only in oblique, presumably pre-Zoroastrian passages or in much later epic material (supposedly deriving from the earliest Iranian myths) that one encounters anything comparable to the passions and jealousies of the Greek or Indian deities.
It is said that Ahura Mazda was the god who created High Hara, who also built palaces on it for the greatest gods: Mithra, Sraosha, Rashnu, Ardvi-sura Anahita, and Haoma, all of whom ride in special chariots.
While humans could not live on the holy mountain, the greatest mythical heroes made sacrifices there. The way to heaven or the other world, a special abode of the blessed (where the largest and most choice specimens of plants and animals were found) lay through the foothills of Hara.
The Chinvat bridge of Zoroastrian mythology, over which the souls of the dead had to pass was on or near High Hara. The motif of birds dwelling near the summit is shared by Iranian and Indian accounts, as is the theme of the theft of the intoxicating plant haoma/soma from the mountain's summit by a magical bird (Syena/Garuda/Simurgh); and the slaying of a multi-headed, multi-eyed dragon nearby.
In the Indian tradition, Agni, the rock-born god of fire with tawny hair and iron teeth is connected with the sacred mountain. This is cognate to the Armenian Vahagn/VahAgni, who fought the 'Vishap dragon' and became the Dragon Slayer. Vahakn (Armenian: Վահագն) was a god of fire, thunder, and war reveared in ancient Armenia. In the Iranian tradition, High Hara is also associated with metallurgy. The Vulcan, fire and metals were introduced to humanity after the hero Hoshang(Haoshyangha) sacrificed on Hara the mountain. High Hara was also the locale of many of the most memorable contests in Iranian mythology.
The Avesta and the Vedas do not contain sufficiently precise geographical information to locate Airyanem Vaejah. Despite this, for more than a century scholars have attempted to locate this legendary "original homeland" based on various interpretations of details. Thus, unbelievably, references to the severity of the winter storms in the mountains and certain poetic statements led to a "polar hypothesis". The fact that the Avesta has survived only in an eastern Iranian language, the statement that the prophet Zoroaster's initial visions and early teaching occurred here, and the belief that cattle raising developed exclusively on the steppes of eastern Iran, led to the selection of eastern Iran as the most likely site, by some.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of scholars suggested that Airyanem Vaejah should be sought in the Caucasus or adjacent areas. This view, which was developed most thoroughly by A.V.W. Jackson, was shared by James Darmesteter, an early translator of the Avesta and A.J. Carnoy, author of the article on Iranian mythology in Mythology of all Races (vol. 6), among others. According to these hypotheses, the sacred mountain (High Hara) and the magical sea (Vourukasha) would correspond to either Mt. Rewanduz and Lake Urmiah; Mt. Ararat or Mt. Aragats and Lake Sevan; Mt. Suphan or Mt. Nemrut and Lake Van; or Mt. Savalan or Mt. Demavend and the Caspian Sea. This last is the favorite of later Iranian tradition. Jackson suggested that Azerbaijan was the most likely site for Airyanem Vaejah, and that the later Zoroaster also hailed from this land of mountains, rivers, and prized pasturage.
I suggest, in fact I posit that Armenian Aragatsoy and lake Sevan and the river Arax is the most likely site for Airyanem Vaejah for only two place names mentioned in the Avesta and the Vedas that have been associated with the Arax River - (the great semi-mythical river Raha which had its source in the High Hara) - a place repeatedly styled "the goodly Daitya," located somewhere in Airyanem Vaejah. It was there that Ahura Mazda convened his assembly of spiritual Yazatas and where the first kings addressed their people. It was at the goodly Daitya that Ahura Mazda told of the coming destruction of humanity and the need to build a refuge. Some have associated Daitya with the valley of the Arax River.
Legend identifies the banks of the Arax River with the birthplace of the god Mithra, god of contracts. The Iranist G. Widengren writes: According to the "legend" of the mysteries, Mithras was born from a rock, petra genetrix giving life to him. He is therefore de petra natus.
We also know that Mithra was born on the shore of the river Araxes, Ps. Plutarch, De fluviis 23 par. 4 (where, however, a confusion is found in so far as this story is attributed to a son of Mithras), that his father hated women and therefore threw his sperm on a rock which afterwards was pregnant. These details are not as the great pioneer in Mithraic studies [Franz Cumont] assumed "de pure fantaisie", on the contrary they are part of a birth myth attested among the Ossetians in Caucasus and have already in the Hurrian "Epic of Kumarbi" an unmistakable association.
