Page:Lesser Eastern Churches.djvu/406

384 There are high valleys and tablelands, thickly wooded. It is a fertile land and (we may note this at once as profoundly affecting its history) it was destined to be a frontier land between the Roman Empire and Persia, and then between Turkey and Persia. Here, at the dawn of history, dwelt a people who called themselves Chaldini; the Assyrians called them Urartu. In the 8th century B.C. this people formed a powerful state, against which the Assyrians fought. Then the Assyrians overcame them, destroyed their capital, and made them a province of Assyria. The Chaldini were Turanians, speaking a language akin to that of the Summerians and the later Ural-altaic nations. They have nothing to do with the Armenians. About the 6th century B.C., as part of the great Aryan migration, an Aryan people poured into this land. These are the Armenians. Their language is Aryan, forming a class of its own, together with (apparently) the hardly-known Phrygian. Attempts to connect the Armenian language more closely with Persian are a failure. It is a special branch of the Aryan family, standing in appearance strangely apart from all the others. It has the most amazing combinations of consonants; except for its inflections, the build of its grammar and one or two words, it would hardly seem Aryan at all. "Armenian" is the name given to this people by the Greeks ; also used by the Persians (Armina), and in all European languages. They call themselves Haikh (plural of Hai) and their country Hayastan. They have wonderful legends concerning their descent — from an eponymous hero Haik, grandson of Japhet, from whom they say they descend. After him in their legends follow various supposed ancestors, taken from the Bible. Noah plays a great part in their traditions. The heart of Armenia is Mount Ararat,