Origin of the Armenians

Part of a series on the
History of Armenia
Prehistory Shulaveri–Shomu culture Kura–Araxes culture Legend of Hayk Trialeti–Vanadzor culture Armani Lchashen–Metsamor culture Hayasa-Azzi Arme–Shupria Mushki Urumu Nairi Confederation Urartu (Kingdom of Van) Etiuni
Antiquity Satrapy of Armenia Armenia Minor Kingdom of Armenia Armenian Empire Roman Armenia Christianization of Armenia Kingdom of Sophene Commagene Byzantine Armenia Sasanian Armenia Muslim conquest of Armenia
Middle Ages Emirate of Armenia Principality of Hamamshen Kingdom of Armenia Kingdom of Vaspurakan Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget Kingdom of Syunik Kingdom of Artsakh Zakarid Armenia Principality of Khachen Mongol Armenia Kingdom of Cilicia
Early modern age Iranian Armenia Five Melikdoms Ottoman Armenia Russian Armenia Armenian Oblast Armenian question Armenian genocide Western Armenia National movement
Modern age First Republic of Armenia Armenian S.S.R. Republic of Mountainous Armenia Contemporary Armenia Republic of Artsakh
Timeline • Origins • Etymology
v t e

The origin of the Armenians is a topic concerned with the emergence of the Armenian people and the country called Armenia. The earliest universally accepted reference to the people and the country dates back to the 6th century BC Behistun Inscription, followed by several Greek fragments and books.^[1] The earliest known reference to a geopolitical entity where Armenians originated from is dated to the 13th century BC as Uruatri in Old Assyrian.^[2] Historians and Armenologists have speculated about the earlier origin of the Armenian people, but no consensus has been achieved as of yet. Genetic studies show that Armenian people are indigenous to historical Armenia,^[3] showing little to no signs of admixture since around the 13th century BC.^[4]

Genetic origins

Recent studies have shown that Armenians are

In a study published in 2017,[6] the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from present-day Armenia and Artsakh spanning 7,800 years were analyzed and combined with 206 mitochondrial genomes of modern Armenians and previously published data of seven neighboring populations (482 people).

The study sampled 44 ancient human skeletons according to established aDNA guidelines from a total of 19 archaeological sites in Armenia and Artsakh. Based on contextual dating of artifacts, their ages are estimated to be between 300 and 7,800 years old, which covers seven well-defined cultural transitions.

The study shows that modern Armenians have the lowest genetic distance between the ancient individuals in this dataset—followed closely by Georgians—compared to other populations such as Turks, Persians, and Azerbaijanis.

Affinity with Neolithic farmers

According to a study published in 2015,^[7] in which a genome-wide variation in 173 Armenians was analyzed and compared to 78 other worldwide populations, Armenians form a distinct genetic cluster linking the Near East, Europe, and the Caucasus.

The genetic landscape in the Near East had more affinity to Neolithic Europe than the present populations do. Armenians seem to share a similar affinity to those Neolithic farmers as do other genetic isolates in the Near East, such as Greek Cypriots, Mizrahi Jews, and Middle Eastern Christian communities. Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Armenian ancestry seems to originate from an ancestral population that is best represented by Neolithic Europeans. This suggests that they may derive from a people who inhabited the Near East during the Neolithic expansion of Near Eastern farmers into Europe beginning around 8,000 years ago.

An earlier study from 2011

Up until recently, it was hypothesized that the Armenian people migrated from the Balkans into the Armenian Highlands, based on a passage by Herodotus in the 5th century BC claiming a kinship between Armenians and Phrygians. However, the results of a 2020 study on Armenian genetics "strongly reject" this long-standing narrative, and shows that Armenians are genetically distinct from the ancient populations of the Balkans.^[10]

As was concluded in earlier studies, the 2020 study reaffirms the pattern of genetic affinity between modern Armenians and the ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands since the Chalcolithic. It reveals a "strikingly high" level of regional genetic continuity for over 6,000 years with only one detectable input from a mysterious Sardinian-like people during or just after the middle to late Bronze Age. Modern Sardinians, having the highest genetic affinity to early European farmers who migrated into Europe from Anatolia and introduced farming around 8,000 years ago,^[11] have 38–44% of ancestry from an Iranian, Steppe, and North-African-related source. However, no detectable signs of input from sources similar to Anatolian farmers or Iranians were detected that may have altered the gene pool of the population of the Armenian Highlands. The input plausibly came by northwards migrations from the Middle East rather than the isolated island of Sardinia, but no conclusions have been made about the identity of the migrating peoples as of yet, nor whether the cause was cultural or climatic.

