Illustrated Armenia and the Armenians

Front matter

oat ol An-n* of Armeoia,

.MENIA « ARl

ARMENIANS and the

Introduction

Armenia has generally been termed 'The cradle of the human race," in view of the scriptural indication of it as the land of man's origin. In fact, the mention of the four rivers (Gen. IL, lo-ii) seems to point conclusively to the situation of the Garden of Eden near the source of the river Euphrates, which takes its rise in the mountains of Armenia.

Then there is the great and everlasting monument, Mount Ararat, with which will be inseparably associated the exceedingly ancient name of Armenia, destined, though the race itself be now threatened with extermination, to immortality.

In their native tongue they speak of their people as "Haik," and of Armenia as ''Hayastan," derived from that great ancestor and patriarch who formed their kingdom.

By foreigners they came to be known as Armenians, from the name of King Aram, whose bravery is fittingly recorded in these pages.

Armenia can trace its origin to a period three centuries anterior to that of the Jewish nation, inasmuch as Haik, its founder, who was fifth in descent from Noah, was born 2277, B. C., whereas Abraham's birth did not occur till 1996 B. C. Its people, as a whole, were the first to embrace Christianity and, as narrated in the body of this work, King Abgar held communication with Jesus Christ. Throughout the ages they have cherished their Christian belief, in spite of innumerable trials and they still preserve it unswervingly.

So we find, after nineteen centuries, the people still living in firm adherence to Christian doctrine and discipline, submissive to their ecclesiastical head, the respected and beloved Father Mgertich L, the catholicos of all the Armenians, who now sits on the very seat of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew and of St. Gregory the Illuminator.

We may quote here a passage from Mr. F. D. Greene's work on ''The Armenian Crisis and the Rule of the Turk," with reference to the adoption of national religious belief. He writes : "They (the Armenians) have the distinction of being the first race who accepted Christianity, King Dertad receiving baptism in 2^6 A. D., thirty-seven years before Constantine ventured to issue even the Edict of Toleration. Their martyr roll has grown with every century. The fact that rhe Armenian stock exists at all today is proof of its wonderful vitality and excellent quality. More then for 3,000 years Armenia, on account of her location, has been trampled into dust both by devastating armies and by migrating hordes. She has been the prey of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Alexander, and the Romans, the Parthians, and Persians, and Byzantine, Saracen, and Crusader, of Seljuk and Ottoman, and Russian and Kurd, etc. Through this awful record the Christian church, founded by St. Gregory the Illuminator, has been the one rallying point and source of strength.

Illustrated Armenia and the Armenians.

Chapter I

THE STORY OF ARMENIA. WHERE IS ARMENIA ?

Having found out, during my last visit to America, that a large majority of people in America are without any knowledge of Armenia and its historic events, and that they are anxious to know something about the country, I have intended to give, hereby, a brief account about its history.

First of all, Armenia is a very important country in regard to its connection with the Bible. Armenia is the cradle of mankind, and the venerable mother of all other countries. Our first parents were created in that land. The beautiful garden of Eden, which was planted for their enjoyment, was in that land. It was in this garden that our first parents had their first direct communication with Jehovah. It was there, that after their disobedience, they offered a sacrifice to God, and out of the skins of the sacrificed animals God made them clothes and clothed them. The first religious service, and the first plan of forgiveness by grace were instituted in the garden of Eden near its eastern gate and in the midst of seraphim and cherubim with their flaming sword.

Adam and his wife, after their fall, were driven out of the garden of Eden into the land of Armenia, which was full of thorns and thistles, that they might till the ground and thus provide their daily bread in the sweat of their face.

Our first mother rocked the cradle of her first offspring In Armenia. Therefore this country became the residence of our first parents and the inheritance of their children.

It was there that Cain and his brother Abel were born and brought up. Cain became a tiller of the ground, and selected for himself the fertile lands of Armenia, while Abel became a keeper of sheep, and led his sheep on the green pastures at the foot of Mount Ararat and watered them out of the rivers flowing from the garden of Eden.

The altar upon which Abel offered sacrifice to God with a sincere faith, was in that country.

