
(Based on the book “The Lords of Avaris” by David Rohl). Today it is a widely accepted fact that Indo-European peoples originated from the tribes of the Armenian Highlands. However, historical science goes deeper into the past, and much is becoming more specific and clarified.
In this respect, the book by D. Rohl (David Rohl. “The Lords of Avaris”. Exmo, 2011) is one of the most outstanding in recent years. It boldly opposed the stereotypes that have formed in Western science, and what has long been known to Armenian scientists is now cautiously being adopted by Western history.
It has its own prejudices and barriers, some of which we will mention below. But the process is underway, and the truth is invincible, despite the gloating of detractors and the mockery of the ignorant.
In this article, we present a brief overview of this book, highlighting the positions that intersect with the ancient history of the Armenians. All statements quoted from the book are put in quotes and links to pages are given. Statements from other sources will be specially marked with links.
Let’s start reviewing the positions expressed in it.
“The tribes speaking Indo-European dialects first appeared on the historical scene in Eastern Anatolia” (p.42). Here, the fact of the origin of the Indo-European peoples is clearly stated. But why is Eastern Anatolia indicated?
As E. Danielyan points out, “According to the latest research in comparative linguistics, genetic linguistics, archeology, anthropology, historical geography, the Indo-European homeland included the Armenian highlands (the cradle of the Armenian people), eastern Asia Minor and Northern Mesopotamia.
At the same time, it should be noted that in this context, the incorrect use of the terms “Eastern Anatolia” and “South Caucasus” – instead of the western and eastern parts of the Armenian Highlands, distorts the toponymic terminology when defining and classifying linguo-archeological material.
Indeed, in reality, the Caucasus with all its parts (northern, southern, eastern, and western) and foothills is located to the north and east of the Armenian Highlands and the Kura River, and Anatolia with all its parts (northern, southern, eastern, and western) is within Asia Minor, to the west of the Armenian Highlands.
Approaching contemporary studies conducted based on archaeology and Indo-European linguistics data from these scientific positions, one can state that the materials presented under the term “Anatolia” or “Anatolian” are falsified in Turkish and some foreign publications, based on political interests; instead of the western part of the Armenian Highlands, occupied by Turkey, they use the fabricated term “Eastern Anatolia” (it is known that in case of even a hint at the name “Armenian Highlands” any foreign archaeologist can be deprived by Turkish authorities of the opportunity to participate in excavations conducted in Western Armenia).
D. Rohl is a major historian and archaeologist who independently conducted excavations in Egypt, the Middle East, and Turkey. In this book, he focuses on the history of the Hyksos and considers the period from 2000 to 800 BC, introducing a New Chronology of history, bringing the described events 200-300 years forward, closer to modernity.
Being a serious scientist and adhering strictly to scientific facts, he himself was often amazed that “Legendary stories, which were repeatedly rejected as fiction, subsequently found a historical basis, confirmed by archaeological discoveries” (p.44).
A number of his conclusions contradict the concepts of such scientists as T.V. Gamkrelidze and Vyach.Vs. Ivanov. According to their theory, the time of the initial Indo-European divergence, according to T.V. Gamkrelidze and Vyach.Vs. Ivanov, is no later than the 5th-4th millennium BC – the period of existence of a common Indo-European language system, and the beginning of its decay is the end of the 4th millennium BC, and from the 3rd millennium BC, the differentiation and decay of the Greek-Armenian-Aryan dialectal unity occurred. But according to D. Rohl’s research, this commonality still appears in the 8th century BC, right up to the era of Homer and Hesiod, from whom the differentiation begins.
D. Rohl pays more attention not so much to the Hyksos themselves as to their significance for Western civilization. Here’s what he writes about them: “The reign of the Hyksos in Egypt is a period closely associated with the roots of Western civilization… The era of the Hyksos is the historical basis for Greek and Roman legends” (p.47). “After their exodus from Egypt, the Hyksos became the forefathers of the age of Hesiod’s heroes, celebrated in ancient Greek and Roman legends” (p.88).
Where did the Hyksos come from, what language did they speak, the heritage of which culture did Western civilization generously draw from?
