Category: Nature
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This is a great documentary feature about Armenia. The film itself is originally produced in English, but unfortunately I was only able to find this Russian translation. Hope some of you speak Russian 
The American TV channel ABC News has included Nagorny Karabakh in the list of 7 most unusual regions of the world to visit in 2012.
If you’re looking for an adventure, this landlocked autonomous region between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the place to go. It’s the kind of place that’s so contested that not only does it not have an embassy, but its “Office of Permanent Representation” in Armenia doesn’t even ask if you want your visa pasted into your passport. They know you don’t, so they just attach it with a paper clip.
Stay at the recently-built Armenia Hotel in the capital, Stepanakert, and use the city as your base to explore the region. Go hiking through snow-topped mountains and fields of yellow and red flowers. Feast on shish kebob and grilled vegetables. If you’re staying with a local, don’t be surprised if you’re offered homemade mulberry vodka with breakfast.
Don’t miss the Gandzasar Monastery, meaning “hilltop treasure,” built in the 10th century. Visit it at night to see it lit up in the darkness.
The 6 other places include Atacama Desert, Chile; Lisbon, Portugal; Whitsunday Islands, Australia; Railay Beach, Thailand; Venlo, Netherlands; and Luang Prabang, Laos.
On a personal note I believe everyone who enjoys the serenity of nature, spirituality or just the delight of heavenly scenery should at least once in their lifetime visit this ancient land of hidden treasures. In closing I would like to include some beautiful depictions of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) to give you an idea.
As I wrote in a previous post Armenia Land of the Horse, many ancient writers would refer to Armenia as a land of excelent horse mastery. Recently I stumbled upon a few quotes from classical writers attesting to this fact.
Strabo 11.13.7
This, as well as Armenia, is an exceptionally good “horse-pasturing” country; and a certain meadow there is called “Horse-pasturing,” and those who travel from Persis and Babylon to Caspian Gates pass through it; and in the time of the Persians it is said that fifty thousand mares were pastured in it and that these herds belonged to the kings. As for the Nesaean horses, which the kings used because they were the best and the largest, some writers say that the breed came from here, while others say from Armenia.
Strabo 11.14.9
There are also other mines, in particular those of sandyx, [Note] as it is called, which is also called “Armenian” color, like chalce. The country is so very good for “horse-pasturing,” not even inferior to Media, that the Nesaean horses, which were used by the Persian kings, are also bred there. The satrap of Armenia used to send to the Persian king twenty thousand foals every year at the time of the Mithracina. Artavasdes (king of the Armenians), at the time when he invaded Media with Antony, showed him, apart from the rest of the cavalry, six thousand horses drawn up in battle array covered with complete armour.
NOTE: Sandyx is an earthy ore containing arsenic, which yields a bright red color.
Strabo 11.14.4
There is Phauene, (Phanenæ, Phasiana?) a province of Armenia, Comisene, and Orchistene, which furnishes large bodies of cavalry.
Strabo 11.14.12
The passion for riding and the care of horses characterize the Thessalians, and are common to Armenians and Medes.
George W. Mooney (1912) in his book Argonautica Apollonius Rhodius commented that Armenians sacrificed horses:
[1176] ἵππους δαίτρευον (horse sacrifice): The Armenians sacrificed Horses ( Xen. An. four. 5. thirty-five )
Referring to Xenophon, Anabasis (5th century B.C.) where he describes a following account in a village in Armenia:
Xenophon, Anabasis 4. 5. 35
Then Xenophon took the village chief back for the time to his own household, and gave him a horse that he had got when it was rather old, to fatten up and sacrifice, for he understood that it was sacred to the Sun-god. He did this out of fear that the horse might die, for it had been injured by the journey; and he took for himself one of the colts and gave his captains also a colt apiece.
As my previous post suggests this second part is not a re-post but a continuation of more examples of scientific names in nature referring to Armenia.
Armenia has been well known to classical writers; as such many scientific names in nature refer to Armenia as its historic homeland. These names attest to the flora and fauna of Armenian Highlands beyond the borders of the modern Republic of Armenia.
The Armenian bumblebee
Bombus armeniacus, is a species of bumblebee.
Mammuthus armeniacus
The steppe mammoth, Mammuthus armeniacus, is an extinct species of Elephantidae, that ranged over most of northern Eurasia during the Middle Pleistocene, 600,000-370,000 years ago. It was the first stage in the evolution of the steppe and tundra elephants and an ancestor of the woolly mammoth of the later glacial periods.
A while ago when I didn’t have a blog I made an interesting entry on my friend’s blog ArmeniansWorld about a selection of scientific names from nature referring to Armenia as its native and/or classical homeland. In this case I would like to repost the entry here and while I’m at it I’ll add a second part with even more such cases.
Lapis armenus
Lapis armenus, also known as Armenian stone or lapis stellatus, in natural history, is a variety of precious stone, resembling lapis lazuli, except that it is softer, and instead of veins of pyrite, is intermixed with green.
Muscari armeniacum
Generally known as the Grape Hyacinth, is an herbaceous plant of the Botryanthus grouping of the genus Muscari with basal, simple leaves and short, flowering stems.
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