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5ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ И АРХЕОЛОГИЯ
TIGRAN PETROSYANTS' LITERARY "TIGRANAPATUM"
MADONA KAREN MARTIROSYAN
Armenian State Pedagogical University after Khachatur Abovyan (ASPU)
Yerevan, Armenia master of history, librarian of the scientific library
Annotation. The purpose of the article is to present the Armenian Artashesian kings presented in the literary-historical works of Tigran PetrosYants, who bore the name Tigran and here became "Tigranapatum". By combining the results of the studies of Tigran PetrosYants's works, we have come to the conclusion that, having an artistic orientation, they carry a great historical value, examine issues that need to be studied anew, such as the conflict between Tigran the Great and Pompey in BC 66 the signed Artashat Treaty and the diplomatic practices of Tigran Jr., which was described as treason, but the author interpreted it as a diplomatic move, which, unfortunately, never achieved its final goal. Very few manage to put historical events into a fictional mold and present the reader with historical events as they happened, and give them only historian-specific conclusions that give the reader the opportunity to reflect and look at historical events in a new way.
Key words: Tigran PetrosYants, "Armenia my love" collection, " Tigranakan", Tigran III, Tigran IV, literary history.
1. Introduction
We are particularly interested in the works dedicated to the "King Tigran of the Armenians" written by Tigran PetrosYants (Tigran Hayazn), a public-politician, a participant in the Artsakh Liberation War, a culturist, bibliographer, historian, and journalist, which are a true and important lesson of homeland and patriotism for future generations.
We have in our hands the books of Tigran PetrosYants of great literary and historical value. One of them is the lesson-poem " One century from a king to a kingdom / lesson-poem/ Tigranakan". It is about the hundred years of heroic achievements of the history of the Armenian people and the century-long Tigran era in the East, where we will find a revival of the clash of ancient historical views and modern thinking. The author presents historical facts through the eyes of a truthful historian and presents new and realistic historical approaches to the reader. The second is the collection of poems "Armenia my love" (2017), which can be described as a poem, a lesson-poem, a thought, a historical novel, or a science-visual-cognitive novel, all three of them characterize the collection "Armenia my love" in their own way.
In all the works of Tigran PotrosYants, what is to be said is current, thoughtful, and always aimed at the objective coverage of any historical event. His works are highly patriotic, educational, instructive, sometimes exciting, strengthening and inspiring the Armenian national spirit, and are true and important lessons aimed at the preservation of Armenia, Armenianism, and everything that is Armenian.
2. "Armenia my love"
The collection of poems "Armenia my love" is a manifestation of the author's boundless love for the motherland and is intended for every Armenian to see in noble colors the path of his people and his only homeland, Armenia. Bringing up the falsified facts, the author sheds light on the historical past and puts the reality in front of us, which sometimes allows us to look at historical holes and events from a different perspective [1, p. 288]. For the book "Armenia my love", Tigran PetrosYants received an incentive award in the "Ardzak" category of the 2018 joint award ceremony of the Union of Writers of
Armenia and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia. The author is a devotee of the motherland, well aware of our national destiny, endlessly sharing its worries and pains, but at the same time full of great faith in the bright future of his nation. Even in his literary name, one can see the intense manifestation of patriotism: Tigran "Hayazn", which the author interpreted as a "devotee of the Armenian nation".
The collection "Armenia my love" is a simple, uncomplicated, sincere cover, where there is neither excessive verbiage, nor meaningless and unremembered words. The book is a true and useful lesson in patriotism, especially for the new rising generation. It very clearly explains how important family education is: "... starting from the cradle and from the moment of baby milk, a child must love his homeland," wrote academician Aelita Dolukhanyan [2, p. 145-149].
The proof of this is the first work of the collection, which bears the same title of the book, "Armenia my love".
When I already understood something, My mother said: "You are Armenian." And ordered him to love Armenia more than herself, And from that moment, Armenia is my love...[1, p. 4-5].
