Categories: CulturePeople

Garegin Nzhdeh – Epitaph

“Stop, traveler, in front of this unknown burial mound in which I am not destined to come to peace. And tell me – is there still peace and sun? God forbid, have the hearts of the Armenians fallen asleep even though the dead have no peace because they have no graves?

Do you hear, traveler, the voice, the rebellious voices of the dead, the call coming from the glades sprinkled with Armenian blood? The call of the innumerable victims of the red-bloody massacre? An unceasing call which, like a violent storm, roars against the deafness of mankind and then like a tired hurricane groans at the door of its dead conscience?

The dead want graves, traveler. Oh, blessed are the lucky people sleeping in their native land, three times blessed…

The dead should come to peace… Then, I will come to peace as well when the three giants of the Armenian world – Masis, Nemrut, and Sipan – exclaim enthusiastically:

‘Hey, hey, we belong to the Armenians again, we are Armenian again, we are Armenia again…’

Tell me, traveler, is this day far?

Are you crying, have you stopped fighting while I am still fighting, still continuing the fight?

To battle, traveler, to battle so that the Armenians living in a foreign land return to their homeland and our unburied dead find their graves. To battle!”

Garegin Nzhdeh

Garegin Nzhdeh Photo of the funeral
Vigen Avetisyan

Recent Posts

The Armenian Bronze Chariot: A Ritual Vehicle of the 14th Century BC

Among the most evocative artifacts to survive from the Armenian Highland's Late Bronze Age is…

2 days ago

Clowns of War: The Strange Battlefield Legacy of Medieval Armenian Theater

Long before "clown" became a synonym for children's birthday parties, the word described a hardened…

5 days ago

Dura-Europos and Ancient Armenia: A Crossroads of Priests, Inscriptions, and the Cult of Mithra

Introduction The fresco reproduced above — three white-robed priests, one wearing a tall conical hat,…

1 week ago

From Lake Van to Yerevan: The Bronze Helmet of Urartu, the First Armenia

The crested bronze helmet on the left of this comparison was not made by a…

2 weeks ago

A Tower Crowned by a Lion-Rider: Reading a Bronze Age Cult Vessel Through the Lens of the Armenian Highlands

A small, weathered piece of fired clay — barely 31 centimeters tall — sits today…

3 weeks ago