Cain slew his brother Abel in Armenia, hence the first murder, and the first martyrdom took place in that land. On account of this murder Cain left Armenia and went to the land of Nod in Arabia, situated on the southeastern direction of Eden, and there he was settled, built cities and founded the land of Midianites.

God, after Abel's death, gave Adam another son, named Seth, to our first parents, and after having many sons and daughters born to them, and having lived their nine hundred and thirty years, died, and were buried in Armenia.

It was in that land that Enoch walked with God for three hundred years, and it was from there that with chariots and horses of fire he was translated to heaven without tasting death.

Armenia was the land of all the people living in the world during the first fifteen hundred years from Adam to Noah.

It was in that land that Noah, the patriot, was born, and for a period of one hundred and twenty years was the preacher, pastor and father of the people of that land.

The preparations for the Deluge were made in that land, as the Deluge, took place there, mankind having not yet dispersed to other parts of the world. One of the convincing proofs that the Deluge took place in Armenia is that the waters of the Deluge have left their remnants in Armenia in the form of the present Armenian lakes and especially the Caspian Sea. This fact cannot be refuted.

According to the testimony of the Bible the mountains of Ararat are in the land of Armenia, and when the waters were abated, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat.

After a certain time in the ark Noak looked out of the window, looked over the land and found that the waters were wholly abated, and according to the word of God he left the ark with eight persons, who were his kith and kin, and descended to his beloved land of Armenia. As soon as he left the ark he built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God. Then he tilled the earth, planted gardens and vineyards, and of their products he made wine and drank. It was Armenia that produced Noah. He lived there before and after the Deluge. It is not reasonable to think that after he left the ark he went to a distant place, but he lived where he was before; and after having sons and daughters and grand-children, and living three hundred and fifty years, died.

Gomer was the son of Japheth, the second son of Noah. Togarmah was the son of Gomer, and Haig was the son of Togarmah. Haig was the first prince or king of that land, therefore the land was named Haisdan. He fought with Nimrod, who wanted to build the tower of Babel; he conquered him, and became the chief ruler of a large region. Haig was succeeded by his son Armenag, in whose honor the country was also named Armenia.

It is very likely that you may think as though I am saying these things as historic curiosities or as fables. It is natural for you to say, "Well, here is an Armenian lunatic, we don't care what he says." It is all right if you think so. But hi the way of proving what I say I want to bring before you the following two points, and wait for their answers.

First. The Garden of Eden was the first residence of our first parents. The rivers that issued from the Garden bear the same old names to-day as in the days of Adam. We have them to-day in the same position and with the same old names. I cannot exactly tell in what part of Armenia the Garden stood, as the Deluge wholly wiped out the Garden. But judging by the original source of these rivers we can infer that it stood on the east of Mount Ararat. This leads us to say that the home of our first parents was in Armenia.

r8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA

Second. According to the Bible, God spoke to Noah that he would send the Deluge to the world within one hundred and twenty years. Noah made preparations for it. It goes without saying that the Deluge took place where mankind was, and, as I said before, the first population of the world was only in Armenia. Therefore the Deluge took place in Armenia and the ark rested on the top of Mount Ararat. The traces of the Deluge are still seen in the numerous lakes in Armenia, especially in the Caspian Sea.

If there are those among the hearers or readers who have objections to these points, let them kindly tell them and I will endeavor to answer them.

But the student of the Bible will find a great delight in perusing any Biblical and historical work, for the discourses of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Moabyan and Persian monuments and tablets, with the decipherment of their cuneiform inscriptions, have verified much of Biblical narrative, satisfied the honest doubting minds and silenced the idle cavilers. Armenia indeed does not equally rank with these countries in the importance of its discoveries, or in its immediate relation to the land of the Israelites. Yet Armenia played an important role in the drama of the history of Western Asia in the past, and who can tell what she may still do in the future.

THE LAND OF ARMENIA; IT IS THE MOST PICTURESQUE OF

COUNTRIES.

The country of Armenia lies directly north of the Mesopotamia plain. It is a mountainous country, and contains all of the great river resources of Western Asia. The Euphrates, the Tigris, the Araxes, Cyrus (Kur), the Acampsis and Holys (called Kizil Irmak) take their rise in the highland of Armenia and flow into three different seas, fertilizing the fnillllMWi

MOUNT ARARAT.