“A group of Indo-European migrants arrived in Canaan in the Early Bronze Age. Graves and decorations indicate an Anatolian origin They came to power in cities and grew rich on sea trade. Their descendants occupied Egypt under the name of Hyksos” (p.181). But “The Hyksos did not speak the Egyptian language” (p.134).
That is, contrary to the version that has been in vogue until now, which says that culture came to Greece and the Roman world from Egypt, we see that D. Rohl points to completely different origins of European culture. “The earliest pharaohs were from Mesopotamia” (p.199).
“A particular type of burial was characteristic of this group. An elongated pit, dug in the ground and lined with stone blocks. This type of grave is spread across a wide arc from the Euphrates, Syria, Palestine to Transjordan and the Dead Sea. Such is also the type of burial of the Hyksos” (p.181).
At the beginning of their migration from the Armenian Highlands, the Hyksos settled the lands of Palestine and as D. Rohl points out, “Rephaim and Anakim – Hurrian names and tribes appear in 2100 BC in the Levant” (p.179). “They were skilled in metalworking” (p.180), in other words, they brought with them the culture of metalworking.
“The Hyksos were closely related to the Phoenicians” (p.128), if not to say more, that they were the celebrated Phoenicians. “The remnants of the Hyksos maintained their presence in Palestine” (p.150) and later.
“A large group of Hurrian Hyksos, who settled in Jerusalem, were the biblical Jebusites” (p.153) – the Essenes. For example, “The ruler of the Jebusites, Araunah from Jerusalem” (p.153). We know that it was among the Essenes that the ideas of Christianity initially originated or were inherited from their ancestors.
But migrants from the Highlands populated not only Palestine but also a number of islands in the Mediterranean Sea. “Clans of Indo-European seafarers populated Cyprus and Crete, then they move to Egypt and rule there under the name of Hyksos, and then after being expelled appear in Palestine under the name of Peleset – Philistines, Sea Peoples” (p.187). “The king of the Philistines – Abimelech” (p.183).
In other words, they returned and remained in Palestine, fearing the intensifying Assyria, which they had to cross to return to their native highlands. “After leaving Egypt, these Shemau of late Bronze Age Philistia turned into Seranim – rulers of 5 cities – Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron” (p.192). “The inhabitants of Jerusalem – Solomites by Manetho, i.e. Solymi – from Anatolia. They are from the Anakim and Rephaim” (p.370).
Many authors testify about the departure of the Hyksos from Egypt. However, D. Rohl believes that there was no expulsion. “There was no mass exodus from Egypt. These were the same people who lived here before” (p.69). But at the same time it is known that “The great dynasty of the Hyksos – the 15th dynasty – was expelled from Egypt by Pharaoh Ahmose, the founder of the 18th dynasty in 1181 BC.” (p.47).
Is there a contradiction in these facts?
D. Rohl insists that it was just a regular and many times repeated in the history of the Hyksos dynastic split. “Queen Ahhotep, mother of Ahmose, the conqueror of the Hyksos, was a Pelasgian princess.
The Greek legend of Io and Telegonus raises the exciting possibility that Ahhotep was also the mother of the Hyksos king Apophis. In this case, Ahmose and Apophis were uterine brothers, fighting for control over the Nile delta in the process of what was essentially an intra-dynastic struggle between the ruling elites of the country” (p. 216).
Such stories of intra-dynastic struggles for power are very common in ancient history. It is enough to mention the history of the Parthian Empire, or the history of the Byzantine Empire, to discover their typical features of such intra-family splits. And the other pharaohs were also related to the Hyksos.
“The dynasty of Ramesses II comes from Avaris” (p.125). “Ramesses I has a Hyksos origin” (p.125). And even the “God Seth also comes from Avaris”. “Sethi I, the father of Ramesses II, celebrated the 400th anniversary of the coronation of Seth as the ruler of Avaris” (p.126). “Ramesses II ascended the throne in 943 BC. The 1st year of Tutankhamun’s reign – 1007 BC.” (p.126), and “The foundation of the temple of Seth in Avaris in 1385 BC.” (p.127).