Starting from around 1200 BC, during the Late Bronze Age collapse, around the time when the Nairi tribal confederation and Urartu begin appearing in historical records, signs of admixture decrease to insignificant levels until today. It seems that widespread destruction and abandonment of major cities and trade routes caused the Armenians' isolation from their surroundings, and their adoption of a distinct culture and identity early on in their history genetically isolated them from major admixture throughout the following millennia.

Modern genetic structure

The Near East's genetic landscape appears to have been continuously changing since the Bronze Age. There is a

Earliest attestations

Armenia and the Armenians were attested multiple times at the end of the Iron Age and the onset of Classical Antiquity.

Possible mention in Luwian inscriptions

Armenians (as "Hai") were possibly mentioned in the 10th century BC Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions from Carchemish.^[14][15]

Behistun Inscription

The earliest record of what can unambiguously be identified as Armenian dates back to the

The inscriptions chronicle Darius the Great's battles and conquests during the first Persian Empire. Multiple Armenian people were mentioned in them:^[18]

• Dadarsi (or Dādṛšiš/Dadrshish), a satrap and commander who served Darius and quelled rebellions, including several in Armenia.^[20]
• Arakha (or Araḫa), 126th king of Babylon who rebelled against Darius (he claimed to be Nebuchadnezzar IV son of Nabonidus).^[21][22]
• Khaldita (or Ḫaldita), the supposed biological father of Arakha.^[21][22]
• Various other unnamed Armenian rebels, hosts, armies, and leaders who rejected Darius' authority in Armenia.^[23]

In the Babylonian Akkadian version, these people are referred to as Urartians.^[24]

Hecataeus

The earliest known attestation in the Greek language is from a fragment attributed to Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus,^{[citation needed]} which in some sources is dated to prior to the Behistun Inscription. In it, he mentions the Chalybes people in Pontus, past the Thermōdōn River, with Armenians as their southern neighbors:^[25][26]

Χάλυβες, περὶ τὸν Πόντον ἔθνος ἐπὶ τῷ Θερμώδοντι, περὶ ὧν Εὔδοξος ἐν πρώτῳ ... Καὶ Χάλυβοι παρ ̓ Ἑκαταίῳ· «Χαλύβοισι πρὸς νότον Ἀρμένιοι δμουρέουσι.»

— Hecataeus of Miletus (c. 525–500 BC), Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum ...: Apollodori Bibliotheca cum fragmentis, Volume 1, p. 13, no. 195

Xerxes I

Herodotus mentions the Armenian people multiple times in his book The Histories:

Next to the Cilicians, are the Armenians, another people rich in flocks, and after the Armenians, the Matieni, […]

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, Chapter 49 (c. 440 BC)

Herodotus also lists the ethnic groups in the Persian army, and claims that Armenians are settlers from Phrygia. However, this is an etiological tag added by the ethnographer responsible for the list who felt an obligation to explain where each of the ethnic groups came from – the ancient Armenians themselves seem to have no knowledge of their ancestors' migration from Phrygia.^[28]

The Phrygian equipment was very similar to the Paphlagonian, with only a small difference. As the Macedonians say, these Phrygians were called Briges as long as they dwelt in Europe, where they were neighbors of the Macedonians; but when they changed their home to Asia, they changed their name also and were called Phrygians. The Armenians, who are settlers from Phrygia, were armed like the Phrygians. Both these together had as their commander Artochmes, who had married a daughter of Darius.

— Herodotus, The Histories, Book 7, Chapter 73 (c. 440 BC)

This passage has often been cited to explain the origin of the Armenians and the introduction of the Proto-Armenian language into the South Caucasus region. However, the latest studies in linguistics show that the Armenian language is as close to Indo-Iranian as it is to Graeco-Phrygian.^[29][30][31] Additionally, archaeological research does not indicate a movement of people from Europe into Armenia, nor do the latest studies in genetics,^[7][6] with the latest study rejecting the narrative altogether.^[10]

Xenophon

In his book about Cyrus, the first Emperor of Persia, Xenophon writes about a conversation between Cyrus and the King of Armenia regarding a past war between Armenians and the Medes led by Astyages (events prior to the ones mentioned in the Behistun Inscriptions):^[32][33]

When everything was in order, he began his examination: “King of Armenia,” said he, “I advise you in the first place in this trial to tell the truth, that you may be guiltless of that offence which is hated more cordially than any other. For let me assure you that being caught in a barefaced lie stands most seriously in the way of a man's receiving any mercy. In the next place,” said he, “your children and your wives here and also the Armenians present are cognizant of everything that you have done; and if they hear you telling anything else than the facts, they will think that you are actually condemning your own self to suffer the extreme penalty, if ever I discover the truth.”

