{"id":15767,"date":"2024-11-18T15:05:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T11:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arvak.am\/?p=15767"},"modified":"2025-02-15T20:32:33","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T16:32:33","slug":"armenian-national-ideological-standpoint_2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arvak.am\/en\/armenian-national-ideological-standpoint_2\/","title":{"rendered":"Armenian National Ideological Standpoint. The Path of Hayk and the Path to Hayk"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Expert\u2019s Opinion,<\/strong> 18.11.2024
\n(<\/em>Part II, see previous <\/em>in Part I<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Eduard B. Atanesyan<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\u201cAnd our country is named Hayk after our ancestor Hayk\u201d.
\n<\/em>Movses Khorenatsi<\/strong>, \u201cThe History of Armenians\u201d<\/p>\n

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1. The Path of Hayk<\/strong><\/p>\n

National identity is the collective consciousness and appreciation of common origins, language, homeland, faith, education, and culture. It is one of the types of collective identity formed on the basis of numerous factors and can represent both a long-term evolutionary process and, sometimes, the result of a historical event over a brief period of time.<\/p>\n

For Armenians, modern national identity also includes \u201cvisible\u201d historical-political realities such as the Genocide and the Nagorno-Karabakh issue (massacre, loss of homeland, migration, hardship<\/em>). Being new \u2013 these realities were absent 120 years ago \u2013 they came to complete the Armenian collective identity.<\/p>\n

Alongside historical and political realities, the national \u201cmyth\u201d\u2014 whether it is an epic, a legend, or a heroic tale \u2014 holds unique significance in shaping national identities. It provides a (pre)history of the formation of a nation, detailing the actions and exploits of its founding figures and outlining the traditions and value systems characteristic of the nation.<\/p>\n

We, Armenians, trace our origins to the myth of Hayk the Patriarch, which for millennia has reflected the collective value system and vision of the Armenian nation regarding its identity, circumstances, and environment. As such, it has never required historical-documentary validation(1)<\/sup><\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the origin of the Armenian nation is unique in human history, having a clearly recorded(2)<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0\u201czero point\u201d \u2013 known by the year and day \u2013 thanks to Armenian historiography(3)<\/sup><\/a>. This point is not only chronologically placed on the historical timeline of humanity but is also organically intertwined with biblical, universal events. This \u201czero point\u201d relates to Hayk the Patriarch and his story.<\/p>\n

It seems that the story \u201cAbout Hayk and Bel\u201d is well known in modern Armenian society. However, in a deeper sense, it remains unknown and underrated by our society and is more often accepted in a manner typical to similar narratives: the giant Hayk pins down another armored giant, the evil Bel, to the ground with an arrow shot from his broad bow. Emphasizing the battle scene, which is the climax of the conflict between the two giants, perhaps flatters our national pride, calculating the origin of the nation from that very moment and noting that the Armenian nation was born on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

However, Hayk is perhaps the least deciphered among the epic heroes of humanity, so by focusing exclusively on this point, we overshadow no less and, perhaps, more important issues directly related to the entire subsequent history of the Hayk\u2019s nation.<\/p>\n

Let us begin with the general context and prehistory of the events preceding the incident of Bel’s downfall, which, according to the historians M. Khorenatsi and Sebeos, is intricately connected with the well-known biblical episode.<\/p>\n

Thus, the division of humanity into nations (languages) took place by the will of the Lord, in order to thwart another evil plan of the misguided humanity. After the confusion of languages, Bel accidentally becomes the ruler of mankind \u2013 a king, through violence and murders. And, as the historian attests, \u201cHayk, unwilling to submit to him, after having his son Aramanyak in Babylon fled and went to the Land of Ararat, which was located in the northern regions, with his sons, daughters, sons of the sons, the powerful men \u2013 about 300 people in total \u2013 and other relatives, and those who joined him, and all their households and belongings<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

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The ruins of the Borsippa temple, considered to be the ruins of the Tower of Babel, are located
\nin the Babylon Governorate of Iraq, 17 km southwest of the historical city of Babylon’s ruins,
\non the banks of the Euphrates River. You can find more information here: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Borsippa<\/a><\/p>\n

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This very pivotal episode \u2013 rejecting the established illegal authority and the striving for free live, which was also reaffirmed by the Armenian historiography during the Christian era \u2013 was set as the primary axiological value for the origin of the Armenian nation. It is also noteworthy that the decision to wait until the birth of his son Aramanyak before leaving Babylon, even today, is a reasonable decision that makes the character of Hayk even warmer and more human \u2013 something not common among the idealized heroes of the epic stories.<\/p>\n

