Caucasian Albanian alphabet

By Narek Yegoyan

The Caucasian Albanian alphabet was the alphabet for the people of Caucasian Albania. It was discovered by a professor named Ilia Abuladze in 1937. The Alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashots a Armenian monk, warrior and translator.

Armenian historian Koriun, in The Life of Mashtots, wrote:

"Then there came and visited them an elderly man, an Albanian named Benjamin. And he Mesrob Mashdots inquired and examined the barbaric diction of the Albanian language, and then through his usual God-given keenness of mind invented an alphabet, which he, through the grace of Christ, successfully organized and put in order."

Zaza Aleksidze wrote: "The most precise documentary account on the existence of Albanian script and written language is represented in the accounts of the all Transcaucasian church counsel in Dvin in 506. In his letter to the christians living in Persia, the Catholicos of Armenia - Babgen - says that the letter was written "in consent with Georgians and Albanians, according to the letters of each country"."

References:
-Koriun, The life of Mashtots, Ch. 16.
-The History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci. by Movses Dasxuranci, C. J. F. Dowsett

Caucasian Albania

A brief section on the history of Aghbania is presented below

At the beginning of the first [section of this] history we placed [accounts of] the holy Illuminator of the Armenians, the apostle, martyr, and coadjutor of the three blessed [155] Apostles Thaddeus, Bartholemew, and James-Judas, that is, blessed Gregory, and through his prayers we have reached this far. Now for the second section [we begin with] a chapter on the illuminators of the Aghbanian areas, since they are our relatives and coreligionists, and especially since many of their leaders were Armenian-speaking, their kings obedient to the kings of the Armenians and under their control, their bishops ordained by Saint Gregory and his successors, and their people remained with us in orthodoxy. For these reasons it is fitting to recall the two peoples together. Therefore we will begin by concisely describing their leaders up to the point where we left off.

They say that the initial cause of the illumination of the eastern areas was the blessed Eghishe (pupil of the great Thaddeus the Apostle) who, after the death of the holy Apostle went to Jerusalem to James, the brother of the Lord, received [g192] ordination as bishop from him, and then went to the land of Iran eventually reaching the land of the Aghbanians. He came to a place called Gis and built a church there, and he himself was martyred there, though it is not known by whom. His body was thrown into a well with other corpses and it remained there until the time of pious King Vach'agan the last.

[156] Here are the kings of the Aghbanians from the line of Hayk, descendants of Arhan whom the Parthian Vagharshak set up as overseer and prince of those areas. First Vach'agan, Vach'e, Urhnayr. The latter came to the great king of the Armenians, Trdat, and to Saint Gregory and was baptized by him; and Saint Gregory gave to King Urhnayr a man from among his deacons who had come with him from Rome, and whom [Gregory] had ordained as bishop. Vach'agan, Marhawan, Sato, Asa, Esvaghen. In the days of the latter king, the venerable Mesrop made alphabets for the Armenians, Georgians, and Aghbanians. [Then] Vach'e [ruled]. Yazdigert, king of Iran, who destroyed the holy Vardaneans forcibly made [Vach'e] a mage, but subsequently he left magianism and his kingdom with it, became an ascetic adhering to a severe discipline, and reconciled himself with God against Whom he had sinned. Then the pious Vach'agan ruled, whom we recalled above. He heard that they had thrown blessed Eghishe['s body] into a well and he ordered that all the bones found [in the well] be removed. They removed them and piled them into heaps. The pious king prayed to God that the bones of Saint Eghishe be [g193] revealed. A fierce wind arose and scattered across the face of the plain all the bones except for those of Saint Eghishe. Thanking God, the king gathered them up and distributed [the relics] throughout his realm.

[157] Then holy Shup'haghishoy became bishop. However we are confused about his placement, for the man who wrote the history of the Aghbanians [translator's note: See the History of the Caucasian Albanians by Movses Dasxuranci, C.J.F. Dowsett trans. (London 1961)] places his name in the time of the pious Vach'agan, proof of which being the canons which Vach'agan established with all the bishops of the Aghbanians, writing: "I Vach'agan, king of the Aghbanians, and Shup'haghishoy, archbishop of Partaw." Elsewhere this name is not found again among the ranks of the bishops. But as we have found it, so we have written it.