Later, in the same way, Egypt was expelled by Armais-Danaos, who started the tribe of Danaans and the city of Adana. If it’s true that Egypt had 50 sons, as Aeschylus says in the play “The Suppliants”, where he describes the return of Danaos’ daughters to Argos, then Egypt didn’t need a brother-competitor when he had to divide power between 50 sons.
“A stone vase with the cartouche of Apophis was found in a Phoenician burial in Spain. This vessel was probably a family relic, associated with the Hyksos by kinship ties, who migrated in the 8th century BC during the colonizing movement from east to west” (p.217). Probably, this is how the Basques were formed, a people who preserved the connection with the toponyms of the Armenian highlands in their language.
The closeness of the Hyksos culture to a number of well-known civilizations that remained in the memory of mankind, for example, Atlantic, Minoan, Spartan, Ancient Greek and others is confirmed by the facts cited by D. Rohl. “Minoan frescoes were discovered in the Hyksos palace.
Labyrinthine patterns and pictures with a bull and jumping over a bull were also discovered there” (p.230). But it is known that the very first labyrinth-like form was found in the Armenian highlands and is a repeated depiction of the swastika. “Frescoes from Avaris depict jumps over a bull and fights between people and bulls.
All this is on a labyrinthine background” (p.196). “The word labyrinth comes from the Minoan labris, which denoted a double-edged axe in Aegean sacred rituals” (p.197). There were no such fights with bulls in Egypt. “Jumping over a bull is the entertainment of the local nobility” (p.339). “This tradition was born in Anatolia” (p.339).
The Minoan culture had a sad ending. Here is how D. Rohl talks about it: “Not far from the island of Crete is the island of Thira. On this island there is a settlement of Akrotiri, which looks towards Crete.
It was destroyed by an earthquake and subsequent volcanic eruption” (p.257). “1210 -1181 BC – Akrotiri is destroyed by a volcanic eruption. In 1020-1100 BC the city was abandoned. The Mycenaean Greeks overthrew the native Minoan rulers of central Crete” (p.259). “The military power of the Minoan thalassocracy was destroyed by the eruption. The palaces and cities, protected by the fleet and without fortification walls, were laid waste.
Ten years later, the Mycenaeans prepared ships and invaded and devastated the remains of the Minoan cities” (p.262).
“The Minoans belonged to the Atlantic culture, which oppressed the Athenian Greeks and fought with them” (p.260). “Thus, the legend of Atlantis preserves memories of the disappearance of Minoan civilization” (p.262).
But what is the connection between the Minoans and the migrants from the Armenian highlands, who are the Mycenaean “Greeks” and are they Greeks at all, and can the Atlantic civilization be connected with the Armenian one? The possibility of such a connection is indicated by the story of the island of Akrotiri, mentioned by D. Rohl.
“On the island of Akrotiri, a Hurrian king ruled” (p.270). “A fresco from Akrotiri depicts a fleet’s journey from the island of Thera to the Levant, the conclusion of a peace treaty with the local Aryan or Hurrian ruler, and then these warriors – shemau stay in Avaris among the Hyksos.
Then they return to their homeland in the islands of the Aegean Sea” (p.277). “They receive a warm welcome from their relatives on Calliste in Akrotiri about 80 years before the last eruption” (p.278).
And here is the key fact, which we will examine in detail. “The palanquin (of the leader – E.G.) is decorated with symbols indicating the title h/k – ruler of mountain countries, which was worn by the Hyksos, who ruled Egypt” (p.279).
It was from the combination of these two letters that the term Hyksos was born. As D. Rohl says, in connection with another case, “For the first time in the history of Egyptian archaeology, a monumental hieroglyphic text included the title h/k – Kassite (literally “ruler of mountain countries”, but usually translated as “ruler of foreign lands”) from which Manetho’s term Hyksos originates” (p.233).
We are familiar with Manetho’s writings through the transcriptions of Josephus Flavius. Let’s look in more detail at the history of interpretation of these two letters. First of all, we note that one of the explanations given by Flavius himself is that the ending “sos” is characteristic of the Greek language, in which Flavius wrote, and indicates the plural. In the singular, the ending “os” is added to names.
