In 1922 Armenia was incorporated into Transcaucasian SFSR with Georgia and Azerbaijan. The coat of arms of the Transcaucasian SFSR was adopted by the government of the Transcaucasian SFSR. It is uncertain when exactly it was adopted. It incorporates designs from each of the three major groups that combined in the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Armenians, Azeri and Georgians, and unusually features Islamic art and communist elements side by side. The latticework in the star itself bespeaks the former coat of arms of Georgia from 1918-1921 and adopted again from 1991-2004; the crescent moon represents the Muslim Azeris, on a background depicting the national symbol of the Armenians, Mount Ararat.
In 1937, a new coat of arms was adopted. Like the DRA coat of arms, this coat showed Mount Ararat along with the Soviet hammer and sickle and red star behind it. The inclusion of Ararat brought objections from Turkey because the mountain is part of its territory. The Kremlin retorted that although the Turkish symbol was the crescent, it did not mean that they laid claim to the moon. The Soviet Union broke apart in 1991 and Armenia thus became an independent republic.
Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid Dynasty or (sometimes called the Arshakuni Dynasty) ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 to 428. They started as a branch of the Parthian Arsacids but became a distinctly Armenian dynasty later on. Armenia was between the Parthian and Roman Empires and both were trying to control it. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years after the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty until 62 when Tiridates I of Armenia secured Arsacid rule in Armenia.
An independent line of Kings was established by Vologases II of Armenia (Valarses/Vagharshak) in 180. Two of the most notable events under Arsacid rule in Armenian history were the conversion of Armenia to Christianity by St. Gregory the Illuminator in 301 and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in 405.
Hakob Kojoyan
Hakob Karapetovich Kojoyan (1883 - 1959) was an Armenian artist. He worked in genres of painting, landscapes, and applied art. Hakob Kojoyan was awarded the designation of "People's Artist of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic." He helped Armenian architect Alexander Tamanian to create the coat of arms for the Democratic Republic of Armenia.
Hakob Kojoyan was born in Akhaltsikhe (now in Georgia) to a family of Armenian jewelers. As a boy he apprenticed to the goldsmith's craft and learned engraving. At age 20 he went to study art in Munich, Germany, and in 1905 went to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in Russia, where he studied for two years. He later spent time in Paris and Moscow, then in 1918 returned to Armenia.
Alexander Tamanian
Alexander Tamanian (, March 4, 1878, Yekaterinodar - February 20, 1936, Yerevan) was an Armenian neoclassical architect, who is remembered today for his work in the city of Yerevan.
Ani
"This article is about the city in Turkey. For the Etruscan god, see Ani"
Ani (, Latin: Abnicum) is a ruined and uninhabited medieval city-site in Turkey. It is in the province of Kars, beside the border with Armenia. It was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present-day Armenia and eastern Turkey.
At the height of its great times, Ani had a population of 100,000 - 200,000 people and was the rival of Constantinople, Baghdad and Cairo. Long ago renowned for its splendor and magnificence, Ani has been abandoned and largely forgotten for centuries.
Armenian chroniclers first mention Ani in the 5th century AD. They describe it as a strong fortress built on a hilltop and a possession of the Armenian Kamsarakan dynasty.
By the early 9th century the former territories of the Kamsarakans in Arsharunik and Shirak (including Ani) had been incorporated into the territories of the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty. Their leader, Ashot "Msaker" (Ashot the Meateater) (806-827) was given the title of "ishkhan" (prince) of Armenia by the Caliphate in 804.
There are many other minor monuments at Ani. These include a convent known as the Virgins' chapel; a church used by Chalcedonian Armenians; the remains of a single-arched bridge over the Arpa river; the ruins of numerous oil-presses and several bath houses; the remains of a second mosque with a collapsed minaret; a palace that probably dates from the 13th century; the foundations of several other palaces and smaller residences; the recently excavated remains of several streets lined with shops; etc.
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Armenian SSR or Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia, came into being on 29 November 1920. On 1 December 1920, the Prime Minister Simon Vratsian handed over control of the country to the Communist Party of Armenia. The name was later changed to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.
The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Extinct language
An extinct language is a language that no longer is the first language or the second language of anyone. The opposite of a modern language, an extinct language is not spoken anymore and so no longer develops or changes. The first recorded example in human history is Sumerian.
It is not to be confused with a dead language, such as Latin, which is still spoken as a second language.
With last known speaker and/or date of death.
Armenian Americans
An Armenian American is an American whose ancestry is from Armenia. During the 2009 Census in the United States, 1,270,000 Americans indicated either full or partial Armenian ancestry.
The first Armenian known to have moved to America is nicknamed "Martin the Armenian". He was one of the settlers in the Jamestown Colony in Virginia. He arrived in Jamestown in 1618, when the colony was only 11 years old. Martin was invited to the colony to raise silk worms. Other Armenians were also brought to the colony but they went back to Europe.
Armenians began to arrive in the United States in high numbers in the late 19th century. However, the influx was intensified when over 100,000 Armenian refugees came after World War I to flee the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
Thomas Cavendish
Sir Thomas Cavendish (or Candish) (1560-1592) was an English sea explorer. He was known as "the Navigator" because he led the third expedition to travel around ("circumnavigate") the globe. Cavendish was the first who set sail to do this. Magellan and Francis Drake were the first two to circumnavigate the globe, but they did not intend to do so. Cavendish died at sea on his second voyage around the world.
William Saroyan
William Saroyan () (August 31, 1908 - May 18, 1981) was an American author who wrote many plays and short stories about growing up impoverished as the son of Armenian immigrants. These stories were popular during the Great Depression. Saroyan grew up in Fresno, the center of Armenian-Americans in California, where many of his works are set (although he sometimes gave the city a fictional name).
Asked how to say his name, he told "The Literary Digest" "In Armenian it is "sor-row'yan", accent on "row". In America it is mispronounced with... 'roy.'"
Saroyan was born in Fresno, California, the son of an Armenian immigrant. His father moved to New Jersey in 1905 - he was a small vineyard owner, who had been educated as a Presbyterian minister. At a certain point his father was forced to take farm-laboring work, and he died in 1911. At the age of four, William Saroyan was placed in the Fred Finch Orphanage in Oakland, California, together with his brother and sister - an experience he later described in his writing. Five years later the family reunited in Fresno, where his mother, Takoohi, had obtained work in a cannery.
Raphael Lemkin