16 results
The Book of Fridays
The first book printed in Armenian was the Urbathagirq (The book of Fridays), which was published in Venice in 1512 by Hakob Meghapart (Jacob the Sinner). Little is known about Hakob Meghapart, or why he styled himself “the Sinner” (or “the Sinful”). Armenia was at that time under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, and the Diaspora community played a critically important role in keeping alive the Armenian language and literary tradition. Written in Grabar (Classical Armenian), the book consists mainly of prayers and remedies for the sick, together with ...
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National Library of Armenia
Armenian Liturgical Calendar
Parzatumar (Armenian liturgical calendar) was the second book printed in Armenian, after the Urbathagirq (The book of Fridays). Both books were published by Hakob Meghapart (Jacob the Sinner), who in 1512 settled among the Armenian community in Venice and established the first Armenian press. In this copy, from the National Library of Armenia, the two works are bound together. Little is known about Hakob Meghapart, or why he styled himself “the Sinner” (or “the Sinful”). Armenia was at this time under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, and the Diaspora ...
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National Library of Armenia
Song Book by Hakob Meghapart
Tagharan (Song book), a collection of odes for the soul and the body, was one of the first five books published by Hakob Meghapart (Jacob the Sinner), who established the first Armenian printing press in Venice in 1512. Little is known about Hakob Meghapart, or why he styled himself “the Sinner” (or “the Sinful”). Armenia was at that time under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, and the Diaspora community played a critical role in keeping alive the Armenian language and literary tradition. The book is written in Grabar (Classical ...
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National Library of Armenia
The Near East
This 1952 map by the Army Map Service of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provides a broad overview of the Near East, the geographic region traditionally thought of as encompassing the countries of southwest Asia, including Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel, and Jordan, and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to political borders, the map shows lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water, marshlands, cities by population, pipelines, railroads, and pumping stations. Above the key is a glossary of topographic terms with transliterations and translations into ...
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Library of Congress
Map of Persia, Turkey in Asia: Afghanistan, Beloochistan
Samuel Augustus Mitchell (1792–1868) was a renowned American geographer and cartographer. The majority of his work focused on the United States, but he also made maps of other parts of the world, including this 1868 map of the Ottoman Empire, Persia (present-day Iran), Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. The main territorial units that Mitchell shows are Turkey, meaning the core of the Ottoman Empire comprised of present-day Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon; Persia; Afghanistan; and Baluchistan (mainly present-day Pakistan). Egypt and much of the Arabian Peninsula were at that time technically ...
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Library of Congress
The Eastern Question in Europe and Asia
In the late-19th century, European politics were troubled by what had come to be called the “Eastern Question,” the fate of the 600-year Ottoman Empire. Once encompassing the Ottoman heartland of Anatolia (present-day Turkey), most of the Arab Middle East, and the Balkan Peninsula, by 1886 the empire had shrunk dramatically as a result of wars with European powers, Russia in particular, and revolts by subject peoples. This 1886 map, published in London, shows the Turkish Empire as comprised mainly of Albania, Thrace, Crete, Anatolia, and parts of the Arab ...
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Library of Congress
Persia, Arabia, Tartary, Afghanistan
This map by Thomas Gamaliel Bradford (1802–87), depicting parts of the Middle East and Central Asia, appeared in Bradford’s A Comprehensive Atlas: Geographical, Historical & Commercial, which was published in Boston in 1835. Bradford was born in Boston of a distinguished New England family. He made maps of both U.S. states and foreign countries and became the assistant editor of the Encyclopedia Americana, the first significant encyclopedia produced in the United States. The map uses colored lines to delineate the boundaries of the Persian Empire, Afghanistan, Arabia, and ...
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Library of Congress
Armenian Women in Holiday Attire. Artvin
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
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Library of Congress
Armenian Woman in National Costume. Artvin
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863–1944) used a special color photography process to create a visual record of the Russian Empire. Some of Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs date from about 1905, but the bulk of his work is from between 1909 and 1915, when, with the support of Tsar Nicholas II and the Ministry of Transportation, he undertook extended trips through many different parts of the empire.
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Library of Congress
History of Armenia
Mik’ayel Ch’amch’yants’ was born in Istanbul in 1738. After training and working as a jeweler in his native city, in 1762 he joined the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist order at the St. Lazar Monastery in Venice. Founded by Abbott Mekhitar (1676–1749) in 1700, the Mekhitarists were dedicated to the religious, cultural, and literary revival of Armenia, which at the time was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Ch’amch’yants’ was appointed instructor in the Armenian language at St. Lazar in 1774, and in 1784 he ...
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Library of Congress
History of Armenia, by Father Michael Chamich; from B. C. 2247 to the Year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian Era
History of Armenia, from B. C. 2247 to the year of Christ 1780, or 1229 of the Armenian era is a translation of an abridged version of the three-volume history of Armenia, originally written in Armenian by Father Mik’ayel Ch’amch’yants’ and published in Venice in 1784–86. Ch’amch’yants’ was born in Istanbul in 1738, and in 1762 he became a member of the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist order at the St. Lazar Monastery in Venice. Written in chronicle style and based on Armenian and non-Armenian primary ...
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Library of Congress
Verin Noravank Gospels
This beautifully illuminated gospel book was copied in 1487 AD at the Monastery of Verin Noravank in Armenia. The exact location of the monastery is unknown, although, since the late 1980s, it has been associated with the ruins of the Monastery of Arates (Aratesivank) of Siwnik. Verin Noravank was in close contact with the better-known Noravank of Amaghu, with which it has often been confused. Fewer than 15 manuscripts are known to have been copied at Verin Noravank. As was customary with most Armenian manuscripts, the Verin Noravank gospel contains ...
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Library of Congress
Boundary Between Turkey and Armenia: As Determined by Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America
The disintegration of the Ottoman and Russian empires at the end of World War I gave birth to a number of new states. In May 1918, Eastern Armenia, formerly part of the Russian Empire, declared itself an independent republic. In April 1920, the victorious Allied Powers, dismantling the Ottoman Empire, directed that Western Armenia be attached to the new republic and appointed U.S. President Woodrow Wilson to arbitrate the boundary between Turkey (successor to the Ottoman Empire) and Armenia. In November 1920, Wilson set a boundary based on a ...
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Library of Congress
Caucasus Region
This card is one of a souvenir set of 82 illustrated cards–one for each province of the Russian Empire as it existed in 1856. Each card presents an overview of a particular province’s culture, history, economy, and geography. The front of the card depicts such distinguishing features as rivers, mountains, major cities, and chief industries. The back of each card contains a map of the province, the provincial seal, information about the population, and a picture of the local costume of the inhabitants. Kavkazskii krai (Caucasus Region) depicted ...
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National Library of Russia
Erivan Province
This card is one of a souvenir set of 82 illustrated cards–one for each province of the Russian Empire as it existed in 1856. Each card presents an overview of a particular province’s culture, history, economy, and geography. The front of the card depicts such distinguishing features as rivers, mountains, major cities, and chief industries. The back of each card contains a map of the province, the provincial seal, information about the population, and a picture of the local costume of the inhabitants. Erivan Province depicted on this ...
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National Library of Russia
Plan of Yerevan
The modern city of Yerevan dates its origins to the founding of the fortress of Erebuni in 782 BC. It has been inhabited continuously ever since, and its citizens delight in pointing out that their city is older than Rome. Yerevan, however, remained a relatively small city until after the Russian conquest of the Caucasus in the early 19th century. It later became the capital of the short-lived First Armenian Republic (also called the Democratic Republic of Armenia), the first independent Armenian state since the fall of the Cilician Kingdom ...
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Library of Congress