Here is what Josephus Flavius himself says about it: “In Scripture, all names are reshaped for the convenience of readers to the Greek way, to make it more handy [to pronounce them]. We find such a type of names inappropriate, and therefore both the forms and the endings of words remain unchanged: for example, Noah (Noeos) is called [by us] Noe, and this form is used throughout the work .
In another list of Manetho’s history, Josephus Flavius finds another explanation for the name Hyksos. “In another copy, I found that the sound ‘I (ai – E.G.) ik’ means not kings, but, on the contrary, indicates that the shepherds were captives, as on the other hand Hik and Hak [is pronounced with a dense exhalation] directly means ‘captives’ in Egyptian. This explanation seems to me more plausible and in accordance with ancient history”.
The mention of the sound “I” (ai) is only found in the book by J. Flavius published in 1895 and reprinted in 2000. Trying to verify the accuracy of the transmitted sound, we found that in Internet versions and even in the recently released substantial anthology “Histories of the Ancient East” edited by V.I. Kuzishchin (IDV, M., 2002), allowed as a textbook for historians, the sound “ai” does not appear. Was this done intentionally, or simply a lack of attention from publishers?
Knowing how bias Russian publishers are towards the mention of anything Armenian, and even in Byzantine history, steeped in the Armenian spirit, they try not to mention Armenians, we, taking this “omission” as another, unknown how many distortions – let the publishers and editors from St. Petersburg University be ashamed – decided to look for the truth in other publications.
And only by referring to the ancient Greek text of Flavius, a copy from the original, published in 1955 in Germany – Flavii Iosephi, Opera V, Apud Weidmannos, vol.V.Contra Apionem Libri, Berlin, Germany – 1955, p.14-15, – we confirmed the accuracy of the pre-Soviet translation, not yet affected by “fluffy” chauvinism. Symbols above letters in ancient Greek denoted the diphthong “ai”. In modern Greek, they are not used.
By the way, similar distortions are inherent not only in Soviet science, but also in Western science in general, if it concerns Armenian history. For example, here is what D. Rohl says, “Egyptologists always substitute the letter e where a vowel can be in a word.
It has become a tradition to voice vowel symbols, such as omega – w as the letter u (u). For example, “house” is voiced by Egyptologists as “hut”, although in many cases this letter sounds like “a”. For example, Avaris sounds like Havarе” (p. 500). According to J. Flavius, Avaris, “according to ancient religious legend, was called” Hut-Wart, i.e., “the house of warts”. But if you substitute “a” for “u” as Rohl corrects, there is no Urartu at all. There is Ararat, and the exact name of Avaris is the house of the Ararats.
Let’s now try to determine how the Hyksos were actually called. Let’s return to their self-designation “Hik” or “Hak”, which, as Manetho and Flavius point out, is pronounced with an exhalation and is most likely to have sounded like “Hik” or “Hak”. Since there is no letter “h” in Russian, wherever it sounds in other languages, in Russian it is denoted through “h” or “g”.
Egyptian hieroglyphics contained two types of signs – ideograms and phonograms. Ideograms described objects and specific concepts. Words were composed only of consonants. Phonograms, however, indicated how this word should sound, i.e. which vowels should be inserted between the consonants.
But since sounds were usually not recorded in hieroglyphic texts, later researchers decided to insert the sound “i” between consonants for ease of reading where there was no corresponding phonogram.
Therefore, Josephus Flavius could only record the word “h’k” (in Latin writing), as indicated in the footnote to his text in “History of the Ancient East, M., 2002, p.54”. Being forced to look for the sound of this word, as indicated above, he reports that “In another copy I found that the sound “I (I – Latin – E.G.) ik”, i.e. the sound – “ai ik”.
By combining this phonogram with consonants, we get the word “Haik”, pronounced with a “thick inhalation”. Recall that the ancient Greek text directly points to the sound “haik” as the self-designation of the Hyksos. More precisely, Haikh (the combination kh introduced here as an exception means the aspirated k—q, with which in Old Armenian the plural of nouns is formed). Haikh means both “Armenians” and “Armenia” and is derived from the name hai (Armenian).
The name Haik also comes from the name hai. In the Latin alphabet, this word is “Hyke”. But Haik – the progenitor of the Armenians and their self-name – Haikh, the people of Haik. There are no other claimants to this name in history.
