Selected Historical and Literary Works on Armenia
9781465512352
418 pages
Library of Alexandria
Overview
The history of Armenia is a history at once ancient, romantic, tragic and instructive. One of the peoples early mentioned in the Old Testament, the Armenians have maintained themselves for thousands of years, in a region close to the birthplace of mankind and associated historically with the greatest of the cataclysms which have afflicted the world, the Noahic Deluge. That God, in His providence, should have preserved them as a people through so many centuries and amidst such changeful circumstances of peace and war, joy and sorrow, suggests that the Nation has yet before it an important mission in connection with the destinies of Western Asia. The present great World Conflict has brought the Armenians through the persecutions and martyrdoms which they have endured from the cruel and heartless Turkish Government, very close to the hearts of Americans. They appeal to our people on the basis of race, for they are substantially Indo-Europeans; on the basis of faith, for they were the first of Christian Nations; and on the basis of Humanity, for their indescribable sufferings have evoked the sympathies of the world. Armenia has been attracting the attention of the civilized and Christian world. Those parts of Armenia, which were in the Turkish and Persian empires, have been turned by the devotees of the Mohammedan faith into altars upon which human sacrifices have been offered. Yea, not only the Turkish and Persian Armenia but also the whole of Asia Minor, and in fact every city, town, and village in the Turkish Empire where Armenians were found, the high priests and low priests of Islam were intensely engaged in the slaughter of the Christians as sacrifices acceptable to Allah. It is a lamentable fact that according to the teaching of Mohammed the severer the Mohammedan is to his unbelieving or non-Mohammedan neighbor the greater will be his reward, and the better his position in paradise. It may not, therefore, be amiss if we say a few words about the original and ancestral home of the Armenians, whence they have been at times driven and scattered throughout the Mohammedan dominions and have become the victims of cruelty and massacre for ages. Armenia lies directly north of Mesopotamia. It is bounded on the north by the Caucasian Mountains, on the south by the Mesopotamian plains, on the east it extends to the Caspian Sea and Media and on the west to the Black Sea and Asia Minor. The country of Armenia was divided into two main divisions, namely, Armenia Major and Armenia Minor, or the Greater and Less Armenia. Greater Armenia which comprised the larger part of the country extended from the eastern boundary to the Euphrates river, and Armenia Minor extended from the Euphrates to Asia Minor. This ancient river thus made a dividing line between the two main divisions of the country. Armenia Major was again divided into fifteen provinces. Armenia is a highland from 4000 to 7000 feet above the level of the sea. Its surface is undulated with beautiful dells and hills, with fertile valleys and forest covered mountains, with richly productive and extensive plains and pasture lands, and lofty snow capped mountains with glittering snowy peaks, piercing the clear blue sky. The highest mountain of western Asia is situated at the center of Armenia. It is the Mount Masis of the natives, and Mount Ararat of the Europeans, and is of unsurpassed beauty, magnificence and grandeur. No traveler has ever yet seen it and not spoken of it with admiration.