The author wrote poems entitled "Hayk Nahapet", "Kertolaghayr Movses Khorenatsi", "Tigranakert", "Ani", "Nemrut", "Armenian eyes were not blue" and more than a dozen "Armenia". The collection also includes four ballads, and some of his compositions have become popular songs, which are constantly played during solemn celebrations dedicated to Armenia and Artsakh, such as "Zoravar", "Deznov was born again", "Yerablur", "Aparan's heroic battle", "Aram Manukyan", "Soldier" and others. There are also biographical works in the collection, where we find stories about the origin of the author's ancient noble family. According to them, the ancestors of PetrosYants came from Khoi province. From his ancestors, the author received a fragment of a manuscript, a silver cross that belonged to Melik Martiros (Ter-Karapet's brother, who was a famous clergyman) and that Tigran PetrosYants always wears around his neck, a silver ring that he also always wears on the index finger of the right hand, on both sides of the tribal ring, there are eagles with a royal council.
...And luck took me to Xoy, Native village on the shore of Kaputan, And I knelt and kissed the holy ground, Which carry the remains Of my ancestors... [1, p. 64-65].
Moving on to our actual material, we can say that there are two works in the "Armenia my love" collection that represent the activities of the Armenian king Tigran II the Great. The first is "King Tigran" and the second is "Tigranakert" poems.
In the poem "King Tigran", the author describes in detail the path of the Armenian king, in which the author himself was a participant and bearer. As a loyal soldier of the Armenian king, he passed with him and shared the laurels of victories /1 walked with your army, fought, I defeated the Armenians.../and the bitterness of defeats / I chewed my lips from defeat with tearful eyes.../ [1, p. 29]. In this small poem, Tigran the Great is on his way to victory. Let's remember that after the death of Tigran I, the Parthians agreed to release his son, the future Tigran the Great, from captivity in exchange for the "Seventy Valleys". Tigran returned to Armenia when he was 45 years old, this is an age when people accomplish many things and monarchs such as Alexander the Great traveled halfway around the world, but this did not prevent the Armenian king from becoming the greatest figure of his time, endowed with profound political and military abilities. He began to strengthen the Armenian army and began major conquests.
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BC. 94 Tigran II the Great conquered and joined Tsopk to Mets Hayk. King Artanes, the grandson of Zareh, submitted to Tigran, then Tigran returned the "Seventy Valleys" from the Parthians. BC. 93 Armenian-Pontic troops occupied Cappadocia, from where Tigran received huge booty and a large number of prisoners. Tigran then began his conquests in the East, South, and Southwest in BC. 88-85. The Armenian army led by Bagarat and Mehruzhan with 120,000 troops captured Atrpatan, Northern Mesopotamia, dominated Jerusalem and Mtsbin here, invades Ecbata, the summer capital of the Parthians, and received the title of Persian king-king, which Tigran's successors also hold later. BC. 8483 Tigran marched south to Antioch, the capital of the Seleucids, and captured it, which after some time made it the second capital of his empire with a population of 500,000. He also conquered Plain Cilicia on the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean and moved south, captured a part of Phoenicia, captured the Seleucid queen Cellene Cleopatra, reached the border of Palestine. BC. 74-71 taking advantage of the rebellion in Rome by Spartacus, the Armenian king besieged the city of Ptolemy. With this, Armenia became the largest state in the East, whose borders stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt, as a result of which the territory of Armenia, together with subordinate countries, made up an area of about 3 million square kilometers [3, p. 22-23]. This is how PetrosYants describes the above-mentioned events and puts the path of Tigran the Great before the reader, which makes a person who is not so familiar with history informed.
I've been by your side when we reached and overcame
The Caucasus mountain range,
When we reached Kasbk,
When we reached Egypt
Arrived in Cappadocia,
Persian Gulf
And Bactria.... [1, p. 29].
The poem "Tigranakert" is the continuation of the poem "King Tigran", because here the author is also an inseparable companion of the king.