Let’s now consider the main theme of D. Rohl, the roots and origins of Western civilization, who and what peoples founded it? It is known that European peoples attribute their origin to the Pelasgians. Who are the Pelasgians? Here is how D. Rohl answers.
“The Pelasgians are the great ancestors of Western civilization, “divine”. Their exploits and family relationships formed the basis of the legends of the Greeks of a later era. They, arriving from Eastern Anatolia, founded the dynasty of the great Hyksos in Avaris” (p.328).
“All ancient Greek rulers, regardless of their dynastic names, were of Pelasgian origin until the arrival of the Pelopids, who also came from Anatolia” (p.327). “The ancient name of Greece is Pelasgiotis, or the land of the Pelasgians” (p.329).
From the Armenian Highlands also come the “continental Pelasgians, who also colonized Central Crete and are traditionally identified with the ancestors of the Philistines (Pelasget), who first settled in Cilicia and then moved to Canaan with other sea peoples” (p. 328).
“The biblical Caphtorim should also be considered legendary Pelasgians. They were the last rulers of the dynasty of the great Hyksos in Egypt” (p.330).
“Referred to in the Bible as the Rephaim, Anakim and Caphtorim, and in the Egyptian tradition as Hyksos, they stayed in this region for at least 300 years. Then they were pushed out of Egypt by native Egyptians (whose rulers were partly Pelasgian through dynastic marriages) and returned to the Aegean Sea.
Other of their kinsmen remained in southern Canaan – in the Bible they are called Philistines and Jebusites, and their Aryan allies in the north became the rulers of Mitanni in the late Bronze Age” (p.331).
As D. Rohl himself points out, the first pharaohs from the Armenian Highlands appeared in Egypt about 4000 years BC, so by “native Egyptians” we must understand earlier waves of migrants. On the other hand, the undeniable Armenian-Hurrian origin of the Mitanni state only confirms the fact of ethnic unity of the Armenians and Hyksos.
“They, “Rulers of mountainous countries”, were the ruling aristocracy among the Amalekites” (p.598). “They come from the homeland of Indo-European tribes and their Hurrian allies” (p.598). “Avvim with their Amalekite infantry rushed across the border of Egypt around Gaza and reached Memphis.
They too were under pressure from the arrival in eastern Canaan of former Israelite slaves, who aimed to seize the promised land for their tribal confederation” (p.598). “When the Israelites under the command of Joshua began to loot the fortified cities built by the Anakim, the latter were forced to retreat to the west, leaving the “country of hills” to the invaders” (p.599).
It is known that European culture is the heiress of the culture of Ancient Greece and Rome. We are used to talking about ancient Greek philosophy, sculpture, art. But is there any contribution of the Greeks themselves in this? And who really created all these masterpieces of world culture, including ancient philosophy.
From these times we know about the Minoan civilization, Mycenaean Greece, Sparta, Achaeans, Dorians, Danaans and so on. From D. Rohl’s book it turns out that all of them are descendants of migrants, migrants, as we would say today, Haik tribes from the Armenian Highlands, and even ancient Greek myths are nothing more than adaptations of the exploits of these migrants.
Let’s take a closer look at these statements.
“The Minoans were just a part of a much larger family of Indo-European peoples living from Hyksos Avaris to Pelasgian Argos and Anatolian Arzawa and from Hattusa to Canaanite Ugarit and Alalakh” (p.339). “Many residents of Alalakh bore Hurrian names during the Hyksos era and the Hurrians were closely associated with the Aryan elites of the Middle and Late Bronze Age” (p.340).
“In Indo-European legends, it is said that Europa, daughter of Agenor from Tyre, sailed from Phoenicia to Crete, where she gave birth to Minos – the elder. This was a marital union between the Pelasgian ruler of Tyre (Agenor, descendant of the Hyksos pharaoh Apophis) and the Pelasgian ruler of Knossos (Asterion, son of Tektamis)” (p.327).
“Europa was kidnapped from Phoenicia by Taurus (Toros – EG), the admiral of the Cretan fleet” (p.327). “The island of Crete was named by Keret, a hero of Ugaritic legend” (p.340). “Minos’ uncle on the mother’s side, Cadmus, brought writing to Greece” (p.328).
