Ancient History Encyclopedia in Armenia
Last fall, Ancient History Encyclopedia (AHE) received a grant from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies to complete a grant project that would entail the writing and publishing of content on topics related to ancient and early medieval Armenian history and culture. Generous funding from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research also permitted me to travel to Armenia this past May and see first-hand countless sites of interest and explore Armenia's cultural treasures.
Arrival
My flight from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Yerevan, Armenia on Aeroflot had been delayed two hours due to unseasonably cold and wet weather. (It had actually snowed several days earlier while I was in Moscow much to surprise and consternation of spring-mad Muscovites.) I was eager but also nervous and excited to be traveling to Armenia. Despite reading endless guidebooks and a reassuring exchange of over 100 emails with Arara Tour, I felt a perceptible gnaw of apprehension about my first visit to the Caucasus. My worrying, however, was utterly misguided, as a real adventure and education awaited. Over the course of nine days, I traversed prehistoric archaeological sites that were over 4,000 years old, immersed myself in the splendor of medieval churches and monasteries that were unlike anything I had ever seen, and caught enigmatic glimpses of centuries of flourishing cultural exchanges along the fabled Silk Road.
I had chosen the perfect time of year to visit Armenia; spring had just arrived and although the flowers were in bloom, the sun's rays glistened the snow still on mountain slopes. With my guide Ara Petrosyan, a former archaeologist and scholar himself, I set about exploring Armenia's rich past. Yerevan, the capital of present-day Armenia, is situated close to several key sites that I visited: the Metsamor archaeological site, which once had been a thriving community between c. 4000 to 3000 BCE; the holy city of Echmiadzin, which is headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church and operates much like an “Armenian Vatican”; the medieval Amberd Fortress located high on the mountain slopes of Mount Aragats, which was never conquered by Arab invaders; and the ruins of the ancient fortress of Erebuni, which predate Rome and was founded by the mysterious Urartian civilization.
In Yerevan itself - a city of over a million people - I visited the Matenadaran Museum, which contains chiefly Armenian manuscripts dating from Late Antiquity through the Early Modern Era, and the History Museum of Yerevan, where I came up close and personal with the grand scope of Armenian history. Saying that my first days in Armenia were “busy” would be an understatement; there was much to photograph, record, and collect for my fellow team members, and thankfully Ara proved to have unfathomable patience with my endless rounds of photo stops. (We later laughed about this over dinner, where I was assured that I was actually quite fast and disciplined in “keeping up a solid pace.”)
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