David of Sassoun

Critical Studies on the Armenian Epic

Dickran Kouymjian
Barlow Der Mugrdechian

Editors

The Press
California State University, Fresno
2013
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface................................................................................................. ix

The History and Enigma of the Armenian Epic ................................ 1

Dickran KOUYMJIAN (Fresno & Paris)

Sasounts‘i Davit‘: Synopsis of the Official Version

of the Armenian Epic .......................................................................... 21
Dickran KOUYMJIAN

Sasna tsrer: The Newly Discovered Sanam Stenian California Variant

Introduction.................................................................................. 35
Dickran KOUYMJIAN
Note by the Translator................................................................. 39
Charles DOWSETT (Oxford)
Transcription of the Armenian Text............................................ 41
Flora CHADERJIAN-ISTANBOULIAN (Fresno)
English Translation...................................................................... 47
Charles DOWSETT

A Twelfth Century Arabic Version of the Armenian

Folk Epic Sasna tsrer .......................................................................... 55
Aram TER-GHEVONDIAN (Erevan)

Myth on the Way to Romance: The Sassoun Cycle .......................... 61

Earl R. ANDERSON (Cleveland)

The Historical and Geographic Setting of

the Armenian Epic .............................................................................. 77
Chaké DER MELKONIAN-MINASSIAN (Montreal)
viii Table of Contents
Recherches sur la composition et la construction
de l’Épopée arménienne..................................................................... 89
Frédéric FEYDIT (Paris)

Versificiation in the Armenian Epic .................................................. 97

Charles DOWSETT

The Oath and the Curse as a Source of Action

in David of Sassoun...........................................................................133
Arpiné KHATCHADOURIAN (Milwaukee)

The “David Cycle” of the Armenian Epic:

A Comparison of Versions ................................................................147
Aram TOLEGIAN (Los Angeles)

L’image de la femme dans l’Épopée populaire

arménienne David de Sassoun ..........................................................161
Chaké DER MELKONIAN-MINASSIAN

A Century of David: The Effect of the Epic

on Modern Armenian Literature.......................................................169
Vahé OSHAGAN (San Francisco)

The House of Giants or David of Sassoun.......................................179

Ashough HOVNANI (Toronto)

English Translation of The House of Giants ...................................181

Arra AVAKIAN (Fresno)

A Critical Bibliography for the Study of David of Sassoun ............183

Dickran KOUYMJIAN and Barlow DER MUGRDECHIAN

About the Contributors......................................................................195

Index ...................................................................................................199
 PREFACE

The conjuncture of the centenary commemoration of the

discovery of the Armenian folk epic and the premiere of a folk opera
based on it, provided the catalyst for the International Symposium on
“David of Sassoun: The Armenian Folk Epic after a Century,”
organized by the Armenian Studies Program of California State
University, Fresno and held on the university campus on November
30, 1978. Not since the 1939 celebration in Erevan, Armenia,
marking the 1,000th anniversary of its creation (a date somewhat
arbitrary in its choice) has there been an academic assembly whose
sole purpose was to analyze the various facets of the epic.
In 1977 a new program of Armenian Studies was established at
Fresno State. At the same time Earl Robinson’s opera “David of
Sassoun” was entering production with the University Theatre. On a
visit to Fresno from his home in Santa Barbara in the early 1970’s,
Robinson was struck by the power of the enormous bronze sculpture
of David of Sassoun in downtown Fresno. He located the artist,
Varaz Samuelian (1917-1995), a close friend of William Saroyan
and a native of Erevan, Armenia, who after the Second World War
worked in the atelier of Fernand Léger in Paris, before finally
settling in Fresno. Varaz carefully explained the history of the statue
and the heroic details of the saga of Sassoun. Robinson, composer of
famous songs such as “The House I Live In” and operas like “Ballad
of Americans,” was intrigued. After careful research, he spent
several years writing the opera “David of Sassoun.” Its premiere was
scheduled to be at Fresno State, while Robinson was on campus as
composer in residence.
As Director of the Armenian Studies Program and as one who
had always been interested in the elusive nature of David of Sassoun,
I decided that a scholarly symposium held in the Armenian Diaspora
would both introduce the richness of the epic to a large general
x Preface

audience and at the same time allow specialists to assess the work a
hundred years after its first publication. It would also be a way to
encourage more interest and research in this still little explored
literary treasure.
The following collection of essays represents those papers
actually read or prepared for the International Symposium, “David of
Sassoun: The Armenian Folk Epic after a Century.” Some are
exactly as they were presented orally; others have been slightly
revised, some totally changed. After an introductory essay and a
concise summary of the epic, a new variant, discovered in California
because of the publicity generated by the Symposium, has been
added. A Critical Bibliography of David of Sassoun will be found at
the end of the volume to guide those inspired by these studies to
plunge deeper into Armenian epic literature.
Ten years is a long time to wait for the printed results of a
conference, especially for the authors and the hundreds of
participants who attended it. One consequence of this lapse of time
was the publication elsewhere of three other papers submitted for
inclusion in these proceedings by scholars who had not participated
in the Symposium. I would like to list them for the record: “Raven’s
Rock: A Mithraic Spelaeum in Armenian Folklore” by the late John
Andrew Boyle of the University of Manchester; “The Attitude to
War in the Popular Epic of Sassoun,” by Edward Gulbekian of
London; and “The Sacred World of Sasna Tsrer: Steps Toward an
Understanding,” by Leonardo Alishan of the University of Utah (see
the Critical Bibliography at the end of this volume for complete
citations).
Three scholars were unable, at the last minute, to come to
Fresno. The late Aram Ter-Ghevondian from Erevan, Charles
Dowsett from Oxford, and Frédéric Feydit of Paris. Their papers
were, however, duly prepared and sent for publication. The
communication entitled “David of Sassoun: A Great Epic Poem of
World Literature” by Leon Surmelian, was presented at the
Symposium, but never received in written form. Its place has been
taken by a second communication by Chaké Der Melkonian-
Minassian on the image of the woman in the epic presented at a
conference held in Armenia in 1986.
An Armenian minstrel-troubadour, Ashough Hovnani (Hovsep
Onanian), invited from Toronto to open and close the two sessions,
 Dickran Kouymjian xi

