The Armenian Upland is in the USSR, Turkey and Iran. In the north it is skirted by the Lesser Caucasus, in the west by the Highlands of Iran and Asia Minor, and in the south-west by the Taurus and the mountains of Kurdistan.
2.
TumanianB. E. and MnatsakanianA. O., Bronzé dari goti-oratsouits (The belt-calendar of the Bronze Age) (Yerevan, 1965).
3.
Matenadaran (Yerevan) is a repository of old manuscripts and unique editions, including several tens of thousands of manuscripts by Armenian and foreign authors. These are of great value in the history of the Armenian pople. The repository owns, in addition, a large number of translations and interpretations of Greek, Persian and Arab authors, whose writings in the original are not always extant. The manuscripts are mainly written on parchment in ink of varying colours. Dyes have likewise been used, retaining to this day their freshness and brightness, though the secret of their manufacture has been lost.
4.
In 301 Christianity was proclaimed the state religion of Armenia.
5.
Andrias the Byzantine was a prominent fourth-century calendarian and author of the 200-year table of religious holidays. Most old Armenian manuscripts have preserved translated excerpts or interpretations of his works. Apart from calendar correlations, they provide tables and circles for determining the epacts, the duration of day and night, the lunar phases and so forth.
6.
ShirakatsiAnanya was an outstanding seventh-century astronomer, mathematician, calendarian, historian and philosopher, who recognised the ball-shape of the Earth. He takes the view that the Earth is not supported by anything but remains suspended in the air due to two forces: The first is the gravity that tends to lower the Earth while the second is the vortex force of the wind that strives to raise it. Shirakatsi discards astrology and related superstitions. In the view of this great thinker, the Milky Way is a host of weak shining stars. The Moon is a solid body without light of its own but it reflects the solar light. The dark spots on it are indicative of an uneven surface. He gives a satisfactory explanation of the lunar phases, and of solar and lunar eclipses. He regards the ebb and flow as resulting from the action of the Moon. Relying on a number of speculations, Shirakatsi arrives at the conclusion that the Sun is much greater than the Moon and the Earth and that it is much farther from us than the Moon (for more particulars see TumanianB. E., History of Armenian astronomy, Part I (Yerevan, 1964)). Shirakatsi makes various calendar calculations and corrections for fourteen peoples. He interpreted the calendar of Andrias the Byzantine in great detail (the original writing of the Byzantine is not preserved). Of considerable interest are Shirakatsi's studies in mathematics. The book on arithmetic he compiled is the oldest in the world among those that have survived. He composed tables of the sums as well as the prototypes of arithmetical and geometrical progressions, etc. (see DepmanI., Stories about mathematics (Leningrad, 1954)).
7.
TumanianB. E., “Hayots mets yev pokr tevakanneri tareskezbi hartsi shourje”(The Beginning of the Major and Minor Armenian Eras), Izvestia, Academy of Sciences, Armenian SSR, vi (1965).
8.
SarkavagHovhannes was a well-known Armenian calendarian, mathematician, philosopher and writer, fl. c. 1100. He founded a high school in the city of Ani where, among other subjects, the exact sciences were taught under his direction. Sarkavag analysed in detail the composition of the Armenian calendar and those of neighbouring nations, and drew up the correlation table of the calendars of fifteen nationalities. Of the mathematical works of Sarkavag, his studies on polygonal numbers are important.
9.
MashtotsMesrop (381–440) was the inventor of the Armenian alphabet.
