Armen Petrosyan, a member of
the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the National Academy of
Sciences of Armenia, examines the complicated amalgam of linguistic,
archaeological, mythological and historical evidence that bears on the
origins of the Armenian people. Petrosyan surveys and
deconstructs the foundation myths of both the Armenian people and their
neighbors. This done, he examines the written evidence of the various
peoples who occupied the Armenian highlands, and discusses the
conflicting evidence for a traditional center in the Ayrarat region
while the main cult centers appear to have been in Upper Armenia. He
also locates the Armenians in the overall network of ethnic and
linguistic entities that flourished in the multi-ethnic Urartian
empire. Finally the author surveys and assesses the large variety of
solutions that have been offered to solve the problem of Armenian
origins.
INTRODUCTION: Common origin;
Homeland; Biological succession; Cultural succession; Linguistic
succession. TRADITIONS ON THE ORIGIN OF ARMENIA: The Armenian
tradition; Mythology; Ethnography; Linguistics; History; The tradition
of the “Pre-Armenian Population”; Traditions of other peoples on the
origin of the Armenians. THE EARLIEST TRIBAL AND STATE FORMATIONS
OF THE ARMENIAN HIGHLANDS AND THE PROBLEM OF THEIR SUCCESSION:
Countries of the Armenian Highlands; The problem of the historical
succession of ancient countries; Upper Armenia; Ayrarat;
Van-Vaspurakan; Relations between the two centers; The Urartian
Empire. THE ETHNO-LINGUISTIC SITUATION OF THE ARMENIAN HIGHLANDS
IN THE 2ND-1ST MILLENNIA BC: Semitic languages; Hattic and Kaskaean
languages; Hurro-Urartian languages; Indo-Iranian (Aryan) languages;
Anatolian languages; Connections with the Balkans and western Asia
Minor; The ethnic origin of the elite of Urartu; The Earliest Armenians
in the Armenian Highlands; Words; Toponyms; Anthroponyms.
HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE EARLIEST ARMENIANS: The
Proto-Indo-European homeland and the Armenian language; The traditional
Balkanic hypothesis; The Arimoi hypothesis; The Ḫatti hypothesis; The
Ḫayasa hypothesis; The Etiuni hypothesis; Toponyms; Anthroponyms;
Theonym; The relationship of the different hypotheses; The subjective
factors. ABBREVIATIONS. BIBLIOGRAPHY. INDEX.