At the end of the second millennium BC, another Indo-European ethnic group, closely related to Thracians and Phrygians and referred to by the Greeks as Armens, migrated to the Armenian Highland from Northern Balkans.
One theory suggests that the Armens were of Thracian origin, and related to the Phrygians. The Armens were near the head waters of the Halys, to the west of the Euphrates. The Armens seemed to have mixed blood with another Asiatic element whose patronymic Hai, became in time their national designation. The country where the Armens settled were a mountainous region, traversed by deep valleys and smiling plains.
The word Armani, (mentioned in Akkadian inscriptions as early as 2400 BC) an early form of Armen-Armin or Arman denotes the national affiliation, as with many cultures standing for the particular nation thus, the God AR being the primary deity in the Indo-European (aka Aryan) pantheon - thus AR MAN denotes—Men of Ar or Children of Ar, again initially AR standing for ARAREL-ARARICH [hence Ar-Ar-At the Place of ARAR] -- Create-Creator, also Sun, Light, Life and Love.
History of Armenia
The history of Armenia and Armenians is very ancient and can go back at least 2000 BC. Archaeologists say the Shulaveri-Shomu culture of the central Transcaucasus region, and Armenia today, as the earliest known prehistoric culture in the area, carbon-dated to around 6000 - 4000 BC. But, a newer discovered tomb has been dated to 9000 BC. Another early culture in the Armenian Highlands and surrounding areas—the Kura-Araxes culture is in the period of ca. 4000 - 2200 BC, and is believed to have to go into the Trialeti culture (ca. 2200 - 1500 BC), and meaning Armenians are one of the oldest Indo-European subgroups.
Urartu was an ancient kingdom in the Armenian Highlands.
Some experts say that the Armenians started as a mixture of the different peoples to move through the area in history: The Hurrians, Urarteans, Luvians and Mushki. This last group, also knowns as Phrygians may have brought their Indo-European language to Armenia. The Armenian language today is Indo-European, but shows a lot of influence from the earlier languages, especially Urartean.
The Armenians had friendly relations with the Parthian empire. The fighting between the Roman Empire and Parthia was centered in Armenia. Armenia was in between Parthian and the Roman Empire. The Armenians had already played a role in the early history of the Roman-Parthian relations. Tigranes put military and political relations with Rome and Parthia on an international legal foundation. The Parthians were allies to Armenians in many times. Many Parthian noble families had moved out and they went to Armenia.
First Republic of Armenia
The First Republic of Armenia, 1918–1920, was the first modern establishment of an Armenian republic. The country was created after the Russian Tsarist empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 that lost power. Its creation with borders were the Democratic Republic of Georgia in the north, the Ottoman Empire to the west, the Persian Empire to the south, and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic to the east.
Armenia gave way to communist power in late 1920. In September 1920, the Turkish revolutionaries moved in on the capital. First an armistice was concluded, on November 18, and then a full peace treaty - Treaty of Alexandropol on 2nd and/or 3rd of December 1920.
During that time, the Soviet 11th Red Army invasion started on the 29th of November 1920. The actual transfer of power took place on December 2 in Yerevan. Armenian leadership approved an ultimatum, presented to it by the Soviet plenipotentiary Boris Legran - who was at work as one of major Russian diplomats on Caucasus at that time. Armenia decided to join the Soviet sphere, while the Soviet Russia agreed to protect its remaining territory from the advancing Turkish army. Soviets also pledged to take steps to rebuild the army, protect the Armenians, not to pursue non-communist Armenians. None of these promises were kept.
On December 4, 1920, the Red Army entered Yerevan, the government of Armenian Republic effectively stopped working. On December 5, the Armenian Revolutionary Committee (Revkom; made up of mostly Armenians from Azerbaijan) also entered the city. Finally, on the following day, December 6, Felix Dzerzhinsky's dreaded secret police, the Cheka, entered Yerevan, thus effectively ending the existence of the Democratic Republic of Armenia.
The rest of Armenia was under control of the communist government. The part by Turkey remained for the most part theirs - by the subsequent Treaty of Kars. Soon, the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed, under the leadership of Aleksandr Miasnikyan. It was to be included into the newly created Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic.
Smaug
Smaug is a fictional dragon from "The Hobbit". He is the main villain of the J.R.R. Tolkien book and it's adaptations. The author called him a "most specially, greedy, strong and wicked worm".
Smaug is one of the most feared dragons on Middle-earth. He decided to sleep in a pile of gold until Bilbo Baggins woke him up. Smaug knows that Bilbo is after the Arkenstone. He left the area and decided to fly to Lake-town and ravage it with fire. He was killed by Bard the Bowman with an arrow.
In The Hobbit movie trilogy, Smaug's motion capture and voice were done by Benedict Cumberbatch. He is digitally created by Weta Digital and is considered one of the most impressive features of the trilogy, specifically the end of the second movie. In the third movie, his death helped Sauron let his armies roam free.
Smaug, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch became an interviewed guest for a December 2014 episode of The Colbert Report with clips from the third movie.
Georgian language
Georgian (Ⴕⴀⴐⴒⴓⴊⴈ Ⴄⴌⴀ, "khartuli ena") is the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.
Georgian is the primary language of about 3.9 million people in Georgia itself (83 percent of the population), and of another 500,000 abroad (chiefly in Turkey, Iran, Russia, the United States and Europe). It is the literary language for all ethnographic groups of Georgian people, especially those who speak other South Caucasian languages (or "Kartvelian languages"): Svans, Megrelians, and the Laz. Gruzinic, or "Kivruli", which is sometimes considered a separate Jewish language, is spoken by an additional 20,000 in Georgia and 65,000 elsewhere (primarily 60,000 in Israel).
Mount Ararat
Mount Ararat (Turkish: Ağrı Dağı; Armenian: Արարատ) is the tallest peak in the Armenian Highlands and modern-day Turkey. The mountain is always capped with snow, and it is a dormant volcano. It is in Iğdır Province, near the northeast corner of Turkey, 16 km west of Iran and 32 km south of the Armenian border.
The people and area who lived in this area was the Armenian kingdom of Ararat (in Assyrian: Urartu). The former lived here for nearly 3000 years. In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne put Ararat placed in the administration of Turkey. It is a national symbol of Armenia and an object of irredentism.
South Caucasus
South Caucasus, also referred to as Transcaucasia or Transcaucasus, is the southern area of the Caucasus region between Europe and Asia, going from the Greater Caucasus to the Turkish and Iranian borders, between the Black and Caspian Seas.
All of Armenia is in Transcaucasia; the majority of Georgia and Azerbaijan, including the exclave of Naxçıvan, fall within this area. The countries in the region produce oil, manganese ore, tea, citrus fruits, and wine.
The region is one the most complicated in the post-Soviet area, and has three heavily disputed areas – Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.