AND THE ARMENIANS. IQ

subjacent countries through which they run. Armenia is well likened to Switzerland in its relation to the Western part of Asia, as the latter is to Western Europe.

I. Its general character is that of a plateau. On the north, Armenia reaches almost to the Caucasian mountains; on the west, the Black sea, Asia Minor and the Taurus mountains; on the south, the bay of Mesopotamia, the upper part of which was included in the Armenian provinces, "the Noire" of the cuneiform inscriptions; on the east, the Caspian sea and Midia bounded Armenia.* In the time of Herodotus, Armenia must have been about 550 miles from east to west, and 250 miles from north to south: or about 150,000 square miles. The country was divided into two parts, namely, Armenia Major and Armenia Minor. The latter lay to the west of the Euphrates; the former was again divided into fifteen provinces. But at the time of its greatest extent and power — when its people were great and its kings were great, long before Alexander's conquest — Armenia covered about 500,000 square miles, and stretched from the Black sea and the Caucasus on the north to Persia, and Syria on the south; from the Caspian and a much smaller Persia on the east, to Cilicia and far beyond the Holys (Kizil Irmak) on the west, but also including old Midia.

Armenia is a highland from 4,000 to 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. Its surface is undulating, with beautiful dells and hills, with fertile valleys and forest-covered mountains, with fecundant and extensive plains and pasture lands, and lofty snow-capped moimtains with glittering snowy peaks piercing the clear, blue sky. The highest mountain of Western Asia is situated at the centre of Armenia. It is Mount Masis of the natives, and Mount Ararat of the Europeans, which is of unsurpassing beaut}:-, magnificance and

♦Pliny agrees with the Armenian historians in bringing the eastern boundary to the Caspian sea, and Herodotus makes Armenia border on Cappadocia and Cilicia on the west, stating that "this stream (the Holy river) rises in the mountainous country of Armenia."

grandeur. No traveller has yet ever seen it and not spoken of it in admiration. 'The impression made by Ararat upon the mind of every one who has any sensibility of the stupendous works of the Creator, is wonderful and overpowering; and many a traveller of genius and taste has employed both the power of the pen and of the pencil in attempting to portrav this impression. But the consciousness that no description, no representation can reach the sublimity of the object thus attempted to be depicted, must prove to the candid mind, that, whether we address the ear or eye, it is difhcult to avoid the poetic in expression and the exaggerated in form, and confine ourselves strictly within the bounds of consistency and truth.'^

"Nothing can be more beautiful than its shape, more awful than its height. All the surrounding mountains sink into insignificance when compared to it. It is perfect in all its parts; no hard, rugged feature, no unnatural prominence; everything is in harmony, and all combined* to render it one of the sublimest objects in nature."

Mount Masis or Ararat is situated on the wide and fertile plain, which is watered by the Araxes with its tributaries. This river traverses the plain, running on the north of the mountain, and fertilizes the plain which it dotted by numerous villages. This plain is, in fact, a plateau about 7,000 feet above the level of the sea. The mountain still rises over 10,000 feet higher than the plain, thus making its total height over 17,000 feet from the sea level. It is, therefore, perpetually covered with snow ice that dazzles in splendor the eyes of the spectators.*

Mount Ararat and other mountains have been visited at times by violent earthquakes and eruptions. Though Mount Masis itself is formed of volcanic rocks, no record of its volcanic activities is preserved for us by the ancients. How-

*Sir Layerd saw the mountain from a distance of about 145 miles on the south side of it; and a German traveller from the Caucasian mountains on the north, a distance of 150 miles.

ever, a German traveller makes mention of his seeing a terrifying sight more than a century ago; and says, "Some distant southern volcanoes, or Ararat itself (the terrible gorge of which, distant from Caucasus in a straight line 150 miles, one can hardly look at without shuddering; and which, on the 13th of January and 22d of February, 1783, began again to throw out smoke and fire) must have burned the top of Caucasus, and thrown upon it those mineral ashes."

