Because of Turkifization Turkey has removed the Armenian nams of places and animals – what is Armenian cat they call Turkish.
Armenian Dog:
Aralez
Aralezes (also Aralezner in plural; in Armenian: Արալեզ) are dog-like creatures, or spirits, in Armenian cultural beliefs or in the Armenian mythology, who live in the sky, or on mount Massis (Mount Ararat), according to other imaginations.
Armenians believed that aralezes descended from the sky to lick the wounds of fallen or injured warriors of armenian troops and heroes so they could relive or resurrect. Name of this spirit-dogs was taken from Ara the Beatiful as they were praised with Ara the Beautiful and Shamiram (Semiramis) in Old Armenia.
According to Armenian historians, when Mushegh Mamikonyan died, his relatives placed his corpse on a tower, hoping that aralezes would lick and revive him. Also, a similar event had taken place before this, when aralezes had licked and revived Ara the Beautiful, king of Armenia, that was killed in war with Assyria (Semiramis loved him and let warriors to brought him).
In the Armenian history, is told that the last event was probably a sort of lie, uttered by Shamiram, Ara the Beautiful’s lover, who had killed Ara accidentally during war, and had told Ara’s people that his corpse was placed on mountains, where aralezes would revive him. But she had chosen a man who looked like Ara, had dressed him like Ara, and had lied to the people that this last was alive.
Armenian Gampr is a landrace breed native to the Armenian Highlands. It sits within the Ovcharka group of livestock guardian dogs which can be found throughout the Transcaucasus area. Gamprs differ by their vital capacity, independence, mind, strong self-preservation instinct, capacity for trustworthy defense and protection of livestock, and exclusive friendliness to humans. The Gamprs are very tied to people, especially those dogs that live in human houses, considering themselves a family or pack member.
The modern Gampr has changed little within the history of its existence in Armenian Highlands. It is one of few natural breeds not subjected to hard selection by phenotype. They preserved the genetic variation that other dog breeds had initially. This genetic variation was promoted by spontaneous and, in some cases, intentional periodic matings with locally indigenous wolves (still present).
This breed’s head is large, well-outlined and well-developed but lacks prominent cheekbones. The back is wide, straight, muscular and strong. At the withers, the height in male dogs is 65 centimetres (26 in) or more, and in female dogs is 62 centimetres (24 in) or more. Weight corresponds to the total size of the dog, and usually varies from 45 to 60 kilograms (99 to 132 lb).
The Armenian Gampr has a well-developed undercoat, in order to protect it under harsh conditions. Depending upon the coat length, there are two types: long-haired, with long top hairs, and short-haired, with dense, relatively short hair. A brown or piebald coat is undesirable according to the breed standard.
Gampr dogs are not trained, instead performing the necessary functions naturally. The Armenian word “Gampr” means “watchdog”, but the same breed may instead be called a “gelkheht” (from “gel” – “wolf” and “khekhtel” – “to choke”) if it is predisposed to be used as a wolfhound; a bear-hunting dog is known as “archashoon” (“bear-dog”); an avalanche dog is named “potorkashoon”, and a shepherd dog is named “hovvashoon”.
The Armenian Gampr is not recognized by any of the major kennel clubs or other fancier organisations around the world. The path to recognition by these larger organizations is begun by small breed clubs who later apply to the larger breed clubs for recognition.
In 2006, Rohana Mayer began the Armenian Gampr Club of America in order to begin the conservation of the breed. The AGCA has created a registry and pedigree database including health information, and evaluations for individuals within the breed to maintain consistency with historically correct type, and breed dogs of the highest quality. Rohana Mayer collected DNA samples, and paid for the genetic analysis of the breed with Embark Vet, the most thorough and in-depth dog DNA analysis group in the world.
As an offshoot of the Armenian Gampr Club of America, The Armenian Gampr Club of Canada began soon after. In April 2011, a new organisation called the International Kennel Union (IKU), but acts in 17 countries, including Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Armenia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia and others, officially recognized the Armenian Gampr as Armenia’s national dog breed.
