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ART HISTORY AND HERITAGE

 

THE FABULOUS STORY AND LEGEND OF AN ARMENIAN LACE, PRINCESS ELISSA OF TYRE AND DIDON, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE

Photo: The Suicide of Queen Didon by Pierre-Paul Rubens. Louvre Collection.   Photo RMN

A 9^th century B.C. Phoenician tablet discovered among the ruins of the ancient Phoenician city of Carthage in Tunis contained a passage mentioning trade of goods and commerce exchanged between the Armenians and the Phoenicians who shared many enemies in common such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The inscriptions on the tablet were written in the early form of the Phoenician-Aramaic alphabet  widely used back then in the court of Persia, Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Syria and among many Semitic tribes. The Phoenician passage referred to the Phoenicians and Armenians trade of raisins with the Greeks and the Romans. Three different kinds of grapes were described: Muscats, Sultanas and Currants  which were very popular in the Mediterranean basin and Near and Middle Eastern regions. Between 120-900 B.C. the Phoenicians  and the Armenians began  colonial vineyards in  Europe and Asia Minor. The Phoenicians started their vineyards colony in Corinth (Macedonia), Malaga and Valencia (Spain), while the Armenians began theirs in Turkey and Iraq.  Those colonies had the perfect climate for growing grapes and were conveniently located to facilitate  trade with Rome and Greece.  It is well documented that, the Phoenicians and the Armenians were  the world’s first  viticulture experts. Another segment of the passage tells us about  the story of  Elissa, princess of Tyre who became queen of Tyre in the 9^th  century B.C. and the murder of her husband on the hands of  Pygmalion, her brother. Horrified, queen Elissa  departs from Tyre and heads toward Tunis. Upon her arrival to the new lands of Tunisia, princess Elissa asks for an asylum. The natives told her that she can stay on a piece of land  not bigger or wider than an area which can be covered or “measured” by the skin of a cow! Elissa had no cows. So, very cleverly, she asked the natives if she could use a small piece of a lace instead. It is not  difficult for any one of us to  guess what was the reaction or the answer of the natives. Without hesitation, they granted her their approval. Elissa asked them again whether the land must be totally covered by this very small piece of lace or measured by it. And the natives replied that she is free to use any method she prefers. To them, it did not make any sense or any  difference, for this very small piece of lace she is holding in her hands will not cover or take the space of more than 10 inches of a dry land. And Elissa began the most ingenious topographic and geodesic task of all times.  She took the Armenian piece of lace and began to loosen up each knot, one by one, until she undone all of it  and got an extremely fine    and  a very long stretched  thread  exceeding 4 kilometers in length  which  she placed on the ground in the form of a circle, thus marking the borders of her new territory. What a genius! Or, should I say, what a great piece of fine art, this Armenian lace was!? It  was so fine, it was so delicate, it was so firm that it could stretch enough…enough to cover 4 kilometers

 

THE ARMENIAN JANYAQ

 

Armenian Janyag ( art of the needle-lace or lace-making) is an Armenian traditional and an old family art. An ethnic handcraft that every Armenian girl had learned from her mother,  older sisters, grandmother or aunts at a very early age. Janyaq is an Armenian tradition. A domestic artifact, an institution! Today in most Armenian homes in Armenia and foreign countries as well, one can always find exquisite pieces and examples of this very fine handwork. At a certain time in Armenia’s history, under foreign occupations, particularly the Ottomans,  almost all aspects of Armenian arts were seriously affected, hurt, or completely annihilated, except the art of Janyag. Many Armenian artisans and artists fled the homeland with their families and loved ones. They sought refuge in friendly neighboring countries or countries willing to accept them. Thus, many of those artisans and artists were unable to carry with them the tools, material or materiel they used in their trade, especially if they were for instance mosaic and frescoes  painters, metal miners, stone carvers, etc. Consequently, many forms of Armenian arts ceased to exist under the Ottomans occupation which lasted for centuries. Very few Armenian arts practice survived or continued  under foreign occupations, regardless whether the Armenians remained at home or fled the country. Those were the arts or artifacts that did not require or need large space, facilities, a lot of tools, expensive material and collective help, such as the art of the needle-lace or lace-making and embroidery. In some  other cases, the arts of miniatures, iconography and illuminated manuscripts painting  continued at a slower pace and a much meager chronological speed than other more developed arts, provided that the artisans and artists were sheltered, fed and boarded by Armenian monks in remote and far distant monasteries. The art of Janyaq was not totally affected by the  presence of foreign occupation because it did not require so much tools, a capital, cash flow, a spacious facility or hard to find material. It continued at home. My personal belief is that, the art of Janyaq went ahead full speed, maybe it prospered under foreign occupation, simply because it was safer for Armenian women to stay at home and get busy with something,  some sort of activities which would not attract the attention of the foreign authorities or create any unnecessary trouble or burdensome and which could be carried easily by any women in the privacy of her home. Janyaq fit the bill. On one hand, it was a passé-temps, and on another hand it preserved a national art which was transmitted for generations and generations from mother to daughter.