Then lord Matt'e, lord Sahak five [years], lord Movses six [years], lord Pant seven [years] lord Ghazar eight [years]. Then the blessed youth Grigoris, son of great Vrt'anes brother of Yusik, grandson of Saint Gregory whom the great king of the Armenians Trdat sent and who was killed on the plain of Vatean as a martyr of God, [was patriarch]. His body was brought and buried at Amaras. Later, during the time of Vach'agan, relics were discovered among which were those of the blessed Zak'aria, father of John the Baptist and of Pantaleimon the great martyr for Christ who was slain in the city of Nicomidea in the time of Maximianos [and whose relics] Saint Gregory had taken with him.

[158] Then lord Zak'aria [ruled], ten years, [followed by] lord Dawit' for eleven years, and lord Yovhannes (who also was bishop of the Huns), twelve years, lord Eremia, thirteen years. In Eremia's time the venerable Mesrop created the Aghbanian alphabet with great effort. Lord Abas [ruled] for fourteen years. The Council of Dwin wrote to Abas that he should recite the formula "Holy God, immortal, Who Was crucified" and "of one nature, divine and human." Lord Viroy for thirty-three years. He was a prisoner for many years at the court of Xosrov, the Iranian king, but after Xosrov's death he was freed and came to his own country. He freed the Armenian, Georgian and Aghbanian prisoners from the Xazar Shat' (son of Jebu Xak'an who had enslaved the land). He built six cities named after Shat': Shat'arh, Shamk'or, Shak'i, Shirvan, Shamaxi, and Shaporan. Lord Zak'aria [who ruled for] fifteen years, saved the great city of Partaw from slavery by his prayers. Lord Yovhan [ruled for] twenty-five years. Lord Uxtanes, twelve years. [g195] [It was Uxtanes] who cursed the Aghbanian naxarars for their foul mixed marriages, and all of them died. Then lord Eghiazar [ruled for] six years. Lord Nerses [ruled for] seventeen years. While [Nerses] was bishop of Gardman, he convinced a certain woman named Spram, the wife of an Aghbanian prince, that if she had him ordained kat'oghikos of the Aghbanians, he would do whatever she wanted. The woman was steeped in the Chalcedonian heresy. [159] She entreated the bishops to ordain Nerses Bakur as kat'oghikos of the Aghbanians.

After some time had passed, the heresy which she had conceived within her became apparent. As soon as she was reprimanded by the bishops and priests, she began persecuting many of them. The spiritual leaders of the Aghbanians assembled and anathematized her and wrote to the kat'oghikos of the Armenians, Eghia, to aid them.

Eghia wrote [a message] to the head of the Tachiks, Abdlmelik', to the effect that "The [religious] leader of the Aghbanians and a woman here want to place their land in rebellion against you, for they are assisting the Greeks." Abdlmelik' commanded Eghia to go to Aghbania and dethrone him and to send him and the woman to court with their feet bound and thrown onto camels like freight, so that they would be the objects of derision for all the troops.

Eghia and the king's eunuch went to the city of Partaw and executed the royal order. While they mocked him thus with dishonor, Nerses died bitterly from exasperation, eight days later. [g196] All the Aghbanians naxarars and all the bishops gave [160] pledges before the eunuch with the royal command and seal that they would not ordain an Aghbanian kat'oghikos without the order of the Armenian kat'oghikos.

Then Eghia ordained for the Aghbanian [patriarchal] throne lord Simeon, who removed the disturbance caused by Nerses. [Simeon] reigned for one and a half years and established canons with seven provisions.

