BRING THE GODDESS HOME: EDUCATION MINISTER LAUNCHES INITIATIVE ON RETU

[Yervant1]

BRING THE GODDESS HOME: EDUCATION MINISTER LAUNCHES INITIATIVE ON RETURNING DIVINE ANAHIT TO ARMENIA

By Siranuysh Gevorgyan

 

ArmeniaNow

06.02.12 | 15:18

 

Minister of Science and Education Armen Ashotyan took the initiative

of returning the fragments of Armenian Pagan Goddess Anahit's bronze

statue from United Kingdom (UK) to Armenia through the Facebook online

social network. A great number of Facebook users have welcomed the

initiative.

 

Enlarge Photo Minister of Science and Education Armen Ashotyan

 

"UK has appointed two ambassadors to Armenia. I suggest all of us

to unite and appeal to the British Embassy to Armenia sending them a

letter with our signatures and demand to return the fragments (head

and hands) of Goddess Anahit's well-known statue, kept at British

Museum, to Armenia. There is an experience of returning cultural

values from UK to their homelands; particularly Egypt has succeeded

in this respect several times. What would you say?" Minister Ashotyan

addressed to his friends.

 

The head and hand of the bronze statue referred to Anahit, who was

goddess of fertility and war, according to the website of the British

Museum, was found in 1872 by a peasant accidently when he was digging

the land in Satagh, south-eastern Turkey.

 

"The head made its way via Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and

Italy to the dealer Alessandro Castellani, who eventually sold it to

The British Museum. The hand was presented to the Museum a few years

later. Despite rumors that the whole statue had previously been found,

the body has never come to light," the website writes. A copy of the

statue is kept at the History Museum of Armenia in Yerevan.

 

Ashotyan also suggests jointly drafting a common text of the letter

addressed to the UK Secretary of Culture, the British ambassadors,

and the management of the British Museum, as well as starting a

signature collection at higher educational institutions of Armenia,

on Facebook and elsewhere. The minister also reports that a number

of students and NGOs have already turned to him, and it will better

for them to start the collection of signatures for returning the

fragments of Goddess Anahit's statue to Armenia.

[Arpa]

ԱՐԻ ՏՈՒՆ ԱՆԱՀԻՏ

 

http://www.armenianow.com/sites/default/files/img/imagecache/600x400/anahit-sculpture.jpg

 

http://www.armenianow.com/sites/default/files/img/imagecache/600x400/anahit-sculpture.jpg

 

http://www.armenianow.com/arts_and_culture/35325/armenian_goddess_anahit_british_museum

 

Thank you Yervant

Hoping this will be the trend to bring home all those Armenian artifacts spread all over the world, all the way from London to Petersburg and between.

Wonder what those other շունշանորդիներ SSO-s say who Anahit is??

Edited February 6, 2012 by Arpa

[Ashot]

Anahit

After Aramazd, Anahit was the most important deity of Armenia. In the pantheon she stood immediately next to the father of the gods, but in the heart of the people she was supreme. She was "the glory," "the great queen or lady," "the one born of gold," "the golden-mother."

 

[25] Anahit is the Ardvi Sura Anahita of the Avesta, whose name, if at all Iranian, would mean "moist, mighty, undefiled," a puzzling but not altogether unbefitting appellation for the yazata of the earth-born springs and rivers. But there is a marked and well-justified tendency to consider the Persian Anahita herself an importation from Babylonia. She is thought to be Ishtar under the name of Anatu or the Elamite "Nahunta." If so, then whatever her popular character may have been, she could not find a place in the Avesta without being divested of her objectionable traits or predilections. And this is really what happened. But even in the Avestic portraiture of her it is easy to distinguish the original. This Zoroastrian golden goddess of the springs and rivers with the high, pomegranate-like breasts had a special relation to the fecundity of the human race. She was interested in child-birth and nurture, like Ishtar, under whose protection children were placed with incantation and solemn rites. Persian maids prayed to her for brave and robust husbands. Wherever she went with the Persian armies and culture in Western Asia, Armenia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Phrygia, etc., her sovereignty over springs and rivers was disregarded and she was at once identified with some goddess of love and motherhood, usually with Ma or the Mater Magna. It would, therefore, be very reasonable to suppose that there was a popular Anahita in Persia itself, who was nothing less than Ishtar as we know her. This is further confirmed by the fact that to this day the planet Venus is called Nahid by the Persians (23).

