Notes Ancient Armenian Civilization and the Celtic Connection

Lecture given by Ara Kikorian

At BRLSI on 9^th March 2015

What is Culture?

·         Somethings, material and linguistic,  that a group of people have in common

Armenia in the Bible

·         Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah’s Ark after the flood in the Book of Genesis

·         2 Kings also mentions Armenia

·         Hayk is founder of Armenia according to Armenians

o   Descendant of Japheth, a son of Noah

·         Armenia is Haykestan in Armenian

o   Stan being a Persian derived word for country

Some important dates in Armenian History:

·         405 BC   Armenian Alphabet created

·         782 BC founding of Yerevan

·         1512 AD first book printed in Armenian language, in Venice

·         190 BC – 1 AD     Artaxiad dynasty – height of Armenian power

·         301 AD  King Tiridiles adopted Christianity as state religion from Zoroastrianism

Persecution by the Turks:

·         1894 AD                300,000 killed – possibly to do with gas exploration by Turkish workers in Armenia and the Turkish military protecting Turkish banks in Armenia used by these workers

·         1908 AD                30,000 killed in another massacre

·         1915 AD                1.5 million killed during WW1

Interesting talking points:

·         Swastikas are found in Armenian culture amongst ancient petroglyphs – rock cave paintings

·         5,500 year old leather shoe possibly oldest shoe in Armenia

·         6,000 year old winery found in Armenia

·         St Thomas the apostle passed through Armenia on his way to Goa, India where he was martyred

·         Etchniadzim is the principal church of the Armenian Orthodox religion

Armenia was the cross roads of the Silk Road between Asia  and Europe

·         Caravan route had Roman style roads with Caravan Serais for sanctuary

Celtic Connections:

·         750-12 BC Celts most powerful European people

·         Hazer in Armenian means 1000 similar to Hussar

·         Armenian Language has most loan words from

1.       Greek

2.       Sanskrit

·         Looking at place names related to the seafaring Celtic tribe from Amorica show cultural connections

·         There are many old words in common with Gaelic

·         Bagpipes are an Armenian instrument as well as Gaelic

·         There are remarkable similarities between an Anglo-Saxon engraving and an ancient Armenian petroglyph

Not generally accepted theory – speaker wants to write a book to elaborate though