The Legend

Armeniac was the first priest of Armenia who put into practice application of natural resources not only as ritual but also as sustenance for life, which includes an essence of creativeness that promotes intellectual and physical development of man and makes a spiritual connection possible. We can think of the collection, processing and preservation of food developed not only for physical requirement and intellectual development, but also for emotional and spiritual requirements. Food had great importance for not only existence, formation and development of the person but also became one of the cores of cultural history of humans and development of their communities. Elements of material culture have outgrown the components of spiritual culture, food has become the natural link to preservation of tradition which gives a chance to explore the ethnic aspects of the history of people. Armeniac was the first priest of Armenia. Nevertheless, the history of Armeniac goes back to the time of Noah. According to ancient Armenian legend, after ‘The Great Flood’ Noah rested with his family on the slopes of Mount Ararat, and in time left for Babylon. However, having avoided a revolt against the tyrant Bell, descendant of Iafet, the legendary forefather of the Armenians Hayk returned and settled in Armenia, and gave rise to the Armani people. Based on scientific research of manuscripts the precise location of the country of Armani and inscription of the Armani name has been discovered. Geographically Armani was located between the lands of Parasi (Marhasi) and the lands of the Cedar Forest (Amanus-Cilicia) in the area of the basin for the sources of the Khabur and the Western Tigris rivers, in Armenian Mesopotamia and around Aghtznik, where the victory monument of Naram-Sin was found. These statements were referenced and found in a Neo-Assyrian copy of an inscription that described the regions of the empire of Sargon of Akkad. The statement reads as follows: “istu Eb-la adi Bi-Na-ni-ib KUR Ar-ma-ni-I” (“From Ebla to Bitnanib [in] the land of Armani). The Arma mentioned in the inscriptions of Alalakh IV must be the same as the nearby city-land of Arma-ni referred to by Naram-Sin, or the name of one of its regions or cities, without the toponymic suffix -ni, similar to the form Arme. Having as an eponym the personal or ethnic name Armen derived from the Armani place (or ethnic) name and the personal name Armaneac (hangil, etc.). However, Hayk appointed Armeniac, who became the first priest of Armenia.