While the Patriarch settled with his family in the north, \u201cfinding a [common] language<\/em>\u201d with the few people living there, and becoming the region’s landowner and leader of the region, Bel in the south \u2013 in Babylon and its surroundings \u2013 performed \u201cvarious wonders\u201d<\/em> and subjected everyone to his will by force, proclaiming himself also as a god and demanding that \u201chis image be placed in homes\u201d<\/em> and worshiped as a deity. Meanwhile, Hayk’s country continued to live freely under the Hayk\u2019s patriarchal <\/em>rules known and understandable by Armenians even today. Thus, contrary to modern fashionable discourses, patriarchal<\/em> does not mean unfree<\/em> but free<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Years passed before Bel decided to march with his army into Hayk’s country, to subject it to his will, and to impose the worship of himself as a god. The long decades that have passed are evidenced by the fact that the one who informs the Patriarch of the attack was the son of his Babylon-born son Aramanyak \u2013 Cadmus, who had inherited from his grandfather the southern areas of the region bordering Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n

Hayk with Cadmus and his son Aramanyak, and the \u201cmighty sons\u201d<\/em> of his 7 daughters moved ahead to meet Bel. However, due to the small number of his armed men, he was initially forced to retreat. Here, according to Sebeos, we encounter several interesting episodes: first, the historian specifically highlights the fact that the Patriarch’s grandchildren \u2013 the sons of his daughters \u2013 were \u201cmighty<\/em>\u201d, thus affirming that the daughters’ sons can also inherit their maternal grandfather’s qualities, something genetic research has proven in our times. Secondly, the episode of Hayk’s tactical retreat is also uncommon for the pathos of the epic tales about heroes.<\/p>\n

According to the Armenian historians, the purpose of Bel’s campaign was to kill Hayk, although from the course of events it becomes clear that the ruler of Babylon offered the Patriarch to obey to his will, in return for which he was ready to accept Hayk with his people in any place of his domain. He even offered Hayk to become his close companion, to train the royal young archer hunters. However, in the face of the imminent danger, Hayk did not abandon his decision and rejected the proposal to accept the unlawful authority and worship the false god, choosing the struggle and earning victory. This part of Hayk’s story also played a vital role in the Armenian national value system: the Patriarch did not yield to the \u201chonoring\u201d and attractive offers of Bel \u2013 then the most powerful figure of the world \u2013 and, most importantly, refused to recognize the tyrant as a god, as he knew the true God.<\/p>\n

Thus, the Armenian nation was born in the struggle for freedom and the truth when Hayk rejected the Babylonian despotism and false faith. Despite being tempted by the offered glory and benefits, he, along with his family, relatives, and like-minded followers, returned to his (and the mankind\u2019s) roots \u2013 the Land of Ararat, the cradle of the mankind’s salvation.<\/p>\n

The confusion of languages led to the inability of people to understand each other and to continue the joint construction of the Tower of Babel. By not being part of Bel’s vile plan, Hayk manifested his human nature inherited from Noah, possessing the ability not to subjugate others by force but to understand them and earn their love and respect. It is from Hayk the Patriarch that the Armenian nation inherited the unique ability to deeply understand the civilizational-cultural code of the distant and close nations, to reproduce, enrich, and perfect it in various fields for those nations and the entire world. Some contemporary Armenian intellectuals refer to this as the Armenian \u201cTranslational mission<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Thus, Hayk was the \u201ckey\u201d through which Bel sought to gain the opportunity to govern all humanity and bring to life his plans for building the tower \u2013 to reach the heavens and become \u201cequal\u201d to the true God, which he was unable to realize over several decades.<\/p>\n

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Haykaberd (also known as Sardurihinili, Sardurihurda, in Turkish as Chavushtepe, and in Kurdish as Aspesin) is a fortress settlement located on the western promontory of a hill in the northeastern edge of the village of Astvatsashen in the Hayots Dzor district of the Historical Armenia. It is now situated in the village of Chavushtepe in the Gurp\u0131nar district of the Van province, Turkey.<\/p>\n

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This was the profound purpose that brought the ruler of Babylon to the land of Ararat. Here, in the cradle of the mankind, Hayk, preferring death to the slavery of his soul and body, fought with his people on August 11, 2492, BC, on the eastern shore of the Lake Van, in the district of Hayots Dzor in the province of Vaspurakan, in the valley of the Khoshab River, against Bel and his huge invading army and destroyed him.<\/p>\n

By overthrowing the first tyrant king, who had proclaimed himself a god, and his plans, Hayk completed his mission and outlined the path of life for his future generations:<\/p>\n