Today’s journey takes us to another holy of holies of the Armenian Cosmos – a land where the Armenian nation itself was formed, where one of the first Armenian states took shape in the 2nd millennium BC – a country called Tun Torgom (House of Torgom).
Traditions and legends of all the most ancient nations – Armenians, Jews, Persians, and others – trace the origin of all peoples to the progenitor of modern humanity, Noah, who, by the will of the Almighty, was saved from the flood, mooring his ark to the Ararat mountains. According to the Biblical chronology, this occurred in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. Noah had three sons – Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Unlike, say, Jews and Arabs, who trace their origins from the descendants of Shem and are therefore called Semitic peoples, Armenians are descendants of Japheth, they belong to the so-called “Japhetic” nations. This terminology is based on the Bible, but in Armenian tradition, as we have seen when traveling through Sasun, the name Shem has also firmly established itself in the Armenian Highlands.
Anyway, Japheth had a son Gomer (the eponym of the country Gamirk at the junction of Armenia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia), Gomer had Tiras (namesake of one of the main gods of the most ancient Armenian pantheon – Tir), and Tiras had a son – the future father of Hayk Nahapet, named Torgom.
After all, it is not for nothing that Movses Khorenatsi, narrating the period of the Haykian of the most ancient Armenian history, emphasizes that Hayk, who participated in the construction of the Tower of Babel with his clan-gerdastan, rising against the tyrant Bel, returned to the historical homeland of his ancestors – Armenia.
The name of Japheth, many researchers believe, is preserved in the name of the famous mountain Npat in the upper reaches of Aratsani, from which King Pap watched the Battle of Dzirav in 371 AD. Several more mountains and ridges in Armenia bear the name Npat.
The country, which was named by Hayk Nahapet’s father Torgom, is located on the extreme west of Armenia, near the borders of Cilicia and Cappadocia, in the basin of the largest right tributary of the Euphrates – the Melas river (now Tohma), between Malatia, Sebastia and Caesarea – directly adjacent to the Hittite state.
Called by Armenians Tun Torgom, this country is mentioned in the most ancient Hittite, Jewish, Aramaic, and other texts under the names Togarma, Tegarama or Til-Garimmu, Til-Gurimmi. In addition to the direct eponym – Torgom, the name of the country is also derived from the most ancient roots “tog” (family, nation, house) and “arma” – Armenian, that is, a direct calque of the ancient Armenian Tun Torgom with rethinking into the House of Armenia.
It is precisely here that the Armenian nation initially formed, from here the numerous tribes of the Torgom clan dispersed throughout their Armenian highlands, it is from here that Hayk Nahapet descended into Babylon, and it is from here, according to the applied geography of all the ancient peoples, that the Country of Armenians or Gund Araratyan begins, the country of the sun-born Armen men, the country of Torgom’s son and the Armenian patriarch – Hayk Nahapet.
In later centuries, this land was known as Second Armenia, being one of the provinces of Lesser Armenia, and now it is part of the Naanga Malatia. The capital of the country was also called Tun Torgom or Togarma – the Armenian House, named after the country.
One of the name options – Til-Garimmu (Til-Gurimmi), in the course of further linguistic transformations gradually turned into Gorene, Gavrene, Gorin, and finally, into Kyurin – the name under which this ancient Armenian city is known throughout the Middle Ages and modern times. Now this name is preserved in the form of Gyurun.
The city is located 110 km to the northwest of Malatia, on both banks of the Melas-Tohma river, in the northern foothills of the Voromandon ridge, which is part of the chain of Arkaiyts (Royal) mountains of the Southern Armenian Tavros system.
In the vicinity of Torgom-Kyurin, the Gavar Karnak or Garnak of Lesser Armenia stretches out – do you catch the direct analogy with the Egyptian and Breton Karnak?! Originating from the name of Hayk’s descendant – Geham’s son Garnik, this toponym, closely intertwined with the root “kar” (stone), directly or indirectly participates in the name of the most famous village of Garni, the cities of Karin and Kars, as well as a dozen or so Armenian names.
