Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/233

 ABMENU. of irhlch the same author speaks in his description of Atropatcoe (p. 523). Near Erioan lies the Lake GtmUhktk cr Setanghaj which has already been ix^ntiooed, and iden^ed with the Ljrchnitis li Pto- Jemj (t. 13). Owii^ to the height of the table-land and the extreme eleration of ih» mountains the temperature of Anncnia is much lower than that of other regions aituated oq the same parallel of latitude. The thousauifa of tribtttarr streams which feed its large riTers carry fertility in every direction through ita Talleja. Its rich pasture lands were famous for their horses. " Horses from the house of Togarmah" axe enumerated by Ezekiel (zxvii. 14), among other articles brmight for sale, or exchanged at Tyre. Stxalbo (p. 329) praises the breed, and states that the Armeman satrap presented the king with 20,000 young h43ises at the annual feast of Mithra. Strabo (1 c), and Pliny (xxxvii. 23), notice the wealth of Aimniia in the precious stones and metals ; Strabo, in particuiar, speaks of gold mines .at a place called ITMnlala in the oonntiy of Hyspiiatis, probably in the X. q£ Annenia, between the rivers Kur and Phaais, which were worked by the natives at the time of AlexaDder^B expedition. The same author iuferiDs us that Pompeius demanded, as a contri- hotiaii firom Armenia, 6,000 talents of silver. And we are told that the Romans, on reducing this to tjot d their provinces, carried king Alavasdus to Rome in goUcm fetters. (Philost. Vita ApoUon. n. 4.) According to Pliny (/. c.) the whole region was divided into 120 praefectures, or (rrpariiytcu, Ptdemy gives the names of twenty-one of these sub- ^vissioos; Strabo and Tacitus also mention certain iBmeSr The native historian, Moses of Cborene, divides Armenia ilajor into fifteen provinces, and 187 subdivisions. St. Martin (Jfem. 9ur TArmenie^ vol. i. p. 64) enumovtes and gives the names of the higer divisions. Malte-Brnn (^Geog, Univer' aeUe, vL iiL p. 120) has a table of these dl'i:iions aad subdivisions, and compares them with those known to the Greeks and Romans. As may be sup- posed there is considerable uncertainty in making out and ex]JainiBg the presumed correspondence. The difficulty is increased firom the circumstance that at no period was the whole of this region com- pri'«d under one government ; and in the course of it& hk4oc7 we find its limits exposed to continual changes. At the present day Armenia is divided aei>jog Persia, Russia and Turkey, Mount Ararat £inning, as it were, the central boundaiy stone to tiM9« three empires. The Anneoians belong to the Indo-European race ; their dialect is allied to the most ancient lau- jnaage of the Aiian family : while their early tra- diti'jns connect them with the history of the Medes Kid P<>naans, they are a branch of the stock of the penpje of Iran, though separated from them at an carfy period. (Prichard, Nat. Hist, of Man, p. 178; comp. Ritter, Erdhundcy voL x. p 577.) Xenophon {^Anab. vr. 5. § 25) describes the villages of Armenia, whkh are still built exactly in the same manner. (Kinncsr, Trap, in Armenia, p. 437.) The houses wrre under gxxmnd ; the mouth resembling that of a welL but spacious below ; there was an entrance dug fjr the cattle, but the inhabitants descended by bddcn. In these houses were goats, sheep, cows, and fovlsy with their young. There was also wh&it and barley, Te$:etables and beer in jars, in which the malt itjvlf floated even with the brinjs of the vessels, and with H reeds or straws, some laige and others small, ARMENIA. 2i: without joints. These, when any one was thirsty, he was to take into his mouth, and suck ; the liquor was strong, and exceedingly pleasant to those who were used to it. The same author speaks of the intense cold. Plutarch {LmcuU. 32), in his account of the invasion of Armenia by Luct^dlus, states that before the close of the autumnal equinox the weather became as severe as in the midst of winter ; the whole country was covered with snow, the rivers were frozen ; and at night the army was compelled to encamp in damp muddy spots, wet with melting snow. The religion of Armenia appears to have been made up of elements derived parUy from the doctrine of Zoroaster, partly from Eastern Nature- worship, with certain rites of Scythian origin. Their chief deity was Aramazt, the Ormuzd of the Magian system, but their temples were crowded witii statues, and their altars reeked with animal sacrifices ; usages revolting to the purer Magianism of Persia. The Babylonian impersonation of the passive principle of generation, Anaites or Anahid,. was one of their most celebratcJET divinities ; and at ' the funeral of their great king Artaces, many persons had immolated themselves, after the Scythian or Getic custom, upon his body. (Milman, EisL of Christ, vol. ii. p. 320; Chamich, AvdalVs Trans. vol. L p. 145.) It has now been satisfiEU^torily shown that Armenia was the first nation which embraced Christianity as the rdigion of the king, the nobles, and the people; and the remark of Gibbon ( Vindication, Misc. Works, voL iv. p. 577), " that the renowned Tiridates, the hero of tlie East, may dispute with Constantino the honour of being tho first sovereign who embraced the Christian religion," placed beyond all question. About a. d. 276, the king Tiridates, of the race of the Arsacidae, was converted by St. Gregory, sumamed the Illuminator (^Dict. ofBiog. s. v.), like himself of the race of the Arsacidae, but descended from a collateral branch of that family, which had long occupied the throne of Persia. (St. Martin, Add. to Le Beau, Ilist. du JBas-Empire, vol. i. p. 76 ; MSm. sur rArmenie, vol. i. p. 305.) In A. D. 311 Tiridates had to sus- tain a war against the Emperor Maximinns, in con- sequence of the hatred of the latter against Chris- tianity. (Euseb. II. E. ix. 8.) During tiie early ages of the Empire Armenia was always an object of open struggle or secret intrigue between the con- flicting powers of Parthia and Rome. Every suc- cessful invasion, or other means by which Persian predominance in Annenia was established, was the signal for the most cruel and bloody persecutions, which wero endured with the most Christian and patriotic heroism by this unhappy people. The Vartobed, or patriarch of Annenia, fell the first victim to the sword of the Persian, and Avas also the first to raise the standard of independence. The melancholy acknowledgment must, however, be made that the Gospel did not triumph unaccompanied by persecution on the part of the Christians. The province of Dara, the sacred region of the Arme- nians, crowded with their national temples, made a stem and resolute resistance. The priests fought for then- ancient faith, and it was only by the sword that churches could be established in that district. An interesting picture of the religious wars which were waged in Annenia is given in the Uistor}!' of Vartan. (Trans, by C. F. Neumann.) The Ar- menian church adopted tho doctrines of Eutyches and the Monopliysites, or Jacobites, as they wero called, after the revival of their opinions in the 6th