Lord Mik'ayel [reigned for] thirty-five years. He summoned the prior of Mak'enots'ats' [monastery], Soghomon, and cursed those who had married their relatives in the third degree. These were generally eliminated. They also anathematized the Georgian [spiritual] leader T'alile, for he had authorized the illegal marriages. Then lord Anania [ruled for] four years. Lord Yovsep' [ruled for] seventeen years. In the fifth year of his reign the two hundredth year of the Armenian Era was completed [751/52]. Lord Dawit' [ruled for] four years. [Dawit'] freed Church lands and ornaments. He died of poisioning. [Another] lord Dawit' [then ruled for] nine years. He sold Dastakert and Sahmanaxach' to the infidels. Lord Matt'eos [ruled for] one and a half years; he too was given poison to drink and died from it. Lord Movses, one and a half years; lord [g197] Aharon two years; lord Soghomon, half a year [Editor K. Melik'-Ohanjanyan has inserted this patriarch from the list Kirakos was using, i.e., the list in Book III of Movses Dasxurants'i's History of the Caucasian Aghbanians]; lord T'eodoros [161] four years; lord Soghomon, eleven years; lord Yovhannes, twenty-five years. [Yovhannes] moved the kat'oghikosate to Bardak which was their summer residence when it was removed from Partaw. Lord Movses [ruled for] one half year; lord Dawit', for twenty-eight years. It was [Dawit'] who blessed the impious marrage of the lord of Shak'i. Now the prince's lay brother asked [Dawit']: "Whence do you come, lord?" And [Dawit'] replied: "From your brother's house." Then the prince said to Dawit': "May your tongue, which blessed this not speak, and may your eye dry up." And this very thing happened immediately, nor was [Dawit'] cured until his death.

Ancient archaeological monument discovered in northern Azerbaijan

Baku, 27 April: An interesting tomb attributed to the period of Caucasian Albania was discovered by the Saki department of the Azerbaijani Institute for Archaeology and Ethnography during archaeological excavations in the village of Fizil in Saki District.Trend news agency's regional correspondent reports that in addition to providing evidence that the Yalovlutapa culture, which is attributed to ancient times, reached a high level of development in this area.

Armenia’s Vanishing Udis

Small community is slowly losing its ancient language.

By Tatul Hakopian in Dedebavan (CRS No. 398 28-Jun-07)
Seda Kumsieva, a teacher for 36 years, lives in Armenia although she used to teach Russian language and literature in the village of Vardashen in Azerbaijan.

The crisis of the late Eighties that led to the Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorny Karabakh forced her to flee her home and resettle in Armenia.

Seda is an ethnic Udi – a Christian group with its own unique language – but her husband is Armenian, a fact which sealed her fate. Her family is now scattered across the Caucasus.

“Some of my relatives stayed in Vardashen, others settled in Tbilisi. I am completely Udi by blood, but my husband is Armenian and we and other families who had mixed marriages left Azerbaijan,” she said.

Eleven Udis from Azerbaijan resettled in Dedebavan and many more have found homes in other villages. In conversations with IWPR, the Udis made it clear they feel quite secure in Armenia, but are worried that their unique culture is dying out.

The head of the village community in Dedebavan Georgy Babayan told IWPR, “We don’t make any distinction between Armenians and Udis. During the emigration from Vardashen in 1988, several Udi families came with the Armenians. Later on, many of them emigrated to Russia. We are the same as the Udis – we share our joy and grief with them.”

Hranush Kharatian, an ethnographer who has written extensively about the Udis, says that there are only around 200 of them in Armenia.

“The community does not have the status of a national minority,” he said. “Today there isn’t a single regulatory document on this issue. Only those groups which systematically try to preserve their ethnic identity are recognised as minorities.”

Kharatian said that the Udis had fled Azerbaijan not just because of mixed marriages with Armenians, but because they were a persecuted minority.

“Udis who were persecuted in Nij have resettled in the Georgian village of Oktomberi. Until the recent deportations from Azerbaijan there were not just two but five whole Udi villages. We don’t know much about three of the villages, because although the Udis living there were Christians, they spoke Azeri. These villages were called Jourlu, Mirzabeilu and Sultan Nukhi. Several people from there emigrated to Armenia.”

Seda Kumsieva uses her cousins in Tbilisi – who now go by the surname Kumsiashvili – to get information about relatives who stayed behind in her home village. She still badly misses Vardashen – now renamed Oduz.

“Although our way of life and traditions are Armenian, Udis have their own specific festivals,” she said. “As a child, I remember how in May they used to tie multi-coloured threads round the hands of little children and then hang these little bundles on the branches of trees. Everyone used to make a wish to have their dream come true. The festival was called Dimbaz.”

Forty-five-year-old Zanna Lalayan is married to an Armenian and her family is also scattered. “My brother Oleg and other relatives live in Nij. My other brother and other relatives live in Ukraine – his children don’t know the Udi language. Our generation of Udis based in Russia and other countries doesn’t know our language.

