Ara The Beautiful
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Ara the Handsome (or the Beautiful, ) is a legendary
Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...
hero and king. He is the son of the legendary king Aram and a descendant of the Armenian patriarch
Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...
. Scholars believe that Ara, Aram and Hayk were originally deities who were later reinterpreted as legendary human heroes. Ara represented a dying-and-rising agricultural god and is thought to have embodied fertility within the
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...
triad of sovereignty, war, and fertility, along with Hayk and Aram. Ara is the subject of a popular legend in which the Akkadian queen
Semiramis Semiramis (; ''Šammīrām'', ''Šamiram'', , ''Samīrāmīs'') was the legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and of Ninus, who succeeded the latter on the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus ...
(''Shamiram'' in Armenian), desiring the handsome Armenian king, wages war against Armenia to capture him and bring him back to her, alive. Ara is killed in the war, and Semiramis attempts to bring him back to life.


Name

The etymology of the name ''Ara'' (also spelled , ) is uncertain, but it is phonologically similar to the Armenian descendants of
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...
, such as 'man'; some of the derivatives of this root begin with , like 'brave'. The folk tale hero Ari Armaneli is considered to be a version of Ara the Handsome. The name has been compared with that of
Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
, the Greek god of war; Ara, a figure in the
Avesta The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...
; and with Er, a character in a tale recounted in
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's ''
Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
'' who returns from the dead ( see below). In the Armenian tradition Ara's name is connected with the names of
Mount Ararat Mount Ararat, also known as Masis or Mount Ağrı, is a snow-capped and dormant compound volcano in Eastern Turkey, easternmost Turkey. It consists of two major volcanic cones: Greater Ararat and Little Ararat. Greater Ararat is the highest p ...
, the province of Ayrarat, and
Mount Aragats Mount Aragats (, ) is an isolated four-peaked volcano massif in Armenia. Its northern summit, at above sea level, is the highest point of the Lesser Caucasus and Armenia. It is also one of the highest points in the Armenian Highlands. The Ar ...
.


Origin and parallels

Scholars believe that Ara and other descendants of the legendary Armenian patriarch
Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...
were originally deities who were later reinterpreted as legendary human heroes. Ara was originally a dying-and-rising god who represented agriculture and the seasonal death and rebirth of nature in winter and spring. Stepan Ahyan and
Georges Dumézil Georges Edmond Raoul Dumézil (4 March 189811 October 1986) was a French Philology, philologist, Linguistics, linguist, and religious studies scholar who specialized in comparative linguistics and comparative mythology, mythology. He was a prof ...
contend that
Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...
, Aram and Ara the Handsome correspond to the triad of
Indo-European mythology Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-Ind ...
, representing sovereignty, war, and fertility, respectively. Ara's rival Shamiram, on the other hand, may be the reflection of the earliest Armenian
mother goddess A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, ...
, who was later split into the three goddesses of the Armenian pantheon:
Anahit Anahit () was the goddess of fertility and healing, wisdom and water in Armenian mythology. In early periods, she was the goddess of war. By the 5th century BCE, she was the main deity in Armenia along with Aramazd. The Armenian goddess Anahit ...
, Astghik, and Nane. According to Armen Petrosyan, Ara's death at the hands of Shamiram marks the end of the "'sacred' mythical era of the forefathers of Armenia" and the beginning of "history" in Armenian mythology.


Parallels and later echoes

Ara is considered to be the Armenian version of a common Near Eastern mythical male figure who is the beautiful son or lover of a goddess; other expressions of this myth include
Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...
and Tammuz (Inanna and Dumuzid),
Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...
and
Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...
, and
Cybele Cybele ( ; Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya, Kubeleya'' "Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian: ''Kuvava''; ''Kybélē'', ''Kybēbē'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest ...
and
Attis Attis (; , also , , ) was the consort of Cybele, in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, the '' Galli'', as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis castrating himself. Attis was also a Phrygian vegetation deity. Hi ...
. He has also been compared with
Hermaphroditus In Greek mythology, Hermaphroditus (; , ) was a child of Aphrodite and Hermes. According to Ovid, he was born a remarkably beautiful boy whom the naiad Salmacis attempted to rape and prayed to be united with forever. A god, in answer to her pra ...
and Cupid-Eros. In James R. Russell's view,
Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''. Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at ...
's telling of the legend in particular is likely a version of the story of Cybele and her beautiful lover and son Attis, who is killed but resurrects with the coming of spring. In the later Armenian historical epic known as the ''War of Persia'' (known from the 5th-century '' Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ''), Mushegh Mamikonian corresponds to Ara, as he is placed on a tower to be revived by the mythical ''arlez''es. After the Christianization of Armenia, the reverence of St. Sargis the General took on aspects of the earlier cult of Ara. Little Mher, one of the heroes of the Armenian national epic '' Daredevils of Sassoun'', is thought to be connected with the legend of Ara. Mher enters a rock or a cave to one day be reborn. Ari Armaneli, a popular version of Ara, is also confined to a rock (or turned into stone) and later comes to life. The 10th-century historian Tovma Artsruni writes that a village called Lezk, near Van, was held to be the place of Ara's resurrection. The association between the village's name and the Armenian root , as in 'to lick', in reference to the licking of Ara's wounds by the ''arlez''es, is clear. This tradition was still current among the inhabitants of this village in the 19th century.


