Armenian Alphabet

History of creation

Mesrop Mashtots, barely converting the inhabitants of the province of Gokhtn, understands that it is impossible to spread Christianity among people in Greek and Assyrian languages in the religious and religious languages of the country. Although 100 years have passed since converting to Christianity, most people still practiced pagan religion and customs. Mashtots understands that the position of Christianity can be strengthened only if the church ceremony is conducted in the native language, Armenian, and for this it was necessary to create your own letters. He shares his thoughts with Saak Partev, and it turns out that the Catholicos also thinks so. They convene a general meeting, which unanimously approves their plan to create the Armenian alphabet. Encouraging their plan, King Wramshapuh says that an Assyrian bishop by the name of Daniel “suddenly discovered” signs of the Armenian language. These signs are known in Armenian studies as the letters of Danielian. Thus, Mashtots begins to teach these signs to the Armenian princes, but it soon becomes clear that they are incomplete and do not correspond to the rich phonetic system of the Armenian language. That is why he begins to create Armenian letters.

The invention of letters

Taking a group of students, Mashtots sent one of the centers of Greek education Samosat at that time and took others with him to Edesia. In the rich diocese of Edessa, he studied books in different languages and studied their alphabets. According to legend, for a moment he looked away from the parchment on which he wrote, he noticed a hand (the hand of God), which wrote the letters of the alphabet from left to right. After the invention, Mashtots went to Samosat, where he commissioned a Greek calligrapher named Gropanos to create the letters he created. There, he translated the first Armenian sentence from “Arakats Girk”: “To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding.”

Monument of the Armenian alphabet

Monument of the Armenian alphabet in Aragatsotn region, on the eastern slope of Mount Aragats. The monument was built in 2005 on the occasion of the 1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet, and includes sculptures of 39 letters of the Armenian alphabet and monuments of Armenian greats.

Photo By: Hatis Tour