The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times: Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century

By Richard G. Hovannisian

Book Overview

Edited by the leading historian of the Republic of Armenia, this is the definitive history of an extraordinary country - from its earliest foundations, through the Crusades, the resistance to Ottoman... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312101694
• ISBN13: 9780312101695
• Release Date: September 1997
• Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
• Length: 372 Pages
• Weight: 0.22 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.8" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

ABOUT GEOGRAPHY OF THE AREA

The author of the chapter 1- Robert H.Heusen is sincere at p.2 saying that other local ethnicities were indigeneous to the area where Armenia was established much later-e.g.the Khaldeans,the Urartians etc.;that ancient authors wrote about it clearly.I would add that Strabo in the Ic.wrote in his Geography of the World that the Armenian political unit was created by a certain general of the army of another country on the land snatched from the Iberians/Moskhians; this is in vol 5 of Strabo,the Loeb Classical Library edition in 1936;this is the area where the Republic of Armenia was created in 1918.I recently learned that its name was planned to be 'Republic of Erevan'(not Armenia) and the League of the Nations promised to the government of Kartu i.e. Georgia that the creation of Armenia in Caucasia was a temporary measure-F.Nansen from that League of the Nations desired to create some footing somewhere in the world for refugees driven out from the Balkans and that soon the League of the Nations would move the Republic of Armenia and her Armenian and other refugees-unwanted citizens of Turkey-to the Mediterranean.These facts are known from materials published by F. Nansen available in English and some translated into Russian now on the web.The creation of that republic and that of Azerbaijan in 1918 in the area was the gross violation of the human rights of the indigeneous nation called by several names:the Iberians,the Moskhians,the Kardi etc. R.Heusen is absolutely right in telling readers that even before World War I,the Armenians were a minority in what became the Republic of Armenia in 1918.After reading those truthful remarks it was a sad surprise to me to see on the next page "a map of the historical Armenia" encompassing greater territory than the Great Britain.R.Heusen wrote the former was 238,000 square miles against 228,000 square miles of the latter.The term Armenian Plateau is frequently used by the author.It is unwelcome as other names were usually used for that plateau.Moses Khorenatsi is discussed at several pages.It is over two centuries that he is widely denounced for being a fictitious author and therefore called Pseudo-Moses Khorenatsi.I have thoroughly researched materials on that author in publications,in unpublished archives of Prof.Mikheil Tamarashvili known as Michele Tamarati in Rome and Paris.Many authors in XIX century revealed the absurdity of the writings attributed to him:among them Mr.Lenormann,Ilia Chavchavadze criticised that pseudo author and his promoters from the Mkhitarist congregation in Venice- Western Europe for spreading false information.'Gate of Alans' (p.152)usually has a better term in historical sources:the Gate of Aragvi.Metsamor mentioned at p.49 is the distorted term from Kartu term 'Metsamuli' meaning 'Cherry colour'-as nearby clyffs are reddish with minerals.This Kartu/Kartuli designation was given to those clyffs,the nearby village and the river by ethnic Kartu population millenia ago before alie

An excellent overview of an extremely complex, dense history

This is about as good as it gets in terms of an overview of Armenian history. Armenia is an incredibly fascinating study in the context of the Middle East, and the world's history at large. Containing a series of contributions on various topics by leading scholars in the field and edited by one of the foremost scholars, Hovannisian, this is an outstanding read and should be on any Armenian or history scholar's shelf.