 

The Armenian Anahit is also Asianic in character. She does not seem to be stepping out of the pages of the Avesta as a pure and idealized figure, but rather she came there from the heart of the common people of Persia, or Parthia, and must have found some native goddess whose attributes and ancient sanctuaries she assimilated. She has hardly anything to do with springs and rivers. She is simply a woman, the fair [26] daughter of Aramazd, a sister of the Persian Mihr and of the cosmopolitan Nane. As in the Anahit Yashts of the Avesta, so also in Armenia, "golden" is her fairest epithet. She was often called "born in gold" or "the golden mother" probably because usually her statue was of solid gold. In the light of what has just been said we are not surprised to find that this goddess exhibited two distinct types of womanhood in Armenia, according to our extant sources. Most of the early Christian writers, specially Agathangelos, who would have eagerly seized upon anything derogatory to her good name, report nothing about her depraved tastes or unchaste rites.

 

If not as a bit of subtle sarcasm, then at least as an echo of the old pagan language, King Tiridates is made to call her "the mother of all sobriety," i.e. orderliness, as over against a lewd and ribald mode of life (24). The whole expression may also be taken as meaning "the sober, chaste mother." No suggestion of impure rites is to be found in Agathangelos or Moses in connection with her cultus.

 

On the other hand no less an authority than the geographer Strabo (63 B.C.-25A.D.) reports that the great sanctuary of Anahit at Erez (or Eriza), in Akilisene (a district called also Anahitian (25) owing to the widely spread fame of this temple) was the centre of an obscene form of worship. Here there were hierodules of both sexes, and what is more, here daughters of the noble families gave themselves up to prostitution for a considerable time, before they were married. Nor was this an obstacle to their being afterwards sought in marriage (26).

 

Strabo is not alone in representing Anahit in this particularly sad light. She was identified with the Ephesian Artemis by the Armenians themselves. Faustus of Byzantium, writing in the fifth century, says of the imperfectly Christianized Armenians of the preceding century, that they continued "in secret [27] the worship of the old deities in the form of fornication " (27). The reference is most probably to the rites of the more popular Anahit rather than her southern rival, Astghik, whom the learned identified with Aphrodite, and about whose worship no unchastity is mentioned. Medieval authors of Armenia also assert similar things about Anahit. Vanakan Vardapet says, "Astarte is the shame of the Sidonians, which the Chaldeans (Syrians or Mesopotamians) called Kaukabhta, the Greeks, Aphrodite, and the Armenians, Anahit" (28).

 

In a letter to Sahag Ardsruni, ascribed to Moses of Khoren (29), we read that in the district of Antzevatz there was a famous Stone of the Blacksmiths. Here stood a statue of Anahit and here the blacksmiths (no doubt invisible ones) made a dreadful din with their hammers and anvils. The devils (i.e. idols) dispensed out of a melting pot bundles of false medicine which served the fulfilling of evil desires, "like the bundle of St. Cyprian intended for the destruction of the Virgin Justina " (30). This place was changed later into a sanctuary of the Holy Virgin and a convent for nuns, called Hogeatz Vank.

