The Hebrew University of Jerusalem has spearheaded the
publication of an English translation of a virtually unknown
Armenian medieval epic that graphically expresses the yearning
of the first people to convert to Christianity for salvation and
paradise.
The
translation
into
English,
the
first
ever,
was
the
work
of
the
noted
Armenologist,
Michael
Stone,
director
of
the
university's
Armenian
studies
program,
balancing
literary
felicity
with
faithfulness
to
the
original,
uncovering
medieval
Armenian
poetic
tradition
through
its
more
than
6,000
gracefully
translated lines.
Stone's
work
has
brought
alive
the
brilliance
of
paradise,
the
wickedness
of
Satan,
and
the
inner
struggle
of
the
first
man
and
woman,
Adam
and
Eve,
in
his
rendition
of
the
early
15th
CE
epic
"Adamgirk:
The
Adam
Book
of
Arakel
of
Siwnik."
Stone
notes
that
the
theme
of
Adam
and
Eve
has
fascinated
Armenians
for
centuries.
"By
the
time
Arakel
composed
his
treasure
in
1401,
the
Armenians
had
nurtured an extensive apocryphal literature about the first couple," he says.
"Yet,
although
there
were
Adam
and
Eve
poems
before
Arakel,
none
is
as
long,
complex
and
intriguing
as
his
work.
Faced
with
the
pressures
of
external
events,
with
the
erosion
of
the
church
and
its
faith,
Arakel's
interweaving
of
theological
tradition
and
text
with
lyrical
language
and
vivid
imagery
produced
a remarkable work," he adds.
Arakel,
who
was
an
abbot
of
the
famous
University
Monastery
of
Tatew,
depicts
Adam
as
a
"newborn
flower"
whose
"body
shone
like
a
spark,
for
the
light of the spirit inflamed him," in a resplendent vision of Paradise.
At
the
time
he
wrote
his
epic,
Armenia
was
suffering
under
the
yoke
of
foreign
subjugation,
following
the
collapse
of
the
Kingdom
of
Cilicia,
and
provided just the right kind of succor for his people.
Stone
says
the
work
is
comparable
in
scope
and
range
to
classics
such
as
John Milton's "Paradise Lost."
He has not attempted to retain any meter or rhyming pattern.
"My
aim
was
to
navigate
between
the
Scylla
of
over-literalism
and
the
Charybdis of inaccuracy for the sake of literary effect," he says.
Arakel
was
born
about
1350
CE
in
'Siwnik,
a
region
separated
from
the
central
Ararat
province
by
a
range
of
mountains,
and
enjoying
a
sort
of
autonomy
with
its
own
which
was
kingdom
founded
in
987
CE
and
lasted
until
the 12th Century when the Mongol hordes overran Armenia.
Under
the
Mongols,
the
region
prospered
thanks
to
the
sagacity
and
diplomacy
of
the
ruling
princely
family.
With
Prince
Elikum
Orbelian
at
the
helm,
Siwnik
became
a
cultural
and
religious
center,
attracting
artists,
architects, writers and intellectuals.
Arakel
has
a
distinguished
ancestry.
His
maternal
uncle,
and
mentor,
was
none
other
than
Grigor
of
Tatew.
He
was
ordained
bishop
of
Siwnik
by
1401
and
was Abbot of Tatew in the early fifteenth century.
Grigor
held
his
nephew
in
great
esteem
referring
to
him
as
"my
humble
nephew in the flesh, born poet, virtuous Arakel."
"Grigor
and
Arakel,
labored
from
within
the
walls
of
the
important
monastery
of
Tatew
to
make
Armenian
tradition
secure
and,
through
the
educational
system
they
developed,
to
transmit
learning
and
faith
to
their
students," Stone notes.
At
Grigor's
urging,
Arakel
began
an
epic
poem
on
the
story
of
Adam
and
Eve,
producing
four
versions,
which
Stone
has
now
translated
into
English.
Arakel
also
composed
a
second
biblical
epic,
the
Book
of
Paradise,
which
is
shorter
and
held
in
less
esteem.
"Adamgirk"
is
being
published
by
Oxford
University
Press
and
is
available
at
all
good
bookshops
or
directly
from
OUP
(http://www.oup.com/uk in the UK and http://www.oup.com/us in the US).
"Arakel
writes
extremely
powerful
narrative
poetry,
as
in
his
description
of
the
brilliance
of
paradise,
of
Satan's
mustering
his
hosts
against
Adam
and
Eve,
and
Eve's
inner
struggle
between
obedience
to
God
and
Satan's
seduction,"
according to the blurb.
Market day in the Old City