I was here two thousand years ago
When King Tigran was laying your foundation stone,
And you were the first of the cities he founded [1, p. 30].
In the ancient world, it was accepted that every self-respecting king should have a city named after him. Tigran the Great was the bearer of Hellenistic traditions and culture, which also found its expression in the construction technique of Tigranakert city. He built Tigranakert, the capital of his newly created empire, in the city of Aghdznik. As well as cities of the same name in Artsakh and Utik, and Tigranavan in Goghtn [4, p. 45-54]. Tigranakert was founded in BC. In the late 80s. One of the most important links of the urban development of that region were the defense structures, which expressed the military achievements of the architecture of the given region and the economic and political state of the state. Cities with strong defense systems, together with a well-organized army, were the guarantee of the country's independence. Therefore, the defense system had to meet the requirements of the developing poliorcetics (the art of besieging cities) and be constantly ready, such was the capital of Tigranakert, which met the standards of the most powerful cities, such as Nineveh and Babylon [4, p. 46]. Greco-Roman sources provide some information about Tigranakert capital. According to Pliny the Elder, Tigranakert was built on a hill, (which makes the capture of the city inaccessible) [5, p. 365]. And according to Appianus, Tigranakert had walls 50 cubits (25-26 m) high, which were so wide that there were many horse stables and warehouses in them [5, p. 258]. PetrosYants commented like this.
We put the stones of your walls together
And fill the dovetail holes with stuffing,
So that you are mountainless and bottomless...[1, p. 30].
This poem ends with a description of another city, Tigranakert, which is located in the Artsakh world, and since Tigran PetrosYants was a participant in the first Artsakh war and made a great contribution to the preservation of cultural monuments, after the victory of the first Artsakh war, the author had the belief that that Tigranakert has been returned to its real and eternal owners, the Armenians, which is presented like this.
To give a memory for the future,
To bring home all the cities we built [1, p. 30].
This collection of poems by Tigran PetrosYants is an eloquent confession of love addressed to Armenia, the world of Artsakh, our great ancestors, their immortal deeds, which are addressed to future generations by a truthful historian, as he says. ("Don't be a patriot, but a lover of Armenia") Is a great lesson of Armenian love for future generations.
3. "One century from a king to a kingdom / lesson-poem/ Tigranakan"
The lesson-poem "Tigranian" by Tigran PetrosYants is about the heroic achievements of the history of the Armenian people for over a hundred years and the Tigran era that lasted for a century in the East. The author of the poem, Tigran PetrosYants, seems to meet King Tigran the Great in a dream, appearing in the poem as the king's court historian. He lives a heroic life next to the king, travels all over the world. The author presents the story of his ancestors to the king, stating. "You knew about your Egyptian ancestors, the kings of Arrata, Araman, Aram, Ara/Argishti/ the ruler of the world, King Tigran of Yervandian" [6, p. 3]. The author says that the time of Tigran the Great has come, and the world in those days. "He declared you great, he declared you king of kings, / God declared you..." [6, p. 4]. The author writes that King Tigran was never a hostage-prisoner in the Parthian country, as presented in Armenian and world historiography. The king appropriates the behavior and manners of the Parthian palace, military art and tactics, diplomatic ups and downs, and at the same time considers it necessary to be friends with the Parthian king Mihrdat and to give him his daughter Ariozat Automania in marriage. This speaks of Tigran the Great being a far-sighted politician. T. PetrosYants brings forward the fact that in the East "The creator cut the first man's umbilical cord" [6]. and that it is difficult to survive here without support, which is the description of our days today. The lesson-poem talks about how Tigran handed over the "Seventy Valleys" to the Parthians before he became king, and returning the same "Seventy Valleys" was only a matter of time for Tigran. Tigran was anointed the king of the Armenians in the far south of the country and very soon he was supposed to build a new capital at the place of his coronation, named Tigranakert.
You were born as king of Armenians...
In a small shrine,
That your life
A vision of great things to be done
It will become the mother city of Tigranakert.