 

There can be no doubt, therefore, that the Armenian Anahit admitted of the orgiastic worship that in the ancient orient characterized the gods and especially the goddesses of fertility. No doubt these obscene practices were supposed to secure her favor. On the other hand it is quite possible that she played in married life the well-known role of a mother of sobriety like Hera or rather Ishtar (31), the veiled bride and protector of wedlock, jealously watching over the love and faith plighted between husband and wife, and blessing their union. We may therefore interpret in this sense the above mentioned description of this goddess, which Agathangelos (32) puts in the mouth of King Tiridates: "The great lady (or queen) Anahit, who is the glory and lifegiver of our nation, whom all kings honour, especially the King of the Greeks (sic!), who is the mother of [28] all sobriety, and a benefactress (through many favours, but especially through the granting of children) of all mankind; through whom Armenia lives and maintains her life." Although clear-cut distinctions and schematic arrangements are not safe in such instances, one may say in general that Aramazd once created nature and man, but he now (speaking from the standpoint of a speculative Armenian pagan of the first century) sustains life by giving in abundance the corn and the wine. Anahit, who also may have some interest in the growth of vegetation, gives more especially young ones to animals and children to man, whom she maternally tends in their early age as well as in their strong manhood. Aramazd is the god of the fertility of the earth, Anahit the goddess of the fecundity of the nation.

 

However, as she was deeply human, the birth and care of children could not be her sole concern. As a merciful and mighty mother she was sought in cases of severe illness and perhaps in other kinds of distress. Agathangelos mentions the care with which she tends the people. In Moses (33) we find that King Artaxias, in his last sickness, sent a nobleman to Erez to propitiate the tender-hearted goddess. But unlike Ishtar and the Persian Anahita, the Armenian Anahit shows no war-like propensities, nor is her name associated with death.

 

Like Aramazd, she had many temples in Armenia, but the most noted ones were those of Erez, Artaxata, Ashtishat, and Armavir (34). There was also in Sophene a mountain called the Throne of Anahit (35), and a statue of Anahit at the stone of the Blacksmiths. The temple at Erez was undoubtedly the richest sanctuary in the country and a favorite centre of pilgrimage. It was taken and razed to the ground by Gregory the Illuminator (36). It was for the safety of its treasures that the natives feared when Lucullus entered the Anahitian province (37).

 

Anahit had two annual festivals, one of which was held, according to Alishan, on the 15th of Navasard, very soon after [29] the New Year's celebration. Also the nineteenth day of every month was consecrated to her. A regular pilgrimage to her temple required the sacrifice of a heifer, a visit to the river Lykos near-by, and a feast, after which the statue of the goddess was crowned with wreaths (38). Lucullus saw herds of heifers of the goddess (39), with her mark, which was a torch, wander up and down grazing on the meadows near the Euphrates, without being disturbed by anyone. The Anahit of the countries west of Armenia bore a crescent on her head.

 

We have already seen that the statues representing Anahit in the main sanctuaries, namely in Erez, Ashtishat, and probably also in Artaxata, were solid gold. According to Pliny (40) who describes the one at Erez, this was an unprecedented thing in antiquity. Not under Lucullus, but under Antonius did the Roman soldiers plunder this famous statue. A Bononian veteran who was once entertaining Augustus in a sumptuous style, declared that the Emperor was dining off the leg of the goddess and that he had been the first assailant of the famous statue, a sacrilege which he had committed with impunity in spite of the rumours to the contrary (41). This statue may have been identical with the (Ephesian) Artemis which, according to Moses, was brought to Erez from the west.

 

by Mardiros H. Ananikian

 

Anahit

Anahit’s worship, probably borrowed from the Persians, was of paramount significance in Armenia. Iranians had no idol-worship in the beginning, but Artashes erected the statues of Anahit, and promulgated orders to worship them. The historian Berosus identifies Anahit with Aphrodite, while the Armenian mythology identifies her with the Greek Artemis. According to Strabo, Anahit’s worship was dedicated to prostitution, while king Trdat extolls the “great Lady Anahit“, the glory of our nation [1] and vivifier … ; mother of all chastity, and issue of the great and valiant Aramzd. Anahit-worship was established in Eriza, Armavir, Artashat and Ashtishat. A mountain in Sopheren district was known as Anahit’s throne (Athor Anahta). The entire district of Eriza, the Akilisene (Ekeghiats), was called “Anahtakan Gavar”.