Armenian Cat:
Van was an Armenian city, but were cleansed through the genocide
Armenian Horse:
Horse breading, the domestication of the horses and the development of the chariot in Armenia dates back to the time immemorial. In fact, the Armenian Highlands were renowned for horse breeding and horsemanship throughout ancient times. Murals of the Iron Age (Armenian) kingdom of Ararat attest to the richness of this practice. Traditionally Armenians consider themselves as descended from the biblical Torgom (Togarmah), where the Bible refers to the House of Togarmah, a land known for its horses (Ez. 27:14). For this reason the ancient Persians would collect Armenian horses as part of taxation for their armies and the royal guard (Strabo, 20 B.C.). Equally revered was the Armenian cavalry of the ancient times
V. Chapot wrote: “What they say about Armenia bewilders us. How could this mountain people develop such a cavalry that was able to measure itself against the horsemen of the Medes? One thing which is certain is the fact that Armenia …was a source of excellent well bred horses. The people in this country had discovered that horses were not just an economic asset, but could also be used for military purposes.”
In his chronology (Timeline of the Development of the Horse, 2007) Beverley Davis describes the domestication of the horse in Armenia as follows:
3000 B.C.
– Petroglyphs found in Armenia (one of the possible sites for the Indo-European homeland) show the oldest pictures of men driving chariots, wagons, and plows, with horses doing the pulling.
2000 B.C.
– Primitive wagons dating from this time have been found in excellent condition in Armenia. These are the oldest known wagons in the world.
1074 B.C.
– Tiglath Pilser I becomes the first great king of the Assyrian Empire. The need for horses drives him into the lands of the Indo-Iranian horse peoples and Armenia.
36 B.C.
– Marc Antony takes a 10,000-horse cavalry, most of the animals coming from Spain, to Syria in his war against Parthia. He loses the war and ravages Armenia, returning to Egypt with Armenia’s king and the first large number of Nisean horses in the Roman Empire. Augustus Caesar ends up with them after defeating Antony.
111–114 A.D.
– Armenia, the breeding ground for the Nisean horse, is annexed by Rome.
396 A.D.
– The Huns raid Armenia, looking for horses and riches.
Recent archaeological discoveries made in Armenia push these dates even further back. Unique discoveries revealed as a result of excavations at Shengavit and the village of Nor Naver, Armenia (4000-3000 B.C.) Director of the Scientific and Research Institute of Historical and Cultural Heritage Hakob Simonyan said: “… the amount of revealed horse bones at the territory has exceeded all expectations of the researchers.” With respect to this, German paleozoologist Hans Peter Wertman stated that he has not observed such a quantity of horses in the entire Ancient East.
Furthermore these finds provide evidence that Armenians were among the earliest nations engaged in horse breeding for military purposes. Archeologists have managed to excavate seven tombs with bones and depictions of horses, proving their intensive cultivation. Archeological finds are dated at 25-20 centuries B.C.
“Evidence is found, that Armenians is among first nations engaged in horse breeding and particularly thanks to ancient Armenians several breeds of horses were created,” Hakob Simonyan said.
During the middle ages Armenians continued this tradition of horse mastery and with the invention of the Armenian alphabet produced stunning scientific writings, of which only a handful survived to this day. This oldest known manual about Armenian horse medicine consists of 184 handwritten pages. It was written in the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia between 1295 and 1298.
The first chapter explains the creation of the horse. The following chapters describe the good and bad characteristics of horses, breeding, the different races known at that time, breaking in and riding, horse care and defects. And the last chapters deal with different types of pain as well as illnesses, symptoms and treatments.
This Armenian manual about horse medicine from the 13th century has been translated into German for the first time in 2005. The compendium is Armenia’s oldest preserved veterinary medical work and offers an overall view of expert knowledge about horses during the late 13th century in the Near East.
The Mitanni were closely associated with horses. The name of the country of Ishuwa, which might have had a substantial Hurrian population, meant “horse-land”. A famous text discovered at Hattusa deals with the training of horses. The man who was responsible for the horse-training was a Hurrian called Kikkuli.
Kikkuli, “master horse trainer (assussanni, virtually Sanskrit aśva-sana-) of the land Mitanni” (LÚA-AŠ-ŠU-UŠ-ŠA-AN-NI ŠA KUR URUMI-IT-TA-AN-NI) was the author of a chariot horse training text written in the Hittite language, dating to the Hittite New Kingdom (around 1400 BC). The text is notable both for the information it provides about the development of Indo-European languages and for its content.
The terminology used in connection with horses contains many Indo-Aryan loan-words (Mayrhofer, 1974). Some theonyms, proper names and other terminology of the Mitanni exhibit an Indo-Aryan superstrate, suggesting that an Indo-Aryan elite imposed itself over the Hurrian population in the course of the Indo-Aryan expansion.
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