Metsamor

[Teutonic Knight]

http://www.tacentral.com/history/metsamor.htm

http://www.tacentral.com/history/metsamor2.htm

http://www.tacentral.com/history/metsamor3.htm

 

Evolution of Armenian alphabet:

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/Azgaser/mapofalphabets.jpg

[Arpa]

Very nice site TK, thank you.

One slight correction.

Altough I have heard Metsamor interpreted in many ways even as far as having to do with somebody's grandmother(mets mor), the site you posted opens with the iterpreation of "quick sand" or some such sulliness. Metsamor is a marshland and a swamp hence many explanations have attempted to capitalize on that. However the original Metsamor was named after the fortress of Metsamor which in fact means "mets" ev "amur", i.e. "big" and "strong".

 

You may find the following inetersting too.

 

Aghtamar/Haghtamur

 

http://armenians.com/forum/index.php?showt...opic=1058&st=40

 

 

The origin of the name "Aghtamar" has been the subject

of many debates. It may be opportune to mention here that Aghtamar is

the Island and not the cathedral upon it. There are several structures on

the Island, the most famous of them being the church of Holy Cross,

Sourb Khach.

The Island of Aghtamar is one of the several islands,

albeit the largest and the best known. It is part of a quartet of

Islands, the others being Lim, Ktoutz and Arter.

 

First the ridiculous.

The Turks call the Island "Ak Damar"(during the Ataturk linguistic purges all sounds that were deemed to primitive and savage were removed from the Turkish language, therefor the sound of "KH" as in "khach" was replaced with either plain K or H, khach became "hach" and "khyar" became "hyar"), to make it soubd like "white vein/artery". Even more ridiculous is the notion that Mt. Masis, Ararat, is the "mountain of pain" as it is known as Agri Dagh in the Turkish. The latter is nothing but a turkification and

corruption of the alternate Armenian name Aghori/Aghori Ler. This is

corroborated by the still discernible ruins of the Village of Aghori at

the foot of the Mountain.

Some time ago I had advanced the theory that

"Aghtamar" may have been a variation of the original name of the

temple (church) "aghot-a-mayr", the "mother of prayer"

and that the island was known by the main structure. I admit that the preceeding takes quite a stretch of imagination. Yet, if the Turks would call our sacred mountain the "Mountain of Pain" and get away with....! Why can't we?

However, on further reading, I may have stumbled on a

better theory. While searching the Aremnian etymological

dictionary, trying to find the connection of "aght",

it all became clear. "aght" is a variation of the

word "haght". We commonly use the word as in

"haghtel", to win, to vanquish. The root word, "aght/haght" is of

original Armenian, via Urartian to mean "big", "high", "brave",

"powerful". We know that the Latin "L" transliterates to "gh" in the

Armenian, therefor consider the Latin word

"alt/altus", as in "altitude" or "exalted". Chancellor

Adenaur would have been happy to know that his

nickname would be Ter Haghte in Armenian (Der Alte).

As to the second part of name "amar". The word has

connection to the modern Arabic/Persian, probably original

Aramaic. It means "to build", "building". Even the

Turks use it. They call Sinan the Architect

Mi'mar Sinan to mean "builder". One variation of the

word in Armenian makes even more sense, "amrotz" in Armenian

means "fortress/fortification". Another common word that we

often use is "amour" to mean "firm", "strong", the connection

here is hard to miss. Not to forget that "aght/haght" also implies

"invincible" (although in common usage we sometimes use it in its

redundant form- "an-haght". Put the two together- "aght-amar" and you get

"invincible-structure/building". It is attested that

Aghtamar has been a fortress island going back to antiquity therefor we

will dwell on the fact that the appellation is none other than

"[h]aght-amar" i.e. "invincible fort[ress]".

 

aurguplu Posted: Oct 21 2002, 02:28 PM

[Teutonic Knight]

I think that the entire site requires more research as far as I know the excavations have ceased. I'm certain that there are many more hidden treasures awaiting discovery and with proper funding that site can be turned into a global wonder.