“Well, Cyrus,” said he, “ask what you will, and be assured that I will tell the truth, let happen what will as a result of it.”

“Tell me then,” said the other, “did you ever have a war with Astyages, my mother's father, and with the rest of the Medes?”

“Yes,” he answered, “I did.”

“And when you were conquered by him, did you agree to pay tribute and to join his army, wherever he should command you to go, and to own no forts?”

“Those are the facts.”

— Xenophon, Cyropaedia, book 3, chapter 1, sections 9–10 (c. 370 BC)

Strabo

Historiography

Historians and Armenologists have attempted to explain the origin of the Armenian people, but nothing conclusive has been discovered as of yet. The current consensus is that the Armenian people emerged as the result of amalgamation between the various peoples who inhabited the mountainous region known in the Iron Age by various forms of the name Urartu (a.k.a., Uruatri, Urashtu, and Ararat).^[39] The process of amalgamation is presumed to have been accelerated by the formation of Urartu and completed in succeeding Armenian realms.^{[40][41][42][43]}

Academics have also considered the

There is evidence of

Early 20th-century scholars suggested that the name "Armenia" may have possibly been recorded for the first time on an inscription which mentions

Hayasa-Azzi

Records of the time between

Pliny in the 1st century AD mentions the Moscheni in southern Armenia ("Armenia" at the time stretching south and west to the Mediterranean, bordering on Cappadocia). In Byzantine historiography, Moschoi was a name equivalent to or considered as the ancestors of "Cappadocians" (Eusebius) with their capital at Mazaca (later Caesarea Mazaca, modern Kayseri). According to Armenian tradition, the city of Mazaca was founded by and named after Mishak (Misak, Moshok), a cousin and general of the legendary patriarch Aram.^[73] Scholars have proposed a connection between the name Mishak and Mushki.^[74][75]

The Armenian region of Moks and the city of Mush, Turkey may derive their names from the Mushki.^[76][77]

According to Professor James R. Russell of Harvard University, the Georgian designation for Armenians Somekhi, preserves the old name of the Mushki. However, there are other theories regarding the origins of this exonym as well.^{[citation needed]}

Urartu

Main articles:

Iranian Medes in the early 6th century BC.^[78] The geopolitical region would re-emerge as Armenia shortly after. Being heirs to the Urartian realm, the earliest identifiable ancestors of the Armenians are the peoples of Urartu.^{[40][41][42][43]}

The Urartian confederation united the disparate peoples of the highlands, which began a process of intermingling of the peoples and cultures (including possibly Armenian tribes) and languages (potentially including proto-Armenian) within the highlands. This intermixing would ultimately culminate in the emergence of the Armenians as the dominant polity and culture of the Armenian Highlands, and as the direct successors and inheritors of the Urartian domain.[40]^[41][42][43]

According to historian M. Chahin:^[79]

Urartian history is part of Armenian history, in the same sense that the history of the ancient Britons is part of English history, and that of the Gauls is part of French history. Armenians can legitimately claim, through Urartu, an historical continuity of some 4000 years; their history is among those of the most ancient peoples in the world.

Scholars have found a number of probable Armenian deities, personal names, and toponyms mentioned within Urartian texts, suggesting that perhaps Urartu was at least partially composed of Armenian populations.^[80] These include the name of the first king of Urartu, Arame, and that of his second capital, Arzashkun.^[81]

According to the Armenian tradition, the Medes helped the Armenians establish the

Orontid (Yervanduni) dynasty. This would indicate two scenarios—either Media subsequently conquered Urartu, bringing about its subsequent demise, or Urartu maintained its independence and power, going through a mere dynastic change, as a local Armenian dynasty or dynasties (the Haykazunis and/or the Orontids) overthrew the ruling family with the help of the Median army. Ancient sources support the latter version: Xenophon, for example, states that Armenia, ruled by an Orontid king, was not conquered until the reign of Median king Astyages (585–550 BC) – long after Median invasion of the late 7th century BC.^[82] Similarly, Strabo (1st century BC – 1st century AD) wrote that "[i]n ancient times Greater Armenia ruled the whole of Asia, after it broke up the empire of the Syrians, but later, in the time of Astyages, it was deprived of that great authority [...]."^[83]

