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The Peoples of Ararat

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The Peoples of Ararat is designed for history buffs who, like the authors, Armen Asher and Teryl Minasian Asher, are intrigued by the story of Ararat, which finds its origins in biblical rendition and children's fables.

Using a simple form of transliteration and providing maps depicting the lands of Ararat, the authors breathe life and drama into their vivid narrations about the Hittites, Hurrians, Urartians and Armenians who occupied this long famous region.

Chapters rich with information take the reader on an historical journey which bears witness to the various dynasties and their frequent clashes with one another. Those who believe 1776 was the year the first national constitution was conceived will be surprised to learn somebody else came up with the idea much earlier. The authors reveal the world's first constitution was actually established as early as 1525 BC, lending further credence to the adage that history repeats itself through the centuries.

One of the most compelling sections of The Peoples of Ararat tells the story of the Assyrians as the most feared people in the ancient world. They built one of the greatest empires in history; their armies were large and ruthless; their warriors were cunning and powerful; their network of spies was sophisticated. They ransacked, destroyed and looted every town in their path in their determination to achieve dominance. Reaching its pinnacle in the seventh century BC, the Assyrian Empire had established a tradition of military might and ferocity; but, the Assyrians are also credited with advancing mathematics, architecture, city planning and building the ancient world's greatest library, a remarkable and paradoxical legacy of brut force combined with innovative and inspired leadership.

The authors have skillfully woven an historical page turner that draws the reader into the ancient world and, in the process, illuminated an understanding of our modern dilemmas.

The authors perfectly reached the aim they defined in the foreword : to present a general history of the ancient Near East that can be understood by non specialist readers.
This book is very well documented and takes into account the most recent researches as shown in the rich bibliography.
It covers about 3000 years of history and offers a comprehensive and synthetic approach of the rise, development and fall of the great empires from the beginnings of Sumer to the end of Urartu.
With an outstanding knowledge of this rich and complex subject, the authors present in a vivid style the turbulent history of the regions from the foothills of the Caucasus to the north of Mesopotamia. They make a precise and lively description of the peoples who founded powerful empires, built monumental cities and developed brillant civilizations. They recount in an attractive manner their life styles, their religions, their cultural and trade relations as well as their fights with their neighbours.
This book, the title of which recalls one of the oldest myths of humanity is very pleasant to read. It also includes fascinating records of major archaeological discoveries of the 19 th century such as Layard's excavations in the north of Mesopotamia.
It therefore can be considered as an excellent introduction for further studies of the ancient Near East.
The particularity of "The Peoples of Ararat" is that it focuses on the Armenian Plateau when most of the time that region is considered as marginal.
The authors point out the important role of the various peoples (Hurrians, Hittites, Urartians...) who lived on the plateau or originated from it.
Furthermore without concluding on a problem still controversial they mention the various hypotheses on the origin of the Armenians and give very valuable information on the beginning of their history.
Another merit of this book is therefore to give back to the Armenians, who were undoubtedly firmly established on the territory of the plateau at least since the period of Urartu, the place they deserve among the peoples who founded brilliant civilizations in the Near East.

How wonderful that this story is finally being told. In The Peoples of Ararat, the authors give a voice to a people who were silenced but yet made great contributions to the world. This work tells a story that allows us to better understand our real history and not just the revisionist history taught from unidimensional perspectives. This book will enable you to better understand our past and how it led us to where we are today.

Review of the Peoples of Ararat

A Fascinating Journey to the Ancient Civilizations of Mount Ararat


The Peoples of Ararat is one of those books that you can't put down once you start reading it. It grabs you from the first page and takes you on a fascinating journey to the distant past. In clear and engaging language, in a well organized and flowing manner, the authors skillfully narrate and present the exciting, intriguing stories of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Urartians, the Assyrians and the Armenians who inhabited the Ararat Plateau and surrounding regions. As I read, I found myself transported to the world of those almost forgotten ancient peoples and imagined that I was living among them for a time. Although I have been a student of the Bible and thus familiar with some of the ancient civilizations of the world, still I was amazed to discover how advanced and sophisticated the peoples of Ararat were.