The localization of this scene of Mithra's birth to the shore of the Araxes in Armenia confirms our presumption that north-western Iran and Armenia was the homeland of Mithraic mysteries. Also the shepherds who are seen on Mithraic reliefs in connection with the birth-scene possess their correspondence in Ossetic tales and Iranian salvation legends, and indicate likewise a north-western origin of the stories about Mithra's birth.
It was by the banks of the Arax, too, apparently, that Mithra killed the primeval Ox, seizing it by the nostrils with one hand and plunging his hunting knife into its flank with the other. From the limbs and blood of the Ox, all useful species of animals and plants sprang forth. The "Soul of the Ox" flew into the firmament, reminiscent of the ram sacrificed by Phrixus in Aia. "When at last [Phrixos (Phrixus)] died [of old age],there appeared a marvellous flame in heaven, and the Ram in a vast constellation stirring up all the sea."
Airyanem Vaejah was the legendary home of the Indo-Aryan, or the 'Iranian people.' It is believed that between ca. 5000 B.C. and 2000 B.C., Indian and Iranian tribes lived there together in one place and they spoke a mutually intelligible language. Sometime in the third millennium B.C., it is believed the two groups separated, first reaching Iran and then India via much-debated routes. Not surprisingly, the Avesta and the Rig Veda, the literary monuments of the Iranians and Indians respectively (second millennium B.C.) have similarities which extend beyond linguistics, to the very gods themselves, and the themes of parts of the narratives. Regrettably, the Iranian epic material in the Avesta was purged, sanitized or recast by the zeal of Zoroaster and his followers in the 7th century B.C. and later. Complicating matters is the fact that only a tiny percentage of the historically known Avesta has survived. It is only in oblique, presumably pre-Zoroastrian passages or in much later epic material (supposedly deriving from the earliest Iranian myths) that one encounters anything comparable to the passions and jealousies of the Greek or Indian deities.
It is said that Ahura Mazda was the god who created High Hara, who also built palaces on it for the greatest gods: Mithra, Sraosha, Rashnu, Ardvi-sura Anahita, and Haoma, all of whom ride in special chariots.
While humans could not live on the holy mountain, the greatest mythical heroes made sacrifices there. The way to heaven or the other world, a special abode of the blessed (where the largest and most choice specimens of plants and animals were found) lay through the foothills of Hara.
The Chinvat bridge of Zoroastrian mythology, over which the souls of the dead had to pass was on or near High Hara. The motif of birds dwelling near the summit is shared by Iranian and Indian accounts, as is the theme of the theft of the intoxicating plant haoma/soma from the mountain's summit by a magical bird (Syena/Garuda/Simurgh); and the slaying of a multi-headed, multi-eyed dragon nearby.
In the Indian tradition, Agni, the rock-born god of fire with tawny hair and iron teeth is connected with the sacred mountain. This is cognate to the Armenian Vahagn/VahAgni, who fought the 'Vishap dragon' and became the Dragon Slayer. Vahakn (Armenian: Վահագն) was a god of fire, thunder, and war reveared in ancient Armenia. In the Iranian tradition, High Hara is also associated with metallurgy. The Vulcan, fire and metals were introduced to humanity after the hero Hoshang(Haoshyangha) sacrificed on Hara the mountain. High Hara was also the locale of many of the most memorable contests in Iranian mythology.
The Avesta and the Vedas do not contain sufficiently precise geographical information to locate Airyanem Vaejah. Despite this, for more than a century scholars have attempted to locate this legendary "original homeland" based on various interpretations of details. Thus, unbelievably, references to the severity of the winter storms in the mountains and certain poetic statements led to a "polar hypothesis". The fact that the Avesta has survived only in an eastern Iranian language, the statement that the prophet Zoroaster's initial visions and early teaching occurred here, and the belief that cattle raising developed exclusively on the steppes of eastern Iran, led to the selection of eastern Iran as the most likely site, by some.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of scholars suggested that Airyanem Vaejah should be sought in the Caucasus or adjacent areas. This view, which was developed most thoroughly by A.V.W. Jackson, was shared by James Darmesteter, an early translator of the Avesta and A.J. Carnoy, author of the article on Iranian mythology in Mythology of all Races (vol. 6), among others. According to these hypotheses, the sacred mountain (High Hara) and the magical sea (Vourukasha) would correspond to either Mt. Rewanduz and Lake Urmiah; Mt. Ararat or Mt. Aragats and Lake Sevan; Mt. Suphan or Mt. Nemrut and Lake Van; or Mt. Savalan or Mt. Demavend and the Caspian Sea. This last is the favorite of later Iranian tradition. Jackson suggested that Azerbaijan was the most likely site for Airyanem Vaejah, and that the later Zoroaster also hailed from this land of mountains, rivers, and prized pasturage.
