Fiction, Essays, and Other Things

  Yerevan is a wonderful home base before an excursion into the ancient world. In Northern Ave, the city’s pulse, one can find boba cafes, grocery stores, artists and bookshops. The night before setting off to Haghpat Monastery, a religious complex completed no later than the 13 th century, I found a churro stand tucked away in one of Yerevan’s alleyways painted with a colorful mural depicting a row of houses on one side and a memorial to the victims of the Armenian parliament massacre of 1999, a case which I remember distinctly making news waves in the States that year, on the other. Likewise, Haghpat today is a relatively well populated area and continues to draw visitors each year. Ironically, however, the site was originally chosen for its inaccessibility as a measure to ward off invaders. The monastery sits atop a hillside partially hidden from view but with a beautiful view of the Debed River. Such was the vision of Queen Khosrovanuysh who envisioned the monastery as somet...

  On an early morning excursion our guide informed us that only about eight leopards still inhabit Armenia, but an accurate number is almost impossible to assess. Only one individual has been captured by camera in the last twenty years and the remote and rugged territory hinders further search expeditions. What is certain is that the Anatolian leopard is among the most endangered of the big cats, centuries of hunting and habitat loss having extirpated them from much of their former habitat. Not surprisingly, Iran, which is the last stronghold of the nearly extinct Asiatic cheetah after reintroduction projects in India were stalled, remains the best hope for the leopard in the Caucus region. Armenia, however, has shown an admirable commitment to preserve its spotted cats for over fifty years. Following the pathway set by Iran in 1969, Armenia and the Soviet Union granted their dwindling leopard populations full protection in 1972 and fines for killing leopards have increased sin...

  Adopting Christianity before the rest of the world is a recognition Armenians guard zealously, so tied is this recognition to their natural history. All things considered, their rivalry with Georgia over this sacred recognition is surprisingly amicable. What isn’t surprising is that among the most revered figures in Armenia is St. Hripsime, whose story goes back to the origins of Christianity in the country. As with most canonized martyrs, the story of Hripsime is based part on record and part on faith, but her significance to the nation’s identity cannot be overestimated. According to text, Hripsime was a young Roman maiden who fled her homeland to escape the advances of Emperor Diocletian. Her flight took her to Armenia where she made a new home in the city of Vagharshapat. Her freedom was not to be long-lived, however, as her beauty now caught the eye of King Tiridates III. Once more she rejected the advances of the powerful, professing her devotion to God. In retaliation,...