Medieval Armenian chronicles corroborate the Greek and Hebrew sources. In particular, Movses Khorenatsi writes that the Armenian king Skayordi Haykazuni was a political foe of Assyria during the reign of Sennacherib (705-681 BCE), which would have been contemporaneous with the rule of Argishti II. Skayordi's son, Paruyr Haykazuni (also known as Paruyr Skayordi), helped Cyaxares and his allies conquer Assyria, for which Cyaxares recognized him as the king of Armenia. According to Khorenatsi, Media conquered Armenia only much later—under Astyages.^[84] It is possible that the last Urartian king, Rusa IV, had connections to the future incoming Armenian Orontids dynasty. ^{[citation needed]}

With the region reunified again under Armenia, the disparate peoples of the region mixed and became more homogenous and a unified sense of identity developed, and the Armenian language became the predominant language.

Armenologist Armen Petrosyan proposed that the powerful Etiuni confederation, located in what is now the territory of northeastern Turkey and Armenia, may have been the name the Urartians used to refer to Armenian-speaking tribes. According to both Urartian and Assyrian records, the Etiuni were hostile to Urartian rule. Etiuni toponyms and tribal names such as Uduri, Uelikuni, Išteluani, Abiliani, and Lusa, the river name Ildaruni, the goddess Aniqu, and personal names Diasuni, Murini, Qapurini, Nidini, and Ṣinalbi may have Armenian etymologies.^{[85][86][87][88]}

Presence of the Armenian language

The written language that the kingdom's political elite used is referred to as Urartian, which appears in cuneiform inscriptions in Armenia and eastern Turkey. It is unknown what language was spoken by the peoples of Urartu at the time of the existence of the kingdom of Van, but there is linguistic evidence of contact between the proto-Armenian language and the Urartian language at an early date (sometime between the 3rd—2nd millennium BC), occurring prior to the formation of Urartu as a kingdom.^{[89][90][91][40][92]}

The presence of a population who spoke

Bronze Age Collapse, which was three to four centuries before the emergence of the Kingdom of Urartu. Regardless, the Urartian confederation united the disparate peoples of the highlands, which began a process of intermingling of the peoples and cultures (probably including Armenian tribes) and languages (probably including Proto-Armenian) within the highlands. This intermixing would ultimately culminate in the emergence of the Armenian language as the dominant language within the region.^[79]

However, recent genetic research suggests that the Armenian ethnogenesis was completed by 1200 BCE, making the arrival of an Armenian-speaking population as late as the

Bronze Age Collapse unlikely.^[66][67]

Modern genetic studies show that Armenian diversity can be explained by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3000 and ~2000 BCE, a period characterized by major population migrations after the domestication of the horse, appearance of the chariot, and the rise of advanced civilizations in the Near East. However, genetic signals of population mixture cease after ~1200 BCE when Bronze Age civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean world suddenly and violently collapsed.

An alternate theory suggests that Armenians were tribes indigenous to the northern shores of Lake Van or Urartu's northern periphery (possibly as the Hayasans, Etiuni, and/or Diauehi, all of whom are known only from references left by neighboring peoples such Hittites, Urartians and Assyrians).^[97] While the Urartian language was used by the royal elite, the population they ruled may have been multi-lingual, and some of these peoples would have spoken Armenian.

An addition to this theory, supported by the official historiography of Armenia and experts in Assyrian and Urartian studies such as Igor M. Diakonoff,

better source needed

]

A complimentary theory, suggested by Tamaz V. Gamkrelidze and Ivanov in 1984, places the

Armenian Highlands (see: Armenian hypothesis), which would entail the presence of proto-Armenians in the area during the entire lifetime of the Urartian state.^[98] The Armenian hypothesis supports the theory that the Urartian language was not spoken, but simply written, and postulates that the Armenian language as an in situ development of a 3rd millennium BC Proto-Indo-European language.^[98]

Appearance of Armenia

Main articles: Satrapy of Armenia and Orontid dynasty

The Orontid dynasty, also known by their native name Eruandid or Yervanduni, was a hereditary

Scythian and Median

invasion in the 6th century BC.

Members of the Orontid dynasty ruled Armenia intermittently during the period spanning the 6th century BC to at least the 2nd century BC, first as client kings or

Median and Achaemenid empires who established an independent kingdom after the collapse of the Achaemenid empire, and later as kings of Sophene and Commagene who eventually succumbed to the Roman Empire. The Orontids are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the ancient Kingdom of Armenia

(321 BC–428 AD).

