Roma x Alba: Black x White Cities???

From: Joao S. Lopes
Message: 48423
Date: 2007-05-03

I'd like to see your comments. I found it in http://iatp.am/resource/science/history/aram/summary.htm

THE MYTH OF ARAM  
IN THE CONTEXT OF INDO - EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY AND THE PROBLEM OF THE ARMENIAN ETHNOGENESIS 
ARMEN PETROSYAN 
(Summary)

According to Armenian legendary history Aram, the second ethnogonic patriarch of the Armenians, defeats his third adversary in Cappadoccia, near  Mt Argaios, and leaves his cognate Mshak as the rruler of the region. The other nations begin to call the land and the people Hay- k'  (Armenians) by the name of Aram (Khorenatsi ). In Greek sources the first ancestor of Armenians is Armenos, one of the Argonauts, who comes to Aia- Colkhis and establishes Armenia (Strabo, Justin). In Indian mythology the first Rama (Parashurama) kills Arjuna, the king of Haihayas (Mahabharata III). One of the lands, established by Rama is called Mushika (Keralotpatti). In these myths some names are comparable (Aram, Armenos, Rama; Hay-, Aia, Haihaya; Argaios, Argonaut, Arjuna; Mshak, Mushika). Thus, the names of Aram and Argaios must be connected with the Indo-European roots *re-mo- (*ro-mo-, *r-mo-) `dark, black' and *arg'- `white', `silver', `rapid'. 

On the basis of these and many other myths Indo-European mythologeme of 'black' and `white' is reconstructed. Many Indo-European and non Indo-European parallels are considered, cf. Hurrian myth of the rebellion of Silver against the weather-god Teshub, Greek (P.Vidal- Naquet), Georgian (U. Virsaladze), Vasque characters of the "black hunters", Caucasian black hero (V. Ardzinba), Irish sagas of black haired Diarmaid and `white' Finn, dark hero Cuchulain, Germanic opposition of "white" Siegfrid and "dark" Nibelungs, etc. 
 
The linguistic, anthropological, psychological aspects of the "black hero" are analyzed (cf. Freudian "Thanatos", Jungian "shadow" etc). On the basis of the Armenian, Roman, Greek, Irish, Prussian data the Indo-European myth of "White" and " Black" cities is reconstructed. The twin brothers come from the white city and establish the black one, where the names of black cities are comparable, cf. Urart. Arme/Urme (=Sasun), Rome, Romowe. The opposition of these cities is solved by the Indo-European formula "the third kills the tripple," cf. the Horatius and Curatius myth, the battle of 300 Spartans and Argives(Herod.), etc. The zoomorphic symbols of these black and white heroes are the boar and dog respectively. Furthermore, the black hero corresponds to the Indo-European dog-killer (Hermes-Kandavles, Cuchulain, Diarmaid). This reconstructed myth has its reflections in all of





the Armenian,many Indo- European and non Indo-European epic cycles (Mahabharata, Ramayana, Iliad, Odyssey, Shahnama, Vis and Ramin, Nibelungs, Irish sagas, Nart epics, etc). In some traditions the names of feminine characters of the "black and white" myth are comparable too.  

Hayk, the first Armenian ethnogonic patriarch, Aram's ancestor, in many aspects coincides with Aram. Hayk is the Armenian name of the planet Mars, the constellations of Orion and Pleiades. He is the epic version of the war and thunder god and his name is derived from the Indo-European *poti- `lord, husband', cf. Armenian (dialect) hay `husband'. Thus, the system of indigenous Indo-European deities has survived in the characters of the Armenian ethnogonic patriarchs. 

The Armenian and Indian scholars have considered Mshak and Mushika  to be connected with the Phrygian ethnonym mushk- . This ethnonym is the Eastern cognate of the ethno-toponym Mysia (< *mus- 'mouse.' V. Toporov). The names and characters of Colchian heroes Aietes and Medea could be considered as Indo-European (cf. Indic Yayati and Madhavi, Irish Eochoid and Medb). Argonauts were known as Minyans, and some names of the kings of Urartu are comparable with the nomenclature of the Argonaut's myth (Aramu, Minua, Argishti,cf. Armenos, Minyas, Argo). Thus, the kings of Urartu could have been of Indo-European, probably Phrigian origin. 

Names comparable with the names of Aram's circle are known from Egyptian legendary history (Armais - Danaos, who becomes the first king of Argos), Vasque toponyms (Aram-Mushkia), etc. The myth of Aram's victory is compared with the combat of Zeus and Tiphon, localized in Arimoi (J. Markwart). This combat is considered the ethnogonic myth of Aramaeans. In the Bible the names of Aram and Moshek, the ancestors of Aramaeans, are identical with the names of Aram and Mshak, Rama and Mushika. The Aramaeans acquired their ethnonym in the South of the Armenian Highlands (the XII century BC). Ethno-toponyms with the element Ar(a)m- are attested from the Northern Mesopotamia, Syria, Southern Armenia since the second half of the III millennium BC. These names are preserved in the onomastics of Urartu, where many interconnected names with the elements Ar(a)m - and arc-, the Armenian reflection of Indo-European *arg'-, are known (e.g. Armuna-Arcabia, Arme, Urme-Arcania, etc: the capital city of Aramu, the first king of Urartu was called Arcasku =Archesh < *arg'esko-). 

These names which reflect the nomenclature of the reconstructed Indo-European myth are inseparable from the corresponding Mesopotamian and Syrian ancient toponyms. They might be connected with the Indo-European tribes, which  have been settled in these territories and adjacent regions since at least  the second half of the III millennium BC.


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