Here one can compare with this fact the Armenian chronicle and find out that Haik had an heir (grandson) Cadmus (or in the Greek version Cadmos), who indeed brought literacy to the Greeks, i.e., to the peoples who lived there in a still preliterate state. And after this, they started to be called “literate”, which in Armenian sounds like “Greks”.
That is, the aborigines of these territories, having received literacy from the Haiks, started to be called Greeks after. By the way, in terms of time, these events coincide in two chronologies, Armenian according to Horenatsi and Greek (approximately 1900-2000 BC).
“Therefore, the ancient Greeks who invaded Crete and occupied Knossos were Pelasgians, in full accordance with the statements of Diodorus of Sicily” (p.327). “Pelops was the father of Atreus, who ruled in Mycenae” (p.326). “According to Herodotus, the inhabitants of the Peloponnese were descendants of the Pelasgians” (p.350). “Herodotus reports that these ancient Pelasgians did not speak Greek” (p.349).
Therefore, Mycenaean Greece was also founded by newcomers from the Armenian Highlands. By the way, the genuine pronunciation of Mycenae is Mukan, which is very similar to the same name of the steppe in ancient Armenian Paytakaran, at the eastern end of Artsakh-Karabakh. So who are the Danaans, the gifts of whom should be feared?
“D. Rohl reports that ‘The Danaans descend from the Pelasgians – Palestinians. Danaus arrived from Egypt and declared that all Pelasgians should be called Danaans'” (p.327). “The Danaans are named after the legendary Danaus – ruler of the Hyksos, who fled from Egypt” (p.351).
“Armais, also known as Danaus, ruled Egypt for 5 years. After this he was expelled from Egypt, sailed away from his brother Egypt, arrived in Greece and started to rule” (p.366). “In the genealogy of a later tradition, Danaus is called a relative of the Phoenician king Agenor, the father of Cadmus” (p.367). According to Khorenatsi, the father of Cadmus is Aramaneak.
“Danaus made the voyage from Egypt to Argolis 8 years after Cadmus arrived in Greek Thebes. Danaus was the last foreign ruler of Avaris after Cadmus left” (p.369).
“In Aeschylus’ drama ‘Suppliants’, the flight of Danaus and his family from Egypt to Argolis is described, where he founded a new royal dynasty of Danaids. He was a descendant of Danae in the fourth generation, and Danae, in turn, was the mother of Perseus, who founded the royal residence in Mycenae, known to any Greek.
Perseus was an ancestor of Heracles and Eurystheus in the third generation. After the death of Eurystheus, Atreus son of Pelops, who was the father of Agamemnon and Menelaus, ascended the throne” (p.365). From this point on, the inhabitants of Hellas began to call themselves Danaans.
Summing up, D. Rohl states: “Greece itself was called Pelasgia (Palestine) – Hyksos – migrants from Anatolia, Lydia, north of Izmir – Smyrna” (p.501). “Pelasgians from Ionia originally lived in the Peloponnese, Mycenae.
The Greeks considered the Pelasgians to be the ancestors of the civilization of Hellas” (p.502). “First there, in Mycenae, Perseus founded a dynasty, then he was overthrown, and then the overthrown Heraclids came” (p.502).
“The Pelasgians spoke the Luwian language of Cilicia. They occupied Miletus – the birthplace of Greek philosophy” (p.502). Here it can be noted that in the Armenian version of the history of ancient peoples, both the Hittite and Luwian languages are dialects of the ancient Armenian language.
“The Spartan kings were direct descendants of the Pelasgian sons of Heraclids. The militaristic character of the Spartan state came directly from the martial culture and worldview of the age of heroes” (p. 482). And further.
“The Spartans are Dorians. Where do the roots of the Spartan warrior spirit come from? The collapse of the Achaean kingdom as a result of the return of the Heraclids, exiled three generations earlier, after the unsuccessful first invasion of Hyllus, son of Hercules” (p. 458).
“The brutal hero Hercules, a man of little mind, but strong and prone to mindless violence, was a vassal ruler of Tiryns. He embarked on a pirate expedition that ended in the plundering of Troy during the reign of Laomedon, father of Priam” (p.459).