I suggest, in fact I posit that Armenian Aragatsoy and lake Sevan and the river Arax is the most likely site for Airyanem Vaejah for only two place names mentioned in the Avesta and the Vedas that have been associated with the Arax River - (the great semi-mythical river Raha which had its source in the High Hara) - a place repeatedly styled "the goodly Daitya," located somewhere in Airyanem Vaejah. It was there that Ahura Mazda convened his assembly of spiritual Yazatas and where the first kings addressed their people. It was at the goodly Daitya that Ahura Mazda told of the coming destruction of humanity and the need to build a refuge. Some have associated Daitya with the valley of the Arax River.
Legend identifies the banks of the Arax River with the birthplace of the god Mithra, god of contracts. The Iranist G. Widengren writes: According to the "legend" of the mysteries, Mithras was born from a rock, petra genetrix giving life to him. He is therefore de petra natus.
We also know that Mithra was born on the shore of the river Araxes, Ps. Plutarch, De fluviis 23 par. 4 (where, however, a confusion is found in so far as this story is attributed to a son of Mithras), that his father hated women and therefore threw his sperm on a rock which afterwards was pregnant. These details are not as the great pioneer in Mithraic studies [Franz Cumont] assumed "de pure fantaisie", on the contrary they are part of a birth myth attested among the Ossetians in Caucasus and have already in the Hurrian "Epic of Kumarbi" an unmistakable association.
The localization of this scene of Mithra's birth to the shore of the Araxes in Armenia confirms our presumption that north-western Iran and Armenia was the homeland of Mithraic mysteries. Also the shepherds who are seen on Mithraic reliefs in connection with the birth-scene possess their correspondence in Ossetic tales and Iranian salvation legends, and indicate likewise a north-western origin of the stories about Mithra's birth.
It was by the banks of the Arax, too, apparently, that Mithra killed the primeval Ox, seizing it by the nostrils with one hand and plunging his hunting knife into its flank with the other. From the limbs and blood of the Ox, all useful species of animals and plants sprang forth. The "Soul of the Ox" flew into the firmament, reminiscent of the ram sacrificed by Phrixus in Aia. "When at last [Phrixos (Phrixus)] died [of old age],there appeared a marvellous flame in heaven, and the Ram in a vast constellation stirring up all the sea."
Mountains - Hara Berezaiti, the Hara Mountains
The Mehr Yasht at 10.13 and 14 states that the Aryan abode (airyo-shayanem) was "where the high mountains (garayo berezanto), rich in pastures and waters, yield plenty to the cattle", and that when the Sun rises above the taro (peaks - see further discussion below) of the Hara, it casts its golden rays down on the abode of the Aryans.
Reading the Zamyad Yasht at (19.1) we are given the impression that the Hara was one of two concentric rings of mountains, or at least ones that "lie all around". The Yasht also states two thousand, two hundred and forty four peaks rose from these mountains and names several.
The Aban Yasht at 5.21 states that (King) Hushang paid homage at the "upa upabde" (sometime translated as "base" or "enclosure". Upa means "near". We read "near the environs") of the Hara.
In Mehr Yasht 10.118, we are introduced to the term "Hara Berezaiti". Hara Berezaiti it is said in the literature became Hara-Barez (in Yashts 5.21 and 17.24) then Har-borz and eventually Al-borz. The word "hara" is said to mean "watch, guard, defence" and is said to derive from the Old Iranian prefix har- meaning "to pay attention, watch over, protect". The implication is that the Hara Mountains got their name since they served as a defensive wall against invaders or plunderers. www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/location.htm
There was insufficient evidence till now regarding the meaning of Aragats, so to locate the legendary Airyanem Vaejah, in Armenia, among the lakes, rivers and mountains, where metallurgy, the entrance to the other world, and the deities Anahit and Mithra, dwelling on the sacred mountain was difficult. Scholars who place Airyanem Vaejah and the locale of the early Indo-Iranian myths in eastern Iran will have to think afresh.
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that in addition to reflecting foreign images of eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the Vishap myths reviewed above actually derive from the volcanic Highlands Armenia. The one-eyed cyclops of Greek mythology, and the demon Humbaba of Mesopotamian mythology may descend from the one-eyed T'ork, whose worship was known from areas to the west and southwest of Lake Van. Another deity and his gestes
The Mehr Yasht at 10.13 and 14 states that the Aryan abode (airyo-shayanem) was "where the high mountains (garayo berezanto), rich in pastures and waters, yield plenty to the cattle", and that when the Sun rises above the taro (peaks - see further discussion below) of the Hara, it casts its golden rays down on the abode of the Aryans.
