ANCA-WR Education Committee

Armenian Heritage

Overview

Armenians have inhabited a highland region, called the Armenian plateau, in northern part of the Middle East between the Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas for nearly 4000 years. Geographically situated on the crossroads of East and West and having a distinct socio-religious infrastructure, Armenians have created one of the oldest civilizations and a unique national culture that thrives today in the Republic of Armenia, a small easterly portion of ancient Armenia.

The following books may be found at Armenian Bookstores and on Amazon and primarily focus on the Armenian Heritage and its implications. Descriptions were taken from Amazon and other similar sources

Armenian Constantinople (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian and Simon Payaslian

From early antiquity, the Armenian people developed a rich and distinctive culture on the great highland plateau extending from eastern Asia Minor to the Caucasus. On that crossroad, they interacted on many levels with civilizations of the Orient and Occident. The Armenian community in Constantinople, dating back to the fourth century, contributed to the cultural and material development of the imperial city, the City of Constantine –Kostandnupolies or Bolis, today’s Istanbul. This is the ninth of the series to be published. Scholars from various disciplines offer the story of the Armenian presence in Constantinople across the centuries until the early decades of the twentieth century.

Armenian Van/Vaspurakan (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series has been recognized to explore the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted on the Armenian Plateua for three millennia. Armenian Van/Vaspurakan is the first of the conference proceedings to be published, in view of the fact that the area around Lake Van is the cradle of Armenian civilization. Scholars from various disciplines present the story of Armenian Van from beginning to end.

Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

From early antiquity, the Armenian people developed a rich and distinctive culture on the great highland plateau extending from eastern Asia Minor to the Caucasus. On that crossroad, they interacted on many levels with civilizations of the Orient and Occident. The continuity of Armenian life in most of this historic homeland was brought to an abrupt end as the result of war and genocide in the early decades of the twentieth century. The UCLA conference series, “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,” is organized by the Holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and ecoomic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. Located in the southwestern sector of the plateau, Tsopk or Sophene (later Kharpert or Harput) had close ties with Mesopotamia and Syria, stood for centuries as a buffer zone beween rival empires, and served.

Armenian Pontus: The Trebizond-Black Sea Communities (UCLA Armenian History and Culture)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. The Greek general Xenophon traversed the Armenian Plateau as an escape route from the Persian heartlands to Trapezus (Trebizond) on the Black Sea, his account of that adventurous journey affording one of the earliest written descriptions of ancient Armenia. Armenian Pontus is the eighth of the series to be published. Scholars from various
disciplines offer the story of the Armenian communities in the
Pontus-Black Sea region across the centuries until their violent elimination in the first decades of the twentieth century.

Armenian Kars and Ani (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. The book represents a departure from the preceding volumes in this series, which have focused on the historic Western Armenian provinces, cities, and communities that were encompassed in the Ottoman Empire. In modern history, Kars andAni were very much a part of Eastern or Russian Armenia. Armenian Kars and Ani is the tenth of the series to be published. Scholars from various disciplines present the history and culture of the region across centuries until its de-Armenianization between 1918 and 1921.

Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. Interactions between Armenia and Cappadocia date to early antiquity, when Cappadocia became a contested marchland between empires of East and West. Caesarea also played an important role in Armenian Christian history, as it was there that Gregory the Illuminator, the evangelizer of Armenia, spent his formative years.

Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. It is the second of the series to be published. This beautiful, rugged land in the southwestern sector of historic Greater Armenia is known to have been one of the earliest centers of Armenian settlement. Scholars from several disciplines present the story of Armenian Baghesh/Bitlis and Taron/Mush from ancient to modern times.

Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. Located along the Taurus Mountains between the Armenian Plateau and Northern Mesopotamia, Tigranakert and Edessa hold special significance in Armenian History. It was by way of Edessa that early Christianity made its way to Armenia through the Apostles of Christ. For centuries, the regions were on the front lines in the unceasing contest for domination between Sasanian, Arab, Turkmen, Mongol, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader Europe, empires. This is the sixth of the series to be published. The contributors offer a multi-disciplinary approach to the Armenian presence in these regions from antiquity to the calamitous twentieth century

Armenian Karin/Erzerum (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. The fortress city of Karin or Theodosiopolis, lay at the strategic center of the region known as Bardzr Hayk (Upper Armenia) and of the broader area of Greater Armenia itself. It has been the site of countless battles down through the centuries, as control of this highland is key to dominion over the entire Armenian Plateau. From the four gates of the once-walled city, roads radiated in all directions, taking merchants, travelers, and soldiers to and from Iran, the Caucasus, the Black Sea ports, and the interior neighboring cities and provinces. The plain of Karin/Erzerum, spreading to the north of the city, was dotted by numerous Armenian villages and several renowned monasteries lying near the headwaters of the Euphrates River. This to the Armenians was the “Bosom of the World.” It is the fourth of the series to be published. Scholars from various disciplines present the story of Armenian Karin from beginning to end.

Armenian Smyrna/Izmir: The Aegean Communities (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. From early times, Armenian colonies and communities were established beyond the highland, along the seacoasts of the Black, Mediterranean, and Aegean seas and onward to other continents. One such community was that of Smyrna along the Ionian coastline, which figures so heavily in Hellenic civilization and biblical history. From the Middle Ages onward, Armenian settles arrived from throughout Asia Minor, and the community stood out in its prosperity and adoption of Western modes and style. Armenian Smyrna/Izmir is the eleventh of the series to be published.

Armenian Smyrna/Izmir: The Aegean Communities (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series)

Richard G. Hovannisian

The series is organized with the purpose of exploring and illuminating the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted for millennia on the Armenian Plateau. Armenian Cilicia experienced a brilliant cultural era known as the Silver Age, with major advances in science and medicine, theology and philosophy, astronomy and musicology, art and architecture. Despite its successes, however, the Armenian kingdom, caught in the geopolitical contests among the major powers of the time, finally fell to the invading Mamluk armies in 1375. In the sixteenth century, Cilicia and most of the historic homelands to the east were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, where Armenian life continued for four centuries until the calamitous events of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century violently eliminated the Armenian presence there.

The Republic of Armenia, Volume I: The First Year, 1918-1919 (UCLA Near Eastern Center)

Richard G. Hovannisian

Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Based on Armenian, Russian, Turkish, German, Italian, French, and English-language archival materials, these volumes provide the first comprehensive, multidimensional analysis of this critical turning point in Armenian history—a period clouded in misinformation and controversy

The Republic of Armenia, Volume II: From Versailles to London, 1919-1920 (UCLA Near Eastern Center)

Richard G. Hovannisian

Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Based on Armenian, Russian, Turkish, German, Italian, French, and English-language archival materials, these volumes provide the first comprehensive, multidimensional analysis of this critical turning point in Armenian history—a period clouded in misinformation and controversy

The Republic of Armenia, Volume III: From London to Sèvres, February-August 1920 (UCLA Near Eastern Center)

Richard G. Hovannisian

Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Volume Four examines the final months of the Armenia republic and the destructive impact of a Soviet-Turkish entente on the goal of a united, independent Armenia. The Turkish-Armenian war from September to December 1920 culminated in the loss of half of the Armenian republic and the Sovietization of what was left. The experiment in Armenian independence had failed; and the Armenian people, unable to gather together in a common homeland, remained scattered among communities in the diaspora and in the Soviet Union. At the time, no one could predict that a new opportunity for independence would unfold before the end of the century.

The Republic of Armenia, Volume IV: Between Crescent and Sickle – Partition and Sovietization (UCLA Near Eastern Center)

Richard G. Hovannisian

Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Volume Four examines the final months of the Armenia republic and the destructive impact of a Soviet-Turkish entente on the goal of a united, independent Armenia. The Turkish-Armenian war from September to December 1920 culminated in the loss of half of the Armenian republic and the Sovietization of what was left. The experiment in Armenian independence had failed; and the Armenian people, unable to gather together in a common homeland, remained scattered among communities in the diaspora and in the Soviet Union. At the time, no one could predict that a new opportunity for independence would unfold before the end of the century.