Little is known about the origins of the Orontid dynasty.[102]^[103][104] Some historians believe that the Orontid kings were of Armenian or Urartian origin.^{[102][105][104]} In addition, historians believe the dynasty may have had Iranian origin through a possible relation to the Achaemenids, either through marriage or blood.^[102][106]

The name Orontes is the Hellenized form of a masculine name of

Iranian origin; Երուանդ Eruand in Old Armenian.^{[citation needed]} The name is only attested in Greek (Gr.:Ὀρόντης). Its Avestan connection is Auruuant (brave, hero) and Middle Persian Arwand (Modern Persian اروند Arvand).^{[citation needed]} Some have suggested a continuity with the Hittite name Arnuwanda. Various Greek transcriptions of the name in Classical sources are spelled as Orontes, Aruandes or Ardoates. The presence of this dynasty is attested from at least 400 BC, and it can be shown to have ruled originally from Armavir and subsequently Yervandashat. Armavir is called the "first capital of the Orontid dynasty" — a few Greek language inscriptions have been found, but the penetration of Hellenistic culture in Armavir seems to have been limited.^[107]

The precise date of the foundation of the Orontid dynasty is debated by scholars to this day but there is a consensus that it occurred after the destruction of Urartu by the Scythians and the Medes around 612 BC.

Religion

Main article: Armenian mythology

The earliest religious beliefs of Armenians are believed to have been a blend of

Astghik

, Ayg, Vanatur, and others.

During Median and Persian domination, Iranian religious influences began to mix with native Armenian beliefs, leading to the worship of new, syncretic deities such as Mihr, Aramazd, Vahagn, and Anahit.

Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III of Armenia (238–314) made Christianity the state religion in 301,^[108][109] partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems,^[110] becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius, and 36 years before Constantine the Great was baptised. Prior to this, during the latter part of the Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian country.^[110]