Reading the Zamyad Yasht at (19.1) we are given the impression that the Hara was one of two concentric rings of mountains, or at least ones that "lie all around". The Yasht also states two thousand, two hundred and forty four peaks rose from these mountains and names several.
The Aban Yasht at 5.21 states that (King) Hushang paid homage at the "upa upabde" (sometime translated as "base" or "enclosure". Upa means "near". We read "near the environs") of the Hara.
In Mehr Yasht 10.118, we are introduced to the term "Hara Berezaiti". Hara Berezaiti it is said in the literature became Hara-Barez (in Yashts 5.21 and 17.24) then Har-borz and eventually Al-borz. The word "hara" is said to mean "watch, guard, defence" and is said to derive from the Old Iranian prefix har- meaning "to pay attention, watch over, protect". The implication is that the Hara Mountains got their name since they served as a defensive wall against invaders or plunderers. www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/location.htm
There was insufficient evidence till now regarding the meaning of Aragats, so to locate the legendary Airyanem Vaejah, in Armenia, among the lakes, rivers and mountains, where metallurgy, the entrance to the other world, and the deities Anahit and Mithra, dwelling on the sacred mountain was difficult. Scholars who place Airyanem Vaejah and the locale of the early Indo-Iranian myths in eastern Iran will have to think afresh.
There is sufficient evidence to suggest that in addition to reflecting foreign images of eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus, the Vishap myths reviewed above actually derive from the volcanic Highlands Armenia. The one-eyed cyclops of Greek mythology, and the demon Humbaba of Mesopotamian mythology may descend from the one-eyed T'ork, whose worship was known from areas to the west and southwest of Lake Van. Another deity and his gestes
The culture-hero Prometheus may derive from the Vahakn-Ardavazd-Amiram figures known from Armenian and Georgian mythology. Tales of dragons and rock-born gods are also known from eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus. It is reasonable to suppose that along with the natural resources and finished products that were exported from this area, the stories themselves travelled. This is even more likely if the merchants, traders, and warriors were migrants from the area. If so, then these myths, which currently are the earliest literary monuments of humanity, simultaneously become reflections of the earliest native traditions, valuable for the study of eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus, and extending references to this area back to the dawn of man/mind/memory.
Given the new etymology of Aragatsoy, its geographical position in Armenia and its geological origin constructed within four different phases its fourth most recent (0.56–0.45 Ma) should free us from the strict limitations of echos, of lore, mythologies and allusions related to eastern Asia Minor the Caucasus and Armenia. The ancient myths of the Greeks, Sumerians, Hurrians, Iranians, and Indians which were undertaken in the past century regarding the territory of Armenia speak volumes.
Given the new etymology of Aragatsoy, its geographical position in Armenia and its geological origin constructed within four different phases its fourth most recent (0.56–0.45 Ma) should free us from the strict limitations of echos, of lore, mythologies and allusions related to eastern Asia Minor the Caucasus and Armenia. The ancient myths of the Greeks, Sumerians, Hurrians, Iranians, and Indians which were undertaken in the past century regarding the territory of Armenia speak volumes.
Conclusions
Eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus were familiar in varying degrees to the Greeks, Mesopotamians, and Indo-Iranians. The Greeks were familiar with the southeastern corner of the Black Sea, Armenia and the area to the west of Lake Van. Also the Mesopotamians were very familiar with the Diarbekir-Van-Urmia region and the Ararat Arax and Aragats area to the north; the Indo-Iranians were very, very familiar with the valley of the Arax River, and the areas around Van, Urmia and west of the Caspian. Not only is there familiarity with these areas, but the images defined by them have striking similarities to each other. All three main traditions associate the area, the location, with vulcanology, metals and metallurgy. As the entrance to the underworld or other world, and hybrid monsters,(Vishap/Typhon).
Eastern Asia Minor and the Caucasus were familiar in varying degrees to the Greeks, Mesopotamians, and Indo-Iranians. The Greeks were familiar with the southeastern corner of the Black Sea, Armenia and the area to the west of Lake Van. Also the Mesopotamians were very familiar with the Diarbekir-Van-Urmia region and the Ararat Arax and Aragats area to the north; the Indo-Iranians were very, very familiar with the valley of the Arax River, and the areas around Van, Urmia and west of the Caspian. Not only is there familiarity with these areas, but the images defined by them have striking similarities to each other. All three main traditions associate the area, the location, with vulcanology, metals and metallurgy. As the entrance to the underworld or other world, and hybrid monsters,(Vishap/Typhon).
Aragatoy was simply a place of origin for it represented the monstrous creative forces of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Where the underworld earth, and heaven were united. Where Fire and Water, the direct opposites were complimentary. Obviusly an easily imagined primary location, of creation thus salvation of humanity. A place where the Earth Mother, the Goddess had special sway; a place associated with magic potions, 'alum' medicines, and people knowledgeable in their preparation.