A place to build a new city...[6, p. 7].
The king unites and completes Armenia, of which Little Armenia was a part. "Anipatros, the Armenian king of Little Hayk, places the crown of the country on the head of the Armenian Mihrdat Evpator" [6, p. 7]. By this, PetrosYants considers Mihrdat an Armenian, and this is what prevents the
king from overthrowing Mihrdat, moreover, Tigran the Great signs a military alliance with him, the confirmation of which is marked by the marriage of Mihrdat's daughter Cleopatra and Tigran the Great. The author praises Tigran that he does not become arrogant on the way to creating a superpower, but remains as an honest king and ruler who respects every nation and attaches great importance to friendly ties. He writes about the title "From King to King". "From the East to the West, from the North to the South, many kings and mighty kings knelt in front of you, King Tigran" [6, p. 9] He describes it like this. "You were great, powerful, autocratic/ Gold, silver and copper coins were minted in your image,/ Your life, your work, and most of all your wealth shook Rome" [6, p. 9]. When it comes to the Armenian-Roman war, the writer-historian says. "King Tigran, you told me a winged sentence,/ these are too many for an embassy,/insignificant for a war" [6, p. 10], stressing that these words were remembered by all Roman historians in their writings [7, p. 66]. The author also talks about Tigran the Great and Pompey, saying that Tigran takes another diplomatic step to ally with Pompey. After all, Tigran could win one war, or vice versa, and here the king makes the choice. Tigran the Great chooses to be of the motherland, speaks not only about the king's greatness, as the whole world calls him, but also about his boundless patriotism. He did not even forgive his treacherous sons for the sake of his homeland and people. At one of the meetings of the "Wednesday" club, the author, referring to the activities of Tigran Jr., said that he does not consider Tigran Jr. a traitor, but a skilled diplomat and politician, whose every step towards his goal has an explanation, maybe what he needed. to take that step if he was the rightful owner of the inheritance of the Armenian throne, and those who consider Tigran the Younger a traitor do not know well the context of historical events. Meanwhile, the triumvirate of Rome was busy looking for new leaders of the country, and Pompey was in a hurry to reach Rome and easily agreed to conclude a peace act on the terms proposed by Tigran the Great, in return for which Tigran the Great gave him 6000 talents of gold and silver from the treasury of Tsopk, and Tigran the Younger reigned. In Tsopkum, Tigran the Great sends his son Tigran the Younger to negotiate. But since Tigran the Great did not personally go to the Roman's military base, the latter took his son, Tigran the Younger, to Rome as an exile, so that in this way he could prevent Tigran the Great's supposed Roman-evading actions by threatening his son, when before that he had signed an alliance of brotherhood with Tigran the Great. After ups and downs, King Tigran the Great ruled in peace and ensured the existence of his country forever. According to the author, his main message to his people was as follows.
"The East is my home
Everything will burn
If fire fell.
We shouldn't fight each other..." [6, p. 13].