In the year 1840, on the 20th of June, a terrible earthquake shook the foundation of the mighty mountain. The monastery of St. James and the villages of Aicuri were buried in the ruins; and the inhabitants of the villages, about one thousands in number, were buried alive. The towns of Nakhjevan and Erevan did not escape the calamity. In both of these towns hundreds of houses were thrown down; and thousands of human beings, unexpectedly, within a few minutes were swept out of their earthly existence.

Undoubtedly such calamities must have been repeated in the past; but we are not informed concerning them by the ancient visitors. But sad it is still to hear such news as the following:

"Paris, May 17th, (1891), The Dix Neuwine Sircle, states that commercial advices have been received at Marseilles from Trebizond to the effect that a new volcano has appeared in Armenia at the summit of Mount Nimrod, in the District of Van, vomiting forth flames and lava. The villages at the base of the mountain have been destroyed, and many persons are said to have been killed or injured. The fugitives are camping outside the range of destruction. They are almost entirely destitute, and the greatest misery prevails among them."

The earliest name of Armenia, by which it was known to the ancient Hebrew and Assyrian writers, was Ararat. We are told, in connection with the Deluge, that when the waters of the great flood subsided, "the ark" of Noah "rested upon the mountains of Ararat." The language of the Bible is both accLirate and precise: — not upon Mount Ararat, as it is generally and incorrectly said and written by many — but upon the mountains of Ararat.

The author of the book of Genesis is accurate in his expression and precise in his knowledge of the fact that Ararat is the name of the country upon whose mountains the tmpest-tossed vessel of the patriarch rested. Whether his knowledge was the result of Divine inspiration, or is a historical fact, preserved and handed down to the authors time, wx cannot tell. The accuracy of the statement, however, which stood the criticisms of centuries, and especially this age of criticism, has a rightful claim to its acceptance by all.

The following is a specimen of such absurdities and blunders so often ignorantly, or by carelessness, committed.

A traveller, well known in this countr}^, writes to one of the daily papers as follows: "At daylight we were in a broad flat valley, lying between the greater and the lesser Caucasus. The latter, to our south, lifted not far of¥, from twelve to fifteen thousand feet, and were clothed in snow. In the far distance were others. I saw a sharp, conical burnished peak, which I took to be Ararat. I could not help thinking what a hard time the mighty line of living things had when marching by twos, male and female,, from those cold, bleak heights down into the plains below% after the great flood had subsided; and what a time good old Noah must have had to keep some of his warm-blooded pets from freezing on that lofty sixteen-thousand-feet-high pinnacle. What a pity our theologians do not boldly preach that the Bible is a mighty system of truth, but that its truths came to us clothed in Oriental legend and fable: — that the truth is there, pure and undefiled, as the grain is pure and uncontaminated by the chafif in which it is housed, instead of trying to make a reasoning world swallow the chaff for solid kernels."

Undoubtedly our honorable traveller will claim to belong to that "reasoning world" of which he speaks. But if all who make up that "reasoning world" will reason as he does, namely, take that erroneous expression of the common people, and call that highest mountain peak — which is over seventeen thousand feet from the sea level — Mount Ararat, and add to this error, or comparatively modern designation, another, namely, that the ark of Xoah rested upon this mountain; then turn around and condemn the Bible as an "Oriental legend and fable," it must be said that this kind of "reasoning" of the so-called "reasoning world," is absurdity, and not reasoning at all.

Ararat is mentioned in three other books of the Old Testament, beside the above, in connection with the flood: 2 Kings xix: 37; Isaiah xxxvii: 38: and Jeremiah li: 27. None of these passages speak of it as a mountain, but as a country. The first two passages, identical in import, speak of the escape of Adrammelch Sharezer "into the land of Ararat," after having committed the crime of assassinating their own father, Sennacherib.

The prophet Jeremiah summons the forces of Armenia to combine with the Medes to overthrow Babylon, in these words:

"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her (Babylon); call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashchenaz.

"Prepare against her the nation with the things of the Medes." Li: 27, 28.

The following is from an inscription of Assur-Natsir- Pal, the King of Assyria; and the date of his reign is assigned by Professor Sayee, from B. C. 883 to B. C. 858.