“Before this, Hyllus attempted to seize his father’s throne on the Peloponnese in 890 BC and avenge the Pelopids who ruled in Mycenae” (p.459). “There was a battle between the Dorians and Hyllus in which one warrior participated. And the Heraclids retreated from the Mycenaean kingdom to Boeotia, northern Greece” (p.460).
Let’s make a small insertion about Boeotia from the English-language encyclopedia.
Boeotia (Boeotia, Viotia) was a central part of ancient Greece. Today it is a prefecture of modern Greece. As the encyclopedia (http://www.nationmaster.com/country/gr-greece) indicates, there was the oldest city in Greece and was named Graia (Graia, Γραία), from which the word “Greece” stems, according to the encyclopedia.
The Armenian word “graget” means having literacy or knowing the letter – gra, i.e., knowing – “gitun”, the letter – “gra”.
Information about this ancient city can be found in Homer, Pausanias, Thucydides, etc. Another important city of Boeotia is Thebes, which was connected with Egyptian Thebes. Thebes was the homeland of the legendary hero Hercules. Among the prominent people of Boeotia are such personalities as Pindar, Hesiod, Epaminondas, Pelopidas, Plutarch.
In Greek mythology, Boeotia plays a prominent role. Of the two major centers of legendary tales, one is Thebes, with its Cadmean population serving as a military stronghold, and the other – the Minoans, celebrated as having enterprising commercial cities.
As the encyclopedia indicates, the local peoples were absorbed by these migrants, and the Boeotians are henceforth represented as a homogeneous nation. It is possible that the ease of assimilation was caused by the fact that the local peoples could be migrants of an earlier wave.
Interestingly, the Boeotians are mostly known as creators of the geometric type of pottery, which was common in the Armenian Highlands millennia before that. In the Peloponnesian Wars, the Boeotians fought fervently against Athens.
Let’s take a closer look at what Greece itself, or Achaea – a province on the northern coast of the Peloponnese, was called. Greece – in Hittite (or in Old Armenian?), “Ahhiyawa”, but “wa” is a Hittite ending, “a” is a protethic letter, indicating possession.
We are left with Haiya. But this is the self-designation of the Armenians. And by adding the letter “a”, we get that this is the land, or possession of the Armenians. Exactly as Adana is the city of Dana, Danites.
“From Hittite chronicles it is clear that the history of Adana goes back to the second millennium and was named after the Danites” (p.487). There is a speech by the king of Cilicia, Azatiwadis, the son of Avarukus, king of Adana, where he glorifies the god of Storms” (p. 490). “Mopsus was the ruler of the warriors of Danaan, who tried to invade Egypt in the 8th year of Pharaoh Ramses 3 in 855 BC” (p. 493). The kings of Adana are his descendants. “Azatiwadis belonged to the Danites and to the dynasty of Mopsus” (p.527).
Let’s now consider who founded Roman civilization, according to D.Rohl?
“The Etruscan civilization arose in Western Anatolia. Its founders sailed from Arzawa 10 years before the beginning of the Trojan War” (p. 554). “Taruisha, Tursa, tursenoi, the Anatolian ending “enos” means a man from Tursa”, or if we substitute “u” for “a”, a man from Tarsus, Toros, Northwestern Anatolia.
“They sailed west and became the Etruscans, the founders of Roman civilization. They were called, to-ro-ya” (p. 503). “Taru people are from Arzawa” (p. 504). “Herodotus believed that the Etruscans were from Lydia – Arzawa, Cilicia” (p.548).
Arzawa or Arzava is, according to the Armenian version of ancient history, a well-known ancient Armenian state.
The same Etruscans appear in Sicily as Sicels, and in Sardinia. “Sardinia – Beth Shardana, sea people from Anatolia, invaded Egypt” (p. 548). “First they went to Smyrna, where they built ships and sailed to Italy” (p. 549). “The invasion of the sea peoples took place in 856 BC, in the 8th year of Ramses 3’s rule” (p. 183).