“Our nation is gradually dwindling.”

Seventy-year-old Arshaluis Movsisian, an Udi whose late husband was Armenian, lives in the village of Bagratashen and left behind a large part of her family, a whole troop of nieces and nephews. “My heart is breaking, I want to see their faces,” she said, holding back the tears.

“Like the Armenians, we recognise the cross and the church,” she said. “We didn’t marry our girls off to Azerbaijanis and we didn’t marry theirs, because we are people of the cross. Like the Armenians, our brides come out in white clothes, with uncovered faces , we dance Armenian dances and bury our dead according to Armenian customs. Apart from the language, we are no different to them.”

Armenian historians, like their Azerbaijani counterparts, say that the Udis are the descendants of the Caucasian Albanians. But Armenians say the process of assimilation happened much earlier - that the Albanians converted to the Armenian church in the 5th century and at the same time began to adopt the Armenian language, customs and names.

The Udis alone, the historians say, survived as a tiny remnant of a once much bigger culture. They point out that the Udis’ language has nothing in common with either Indo-European Armenian or Turkic Azeri.

Some unique Udi customs also seem to date back to pre-Christian times.

Arzu Dargiyan recalls how in Azerbaijan they used to pay homage to sacred trees. “We would choose a fruit tree in the garden and performed an act of worship in front of it,” she said. “We lit candles and sacrificed animals. It was forbidden to climb the sacred tree or pick its fruit. You could only eat them if they fell from the tree.”

Oleg Dulgarian is an Udi also from Vardashen, although he left as a small child. He runs a non-governmental organisation for refugees, and is passionate about trying to preserve the culture of this ancient but tiny community.

Dulgarian says that he wants to create an organization called “Aghvank” (the ancient name for Caucasian Albania) that will aim to preserve traditions and engage in academic study of the Udis.

“It’s not a problem to be an Udi in Armenia; no one forces us to renounce our ethnicity. The main problems that Udis who have emigrated from Azerbaijan face are the same as those facing the Armenian refugees.”

Dulgarian wants to get government help for his project but the main element of Udi culture – their language – is now in apparently terminal decline.

“My sons don’t speak Udi at all,” lamented Alexei Kazarov, who also fled from Vardashen. “Our nation is gradually disappearing. There are only eight or ten thousand Udis left in the whole world.”

Tatul Hakopian is a political observer for Public Radio in Armenia.

Azeri church sparks political row

The restoration of a centuries-old Christian church in predominantly Muslim Azerbaijan is hanging in the balance amid a row over wall inscriptions.

The local Udi people, a Christian community, removed lettering they say was put there by Armenian Christians.

The white-stone building in the northern mountain village of Nij is undergoing renovation with funding from a Norwegian charity, the Norwegian Humanitarian Enterprise, but the organisation is unhappy about the alterations.

The Udis say they erased the inscriptions over the entrance to the church and next to the altar to right a historic wrong.

Armenians, they contend, put the lettering there long after the church was built so they could lay claim to it.

General information

Caucasian Albania (or ‘Arran' as it is described In Arab sources) was destroyed by the Arab conquests of the seventh century; the territory of the present-day Republic of Azerbaijan roughly corresponds to the ancient Caucasian Albania. Twenty six languages were spoken in Albania and it had its own kings.

Caucasian Albania became Christianized at approximately the same time as was Armenia; Movses Dasxuranc'i places this event in the reign of King Urnayr in the mid-4th century CE, and states that St. Gregory, founder of the Armenian national church, was responsible for the monarch's baptism. The Monophysite Albanian church remained separate from the Armenian one till the end of the 7th century CE, when the two were united under stimulus from the Arabs. Until well into medieval Islamic times, Muslims must have been only a minority in Arran; Moqaddasi, p. 376, writing towards the end of the 4th/10th century, describes the Christians as still a majority in the towns of Qabala and Šabaran (near Quba). In the Byzantino-Sasanian wars, the Albanian kings sometimes had to supply contingents for the imperial Iranian army, and Urnayr participated with Shapur II in the siege of Amed in 359, but more generally they combined with their fellow-Christian Armenian princes in resisting Persian expansion into Transcaucasia and Armenia, at times even paying tribute to the Byzantines.