Artavazd. Tigran the Great was succeeded by his son, King Artavazd (55-34 BC), who became a ruler from the throne, then from a king to a king. Let's remember from history that BC 43, the second triumvirate was formed and Antonius was assigned the East. And it was very difficult for Armenians to maintain neutrality. BC 36, he arrived in the East and moved to the Parthian capital Praspa. During that war, Artavazd provided the Romans with a 13,000-strong army, but this did not help Antony, and his army was defeated. In an effort to save his reputation, Antony strove to conceal the results of his campaign from the Romans and even assured the old man of victory [8, p. 616-624]. In this regard, we meet in Plutarch. "...with the unsuccessful result, he owed it especially to Artavazd Armen..."[5, p. 290]. It was here that Antonius started his machinations against Armenia and Artavazd. his goal was not only to throw the lost game on Artavazd, but also to restore his damaged reputation at the expense of Armenia. For this purpose, Antonius invites Artavaz to Alexandria, allegedly to discuss plans for the next year's raids against the Parthians. Artavazd declines the invitation, but Antony gets even angrier and invites
Artavazd a second time, this time citing the marriage of Artavazd's daughter and his and Cleopatra's son, Alexander. However, the Armenian king understood Antony's ulterior motives very well. Antony seeing that this way does not achieve any results, BC. 34 years In the summer, he marches to Armenia and moves to Artashat. The Armenian king Artavazd, wanting to save the country from destruction and human casualties, goes to negotiate with Antony, during which Antony falsely arrests and takes Artavazd and his family to Alexandria. During the triumphal banquet organized in Alexandria, the Armenian king and his family did not make a request or bow to Cleopatra, as a result of which they "received the reputation of noble persons" [8, p. 616-624]. Greco-Roman sources rated Artavazd's conduct as desertion and a number of researchers have assured that this is historical truth. And here Tigran PetrosYants, the historian-writer, presents Artavazd as a skilled political and statesman, a worthy follower of Tigran the Great, characterizing him as a talented negotiator, skilled administrator, and military leader. In the lesson-poem, making no reference to the above-mentioned events, that the Roman general Antionius, unable to defeat Artavazd, takes him to Rome in chains, along with his household, and adds that, although chained, the proud and powerful Armenian king did not become a slave and beg for his life. The best description of it is the following lines of PetrosYants.
"You didn't bow to her cousin
And you did not beg him for life" [6, p. 15].
The author assures that if the king had not become a victim of the dispute, then. "You would have been in history/the most powerful king of the East/after your father Tigran the Great..." [6, p. 16]. This indicates that the author saw in Artavazd a military and political figure no less skilled than Tigran, who could keep Armenia at the top.
Artashes (34-20 BC) The author met King Artashes on a difficult night on the banks of the Aratsani River. During their meeting, the king was sad, even desperate, because his father, King Artavazd, was in captivity in Rome. But the king is able to repel the enemy's troops from the Armenian land. The author describes Artashes like this. "...But you were your grandfather's grandson/ And your father's worthy son" [6, p. 18]. The palace historian meets King Artashes after three years, when he is informed of the terrible news that his father and mother were beheaded and their heads were sent to King Artavazd of Atrapatakan as a gift, he is filled with revenge, and the author interprets the situation as follows.
And every cell of you screamed for revenge.
And your decision was one
And you named it
The "Roman Night" [6, p. 18].
The author also writes about a sad fact that there have always been traitors "And always at the very moment/ When the Armenian land/ Was in a mighty flight..." [6, p. 20] and always will be at all times.
Tigran III. (20-8 BC) Tigran the third was the middle son of King Artavazd, who went with his father to meet Antony. We already know that Antony captured and took his father Artavazd and the rest of the family to Alexandria with a false promise of guardianship and forced him to bow to Cleopatra, but Tigran remained proud and unbroken like his father. When Rome under the leadership of Augustus fights and defeats Antony, as a result, Tigran and his family find themselves in a new Roman captivity. And Tigran with his family becomes a weapon in the hands of Rome, against Artaxerxes, who started a war of revenge against Rome. As King Artaxerxes consolidates his position on the Armenian throne, Octavian releases Artaxerxes' brother Tigran and his family, and Octavian then sends Artaxerx to death by treachery, carried out by a pro-Roman faction in Armenia. And he puts Tigran on the throne in Armenia, thinking that in Armenia he will have a puppet that he will keep in his chains, he even mints gold and silver coins with the inscriptions "Armenia Reconquered" and various pictures depicting the
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symbol of Armenia, which is the basis for thinking that Tigran III pursued a pro-Roman policy [9, p. 148-150], but the emperor Octavian is disappointed. Tigran had other goals with Armenia: to restore the Armenian throne and Armenian identity. The author described this reality more accurately.
As soon as you came, you became Armenian
Confirmed that the lion or the eagle
They never turn into cats or birds
When in cage
Confirmed that your spirit
Is a lion's, your mind is an eagle's [6, p. 23].