References

1. OCLC 46908690
   . The earliest references to Armenia were made by Hecataus of Miletus (c. 525 BC), Darius the Great in his celebrated inscriptions at Behistun (c. 520 BC), Herodotus (c. 450 BC), Xenophone (c. 400 BC), Strabo (c. 45 BC) and later classical writers.
2. ^ Borisovich Piotrovskiĭ, Boris (1969). Urartu, Ancient civilizations, Archaeologia mundi. the University of Michigan: Cresset Press. Uruatri and Nairi in the Second Millennium B.C. And it is in fact from Assyrian documents of the 13th century B.C. that we gain our first definite information about the peoples of the Armenian highlands.
3. Armenian Highlands, and into the Caucasus Mountain range. First mentioned almost contemporaneously by a Greek and Persian source in the 6th century BC, modern DNA studies have shown that the people themselves had already been in place for many millennia. Those people the world know as Armenians call themselves Hay and their country Hayots' ashkharh–the land of the Armenians, today known as Hayastan. Their language, Hayeren (Armenian) constitutes a separate and unique branch of the Indo-European linguistic family tree. A spoken language until Christianity became the state religion in 314 AD, a unique alphabet was created for it in 407, both for the propagation of the new faith and to avoid assimilation into the Persian literary world
   .
4. PMID 26486470.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
   )
5. PMID 26486470
   . Our tests suggest that Armenians had no significant mixture with other populations in their recent history and have thus been genetically isolated since the end of the Bronze Age, 3000 years ago.
6. ^ ^{a b c} "Eight Millennia of Matrilineal Genetic Continuity in the South Caucasus". Current Biology. June 29, 2017. Archived from the original on 2020-02-04. To shed light on the maternal genetic history of the region, we analyzed the complete mitochondrial genomes of 52 ancient skeletons from present-day Armenia and Artsakh spanning 7,800 years and combined this dataset with 206 mitochondrial genomes of modern Armenians. We also included previously published data of seven neighboring populations (n = 482). Coalescence-based analyses suggest that the population size in this region rapidly increased after the Last Glacial Maximum ca. 18 kya. We find that the lowest genetic distance in this dataset is between modern Armenians and the ancient individuals, as also reflected in both network analyses and discriminant analysis of principal components.
   [...]
   A total of 19 archaeological sites are represented, covering large parts of Armenia as well as Artsakh (Figure 1), and estimated to be between 300–7800 years old based on contextual dating of artifacts. This time span is accompanied by at least seven well-defined cultural transitions: Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor 2, Lchashen-Metsamor, Urartian and Armenian Classical/Medieval (Figure 1).
7. ^
   PMID 26486470
   .
8. ^ "Neolithic patrilineal signals indicate that the Armenian plateau was repopulated by agriculturalists". European Journal of Human Genetics. 16 November 2011. Archived from the original on 5 February 2020.
9. ^ "A genetic atlas of human admixture history". World ancestry. Archived from the original on 2019-09-02.
10. ^
    S2CID 220253091. Archived from the original
    on 2020-08-15. We show that Armenians have indeed remained unadmixed through the Neolithic and at least until the first part of the Bronze Age, and fail to find any support for historical suggestions by Herodotus of an input from the Balkans. However, we do detect a genetic input of Sardinian-like ancestry during or just after the Middle-Late Bronze Age. A similar input at approximately the same time was detected in East Africa, suggesting large-scale movement both North and South of the Middle East. Whether such large-scale population movement was a result of climatic or cultural changes is unclear, as well as the true source of gene flow remains an open question that needs to be addressed in future ancient DNA studies. [...] We focused on solving a long-standing puzzle regarding Armenians' genetic roots. Although the Balkan hypothesis has long been considered the most plausible narrative on the origin of Armenians, our results strongly reject it, showing that modern Armenians are genetically distinct from both the ancient and present-day populations from the Balkans. On the contrary, we confirmed the pattern of genetic affinity between the modern and ancient inhabitants of the Armenian Highland since the Chalcolithic, which was initially identified in previous studies. [...] Sardinians have the highest affinity to early European farmers [...]
11. PMID 29466330
    . Farming was first introduced to Europe in the mid-seventh millennium BC, and was associated with migrants from Anatolia who settled in the southeast before spreading throughout Europe.
12. ^ "Armenian DNA Project - mtDNA Distribution".
13. ^ "Armenian DNA Project - yDNA Distribution".
14. ^ J. D. Hawkins. Building Inscriptions of Carchemish: The Long Wall of Sculpture and Great Staircase. Anatolian Studies Vol. 22. British Institute of Ankara. (1972). p. 109. [1]
15. ^ A.E. Redgate. Reviewed Work: The Pre-History of the Armenians by Gabriel Soultanian. Cambridge University Press. (2007). p. 175. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London Vol. 70, No. 1 (2007), pp. 175. [2]