Some private individuals conduct their own research in Armenia, in one of my recent trips to Yerevan I met a physicist Karen Tokhatian who was documenting cavepaintings and inscriptions. Very interesting stuff.

 

Here's more:

 

-The Hidden Origins of the World Civilizations-

-Metsamor Civilization and Kar Hunge-

Written by Grigor Hakobyan (webmaster)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Through out the last two hundred years, hundreds of world scholars have spent thousands of hours of in-depth scholastic research, in their pursuits to identify the unique birthplace of the world civilizations;The birthplace of the first human intelligence in the world.

From the Siberian mountains of Ural to the Sub-Saharan Africa, from the Sub-Tropical jungles of Peru to the warm shores of the Mediterranean/Adriatic, from the highest tops of the Himalayas to the soaring twins of the Mt. Ararat, the beginning of the first human civilization have been pre-supposed. But the highly sophisticated archaic ruins of the Mestamor, lying at the heart of the Armenian Highland emerged to be the most likely of them all.

 

Extensive archeological finds of obsidian instruments roughly fashioned by the primitive man indicate ancient human settlements in Armenia, dating back to the Old Stone Age (Abbevillian culture) and further onwards. Thus, the archaic history of the human race begins to unravel in Armenia, dating back to 500,000 years ago.

 

The earliest civilization that has been found in Armenia, and is believed to be the first in the world is the Metsamor Civilization, which is dating back to around 5,000 BCE. The ancient capital of the Metsamor kingdom is located on the area of 26 acres, which consists of a cyclopic stonewalls, citadel within them and a vast cosmic observatory. The fortress of Metsamor is further enhanced by a large series of oval shaped dwellings along with adjacent buildings and an underground tunnels.

 

The "heavenly" knowledge of metal processing thought to be received from the pre-deluvial "gods" of the ancients was the most sophisticated of its kind ever found to be of that time period. Metsamor was known to have processed a high-grade gold, copper, and various types of bronze, strychnine, manganese, zinc, mercury and iron. Metal goods made in the Metsamor were highly valued and widely known by its surrounding cultures, stretching out as far as Central Asia, Chine, India and Egypt.

 

Around 11BCE, Metsamor city-capital grew to occupy 247 acres of land, extending itself up to the Lake Akna. Some 500 m. southwest of the citadel, archeologists have found another stretch of land, about 247 acres big, hosting ancient dwellings enough to accommodate about 75, 000 people. A city of such size rivaled any those of the archaic world.

 

Another swat of land, around 200 acres big, located next to the city constitutes to be the main burial ground of the archaic Metsmorians, where archeologists have managed to retrieve the remnants of 30, 000 people. Very interesting commonality with the Egyptians that Metsamorians had was to burry the rich and noble people separately, just like the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. However, such distinction have helped to avoid grave robbers, thus providing scholars with a significant amount of information into the traditions and burial rights of the deceased on their way to the afterlife.

 

Armenia's Fertile Crescent was located in the land between rivers, the famous Tigris and Euphrates, further encompassing the land behind the Arax River. However, within the Ararat valley, a much smaller crescent of land still bearing the marshland once covering the entire Ararat Valley is found. One of the oldest settlements found in Armenia, beyond Erevan extend to the caves and stone-inscriptions found on the Geghama Ler (Mt), where only few sites have so far been excavated.

 

The metal ore mined in Armenia was the purest in the world that resulted in the formation of a culture, where the use of metal idols and building of temples made out of metal have been widely practiced. Their complex cosmic observatories made out of stone stood proudly, charting the vastness and enormity of the nightly sky.

 

 

Kar Hunge-The Armenian Stone Henge

Since time immemorial, humans have pondered their origins. Throughout history many cultures have held various beliefs on the subject. Theorizing and believing everything from stellar origins, to creation in the heavens. All such curiosity and speculation has fueled mankind’s ancient curiosity and interest for astronomy.

 

The earliest signs of astronomic study in Armenia date back to the copper-bronze Ages (5000-2000BCE). They are found at the archeological sites of Metsamor and Geghama Ler. Pictograms and highly complex celestial iconography along with the early Zodiac sings carefully inscribed on the rocks of Geghama Ler and the ancient dwellings of the Metsamorians.

