Lang, David M.
London: George Allen & Unwin, 1980, 320 pagesLang was a professor at the University of London specializing in Aremenian, Georgian, and Bulgarian history at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He was fluent in a dozen languages, and served as an officer in Iran during the Second World War; Lang wrote that, while stationed in Tabriz in 1944, he could see the dual peaks of Armenia’s Mount Ararat “with their majestic summits covered in perpetual snow.” The author conceived of
Armenia: Cradle of Civilization as a work with value as both a research text and as historical literature for the general reader, and Lang’s artistry with the written word makes this an accessible and enjoyable book. Lang argued that, although Mesopotamian societies are most frequently credited as the sources of modern civilizations, Armenia was a civilization with that could make both literal and figurative claims to being the “cradle of civilization.”
The author was primarily concerned with developing a narrative of prehistoric, classical and early Christian Armenia. While not quite a 2-volume set, modern Armenia is given much more weight in Lang’s
Armenia: A People in Exile. After sections on Armenian geography and archaeology, the author follows a chronological approach to the narrative. Lang added chapters on arts, literature, architecture, and education that give readers an excellent sense of Armenian culture.
Lang described the physical geography of Armenia as a “massive rock-bound island rising out of the surrounding lowlands, steppes, and plains.” The author argued that the relatively isolated terrain helped Armenians maintain a continuous cultural identity for several millennia, while the location of the Armenian highlands “at the crossroads of the Iranian, Greek, and Eurasian worlds” meant that invasion by outsiders was a frequent occurrence. Lang also argued that the unique language and physical features of the Armenians were the results of many centuries of intermingling with a wide variety of “interlopers.”
The author provided a great deal of archaeological evidence that demonstrated the presence of human habitation in the Armenian highlands, and primitive man arrived in Armenia between 500,000 and 1 million years ago. Neanderthalian cultures existed in the region between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago, while homo sapiens groups appear to have continuously lived in Armenia as early as 40,000 CE. The extensive Western and Soviet archaeological evidence that points to the early presence of humans in Armenia, argued Lang, gives further weight to the concept of Armenia as the cradle of civilization, as does the rise of an Armenian metal-working industry that appears to date earlier than that of surrounding cultures.
Herodotus considered the Armenians to be colonists of the
Phrygians, migrating out of the Balkans. Citing linguistic and archaeological sources, though, Lang debunks this theory, and argued that an Armenian culture and language existed centuries before any Phrygian migrations. Examples of Armenian
petroglyphs date back to the Bronze Age, and the site of a primitive astronomical observatory near Metzamor has been dated to the third millennium BCE. Archaeological evidence points to use of Greek and Persian scripts by Armenians in the eighth century BCE, although a formal Armenian script was not adopted until 404 CE.
Left: Coin bearing image of Tigranes the GreatThe author maintained that the height of Armenian imperial power occurred during the reign of
Tigranes the Great (95-55 BCE). During the period of his rule Armenia annexed northern Mesopotamia, portions of Asia Minor, and Syria, stretching from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. The glory years of the Armenian empire, however, were short-lived, as Rome had asserted its rule over Tigranes after a decisive battle in 69 BCE.
The introduction of Christian beliefs into Armenia is the topic of considerable historical debate, as Armenian tradition holds that the nation was the first to establish Christianity as a state religion. The earliest scriptural accounts of the introduction of Christianity into Armenia date from the first century, when apostles St. Bartholomew and St. Jude (Taddeus) began to preach in the region. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 CE;
St. Gregory the Illuminator converted monarch Tiridates III and members of his court to the faith. The Armenian Apostolic Church was well established by the middle of the fourth century CE, and is one of the oldest denominations in Christianity. Armenia’s status as “the first Christian state” thus provides yet another component of Lang’s “cradle” thesis.
Left: St. Gregory the IlluminatorDuring the rise of Islam, Lang argued, Armenians faced significant challenges to their ability to maintain a sense of cultural, religious, and political identity. Official suppresion of the Armenian church fostered the rise of heretical sects such as the
Paulicians,
Tondrakites, and various
Manichean movements. Simultaneously, though, these religious offshoots became seen by Arab caliphs as subversive threats, and alliances between Armenian princes and their Islamic overlords led to the persecution and deportation of heretics. Armenia then entered into a lengthy period of relatively stable coexistence with Islamic rulers.
The artifical creation of
Cilician Armenia in the tenth century is covered in great detail by Lang. Byzantium appointed Armenians to govern the territory, which occupies the northeast corner of the Mediterranean surrounding the
Gulf of Alexandretta (Iskenderun Bay). These posts eventually became hereditary, and the hegemony of the Armenians was bolstered by alliances with Christian Crusaders in the Levant during the next two centuries. These alliance during its possession of Cilicia also gave Armenia a “door to the Western world” that caused Armenia to be forever perched, in Lang’s eyes, between East and West.
Modern Armenia, unfortunately, is given a scant eight pages in the text, and the horrors of the massacres of Armenians by the Turks receive only a brief mention. Some 300,000 Armenians were killed during the systematic campaign in 1895 by
Abdul-Hamid’s Hamidiyya, created for the sole purpose of ethnic cleansing. As many as
1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered in the 1915 atrocities, initiated by leaders of the
Young Turk movement. The arrival of the Red Army in 1920 found an Armenia in no position to resist, and the nation became integrated into the Soviet Union as the
Armenian SSR in 1922.
Lang occasionally permitted himself the luxury of sweeping generalizations, and some of these stretch into the realm of fallacious induction. Armenians, noted Lang, are “sober and industrious” people who “will work without respite for long hours,” and who have a “truly Scottish regard for thrift and honesty.” The author praised Armenian scholars as people who combine “exceptional brilliance with the dogged perseverance which has enabled their race to survive so many perils right up to the present day.” While there are undoubtedly a great many Armenians who have achieved brilliance in their respective fields of academia, Lang’s ethnic effusion crosses the boundaries of detached research.
Still, the text was written first as an introduction for non-specialists, and this reviewer is reluctant to criticize the author for any scholarly failings. One leaves this work with a greater appreciation for the history and culture of Armenia, and Lang made a convincing argument that Armenia was, indeed, a “cradle of civilization.” The book includes beautiful color photography, detailed maps, and a lengthy bibliography, and readers will find that Lang has produced an enjoyable text that reads like a historical travelogue.
Left: F16 Fighting Falcon; photo courtesy of USAF