16. ^ "ARMENIA and IRAN i. The Achaemenid province – Encyclopaedia Iranica". 2019-12-14. Archived from the original on 2019-12-14. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
17. ^ "Home" (PDF). 2019-08-01. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-08-01. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
18. ^ Darius I. The Sculptures and Inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia.
19. ^ Behistun, minor inscriptions DBb inscription- Livius.
20. ^ "Dâdarši (1) - Livius". 2020-01-03. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
21. ^ ^{a b} "Arakha (Nebuchadnezzar IV) - Livius". 2019-08-31. Archived from the original on 2019-08-31. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
22. ^ ^{a b} "Nebuchadnezzar". 2019-06-09. Archived from the original on 2019-06-09. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
23. ^ "Behistun (3) - Livius". 2019-11-28. Archived from the original on 2019-11-28. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
24. OCLC 22096527
    . […] This time the insurgence was led by a certain Arakha, the son of Haldita, […]. In the Old Persian and Elamite versions of the Behistun text he is called an Armenian, while in the Akkadian version he is referred to as an Urartian.
25. ^ Müller, Theodor; Antoine-Jean, M.; Langlois, Victor (1841). Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum ...: Apollodori Bibliotheca cum fragmentis (in Latin). Firmin Didot.
26. ^ Berti, Monica. "Digital Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (DFHG)". www.dfhg-project.org. Retrieved 2020-01-05.
27. OCLC 54451068
    . The name Urashtu (a variant for Urartu) is encountered for the last time in the inscriptions of Xerxes (486–465). In the trilingual texts of Darius (522–486) the Old Persian word which corresponds to the Akkadian Urashtu is Armina.
28. OCLC 957682709. Archived from the original on 2020-01-11. The Persian Army List in Herodotus (7.73) has the Armenians and Phrygians brigaded together, under the command of Artochmes, and identifies the Armenians as apoikoi of the Phrygians. That, however, is an aetiological tag: the ethnographer responsible for the list felt an obligation to explain where each of the various ethnē he mentioned had come from. Unlike Herodotos and his source, the ancient Armenians seem to have had no knowledge of their ancestors' migration from Phrygia{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
29. ^ Clackson, James P.T. (2008). "Classical Armenian". The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 124.
30. ISBN 978-80-7308-312-0
    .
31. ISBN 9781884964985
    .
32. ^ "Xenophon, Cyropaedia, Book 3, chapter 1". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
33. OCLC 969029189.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
    )
34. S2CID 162760021
    .
35. S2CID 161323237
    .
36. ISBN 978-3-447-02744-1
    .
37. ^ "Syria is not but a contraction of Assyria or Assyrian; this according to the Greek pronunciation. The Greeks applied this name to all of Asia Minor." cited after Sa Grandeur Mgr. David, Archevêque Syrien De Damas, Grammair De La Langue Araméenne Selon Les Deux Dialects Syriaque Et Chaldaique Vol. 1, (Imprimerie Des Péres Dominicains, Mossoul, 1896), 12.
38. ^ "Strabo, Geography, Book 11, chapter 13, section 5". 2020-01-03. Archived from the original on 2020-01-03. Retrieved 2020-01-03.
39. OCLC 314769884
    . They are believed to have emerged in historic Armenia after centuries of culture fusion among various native and migrating peoples, perhaps extending as far back as to the Hurrians, Hittites, Phrygians, ...
40. ^
    ISBN 978-0700714520
    .
41. ^
    ISBN 978-3406093975
    . The real heirs of the Urartians, however, were neither the Scythians nor Medes but the Armenians.
42. ^
    ISBN 978-0631220374
    . However, the most easily identifiable ancestors of the later Armenian nation are the Urartians.
43. ^
    ISBN 978-0049560093
    .
44. ^ Kurkjian, Vahan (1958). History of Armenia (1964 ed.). Michigan: Armenian General Benevolent Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
45. ^ Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Encyclopedia. 1987. p. v. 12.
46. ^ Movsisyan, Artak (2000). Sacred Highland: Armenia in the spiritual conception of the Near East. Yerevan.
47. ^ Kavoukjian, Martiros (1982). The Genesis of Armenian People. Montreal.
48. JSTOR 603403
    .
49. ISBN 9781588392954
    .
50. ^ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, p. 254
51. ^ Archi, Alfonso (2016). "Egypt or Iran in the Ebla Texts?". Orientalia. 85: 3. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
52. doi:10.5281/zenodo.1240524
    .
53. ^ Martiros Kavoukjian, "The Genesis of Armenian People", Montreal, 1982.
54. ISBN 978-0-472-11467-2
    .
55. ^ (in Armenian) Katvalyan, M. and Karo Ghafadaryan. Ուրարտու [Urartu]. Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, vol. 12, pp. 276–283.
56. ^ Samuelian, Thomas J. (2000). Armenian origins: an overview of ancient and modern sources and theories. Iravunq Pub. House.
57. ^ Uchicago.edu
58. ISBN 978-0-631-22037-4
    ., p. 50
59. ISBN 9781139054942
    .
60. ^ Igor M. Diakonoff. The Pre-history of the Armenian People. 1968. p 120. (http://www.attalus.org/armenian/diakph11.htm)