KRIOS KHRYSOMALLOS (Crius Chrysomallus) a fabulous flying golden-fleeced Ram. So the big question is if there is a common denominator, or a common source for the inspiration expressed by the myth of the Greeks regarding the flying golden fleeced ram and the Armenian images of Rams and Ram fleeces carved on Vishabakars.
We learn from Greek Myth that the Ram was sent by the rain bearing, cloud-nymph Nephele to rescue her children Phrixos (Phrixus) and Helle when they were about to be sacrificed to the gods at a time the country was suffering a drought. This ram is said to have carried Phrixos all the way to Kolkhis (Colchis) at the far end the Black Sea right next to Armenia and then instructed the boy to sacrifice him to the gods and lay his fleece in there in the grove of Ares. Khrysomallos was afterwards placed amongst the stars as the constellation Aries and his shining fleece became the goal of the quest of Iason (Jason) and the Argonauts.
Phrixus was told to sacrifice his rescuer, the Golden Ram, to honour the god Poseidon. Thus, the life of the Golden Ram came to an end, but in undertaking the sacrifice, Phrixus came into possession of the Golden Fleece. Poseidon would ensure that the Golden Ram would forever be remembered for the Crius Chrysomallus would be transformed into the constellation Aries. Interesting to note that in the 20th century, some scholars suggested that the story of the Golden Fleece signified the bringing of sheep husbandry to Greece from the east. This sounds very much like the dawning of the age of Aries to me,. It sounds like the story told at the arrival of a new agricultural age, like an the necessary adjustment taking place on the agricultural calendar, to make sure that the seed was planted at the corrected time so as to capture the rain bearing, cloud-nymph Nephele at a corrected time in space for the country not to suffer another drought by following the old calendar was obviously the cause of the disaster that required the sacrifice of Phrixos and Helle expected by the bankrupt gods from the age of Taurus to appease their gods.
The Bezoar or Wild Goat is the progenitor of all domestic goats. Armenian Highlands and Asia are considered the homeland of all goats. The Bezoar is one of the main ancestors of the modern domestic goat. Male’s horns are striking. At up to 127 centimetres long, they curve upwards and backwards from the head in an arc shape.In the winter, adult males have a pale, ashy coat. This contrasts with their dark beard and chest, and with dark stripes along their spine, across their shoulders and front legs, and along their flanks. Predators, including Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) and Leopard (Panthera pardus) are locally extinct in many areas where Bezoar Goats occur. However, both Caucasian Leopard (Panthera pardus saxicolor/ciscaucasica) and Grey Wolf are known to occur in Armenia. Kids are also sometimes taken by Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) and Bearded Vultures (Gypaetus barbatus).
Caucasian Bezoar goats in the southeast of Armenia, among the mountains at an altitude of 1,800m above sea level, there is an area called the Arpa Protected Landscape, where lies the habitat of the Caucasian Bezoar goats. The Bezoar goat is the progenitor of all domestic goats. Asia is considered the homeland of all goats.Armenian Semicoarsewool (also known as Armyanskaya Polugrubosherstnaya in Russian) is a breed of domesticated sheep found in Armenia. A medium-wool fat-tail breed which is kept for meat and milk production. This breed was developed by crossing Rambouillet and Lincoln with Balbas. This breed displays white and is unicolored. On average, mature rams weigh 85 kg (190 lb) and grow to 74 cm (29 in). Ewes weigh 55 kg (120 lb) and grow to 67 cm (26 in) at maturity.
From Old Armenian արու (aru). Armenian Aru for male domesticate sheep suggested from PIE *h1:s-en- ‘male, male animal’: Arm. aṙn ‘wild ram’ (acc.pl. z-ain-s), Gr. ἄρσην, ενος, Att. ἄρρην, Ion., Lesb., Cret. ἔρσην, Lac. ἄρσης adj. ‘male’, Av. aršan- m. ‘man, male’, OPers. aršan- ‘male, hero, bull’, cf. Skt. :ṣabhá- m. ‘bull’. Extracted etymology from Hrach Martirosyan Leiden University 4.1.8.
From Old Armenian արու (aru). Armenian Aru for male domesticate sheep suggested from PIE *h1:s-en- ‘male, male animal’: Arm. aṙn ‘wild ram’ (acc.pl. z-ain-s), Gr. ἄρσην, ενος, Att. ἄρρην, Ion., Lesb., Cret. ἔρσην, Lac. ἄρσης adj. ‘male’, Av. aršan- m. ‘man, male’, OPers. aršan- ‘male, hero, bull’, cf. Skt. :ṣabhá- m. ‘bull’. Extracted etymology from Hrach Martirosyan Leiden University 4.1.8.
