Armenian name of the Milky Way

The ancient Armenians had a refined knowledge of astronomy. The oldest known observatories are located in Armenia. Dated as early as 4200 BCE, Karahunj and the ca. 2800 BCE observatory at Metsamor allowed ancestral Armenians to develop geometry to such a level they could measure distances, latitudes and longitudes, envision the world as round, and were predicting solar and lunar eclipses about 1000 years before the Egyptians began doing the same. One can find all types of  monuments and petroglyphs, written manuscripts and astronomical terms created in the Armenian language thousands of years ago, attesting to the rich knowledge of astronomy by the ancient Armenians.

Every Armenian villager since childhood knows the name of the Milky Way. It can be translated as “the way of a man who had stolen the straw” or the “straw tief’s way”. This proper noun comes from the pre-Christian Armenian legend devoted to the god of fire – Vahagn. It is noteworthy that this name is rather old and is cognate with the words “vah” and “agn” in the Sanskrit meaning a god and a fire. The old Armenian legend recorded by Movses Khorenatsi tells the story of Vahagn who contrived to steel some straw from Assyrian king Barsham once in a very cold winter and brought it to Armenia. According to this tale Milky Way was originated as some part of the stolen straw has been dropped on the heaven in Vahagn’s back way. Vahagn himself was birth into existence by fire from out a reed straw, as the song of his birth recounts:

In travail were heaven and earth,
In travail, too, the purple sea!
The travail held in the sea the small red reed.
Through the hollow of the stalk came forth smoke,
Through the hollow of the stalk came forth flame,
And out of the flame a youth ran!
Fiery hair had he,
Ay, too, he had flaming beard,
And his eyes, they were as suns!

Source:

Hayk Harutyunyan, Byurakan Observatory

http://www.aras.am/ArasNews/arasnews06.html

Pagan temple (slowly) unveiled in Artashat

By ARPI HARUTYUNYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter

Armenian archeologists have discovered the second pagan temple in Armenia after Garni.

The temple found 5.5 meters under ground not far from the modern town of Artashat about 30 kilometers to the south-east of Yerevan was devoted to Mihr – the God of the Sun in Armenian mythology. The temple – the symbol of sun-worship was built near Artashat which maintained its status the longest among the capitals of Armenia – from the 2nd century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.

Temple of Garni, first pagan temple excavated in Armenia (1949)

 

“By discovering the remains of the temple we found out that the temple was even more gorgeous and beautiful than Garni. That means we have found a big historical wealth that needs being kept by all means,” says Zhores Khachatryan, 72 year old coordinator of the archeological expedition team.

The expedition comprised of 15 workers of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia had begun the excavations of the territory of capital Artashat in the 1970s. Before that large-scale excavations in the territories bordering Turkey were prohibited by Soviet authorities.

The findings reveal that Artshat occupied about 400 hectares of territory and had a population in 150,000 in its heyday. The fortification walls of the city stretched for more than 10,000 meters; 4,500 of them were unearthed by the scientists in 1970-80s.

The town founded on 12 hills in the neighborhood of Khor Virap built on the place of the temple devoted to the goddess of maternity and fertility Anahit used to be a big center of commerce, which is witnessed by more than 1,000 types of the found seals.