61. ^ Petrosyan, Armen (2002), The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic. pp.140, 146
62. ISBN 978-80-7308-312-0
    .
63. ISBN 9781884964985
    .
64. ^ Brixhe, C. (2008). "Phrygian". The Ancient Languages of Asia Minor. New York: Cambridge University Press.
65. S2CID 231923312
    .
66. ^
    PMID 26486470
    .
67. ^ ^{a b} Wade, Nicholas (2015-03-10). "Date of Armenia's Birth, Given in 5th Century, Gains Credence". The New York Times.
68. ^ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, p. 262
69. ^ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, pp. 260–261
70. S2CID 164050075
    .
71. ^ Kopanias, Konstantinos (2015), The Mushki/Phrygian Problem from the Near Eastern Point of View, pp. 220–222
72. ^ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, pp. 260–261
73. ^ Ainsworth, William Francis (1842). Travels and Research in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, and Armenia. John W. Parker. pp. 222–223.
74. ^ Petrosyan, Armen (2002), The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic. pp.140
75. JSTOR 4236961
    .
76. ^ Kossian, Aram V. (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered, p. 255
77. ^ Petrosyan, Armen (2002), The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic, p. 140
78. ISBN 9789004098565
    .
79. ^
    ISBN 978-0700714520
    .
80. ^ Yervand Grekyan. "Urartian State Mythology". Yerevan Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Press. 2018. pp. 44-45. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/351107801_Biaynili-Owrartu_Astvacner_tacarner_pastamunk_BIAINILI-URARTU_GODS_TEMPLES_CULTS
81. ^ Armen Petrosyan. "Towards the Origins of the Armenian People. The Problem of Identification of the Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review." Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 2007. p. 33. https://www.academia.edu/3657764/Towards_the_Origins_of_the_Armenian_People_The_Problem_of_Identification_of_the_Proto_Armenians_A_Critical_Review_in_English_
82. Cyropedia. 3.7 Archived 2007-12-03 at the Wayback Machine
    . Translated by Henry Graham Dakyns.
83. ^ Strabo. Geography. 11.3.5.
84. ISBN 5-540-01192-9
    .
85. ^ Armen Petrosyan. https://www.academia.edu/33109045/Indo-European_wel-_in_Armenian_mythology._Journal_of_Indo-European_studies_2016_1-2_pp._129-146
86. ^ Armen Petrosyan. Էթիունին հայոց օրրան. Գիտական հոդվածների ժողովածու, նվիրված Գրիգոր Ղափանցյանի ծննդյան 130-ամյակին. Երևան 2018, էջ 299-330. Etiuni - cradle of Armenians. https://www.academia.edu/35086087/Էթիունին_հայոց_օրրան_Գիտական_հոդվածների_ժողովածու_նվիրված_Գրիգոր_Ղափանցյանի_ծննդյան_130_ամյակին_Երեւան_2018_էջ_299_330_Etiuni_cradle_of_Armenians
87. ^ Hrach Martirosyan (2014). "Origins and Historical Development of the Armenian Language". Leiden University: 9. Retrieved 8 August 2020.https://ling.hse.ru/data/2014/09/01/1313574129/Hrach%20Martirosyan%20-%20Handout.pdf
88. ^ Sargis Petrosyan (2019). Light Worship in Etiuni Lands. http://shirak.asj-oa.am/663/1/5%2D19.pdf
89. ISSN 0271-9800
    .
90. ISBN 963-9116-48-3
    .
91. JSTOR 603403
    . Even for now, however, it seems difficult to deny that the Armenians had contact, at an early date, with a Hurro-Urartian people.
92. ISBN 978-0500290637
    .
93. OCLC 37931209
    . Armenian presence in their historical seats should then be sought at some time before c 600 BC; ... Armenian phonology, for instance, appears to have been greatly affected by Urartian, which may suggest a long period of bilingualism.
94. ^ Greppin, John A.C. and Igor Diakonoff Some Effects of the Hurro-Urartian People and Their Languages upon the Earliest Armenians, Oct–Dec 1991, pp. 727.[4]
95. OCLC 25616109
    . [...] The Armenian homeland is the plains of Mount Ararat stretching from the Caucasian mountain range in the east to the Euphrates River in the west. The nation itself is the result of a fusion of various tribes of Indo-Europeans who returned to Anatolia around 1200 B.C., merged with the [...]
96. OCLC 40180828
    . Nor is it possible to deny that some of the isoglosses shared by Greek and Armenian strongly suggest that speakers of these languages lived in contiguity for a [...] is now generally acknowledged that about 1200 B. C. the ancestors of the Armenians moved out of the Balkans into Anatolia [...] A migration of proto-Armenians into Anatolia at the time of the dissolution of the Hittite empire undoubtedly fits neatly [...]
97. ^ Armen Petrosyan (January 1, 2007). The Problem Of Identification Of The Proto-Armenians: A Critical Review. Society For Armenian Studies. pp. 46, 49. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
98. ^
    ISBN 978-3-11-081503-0
    .
99. ISBN 9781139054942
    .
100. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian history. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press. pp. 278ff.
101. Armenian Academy of Sciences
     , 1977, p. 640.
102. ^
     University of Texas
     . Jan. 22, 2009.
103. ISBN 978-1403974679
     .
104. ^
     ISBN 978-1403974679
     .
105. ISBN 978-1403974679
     .
106. ISBN 0-312-10169-4
     .
107. ISBN 978-1-84885-751-3
     .
108. ^ "The World Factbook: Armenia". CIA. Retrieved 15 November 2007.
109. ISBN 978-1-933405-49-0
     .
110. ^
     ISBN 0-415-23902-8
     p. 84

Further reading

• Armen Petrosyan. "The Problem of Armenian Origins: Myth, History, Hypotheses (JIES Monograph Series No 66)," Washington DC, 2018