Armenian Culture

Since early childhood I was very much interested in mythology, particularly in Greek mythology. The images of ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses were not only simply aesthetically pleasant but contained mysterious and exciting myths behind them. When I first began studying Armenian history and visited National Museum of History, I discovered for myself amazing analogies with ancient Greece as well as realized one important matter, that on a large scale, my life today is in many ways determined by ancient Greek culture. In this essay I will try to explain the impact certain historical facts had on my belonging to Armenian culture.

First of all, the importance of language in development of any culture cannot be overestimated, because the majority

Together with that however, I believe, the influence of one culture and civilization on another, is not a unilateral action, meaning that the actual process of influence is a two-sided road. Of course, in different ways and varying degrees, but the both sides are always active, either the “influencer” or the “perceiver”. At the same time, it should be taken into consideration that the greater is the capability to perceive, the more unique are the results obtained from the interpenetration of two cultures. Apparently, the Armenian nation due to a combination of historical, geographical, ethnic and other factors, right from the beginning, was able to successfully perceive the emerging foundation of a single world culture. In other words, Armenian people, who existed long before Alexander the Great and who received quite strong Hellenistic influence before the Christian era, absorbed the features of Western culture. As a result of the synthesis of cultures and struggle for its own identity Armenian nation was able to create as well as most importantly, preserve, its own language along with its own statehood, therefore, having made a completely unique contribution to World Civilizations. The proof of that incorporates all the archeological sites on the Nemrut Mount, the Echmiadzin Cathedral and Geghard Monastery, as well as archeological monument of Zvartnots, along with famous churches of St Gayane and St Hripsime which are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The next in line to this list are the remains of ancient Armenian cities of Dvin and Yereruyk, conjointly with Tatev Monastery and Noravank. From my standpoint, the fact that Armenians avoided widespread general Islamization, which occurred in almost all territories exposed to Hellenism, and the perception concept of their attribution and