In Kyurin, Armenians had a church and a school, prominent representatives of Armenian culture were born in this city – musician and composer M. Tumachyan (a student of Komitas), poet Vahe Vahyan and others. 7 km downstream of Melas, between the villages of Karnak, Partizak (Garden, now Bahchedjukh) and In Kahak (Old City, now – Karahisar) is the Surb Tagavor monastery, literally – the Holy King (Greek Ay-Vasil), with the meaning of the Lord, the Most High.
Further down the river, 37 km from Kyurin, lies the city of Daranda or Tarente, which was once a well-known center of the Paulician movement. The city was famous for its impregnable fortress, which was simply called Shenk – structure. In Daranda, there were three Armenian churches, a school, and the Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) monastery.
Directly west of the city lies the Ashotadzor gorge with the river of the same name – a right tributary of Melas, and the large well-known village of Ashoti, where there was a monastery, a church, a school, and even an idjevanatun (caravanserai).
97 km to the northwest of Kyurin, on the road to Gamirk-Kamarak (today’s Gemerek), at the very border of Armenia with Cappadocia, lies the large village of Svhun or Svhyn, in which in the early 20th century more than 250 houses – 2000 people of the Armenian population, lived and where there was a church and a school.
Near Svhun stretches the Antitavros mountain system, one of the ridges of which is called Hndzori (Apple, now distorted – Hynzyr). The monastery, located in one of its offshoots and being one of the centers of Armenian medieval literacy – Hndzori Astvatsatsin, is named after the ridge.
The Tsamndav (in Turkish transcription Zamanth) river, which is the right constituent of the largest Cilician river Saros (Seyhun), originates on the desolate karst Tsamndav plateau stretching to the east of Antitavros.
On the plateau, in the upper reaches of Tsamndav, is the large village of Pohrenk with the Surb Astvatsatsin church (by the way, the cult of the Virgin Mary is no less widespread in Armenia than Christ himself), and lower down the river, at the very beginning of the Tsamndav gorge, lies the city of Tsamndav – ancient Ariarartia, Turkish Azizie, now Punarbash.
In the opposite – the eastern part of the Tsamndav plateau, in the foothills of the Bazeitevk ridge (Falcon Wings, in Greek tradition – Zigon-Baziteon), lies another large and famous village – Manchnuk or Mandjinik (now Mandjiluk) with the Surb Teodoros monastery. Near the village are the ruins of ancient Larisa, and to the north of it is a karst elevation with an almost flat surface – Sehanasar (Table Mountain).
Further east, between Toun Torgoma and the Arabkir gavar, runs the ancient road from Sebastia to Malatya. On it, in the southern foothills of Bazeitevk, on the eastern slope of Mount Vank (Monastery) is the ancient village of Vank with the Surb Nshan monastery.
In ancient times, an idjevanatun and a road station named Ad-Praetorium, marked on the Peutinger map, emerged in its place, and even later – the settlement of Hasan Chelebi. Generally, the foreign toponym Hasan, often encountered in the Armenian highlands, like all late layers, has a very specific Armenian linguo-toponymic basis.
This name comes from the Armenian word Ketsan, meaning “shelter”, “residence”. The root “chelebi” is used by the Turks to mean “noble”, “aristocratic” – in the vast majority of cases attributing it to outstanding Armenians.
Another quite large idjevanatun of its time was located south of Vank, almost 22 km in the direction of Malatya, and was simply called Idjevan. Rebuilt in later times, the village was named after the builder – Hekimhan.
“Khan” in Turkish toponymy means idjevanatun, caravanserai – the root comes from the Armenian “kan”, which is an ending for the names of settlements – Arzakan, former Leninakan and Kirovakan, Kstakan, and others.
Finally, on the extreme east of Toun Torgoma, within the Arabkir gavar of Lesser Armenia, lies a city now called Argovan or Arguvan. This is a legacy of the ancient toponym Arkavan (Royal Settlement), or the parallelly developed name Argavand – Fertile.
In bygone times, the city of Argavos or Argavuna was located in its place – the village of Mohrakut (literally – ash heap), the Turks call it Karahuyuk (the term “huyuk” means ruins, hillfort in Turkish), emerged on the site of its ruins later. Around Argovan, about two dozen once lively and populous Armenian villages are scattered, each of which had a school and a church, and even two or three. The most famous among them are Ashutka and Itsageh (Isakey).
by Grigor Beglaryan
Translated by Vigen Avetisyan