A VIEW OF MOUNT ARAGATS ARMENIA
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The AraGatsay/AraCauldron/Caldera
As observed at Mount Aragats Armenia, when large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is lost. The ground surface then collapses downward into the emptied or partially emptied magma chamber, leaving a massive depression at the surface (from one to dozens of kilometres in diameter). Although sometimes described as a crater, the feature is actually a type of sinkhole, as it is formed through subsidence and collapse rather than an explosion or impact.
Mt. Aragats (4095 m), is crowned by four summits created by a caldera. Aragats is an ancient stratovolcano and is also the highest mountain of Armenia and the Southern Caucasus.
The following is the most recent information copied from the abstract of a Publication in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, Volume 401, article id. 106928. Pub Date: September 2020. Affiliations: Gevorgyan, Hripsime; Breitkreuz, Christoph; Meliksetian, Khachatur; Israyelyan, Arsen; Ghukasyan, Yura; Pfänder, Jörg A.; Sperner, Blanka; Miggins, Daniel P.; Koppers, Anthony
Titled: Aragats stratovolcano (Lesser Caucasus): Lithofacies, geochronology and eruption history. Quaternary ring plain- and valley-confined pyroclastic deposits of Aragats.
Aragats stratovolcano, is located on the South Armenian block, a micro-plate in the Arabian-Eurasian collision zone, it has a complex and long-lasting Quaternary eruption history. Cataclysmic eruptions formed widespread pyroclastic deposits, which are interrupted by numerous basaltic to trachytic lava flows as well as lacustrine and lacustrine-alluvial sediments. Contrary to previous concepts, detailed mapping of lithofacies variation combined with stratigraphic documentation and new high-precision 40Ar/39Ar ages revealed four eruption cycles, each started with mafic lavas and generally finalized with pyroclastic deposits. These data contributed to a fundamental reinterpretation of the development of the Aragats Volcanic Province (AVP).
Aragats' explosive activities were dominated by Plinian eruptions with columns as high as 25 km, while others are characterized by low eruption columns followed by instantaneous collapse, in one case associated with vent widening, possible caldera collapse and breccia formation. Furthermore, one AVP unit features juvenile lapilli and blocks including banded and armored pumice, indicating magma mingling and their involvement in the erupting mixture before magma fragmentation.
Aragats stratovolcano, is located on the South Armenian block, a micro-plate in the Arabian-Eurasian collision zone, it has a complex and long-lasting Quaternary eruption history. Cataclysmic eruptions formed widespread pyroclastic deposits, which are interrupted by numerous basaltic to trachytic lava flows as well as lacustrine and lacustrine-alluvial sediments. Contrary to previous concepts, detailed mapping of lithofacies variation combined with stratigraphic documentation and new high-precision 40Ar/39Ar ages revealed four eruption cycles, each started with mafic lavas and generally finalized with pyroclastic deposits. These data contributed to a fundamental reinterpretation of the development of the Aragats Volcanic Province (AVP).
Within an estimated activity of one million years, Aragats itself experienced three eruption stages, two of which culminated in pyroclastic deposits of remarkable lithofacies variability with ages of 0.97 to 0.90 Ma and 0.75 to 0.65 Ma, respectively. Vertical and lateral changes in proximal and distal facies distribution of pyroclastic flow deposits indicate temporal variations in eruption intensity and periods of relative volcanic quiescence.
Aragats' explosive activities were dominated by Plinian eruptions with columns as high as 25 km, while others are characterized by low eruption columns followed by instantaneous collapse, in one case associated with vent widening, possible caldera collapse and breccia formation. Furthermore, one AVP unit features juvenile lapilli and blocks including banded and armored pumice, indicating magma mingling and their involvement in the erupting mixture before magma fragmentation.
Aerial view of Aragats: a 2001 photo from the International Space Stati. It is important to note that Aragats Massive is isolated from Armenia's other mountain ranges. It has four summits which mark the four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, and they are named according to their relative geographic positions, Northern—4,090 m (13,420 ft), Western—3,995 m (13,107 ft), Eastern—3,908 m (12,822 ft), Southern—3,888 m (12,756 ft).