 

The temple of Eriza was the wealthiest and the noblest in Armenia, according to Plutarch. During the expedition of Antony, the statue was broken to pieces by the Roman soldiers. Pliny the Elder [†] gives us the following story about it: The Emperor Augustus, being invited to dinner by one of his generals, asked him if it was true that the wreckers of Anahit’s statue had been punished by the wrathful goddess. «No!» answered the general, «on the contrary, I have today the good fortune of treating you with one part of the hip of that gold statue.»

 

The Armenians erected a new golden statue of Anahit in Eriza, which was worshipped at the time of St. Illuminator. Religious prostitution, if it had existed at some previous period, seems to have been suppressed before that date.

 

The annual festivity of the month Navassard, held in honor of Anahit, was the occasion of great gatherings, attended with dance, music, recitals, competitions, etc. The sick went to the temples in pilgrimage, asking for recovery. The great king Artashes, taken ill, had sent an official to ask the goddess’ help, but the king died before the return of the pilgrim messenger.

 

by Vahan M. KURKJIAN

 

"now I am confused" Arpa jan little help here please!

Edited February 7, 2012 by Ashot

[Arpa]

"now I am confused" Arpa jan little help here please!

Dear Ashot, please tell us what confused you, and give us the URL sites you found those articles above so we can comment more logically. See how many responses we received to the "good news" above. Is it because it is not under the catgory of the "genocide'?

SHUT THE HELL THAT CATEGORY OUT!! That attracts only those who confuse the the letter A as in Armenian with the letter G as in "genocide". Let us talk about LIFE, not DEATH.

Is it because some of us say She is from the Persian "ana-hita" - without Blemish, and others say She is reversd from the Greek "Di(h)ana" ? Not to forget that in that other %# cursed non-langauge "ana/ane/ ANI" means mother.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Arpa

[Ashot]

the first one is located here - http://rbedrosian.com/ananik2b.htm

 

and the second one is located here - http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Asia/Armenia/_Texts/KURARM/34*.html

[gamavor]

It is about time Armenian authorities start taking care of Armenian cultural heritage scattered all over the World. A significant number of Armenian artifacts are in Britain. Everything stolen from the Armenians should go back to Armenia.

While it is difficult to get back anything from Barbarians, at least we should try to recover from those that pretend to be “civilized”.

[Ashot]

gamavor jan - guess again who took it all the way to England

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YehcIUEJCDY

[gamavor]

No my friend, I don’t believe a single word of this video. It is just a legend. We have nothing in common with them. It is BS.

As to the artifacts, they were stolen mostly at the time of the Seljuk Turks conquest of Armenia, and later during the Crusades. It was rumored that even the Cilician treasury is held in Queen Elizabeth wardrobe

.

[Ashot]

gamavor so you would rather believe we are Asians then the first settlers in England are Armenians? come on... let's get to the bottom of this right now right here... the world started from Armenia and it will end in Armenia! Give me a good reason why all these years all these people wanted to conquer this small but strong country of ours? Yes, it's the hate that we are the oldest living people on the world, and yes, it's the hate that we get stronger day bay day, and yes it's because we are smarter then the jews and enough of crying it's time to realize, recognize and act!

Give the world a chance they will destroy one another for 11,484+1,700 sq miles of land known as ARMENIA. Teach the world a lesson and you will add another 1700 sq miles to your borders! DON'T GIVE US OUR LANDS - WE ARE COMING TO GET IT!

 

Edited February 10, 2012 by Ashot

[Yervant1]

ARMENIAN GODDESS STATUE SHOULD HAVE ARMENIAN PASSPORT

 

news.am

February 09, 2012 | 15:29

 

YEREVAN. - The head and hands of the Armenia Goddess Anahit are

presented in the Hellenic section of the British Museum.

 

Board Secretary of the opposition Heritage Party Karine Hakobyan

considers the fact that the statue is exhibited in the Hellenic

section alarming.

 

"The statue is not presented as an example of the Armenian art,"

she said at a press conference on Thursday..

 

She offers not to bring the statue to Armenia but to raise the

question of granting it an Armenian passport. Member of the opposition

party said it is necessary to establish a legislative environment

to guarantee protection of cultural and historic monuments both in

Armenia and foreign countries.

