CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION

CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION

Neo-Assyrian bas-relief fragment from the period of the reign of
king Sargon II, circa721-705 B.C. found in the ruins of Throneroom palace in Khorsabad.

This bas-relief detail ties us up to the kilt previously mentioned in the Saragon II bronze band. It depicts half-dressed Assyrian soldiers in the process of towing a massive boat made out of cedar wood from ancient Phoenicia. A great number of tablets and bas-reliefs in the Middle and Near East represented naked or half-dressed soldiers and workers on a temple ramps, in royal palaces, in a hunting scene, and quite often in battles. This is very a propos to the countries with hot weather in the Near and Middle East. I have never encountered any carved stone, pillar, column or tablet that depicts a naked or half-dressed Armenian workers or soldiers, even during their Assyria and Anatolia campaigns. Ancient Armenians considered improper for men to appear half dressed or half naked in public. Armenians did not practice slavery, yet several Armenian nobles and members of the royal courts had servants they captured during military campaigns and later they assigned them to their household services. Even though, they were captured servants, none of them served or worked half-dressed. They were fully clothed and well fed.

1.Vesta 2. Demeter

1.Vesta, the Roman goddess of household harmony is the equivalent to the Greek goddess Hestia meaning hearth. This tablet depicts her in the company of a donkey-god symbolizing fecundity, abundance, fertility and productive labor. Circa 2^nd century A.D. The dress of Vesta is evidently a pure Greek outfit. It has no similarity with ancient Armenian goddesses gowns and long dresses. Yet, some Greco-Armenian engravings depicted Armenian goddesses wearing a Greek dress. This clearly shows the influence of Hellenic influence on ancient Armenian arts and particularly sculpture and garments fashion and dress-making. Also, it reveals the artistic collaboration of Greek and Armenian artisans, construction workers, architects and builders of Greek temples and other pagan edifices in ancient Armenia.

2. Demeter, the Mycenaean goddess who brings prosperity and growth to all things under the sun. This ancient engraving depicts her in a scene where she is bringing back to earth Persphone known also as Kore. She is seated under the Tree of Life. The double headed axes or Labrys you see in the engraving represent the power and status of Demeter as goddess of fertility and sexual energy. Circa, 1,600 B.C. The Tree of Life sometimes was referred to as the Tree of Wisdom or Tree of Knowledge. This symbolic engraving appeared in many ancient Armenian tablets and engravings. Later, it was adapted and adopted by the early Christian Armenian church. Pagan gods and goddesses were replaced by biblical figures, Apostles, disciples and saints, as well as by the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ the Savior. It was a common theme in the ancient world and was regularly depicted in Assyrian, Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptians engravings and tablets. A keen observer would notice the similarity in the style of personages, monarchs and deities dresses and costumes of various civilizations including the Armenian civilization. Almost all outfits in a Tree of Life engraving were long dresses falling simply and gracefully to the ankle. Sometimes, the women or goddesses dresses were ornamented with straight horizontal and parallel lines starting from the bottom of the dress, all the way to the hips. This style of outfits was almost shared by all the civilizations of the known ancient world. It is difficult to ascertain which civilization dress fashion influenced which. Nevertheless, it is a direct link of the ancient Armenians to the early civilizations of the Near and the Middle East.

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