Aragats is a large volcano with numerous fissure vents and adventive cones. Numerous large lava flows descend from the volcano and are constrained in age between middle Pleistocene and 3,000 BCE. The summit crater is cut by a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long line of cones which generated possibly Holocene-age lahars and lava flows. The volcanic system covers an area of 5,000 km2 and is one of the largest in the region. More recent activity in flank centres occurred in Tirinkatar (0.48-0.61 Ma), Kakavasar, (0.52-0.54 Ma) and Ashtarak (0.58 Ma), as well as Jrbazhan in the summit area (0.52 Ma). The magmas feeding Aragats are unusually hot for arc-derived magmas, resulting in long and voluminous lava flows.The volcano was constructed within four different phases. The first phase (possibly 2.5Ma) occurred in the main crater and subsidiary vents and was basaltic andesite in composition. It crops out in deep gorges. The second phase (0.97–0.89 Ma, by K-Ar) involved the main vent, subsidiary structures and was basaltic and andesitic in composition with ignimbrites and pyroclastic, with tuffs and lava flows emanating from satellite centres. It was the most voluminous and included the Shamiram and Egvard subsidiary centres. The third phase (0.74–0.68 Ma) while similar to the second was more restricted in regional extent to the Mantash River basin. The fourth stage (0.56–0.45 Ma) involved mafic lava flows from parasitic vents in the southern parts of the volcano.
List of volcanoes in Armenia
| Name | Elevation | Location | Last known eruption | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| meters | feet | Coordinates | ||
| Mount Aragats[1] | 4,095[1] | 13,432[1] | 40.53°N 44.2°E[1] | Unknown[1] |
| Dar-Alages[2] | 1,637[2] | 5,369[2] | 39.704°N 45.551°E[2] | 2000 BCE (?) ± 1000 years[2] |
| Ghegam Ridge[3] | 3,597[3] | 11,798[3] | 40.275°N 44.75°E[3] | 1900 BCE ± 750 years[3] |
| Mets Ishkhanasar | 3,552 | 11,653 | 39.58°N 46.17°E | Unknown |
| Tskhouk-Karckar[4] | 3,000[4] | 9,840[4] | 39.73°N 46.02°E[4] | 3000 BCE ± 300 years[4] |
| Porak[5] | 3,029[5] | 9,935[5] | 40.028°N 45.74°E[5] | 778 BCE ± 5 years[5] |
| Arailer | 2,577 | 8,454 | 40.24°N 44.27°E | Unknown |
| Arteni | 2,047 | 6,715 | - | Unknown |
VISHABAKAR CIRCUMFERENCE AROUND MOUNT ARAGATS, MOUNT ARARAT
Aerial view of Aragats: a 2001 photo from the International Space It is important to note that Aragats Massive is isolated from Armenia's other mountain ranges. It has four summits which mark the four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, and they are named according to their relative geographic positions, Northern—4,090 m (13,420 ft), Western—3,995 m (13,107 ft), Eastern—3,908 m (12,822 ft), Southern—3,888 m (12,756 ft).
Aragats is a large volcano with numerous fissure vents and adventive cones. Numerous large lava flows descend from the volcano and are constrained in age between middle Pleistocene and 3,000 BCE. The summit crater is cut by a 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) long line of cones which generated possibly Holocene-age lahars and lava flows. The volcanic system covers an area of 5,000 km2 and is one of the largest in the region. More recent activity in flank centres occurred in Tirinkatar (0.48-0.61 Ma), Kakavasar, (0.52-0.54 Ma) and Ashtarak (0.58 Ma), as well as Jrbazhan in the summit area (0.52 Ma). The magmas feeding Aragats are unusually hot for arc-derived magmas, resulting in long and voluminous lava flows.The volcano was constructed within four different phases. The first phase (possibly 2.5Ma) occurred in the main crater and subsidiary vents and was basaltic andesite in composition. It crops out in deep gorges. The second phase (0.97–0.89 Ma, by K-Ar) involved the main vent, subsidiary structures and was basaltic and andesitic in composition with ignimbrites and pyroclastic, with tuffs and lava flows emanating from satellite centres. It was the most voluminous and included the Shamiram and Egvard subsidiary centres. The third phase (0.74–0.68 Ma) while similar to the second was more restricted in regional extent to the Mantash River basin. The fourth stage (0.56–0.45 Ma) involved mafic lava flows from parasitic vents in the southern parts of the volcano.
In the Assyrian period, the Armenian people of Nairi formed the kingdom of Ararat (well known in Assyrian as Urartu). One of the earliest record of Armenians is from a text which says Armani, Արման (most common Armenian name Arman, the older variant of Armen, Արմեն) together with Ibla, as land conquered by Naram-Sin (2300 BC) identified with an Akkadian colony in the Diarbekr region. To this day the Assyrians speak about Armenians by saying Armani. Another record is by Thutmose III of Egypt, says the people of Ermenen in 1446 BC, and says in their land "heaven rests upon its four pillars".[1] (Thutmose was the first Pharaoh to cross the Euphrates to reach the Armenian Highlands). To this day Kurds and Turks refer to Armenians by Ermeni.