One of the first steps of Tigran the Third was that he overthrew the Roman-loving friends who raised arms against his brother Artashes, sent the Roman soldiers back from Armenia. "And you made Rome understand, / That there will be one master in the East / Tigran the Third King of the Kings..." [6, p. 24]. Tigran the Third ruled for a decade, but during his reign Armenia restored the Armenian throne. Tigran the Third was the second king of the Artashes dynasty, who was able to anoint his twin sons, Tigran IV and Erato, as Armenian kings. The author also confirms this fact. Tigran III was succeeded by his children, Tigran IV and Erato which we will refer to in another context. However, it is important to note that drams have reached us in the name of Tigran IV and King Erato, one of which is now kept in the National Library of Paris. The pictures of Tigran and Erato are stamped on the different sides of this coin, around which it is written in Greek: "Tigran a King to the Kings" and "Erato Sister of King Tigran" [9, p. 150]. The entire Artashesian dynasty is represented in the class-poem, up to Queen Erato. In the epilogue, the author writes "Being your court historian, King Tigran, I shared with you the path of your life, your children, and I am satisfied with my fate, which gave me a patriotic ruler like you, next to whom I absorbed time, the impersonal Tigranian time, for exactly one century" [6, p. 32].
4. Conclusion
The works of Tigran PetrosYants express a deep love for the rich history of the Armenian people full of discoveries. Having an artistic orientation, they carry a great historical value. Very few people dare to put the historical facts in a fictional mold and present the historical events to the reader as they happened, and give them conclusions specific to the historian, which give the reader the opportunity to think and look at the historical events in a new way. At the same time, carrying within themselves a main message, that is to keep and protect what has reached us from the depths of centuries, to teach our children to know our motherland better and to love their country and ancestors more, and to be proud and guided by the deeds of brave kings. They examine questions that need to be studied anew, such as: between Tigran the Great and Pompey in 66 BC. the signed Artashat Treaty and the diplomatic practices of Tigran Jr., which was described as treason, but the author interpreted it as a diplomatic move, which unfortunately did not achieve its final goal. Or the fact that Tigran III did not become a Roman lover, as we see in some authors, PetrosYant's "Lesson-poem from the century-old king of Tigran" also proves the falsity of that hardened thesis, stressing that the best proof was the first drams minted by the Armenian king, on which he carved images with a beard specific to the East and inscribed them in Pahlavi instead of Latin, with which he made Rome understand that he was not and will not be a puppet In the hands of Rome.
REFERENCES
1. PetrosYants T., "Armenia my love", Yerevan, author's publication, 2017, 288 p.
2. Dolukhanyan A., "Armenia my love" as a confession and a lesson (History and theory of language and culture), Problems of pedagogy and psychology (scientific journal of the inter-university consortium), No. 1, 145-149 pp.
3. Melkonyan A., History of Armenia (lecture manual), Yerevan, "Hayagitak", 1998, 277 p.
4. Khachatryan J., Urban planning of the Tigranakert capital during the time of Tigran II, Official magazine of the Mother See of the Catholicos of All Armenians Holy Etchmiadzin, Etchmiadzin, 2006, vol. CB, No. A, 45-54 pp.
5. Gaius Plinios (the Elder) Secundus, Natural History, book VI, X, Chrestomatium of the History of the Armenian People, vol. I, Yerevan, 1981, 944 p.
6. PetrosYants T., " One century from a king to a kingdom / lesson-poem/Tigranakan",Yerevan,2014,31p.
7. Plutarch, Biographies, translation by Grkasharyan, Yerevan, Sargis Khachents, 2001, 391 p.
8. History of the Armenian people, vol. I, Yerevan, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1971, 992 p.
9. Zhamkochian H. G., Abrahamyan A.G., Melik-Bakhshyan S. T., Poghosyan S. P., History of the Armenian people from the beginning to the end of the 18th century, Yerevan, Yerevan University Press, 1975, 783 p.
