Syunik Armenians

https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1foaeb6

Posted by TheJaymort

3 Comments

  1. Part 3 of old Armenian pictures series.

    I want to talk a bit about Syunik from an ethnographic-historical point of view. Today’s Syunik is made up of 2 provinces or Gavars, Sisian in the north and Zangezur to its south. Zangezur can be further subdivided into 3 regions, Bun Zangezur or Goris, Kapan, and Meghri. These places all had their own Meliks, or princes, who ruled them and then during the Russian empire became landlords and important economic/military figures. Sisian was dominated by the Melik-Tangians, while Goris had multiple Meliks like the Melik-Huseynyans of Goris, Melik-Paramazyans of Khndzoresk and Melik-Barkhudaryans of Tegh. The remnants of the medieval Orbelian dynasty ruled Tatev as its Meliks, while the monastery of Tatev also held its own feudal property, for example the village Khot. The famous Halidzor fortress was originally the main stronghold of the Melik-Parsadanyans of Bekh, who would come to dominate politics in Kapan. In the south you had the Melik-Ohanjanyans from Kaler village. Overall there were very many Meliks ruling in Syunik, more than in Artsakh although they were not as powerful.

    Each of these sub-regions had some cultural intricacies. For example, in Bun Zangezur cave houses carved into rocks were mainly widespread, while in the rest of the province they weren’t. The women’s clothing complex of Bun Zangezur and Meghri were different, with the latter sharing more similarities to Nakhijevan’s taraz, while the former was essentially the same as the one worn in Artsakh. Kapans seems to have been somewhat of a middle ground between them. Dialectically the dialects spoken in Meghri region are more similar to those of Nakhijevan, some like Karchevan approaching being a separate language just like Zokeren from Nakhijevan. Those of Kapan and Goris are very similar to Artsakhs dialects as I gather. The same principle can be applied for culture overall.