From the page Ararat - Place of Creation Armenian Gampr vs Turkish Kangal / Karabash. Notes about gampr appeared as early as the 5th century. The Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi described the dog as big headed with deep glance and black face. Turks invaded Armenian Highland in the 11th century and started calling the Armenian Gampr - Karabash which means black head. The Armenian word Gampr means watchdog, the same breed is also called gelkhekht (from gel - wolf and khekhtel - to choke) if it is predisposed to be used as a wolfhound. The dog is also called Kangal in Turkey. Kangal in fact is again not a specific name of a dog/breed but merely a modern name of one of the 17 districts in modern Sivas, Turkey. Sivas is the historic Armenian province of Sebastia (named after the town of Sebastia). Sebastia was the capital of Armenia Minor. It was an important town in the early history of the Christian Church. In the 4th century it was the home of the Armenian Saint Blaise and Saint Peter of Sebastia, bishops of the town, and of Eustathius, one of the early founders of monasticism. It was also the place of martyrdom of the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia, which also took place in the 4th century.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 06:00:12 +0000
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