Plato's Myth of Er

Since the 19th century, scholars have connected the story of Ara the Handsome to the Myth of Er, told in
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
's ''
Republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...
'' (10.614–10.621). The story begins as a man named Er (, : ), son of Armenios (), of Pamphylia dies in battle. When the bodies of those who died in the battle are collected, ten days after his death, Er remains undecomposed. Two days later he revives on his funeral pyre and tells others of his journey in the afterlife, including an account of reincarnation and the celestial spheres of the astral plane. The tale includes the idea that moral people are rewarded and immoral people punished after death. Armen Petrosyan suggests that Plato's version reflects the original form of the story where Er (Ara) rises from the grave. James R. Russell opines that the Myth of Er draws from a version of the story of Ara changed to correspond to Zoroastrian beliefs after the coming of Zoroastrianism to Armenia in the
Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...
period. Thus, Shamiram and the ''arlez''es are excluded from the story while emphasis is placed on the journey to the afterlife and back, like in the Zoroastrian story of Wiraz.


Historical parallels

Apart from its mythological side, the legend of Ara and Shamiram may reflect the historical reality of the conflicts between
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
and
Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...
. The legendary Shamiram/Semiramis is based on the historical Assyrian queen Shammuramat, who lived in the 9th century BC. Scholars have also noted the similarity between the names of Ara's father Aram and the Urartian king
Arame , sea oak is a species of kelp, of the brown algae, best known for its use in Japanese cuisine. Description ''Eisenia bicyclis'' is indigenous to temperate Pacific Ocean waters centered near Japan, although it is deliberately cultured elsewher ...
.
David Marshall Lang David Marshall Lang (6 May 1924 – 20 March 1991), was a Professor of Caucasian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He was one of the most productive British scholars who specialized in Georgian, Armenian and ...
suggests that Arame can be identified with Ara. M. Chahin speculates that Ara may be identifiable with Inushpua, who is mentioned once as the son and co-ruler of King Menua of Urartu. However, the historical associations of the legend have been regarded as later accretions onto a mythological core.


Legend

According to the legend as told by the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (and the anonymous ''Primary History'' formerly attributed to Sebeos), Semiramis (''Shamiram'' in Armenian) had fallen in love with the handsome Armenian king and asked him to marry her. When Ara refused, Semiramis, in the heat of passion, gathered the armies of
Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
and marched against Armenia. During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. To avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, reputed to be a sorceress, took his body and prayed to the gods (the '' arlez''es) to raise Ara from the dead. When the Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, Semiramis disguised one of her lovers as Ara and spread the rumor that the gods had brought Ara back to life, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war. In one persistent tradition, Semiramis' prayers are successful and Ara returns to life.


Genealogy

In Movses Khorenatsi's ''History of Armenia'', Ara the Handsome is presented as the son of Aram and a descendant of Hayk, the legendary forefather of the Armenians. Khorenatsi writes that Ara the Handsome had a son called Cardos by his wife, Nuard (Nvard). He was later renamed Ara by Semiramis because of her love for the late Ara. Ara/Cardos, who was twelve years old at the time of his father's death, was appointed ruler of Armenia by Semiramis and later died in a war against her. Paternal descent according to Movses Khorenatsi: #
Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...
#Aramaneak #Aramayis #Amasia #Gegham #Harmay # Aram #Ara the Handsome


Cultural depictions

Ara and Shamiram are depicted in an 1899 painting by Vardges Sureniants. The Armenian author Nairi Zarian wrote a tragedy titled ''Ara Geghetsik'' based on the story of Ara and Shamiram.


See also

*
Armenian mythology Armenian mythology originated in ancient Proto-Indo-European religion, Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurrian religion, Hurro-Urartian religion, Urartian, Ancient Mesopotamian religion, Mesop ...
* Anushawan


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

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Further reading

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ara The Beautiful Heroes in mythology and legend Armenian gods Life-death-rebirth gods