Daredevils of Sassoun or David of Sassoun is an Armenian heroic epic poem in four cycles (parts). In the initial decades following the discovery of the epic in the late nineteenth century a general consensus emerged attributing its theme to the struggle of four generations of Sassouns warriors against Arab rule in the 8th to 10th centuries. The pioneers of this interpretation of the epic were the philologist Manoug Abeghyan in Armenia and academician Hovsep Orbeli in Leningrad who argued that there are no characters in the epic who could be attributed to a historical figure before the 10th century. This historicist school held its sway until the Armenian philologist Grigoryan first in an article (1981), then in a book (1989) argued following an incisive analysis of the epic, it is indisputable that the roots of the epic go back deep into the centuries, and they reach not only the cuneiform times when monarchy was underway in Armenia, but even the prehistoric era. Grigoryan identified various episodes in the epic as of patently matriarchal origin, prompting various scholars both in Soviet Armenia and elsewhere to probe deeper into the proto-layers of the epic. The Daredevil of Sassoun is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Armenian folklore. The performance of the Daredevils of Sassoun is included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage representative list in 2012. Սասնա (Sasna) in Armenian refers to Sasun - a region and a city located in Western Armenia, in the rugged mountain country southwest of Lake Van - in what is currently Batman Province, eastern Turkey. Ծուռ (Tsour) means crazy, mad, strongman, daredevil. The most accurate and complete title of this epic is Սասնա Ծռեր (Daredevils of Sasun). It has however been published under various titles such as Սասունցի Դավիթ (David of Sasun), Սանասար և Բաղդասար (Sanasar and Baghtazar), Սասունցի Դավիթ կամ Մհերի դուռ (David of Sasun or Mehers door) and many others. All these titles correspond with four cycles of the epic. The written literature of Armenia goes back to fifth century CE, its Golden Age, when the Bible was translated into the vernacular from the original Greek and Syriac texts, Plato and Aristotle were studied in Armenian schools, and many original works of great interest to the modern specialist were produced by native historians, philosophers and poets. The oral literature is older than the written, and folk poetry had flourished in Armenia for the past two thousand years, not to go farther back. Movses Khorenatsi (Moses of Khoren) tells us in his classic History of Armenia (fifth century) that Armenians still loved the pagan songs the minstrels sang on festive occasions, and he quotes from them. Only these fragments of pagan songs have survived to this day. Songs celebrating memorable events have retained their hold on the popular imagination, and one might say that Armenians are preeminently a nation made by the book and the folk song, the word, written and spoken or sung. But the spoken word is more perishable than the written, and little has survived. The story of Sasun was discovered in 1873 by a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Garegin Servantstian, who had exceptionally close contacts with the peasantry in the more remote inaccessible parts of Western Armenia. He says: For three years I tried to find somebody who knew the entire story, but nobody seemed to know all of it until I met Grbo from a village on the Moush plain. I learned that his master had two pupils who also knew the tale by heart, singing verses in it, although Gurbo himself had not recited it for so long that he had forgotten a good deal of it. Nevertheless, I kept him with me for three days, I begged him, cajoled him, honored him, rewarded him, and when he felt better and was in the proper mood, he recited the tale for me in his own village dialect, and I wrote it all down in his own words. The tale told by Gurbo was published in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1874 under the title David of Sasun or Meherrs Door. The bishop wrote in the introduction: The life of David and his exploits belong in the Middle Ages... The entire story is a record of courage, of domestic virtue, of piety, and of simple, open-hearted relations with his beloved woman as well as with his enemies. Despite its irregularities and anachronisms it has some fine stylistic qualities and narrative devices in it... The publication of this tale would be of interest to the understanding reader, but I suppose there will also be those who will express their contempt for it and abuse both the story and my own person. These readers will not understand it. But it does not matter. I shall consider myself encouraged if I find twenty sympathetic readers.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:08:03 +0000
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