Historically, the name Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people from the most common Armenian names: Arman, Արման (Armenians use Arman, the older variant of Armen, Արմեն), Armen, and Armin'e (female name). Armenians call themselves Hay (Հայ, pronounced Hye; plural: Հայեր, Hayer). The word has traditionally been linked to the name of the legendary founder of the Armenian nation, Haik, which is also a popular Armenian name.[2][3]
Some scholars believe, for example, that the earliest mention of the Armenians is in the Akkadian inscriptions dating to the 28th-27th centuries BC, in which the Armenians are referred to as the sons of Haya, after the regional god of the Armenian Highlands.
HAYK THE CIVILIZING CULTURE BEARER AND HERO OF ARMENIA
In addition to the similarity of images, there is a deeper similarity which is thematic. Prometheus (son of Iapetus), Noah (son of Japeth), and Hoshang are all civilizing culture-heroes who bring the blessings (or secrets) of the gods down to humanity from this special area. The theme of the almost successful destruction of humanity by the gods and its rebirth here is shared by Greek, Mesopotamian, and Iranian mythology. Odysseus, Heracles, and Gilgamesh, adventurers turned seekers-after-immortality, all visit here. Such similarities have led some to suggest that we are not dealing with independent traditions but with certain great or memorable events in the early history of humanity—interpreted differently—some of which entered sacred tradition while others like the Armenian remained part of classical mythology
In addition to the similarity of images, there is a deeper similarity which is thematic. Prometheus (son of Iapetus), Noah (son of Japeth), and Hoshang are all civilizing culture-heroes who bring the blessings (or secrets) of the gods down to humanity from this special area. The theme of the almost successful destruction of humanity by the gods and its rebirth here is shared by Greek, Mesopotamian, and Iranian mythology. Odysseus, Heracles, and Gilgamesh, adventurers turned seekers-after-immortality, all visit here. Such similarities have led some to suggest that we are not dealing with independent traditions but with certain great or memorable events in the early history of humanity—interpreted differently—some of which entered sacred tradition while others like the Armenian remained part of classical mythology
THE DAWN/ORIGIN OF THE ARMENIANS IS HAYK (the etymology of the name Hayk which to date has eluded scholars I will expose in great detail in my next monolog, but for now let me posit that the first phoneme, the aspirate H = Pure Spirit, the next phoneme a glide 'ay' = Soul and the final diminutive phoneme 'k' = Earth. Also please note that the Armenian word Ayk = Dawn and Ayr = Husbandman, thus Armenian word for father Hayr = Spirit of Husbandman.
I believe that the phoneme Ar of the Armenian language marks that point para-dis. This I believe to be the same point as the Greek prefix para- defines, which is either before or after, above or below, left or right, depending on the point of view of the speaker, an oxymoron. This best explains my hypothesis where the word, the prefix is the point that marks the paradoxical point on the ecliptic cycle of the spring equanox, or the point on the cycle where the head of the snake/ouroboros meets its own tail.
Scholars and Historians distinguish a significant body of Indo-European language words which were used in Armenian pagan rites. The oldest cults are believed to have revered the created concept expressed by the phoneme or root Ar and word Ara. I believe that this phoneme, syllable and word that is fundamentally expressing the rhotic 'rrr' as the phoneme expressing radiation, the Rhea of the Greeks which describes and translates to mean the 'flow of life'. Obviously related to the phenomenone the Sun, the energy, the light, the heat the fire. Ar as in the Armenian Sun (Arev) and the 'Eagles/Ardziv and Lions/Aryudz, Author/Ararich and on infinitum. Ar is the phonem that defines in the Armenian language the point in time and space the 'given' the eternal moment in life, the paradox of 'give and take'.
The ancient Armenians called themselves "children of the light the sun". Among the most ancient of Indo-European, Arians we find that they had deep reverence especially for the 'Dawn' and of the lights in the sky, meaning the sky as seen in the field of astronomy, the sky is also called the celestial sphere. This is an abstract sphere, concentric to the Earth, on which the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars appear to be drifting. The celestial sphere is conventionally divided into designated areas called constellations.
THIS IS WITHIN GIVE AND TAKE
առն տալ ― aṙn tal ― to marry
Աստուծոյ ― ayr Astucoy ― man of God
այր պատերազմի ― ayr paterazmi ― belligerous, warlike, martial man
առ այր, յայր ― aṙ ayr, yayr ― each person, a head, a man
այր խաղաղութեան ― ayr xałałutʿean ― peaceful man
այր գործոյ ― ayr gorcoy ― ingenious, active man
այր զօրութեան ― ayr zōrutʿean ― valorous man
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