what is Armenian literature?
I'm still working on it. Certainly, there is an Armenian intellectual tradition deeply rooted in the first centuries of Christianity. But later on, there is a mind-boggling experience of Armenian traders, such as those who brought the silk tissues from Isfahan to almost all the early-modern world. It is easy to predict that must have been an extensive literacy connected to such a collective experience. Yet I never put my hands on it.
I have readDeviation. Anthology of Contemporary Armenian Literature (2008)
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I have written... nothing ...
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Sevanavank
Step 3: reading the earth
The Armenian way of existence is singularly de-territorialized. Already in the Middle Ages and ever since, the Armenian world moved around, to Cilicia, to Constantinople, to Isfahan. Perhaps this is the very reason why certain landmarks, such as mount Ararat (today in Turkish territory), acquire a particular importance.
It is even hard to say when did this process of de-territorialization actually start. It seems to be anterior to the very crystallization of a territorialized Armenian state and nation. Armenians appear in Cilicia as early as the 1st century BC, in the foundational times of Tigranes the Great. The medieval Armenian Cilicia reappears as the population moves into the Byzantine Empire under the pressure of Seljuc invasions. This medieval kingdom existed for three centuries, establishing close contacts not only with the Crusaders, but also with the Italian cities interested in the Levantine trade.
New Julfa is yet another story. It was officially established as the Armenian quarter of Isfahan in 1606, but probably reflected much older presence. Be as it may, it became an early epicenter of globalization producing one of the vastest commercial networks of a modern or even post-modern type: it flourished throughout the early colonial era unsupported by any political structure, a global emporium without the underlying tissue of an empire.
Such a historical context makes the conflict in Karabah very hard to understand, specially in confrontation with apparently uninhabited vastness of these mountains. Yet fighting for land is perhaps to become one of the crucial paradoxes of the post-globalized era that these early globalizers anticipate.
It is even hard to say when did this process of de-territorialization actually start. It seems to be anterior to the very crystallization of a territorialized Armenian state and nation. Armenians appear in Cilicia as early as the 1st century BC, in the foundational times of Tigranes the Great. The medieval Armenian Cilicia reappears as the population moves into the Byzantine Empire under the pressure of Seljuc invasions. This medieval kingdom existed for three centuries, establishing close contacts not only with the Crusaders, but also with the Italian cities interested in the Levantine trade.
New Julfa is yet another story. It was officially established as the Armenian quarter of Isfahan in 1606, but probably reflected much older presence. Be as it may, it became an early epicenter of globalization producing one of the vastest commercial networks of a modern or even post-modern type: it flourished throughout the early colonial era unsupported by any political structure, a global emporium without the underlying tissue of an empire.
Such a historical context makes the conflict in Karabah very hard to understand, specially in confrontation with apparently uninhabited vastness of these mountains. Yet fighting for land is perhaps to become one of the crucial paradoxes of the post-globalized era that these early globalizers anticipate.
Zorats Karer / Carahunge
The prehistoric site of Zorats Karer, also called Carahunge, is believed to be a necropolis, as well as an astronomical observatory. The holes bored at different angles through the menhirs seem to point towards precise spots on the sky. As much as showing whatsoever, the holes produce whistling sounds on windy days. The whole area, where other findings such as petroglyphs are also located, is first of all a place of exquisite beauty, lost in the vastness of the southern Armenian landscape. The ancestral usage of burning the stubble is still very much alive, adding a primeval agrarian ritual to the timeless landmark. Yet also here the process of "becoming art" is going on. Next to the site, a blue board announces the existence of an "artlaboratory Epicenter", supposedly dedicated to land art experiments that are often taken for a mere touristic replica of the true menhirs.
Saghmosavank, the "Monastery of the Psalms"
It is one of the lesser-known monastery complexes in Armenia, a less attended one, darkened with age, solitary, and neglected. It is located quite impressively near a gorge carved by the Kasagh river and it dates back to the 13th century when the main church was built by an Armenian prince, Vache Vachutyan.
Selim caravanserai, 1332
This caravanserai on the Selim pass was commissioned by Prince Chesar Orbelian in 1332 to help the thence international traders on the Dvin-Partav road. It is a low three-nave hall with a domed chapel at the east end. Under the eastern wall, there is also a basalt watering trough for the beasts. The interior, despite offering such basic conditions, is decorated with some stalactite carvings. Also, the façade is decorated, featuring a fantastic winged animal and a bull.