After this, it is not at all surprising that the patricians of ancient Rome had a family name – Gaius, and it even entered into the greeting of western peoples. This greeting so accurately reproduces the self-designation of Armenians – hay – that the Armenians who first arrived in the US, took it as a question-statement, are you Armenian?
“Julius Caesar and later rulers of Rome traced their lineage back to the heroes of the Trojan War” (p. 573). “The dynasties and other kings date back to the age of heroes” (p. 473). For example, “King Pyrrhus II, who ruled in Epirus at the end of the 4th century – a cousin of Alexander the Great, called himself a descendant of Achilles in the 20th generation” (p.473).
Thus, summarizing our review of D. Rohl’s book, let us complete this part in his own words. “After their expulsion from Egypt, part of the family of the Great Hyksos spread throughout the territories of their trade empire” (p.370).
“From this family come Agenor of Tyre, Cadmus of Thebes, Danaus of Argos, Minos of Knossos, and Perseus of Mycenae” (p.370). “The kings of the Great Hyksos dynasty, who ruled in Memphis and Avaris were one of the last elements of the great northern migration to the region of the Fertile Crescent, which began at the end of the Early Bronze Age (NH c. 2100) and ended in the last phase of the Middle Bronze Age (NH c. 1200). These “great Hyksos” kings were of Hurrian and Indo-European origin” (p.349).
NH is the correction of traditional chronology established by D. Rohl himself, which he called New Chronology, and which is 200-300 years “younger” than the traditional one. By the way, according to the New Chronology, “Rome was founded not in 753 BC, but in 650 BC” (p. 593).
Now let’s turn to a very interesting fact that prompted the German-Jewish philosopher K. Jaspers to introduce the concept of “axial time.”
Having discovered the simultaneity of the appearance of great men of humanity in different and distant civilizations, Jaspers concluded that there was some mystical axial time that caused this simultaneity.
For example, the emergence of Pythagoras in the West, Buddha in the East, Zoroaster, Confucius is inexplicable if we consider them as civilizations isolated from each other.
However, if we introduce the Armenian factor – the presence of a large intermediate zone stretching from West to East and the extensive migration that Armenians have always demonstrated, then this simultaneity gets its logical explanation.
For instance, in the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched as far as the borders of China, Armenians were the most active element spreading current ideas and knowledge along all trajectories. It is not by chance that Plato, in his work “The Republic,” traces the origins of deep religious-philosophical teachings from the Armenian environment, in particular, the teaching of reincarnation (ideas of karma).
Thus, axial time is explained by the fact that at this time intertwined forces of the same origin were acting. Through the Armenian Highlands, there was a connection between Egypt, Greece, Italy, Central Asia, and China.
The famous works of Homer, Hesiod sing the heroes of the past, the departed “age of heroes.” In Homer’s Iliad, the Trojan War is described. “The Trojan War began a year after the fall of the Hittite Empire and during the civil war in Egypt.
The war lasted 10 years, from 874 to 864 BC” (p.318). “The famous invasion of the Sea Peoples is dated to 856 BC” (p.328). “The sagas of the Trojan War were developed by many generations of Ionian bards, from 800 to 680 BC, until Homer embodied them in his monumental works” (p.449).
“Homer belongs to the generation that migrated to Ionia from continental Greece as a result of the Dorian invasion. Homer in Greek means captive, hostage” (p.447). By the way, Armenians call Greeks – Ionians – “huiyn.” “In Hesiod’s ‘Theogony,’ in the myth of the creation of the world, there is a strong influence of Hittite, Urartian (Araratian – E.G.), Hurrian epic ‘About Kumarbi'” (p.449).
It is much easier to assume that Homer and Hesiod themselves were carriers of Araratian legends and epics, rather than to think that they were conveyed to them by some intermediaries.
Then begins the classical era of ancient Greek philosophers of the Milesian and Ionian schools and migrants from the Armenian Highlands finally dissolve in the space of Western civilization. The first wave of globalization in human history has ended, creating this civilization.
“Great people – both heroes and villains are the driving force that leads human civilization, and sometimes pulls it back” (p. 597). With such a phrase, D. Rohl’s outstanding book ends.
The author of the work: Grigoryan E.R., Doctor of Philosophy, Professor, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.
Translated by Vigen Avetisyan