"The cities of Khatu, Khartaru, Nestum, Irbiri, Mitqia, Arzonia, Tela (and) Khalua, the cities of Qurkhi, which in sight of the mountains of U'su, Arua (and) Arardhi mightv mountains are situated, I captured." Professor Sayee remarks that "Arardhi seems to be the earliest form of Arardher (of later Assyrian inscription), the Biblican Ararat." (Records of the Past, Vol. 2, page 140.)

These passages from the Bible and the Assyrian inscription, show, beyond doubt, that Ararat was the earliest name of Armenia, and it was not the name of mountain; and finally, that the ark of Noah rested upon the mountains of Ararat or Armenia. Thus the history of the human race began anew from the land of Ararat.

11. It has been said that the great rivers of Western Asia take their origin from the highlands of Armenia: Euphrates, Tigris, Pison, Araxes and many others from the jewels of her crown. These rivers penetrate to every corner of the land, traverse many hundreds of miles to give life to the field, the vineyards and the orchards, to turn the mills. The river Acampus of the ancients identified by some with the Pison of the Bible, has its sources from the southeast of Erzurun. It receives several streams and with beautiful winding flows into the Black Sea. About the Arapes, according to some the Gihon of the Bible, there is an interesting statement in an Armenian history. "Aramais (King of Armenia) built a city of hewn stone on a small eminence in the plain of Aragay, and near the bank of ariverbefore mentioned, which had received the name of Gihon.

The new city, which afterwards became the capitol of his Kingdom he called Armatvir after his name, and the name of the river he changed to Arat, after his son Arast,"

The river Arakes is fed and swollen by many streams, rivulets and brooks, which run from the sides of numerous glens, through picturesque ravines, and mingle with it. Along its tortuous course it carries a great fertility, and finally mingles with no less than the* famous river Cyrus (Ker) and pours itself into the bosom of the Caspian Sea.

The two rivers of Armenia are the Euphrates, and Tigris, whose identity with those mentioned in connection with the Garden of Eden is beyond doubt. Both of these rivers take their origin from the highlands of Armenia.

The Euphrates from the springs, which are not very far from Mount Misis (Ararat so-called), takes a westward course along the Taurus mountain chain on the northern side of the mountain. Near Alalatiyeh the river turns towards the southeast and approaches the source of the Tigris, but within a few miles distance. From this point onward, with a southeasterly course, these rivers flow and finally they unite and pour into the Persian Gulf.

The student of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian history and civilization knows what fertility these rivers carried along their course through the Mesopotamian plain and hold with numerous canals and channels, they irrigated the land of the Great Empires and became the means of commercial intercourse with the neighboring nations.

The claim of Armenia to the possession within its bosom of the Garden of Eden ought not to disputed. No country, indeed, has attempted to contend with Armenia for this honor. Her natural beauty, salubrious climate, her exuberant fertility, the fragrance of her flowers, the variety of her singing birds, above all her mountainous bosom and overflowing breasts from which the mighty water run down on her sides and fill the great channels of those rivers which fertilize the subjacent counties and replenish the three adjacent seas, all these do justify her claim and render it almost a historical fact that Armenia was the cradle of infant humanity. "Ancient traditions place the province of Eden in the highest portion of Armenia, anciently called Ararat, and it appears to furnish all the conditions of the Mosaic narrative."

If variety makes beauty, Armenia furnishes such a variety, making her one of the finest countries in the world; not only has she those gigantic mountains with their snowcrowned heads looking down upon the clouds that envelop their skirts while they mock the ambient air and the wind, not onlv has she hundreds of murmuring streams and rippling brooks gliding along the sides of thousands of hills which swell those kingly rivers and cause them to overflow their banks, but, she also has some beautiful lakes, like jewels set in their respective caskets. The lake of Sevan, which lies between the Arapes and the Cyrus rivers, occupying the centre of a fertile plain of the northern part of Armenia, is called "Street lake," in contradistinction to the others, which are salt-water lakes. Lake Sevan, near the city of Erevan, is now in the Russian provinces of Armenia. The lake of Ormi or Orumiah, Hes in the southern part of the country, now in the provinces of Armenia.