[Yervant1]

CALIFORNIA ARMENIAN LAUNCHES DRIVE DEMANDING BRITISH MUSEUM HAND OVER ANAHIT BUST TO ARMENIA

Marine Madatyan

 

hetq

18:46, February 21, 2012

 

Over 500 California Armenians have signed a petition demanding that

a bronze head of the goddess Anahit now in the possession of the

British Museum be sent to Armenia.

 

The petition was launched by Gevorg Martirosyan who, as a student

in England, would visit the British Museum and view the bronze head

on display.

 

While Gevorg thanks the British for preserving this priceless Armenian

artefact, he believes that the remains must be relocated to Armenia's

Museum of History.

 

Armen Ashotyan, Armenia's Minister of Education and Science, has

launched a similar campaign to get the bust to Armenia.

 

Gevorg says that he tried to get in touch with Minister Ashotyan

in order to inform him of the California petition and received an

answer in an undecipherable computer font. He wrote back requesting

a revised response but hasn't received anything yet.

 

Gevorg hopes that the reason is because the minister is just too

busy and isn't giving him the brush-off. The California Armenian says

it's vital for the minister to reach out to the young people in the

diaspora for the campaign to be effective.

 

Minister Ashotyan's initiative wasn't well received in Armenia. Many

say that Armenia has no legal recourse to demand the return of the

bust and that it never belonged to any Armenian government in the

first place. Others have cited the futile attempts of Greece to have

the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles.

 

The bronze head was found in 1872 in the town of Sadak (ancient

Satala) in north-eastern Turkey and was finally purchased by the

British Museum.

 

Gevorg responds to the naysayers by citing the example of Egypt, which

has successfully fought for the return of some 5,000 cultural artifacts

from around the world, 400 of which came from the British Museum.

[Arpa]

I am surprised that some other people have not yet spoken about the subject. After all that Bronze Head , just like the Lions of Marash was discovered in what is now known as a suburb of angora..

How many more Armenian artifacts are scattered and kept in museums in Europe and elsewhere? How many in museums of that so called country -furkey?

---

A quote from above #1.

The head and hand of the bronze statue referred to Anahit, who was

goddess of fertility and war, according to the website of the British

Museum, was found in 1872 by a peasant accidentally when he was digging

the land in Satagh, south-eastern furkey.

Պտղաբերության, նաև ռազմի աստվածուհի Անահիտին վերագրվող բրոնզաձույլ գլուխը, ինչպես նաև ձեռքը, ըստ Բրիտանական թանգարանի կայքի տեղեկատվության, դաշտը փորելիս գտել է մի գյուղացի մոտավորապես 1872 թվականին հարավարևելյան Թուրքիայում` Սատաղ բնակավայրում

Edited February 23, 2012 by Arpa

[Yervant1]

BRITISH MUSEUM DIDN'T GET A REQUEST FOR RETURNING THE FRAGMENTS OF ANAHIT GODDESS'S STATUE TO ARMENIA

 

Mediamax

Feb 21 2012

Armenia

 

Yerevan/Mediamax/. The British Museum didn't get a request on returning

the fragments of the statue of Anahit goddess to Armenia.

 

As Mediamax reported earlier, Armenian Youth Foundation started

collecting signatures for returning the fragments of the statue of

the goddess from the British Museum to Armenia.

 

In their message addressed to the UK Ambassadors to Armenia Katherine

Jane Leach and Jonathan James Aves, representatives of the Foundation

urged to give the head and arm of the bronze statue of Anahit goddess

kept in British Museum back to Armenia noting that cultural-historical

assets should be kept and exhibited in the country they had been

created.

 

Press and PR Manager of the British Museum Olivia Rickman told

Mediamax today that the relevant department and the British Museum

had not had any request regarding this object yet.

 

According to the information placed on the official site of the British

Museum, the head of the bronze statue of Anahit goddess was found in

the town of Sadak (nowadays' Turkey) in 1872. The head of the statue

was brought to Constantinople and then - to Italy. The head was then

purchased by Alessandro Castellany who later handed the exhibit over

to the British Museum.