 

Furthermore, two major observatories found at the excavation sites indicate a highly developed astronomic awareness of the ancient Armenians, who decorated the sites with lithographic representations of various constellations as well as a calendar consisting of 365 days.

 

The first observatory found at the Metsamor site has a definite orientation towards a bright star, now known as Sirius. It is suggested, due to evidence collected at this site, that inhabitants of Metsamor celebrated the beginning of the new year with the spring solstice. As well, various inscriptions found at the observatory coincide with modern western zodiac signs of the Aries, Capricorn, Leo and Taurus. There is even work that very strongly indicates that these ancient Armenians envisioned the earth as a sphere.

 

Very little has been learned about ancient Armenian civilization as relatively little archeological work has been undertaken. Also, much knowledge has been lost forever due to mishandling and even state-sponsored vandalism and demolition of ancient Armenian sites which lie outside of Armenia’s current borders.

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"Evolution of the World Alphabets", by Dr.Armen Melkonyan

 

"The Book of Stars", by Dr.Edward Sargissyan

 

"In the World of Laws and Measurments", by Dr.Suren Aivazyan

 

"From the History of Ancient Armenia", by Dr.Suren Aivazyan

 

"The History of Armenian People", by Dr. Leon Babakhanyan

 

"The Armenian History", by Armenia's National Accademy of Sciences (1971)

 

HAYK National Institute (www.arminco.com/Armenia/haik.html) (http://www.arminco.com/hayknet/cult-e.htm)

[ED]

Very interesting post TK, thank you

 

I found this web site that you might want to look at it as well; it has more detailed information regarding Karahundj.

 

 

http://www.astrologycom.com/armstone1.html

[hagopn]

The best explanation for Metzamor is as a remembrance of a former sacred site dedicated to the "Mother Earth" deity ("Great Mother"), probably Anahit in the case of Armenians. This is in fact the argument carried forth by M. Gavuokjian and H. Nersesian. "Metzamor" is indeed among the oldest mythogolical archetypes of all ancient peoples: Literally in Armenian genitive form it is "(Of) The Great Mother." I will get the details when I find the pertinent passages.

 

There are many such examples, but this, 'Karahunj" and "Kar(Akilisse)" are the perhaps most important.

[TashnagZinvor]

evolution of the Armenian alphabet? hahahaha, propoganda at its worst. how do cave drawings tie in with the alphabet? There was no usage of an "Armenian alphabet" previous to 500 AD (whenever). It was clearly Greek and Phoenician, and nothing to do with any sort of evolution.

[hagopn]

evolution of the Armenian alphabet? hahahaha, propoganda at its worst. how do cave drawings tie in with the alphabet? There was no usage of an "Armenian alphabet" previous to 500 AD (whenever). It was clearly Greek and Phoenician, and nothing to do with any sort of evolution.

All writing is the result of evolution. The stages are typically (but not aboslutely) the following:

 

1. Pictographs as purely picture symbols, representing metaphors but in realism

 

2. Hieroglyphs developed from those very same pictographs, but this time having disctinct systemic attributes, with specific meanings or expressions, not necessarily depictions of the drawn character.

 

3. Symbolism or "heiratic" signs, less elaborate and less "picturesque" than their heiroglyph predecessors, but mroe so specific in presenting expressions. In some cases you see actual specific sounds associated with symbols, and thus the precursor to the syllaib cuneiform.

 

4. Symbols representing actual sounds, the same symbols now made less elaborate and "practical" in application to sound association. Meaning is now drawn from series of expressions or sounds, and the word construction is more explicitly stated. The form is either syllabic or of consonant' syllables with "added" signs to compensate for missing vowel specifications.

 

5. A well developed character system of vowels and consonants called an ALPHABET.

[hagopn]

Metzamor is the AREA in which the Atomakayan sits. In that area they discovered an ancient city, and they named the city Metzamor.

 

We are referring to the excavated CITY of Metzamor.