These lakes and some others are surrounded by romantic views and poetic scenery, but the lake of Van, surpassing them in size, in importance, and splendor, causes us with her to linger a little longer.

The area of Lake Van is about fourteen hundred square miles, its surface is over five thousand feet high above the sea. It is embosomed at the centre of a verdant and rich plain, which plain also is encircled by an exceedingly beautiful, romantic, undulating mountain chain, which culminates on the north in the sublime monarch of mountain of Western Asia, Mount Massis (Ararat).

The beauty of Lake Van and its surroundings always did and will more intensely enchant the poets and artists who are more fortunate and enjoy the beauty of nature more than the rest of us. The following is the language of a distinguished explorer: "A range of low hills now separated us from the plain and lake of Van. We soon reached their crest and a landscape of surpassing beauty was before us. At our feet, intensely blue, and sparkling in the rays of the sun, was the inland sea, with sublime peak of the Subbon Dagh (Mountain) mirrored in its transparent v/aters. The city (of Van) with its castle-crowned rock and its embattled walls and towers lay embowered in orchards and gardens. To our right a rugged snow-capped mountain opened midway into an ampitheatre in which amid lofty trees stood the Armenian Convent of Seven Churchs. To the west of the

AND THE ARMENIANS. Z'J

lake was the Nimrod Dagh, and the highlands nourishing the sources of the great rivers of Mesopotamia, the hills forming the foreground of our picture were carpeted with brightest flowers, over which wandered the flocks, while the gaily dressed shepherds gathered around us as we halted to contemplate the enchanting scene."*

Many a scene like the above has enchanted the foreign traveler and inspired the native authors and poets, and caused the wandering, expatriated sons and daughters of Armenia to remember her former majestic beaut}^ and splendor, but marred by the vicissitudes of the ages and especially under the iron heel of the present tyrant, her indescribable misery, and weep like Jeremiah, "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people." (Lamentations, 3-48.)

III. The climate of Armenia is the very healthiest in the world; I do not say one of the healthiest, but the very healthiest. The climate is excellent all the year round, and though the winters are severe and much of the country is covered with snow, yet on account of the elevation, which is from four thousand to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea, and in latitude 35° to 42°, or say from North Carolina to Massachusetts. It might easily have been understood that the climate of Armenia cannot be mild in winter, on account of the altitude of the country, which is from four thousand to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea.

In general it is very healthy, but in winter the cold is severe, and it lasts from the middle of October until the beginning of May. But the air is dry, pure and agreeable always in the whole year, a preventative of disease, and conducive to languity. The dread disease, consumption, does not exist there, while dyspeptics, if any are to be found, must have been imported. The perfect type of physical vigor is to be seen there.

In the valleys the weather is a good deal milder and very

*Layard's " Nineveh and Babylon," pages 333-4.

pleasant. The summer is short, but warm and dry; this especially is so in certain valleys, which are far away from the reach of the sea breeze, too much enclosed by high mountains and too deep for the mountain breeeze, for neither is it uniformly long, nor is the degree of warm weather the same all over the country. Generally the people of Armenia in all the ages are tall, powerful, ruddy cheeked, full of endurance and energy, shrewd and honest too. They are longer lived than any other people of countries. I know a good many people in Armenia lived from 80 to 125 years of age. They are full of life and they are greatly enjoyed in that country. The most of the American missionaries in Armenia would be sure to echo these words. A returned missionary gave a striking testimony to this effect. He was addressing and lecturing in this country as follows: — "Before I became a missionary, I had very poor health; most of my family died of hereditary consumption, and I was attacked by it. My house physicians strongly protested against my becoming a missionary, saying that if I went to a foreign land I would grow worse, and probably die there, but I paid no attention to this; I presumed they were right, but I was determined to go anyway, and if I must die, to die in my chosen work. When I offered myself to the American Board, I was allotted to Armenia, and thither I went. M)^ disease disappeared and now I am as healthy as any missionary in the world. You see how stout and vigorous I look, and I do not expect to die soon. But I feel sure that if I had stayed in America to save my life, I should have lost it before this time." He is still living in Armenia, and I hope will live to be over a hundred, as many of the natives do there.