Our wisdom comes from Er of Armenia, Plato

Mikhail Pogosyan was head of the Sukhoi design bureau and helped build the first stealth fighter… Biologist Levon M. Chailakhyan cloned the first mammal… Boris Artashesovich Babayan is considered the Father of Soviet supercomputers.

Sharjah’s Ras el Khaimah was founded by Armenians, according to His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed al Qasim, Supreme Council member and the ruler of Sharjah Emirate. The Armenians had fled Persia during the Mongol invasion.

The word “Armenia” occurs twice in the King James Bible (2 Kings 19:37 and Isa 37:38). It does not appear in other versions. The Hebrew word is “Ararat.” Three provinces of Ararat are mentioned in Jer. 51:27, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Some think Minni is a contraction of Armenia.

In his “Republic,” Plato tells the legend of Ara. He says Er was an Armenian who was a native of Pamphylia. He was slain in battle, and ten days later, when the bodies of the dead were gathered, his body was found unaffected by decay. It was carried home for burial. On the twelfth day, as he was lying on the funeral pyre, he returned to life and told people what he had seen in the other world. Pamphylia was inhabited by Armenophonic peoples (such as the Hatti/Hittites and the Pisidians.)

Plato, quoting Socrates, said: “Our wisdom comes from Er of Armenia, the secrets of immortality.

Some Armenians believe the Middle East’s lahmajoun (miss-hits in Armenian) is an Armenian invention that the Greeks called piazza and took the Armenian specialty to Venice where it came to be known as pizza.

The official names of some Armenian dishes and foods: are harissa, khorovadz, abur, anushabur, khash, lavash, matnakash, madzoon, baneer, gatnaser, litzk,karee choor, oghi, tan, ghapama, mantee, kufta, dolma, sarma, jajkh, otjeh.

The earliest operettas, operas, as well as musical theatre, came to being in the Ottoman Empire by the efforts of Armenians. Among the musical pioneers was T. Chukhajian. Educated in Italy, he was the first Ottoman Empire composer who had command of orchestral notation.

In addition to composing music, Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were music teachers and were master makers of musical instruments. The Ziljians, for example, were master cymbal makers. Many renowned Armenian musicians were slain during the Armenian Genocide.

Charlie Papazian is the author of “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing”. The book (1984) is considered the bible of homebrewing.

By Jirair Tutunjian, Toronto keghart.org