Although The Peoples of Ararat is actually a history book, it reads more like a mystery or detective story. The authors' fascination for their subject matter evidences itself throughout the book and probably accounts for the success of the book. Their enthusiasm is infectious. It draws the reader into the world of the ancient civilizations depicted by the book - the mighty rulers and the every day people, their aspirations, conflicts, wars and accomplishments. It also opens up the world of the earliest archaeologists and explorers who only within the past 150 or so years discovered these civilizations which had been lost for thousands of years. With each chapter I found myself becoming more engaged in the world of these ancient peoples, wanting to know more and more about their lives, ambitions, accomplishments and, finally, their defeat.

The book, covering over 2500 years of history, is beautifully written, in a very clear, vivid and compelling style. I was greatly impressed by the wealth of information the authors present in 300 pages. You do not need to be a historian or an archaeologist to understand it, to derive a lot of information from it, and to simply enjoy it.

Aside from the absorbing narrative, one of the features of the book I found particularly interesting was the side bars. They provide fascinating asides on the subject of the text without disrupting the flow of the narrative or distracting the reader from the main subject matter.

The authors are to be congratulated for turning their learning experience, which they describe in their authors' note as a real labor of love, into a fascinating and exhilarating reading experience for others.

Like the anthropologists and archeologists that the authors describe, the authors, a married couple, have followed a shared heightened intellectual curiosity and love of adventure in the pursuit of a better undestanding of our cultural origins; more, they have organized and laid it all out in an account that is at once informative and engaging --the reader feels the excitement of discovery again and again as reports are given of the rise and fall of great cultures, of long buried treasures, unearthed cuneiform tablets deciphed only after years of arduous application by generations of scholars. Especially interesting on the subject of the evolution of law and justice through the cultures and the ages. Also, the book presents much anecdotal information about the origin and inter-relationship of the many and diverse languages of the region over the ages. A surprisingly fun read, even exciting in passages, and all of it renders more clear who we are and from where we have come, as peoples of diverse cultures in the modern world. Highly recommended introductory reading!

This book is a life-saver for anyone seriously interested in Aratta, Urartu, Ararat, the Hurrians, The Mitanni Kingdom, Urkesh, the Kumarbi Cycle and it goes on and on and on. Where most archeological books have barely a clue about any of the above "The People of Ararat" is worth its weight in gold. Thank you Armen and Teryl.

The book feels disjointed. It reads more like a collection of parts of
various sizes with tenuous connections between them. The authors
either did not care to organize the material better or they do not
know how.

The authors are actually okay writers in the sense that they can
generate coherent narrative that is accessible to the general
public. However, the book is poorly planned. There was a couple of
chapters of introduction of the peoples. Then, there were several
small chapters on the 19-th century discoveries and linguistic
breakthroughs of deciphering various cuneiform writings. Somehow,
sumerians and babylonians are introduced. There is the story of the
flood. Then, without any particular reason or preparation, the
narrative shifts a millenia and a half back and hittite and hurrian
kingdoms are described. This description makes up the major and by
far the best written part of the book. It takes a bit of effort to
realize that the authors were talking about first century BC in the
previous chapters and then we are back to the origins of the Hittites
in the second century. Then the action proceeds in more or less linear
fashion for the rest of the book. There are some back references to
the beginning of the book as the significance of the discoveries and
deciphering becomes clearer. Why can't these discoveries be put into
the context of the ancient history rather than the 19-th century?

To put it in a better perspective of the world history, it helps if
the reader is already familiar with the history of the neighboring
peoples: the Assyrians, the Egyptians and the Hebrews.

In the end, the book gets silly. So far the authors stuck to the facts
and scientific references. However, the references for the Armenian
history are Armenian creationist myths. So all of a sudden, the
authors, with straight face, start talking about giants, Noah
descendants and Jason's fellow travelers as the founders of Armenian
nation.

The book needs more and better maps located close to the text. Another
annoyance is that the authors mix modern and ancient placenames which
gets confusing. Say, the assyrians operate in western or northern
syria. They also shop at Wal-Mart, right?