Tork Dalalyan (Mondes iranien et indien, Paris)
The Earliest King of Armenia Mentioned
by Foreign Authors
Diodorus Siculus in his “
Bibliotheca historica
” mentions Armenian king
Βαρζάνης in connection to his conflict with the Assyrian king Ninus [II, 1,
8–9]. This probably Scythian name (Βαρζάνης) can be etymologized by Iran.
*warz- ‘charm’ (cf. Osset. warzən / warzun ‘to love’, M. Pers. warz- ‘charm’).
Iran. *warz- is connected with I. E. *welgh- or *werg- which is reflected in
Armenian geł-j ‘intense desire’. Thus the Iranian name *Wārz-āna could be a
translated form of Armenian Geł-ec‘ik (or, on the contrary, the last could reflect
the name *Wārz-āna).
Movsēs Xorenac‘i calls the Armenian legendary king Ara Geł- ec‘ik (literally
Ara the Beautiful) as a contemporary of Ninus and the lover of Semiramis, Ninus’s
wife. This royal couple is the symbol of theAssyrian might (9th c. B. C.). Semiramis,
however, has typical features of the goddess Ištar.
The Urartian king Sarduri or Ištarduri I (second half of the 9th c. B. C.) seems
to be a historical prototype for Barzanes of Diodorus and Ara of Xorenac‘i. The
cuneiform writing of the name Sarduri contains the ideogram of Ištar, so it was read
also as Ištarduri and can be translated as ‘Ištar-s lover’. Therefore one can suppose
that the name Βαρζάνης attested by Diodorus is the second part of some lost name,
like the names of ’Αριοβαρζανης, Μιθροβαρζάνης, Bagawarza, etc.
The scythian version of the name of this king might have been preserved in
Achaemenid archives, which were the main sources for Ctesias (and through him
for Diodorus Siculus).
Секция XI.
Источниковедение и историография
Древнего Востока
Historiography of the Ancient Orient
304