composed a poem of thirteen quatrains, “The House of Giants or

David of Sassoun,” especially for the Symposium. He recited it
accompanying himself on a single string k‘amanch‘a. The entire
poem with an English translation by Arra Avakian was published in
the special Symposium Program Booklet and is reproduced here. It is
a personal pleasure to report that Ashough Hovnani, now in his 92nd
year, and his wife Agnes, are active as ever in Toronto.

Hovnani (Hovsep Onanian 1896-1996)

admiring a painting of Ardanoush, his birthplace.

The day after the formal Symposium, a special and more

intimate panel discussion on the theme “From Armenian Epic to
American Opera” was held among the invited scholars and Earl
Robinson, the composer, Ed EmanuEl, the director of the production,
and Varaz Samuelian, the artist whose equestrian statue of David in
the Fresno Courthouse Park inspired Robinson to write his opera.
Though the panel was tape-recorded, the lively discussions on the
relationship of the opera to the epic and on composing and staging
such a work are not included in this publication. They were,
however, reported in the local press at the time.
A few words about Earl Robinson’s opera, “David of Sassoun,”
are in order since it was the motivator for the Symposium. The work
concentrates on the third cycle of the epic, the story of David,
especially the struggle between him and his half brother Msra Melik.
xii Preface

In the original working scenario, the opera is subtitled “A Folk

Opera, a Musical Legend, a Pageant, a Fairytale...,” and is divided
into three acts each with twelve scenes. The composer’s use of the
epic is a poetic one; it does not try to factually present its story.
Rather, it is a dramatic interpretation of the character of David
conceived by the playwright-composer. The World Premiere, under
the direction of Ed EmanuEl, was held in the University Theatre the
night before the Symposium. It had a one-week run. Despite its
merits as a lyric and dramatic work, it has never been graced by
another production.
* * *
Transliteration of foreign terms is always a problem in a
scholarly volume written in several languages. David of Sassoun is
further complicated by the transcription of modern Armenian. The
epic originated in the area around Sassoun in Western Armenia. The
various dialects in which it has been preserved are for the most part
Western Armenian ones. The two major transliteration systems used
by academics, however, are based on Classical Armenian, itself
phonetically very close to modern Eastern Armenian. Even though
the names of the major figures of the four cycles are the same in
both, some minor ones are different.
The Symposium itself was a popular event as well as an
academic gathering. The strict Hübschmann-Meillet system of
rendering Armenian into our Latin alphabet used by most
Armenologists, following the Revue des études arméniennes, seemed
inappropriate for a volume intended as much for the non-specialist
interested in literature as for those working in Armenian studies.
Rather the Library of Congress system (one that is more easily
pronounceable) was employed but with the following modifications:
ou instead of u for ou, r instead of ṙ for ∂, -t‘iwn for -jiun, and v
instead of w for u. Since the form “Sassoun” has gained popularity
rather than the correct scholarly transliteration Sasun, it has been
kept in translation, but Sasoun and Sasounts‘i have been used in
transliteration. Also by analogy, forms such as Moush and Marout‘a
are used instead of Mush and Marut‘a. There are also divergences
between French and English usage, so absolute consistency has
given way to reasonableness. The most irregularity will be found for
the word Msr, which is usually rendered as Meser, but at times as
Missir and in strict textual translations, Mësër. Throughout we have
 Dickran Kouymjian xiii

tried to be consistent with the use of –ian in pre-reform Soviet

Armenian orthography and –yan after the reform, thus, we will have
Abeghian and Abeghyan depending on the date of publication and
place. Also, we have used Hovsep‘ian rather than the absolutely
correct Yovsep‘ian. Following is the transliteration system employed
throughout the volume.

TRANSLITERATION SYSTEM

A a A a | \ Y y
B b B b N n N n
G g G g < , Sh sh
D d D d O o O o
: ; E e C c Ch‘ ch‘
X x Z z P p P p
H h E e + = J j
E e E e Î ∂ R r
J j T‘ t‘ S s S s
V v Zh zh W w V v
I i I i T t T t
L l L l R r R r
> . Kh kh Z z Ts‘ ts‘
’ ‘ Ts ts U u V v
K k K k ı ∫ P‘ p‘
F f H h Q q K‘ k‘
} ] Dz dz Ø ø O o
{ [ Gh gh ~ ` F f
Y y Ch ch Ou ou Ou ou
M m M m :u≤ ;u≤ ;w≤ \;w Ev ev

The organization of the essays in three sections only roughly

follows the sequence of papers as they were presented during the
Symposium. The Introduction, Synopsis, New Variant, and Aram
Ter-Ghevondian’s study present the history of the epic; they tell the
story of David of Sassoun. The four articles in the next section, those
of Earl Anderson, Chaké Der Melkonian-Minassian, Frédéric Feydit,
and Charles Dowsett, discuss universal traits of the epic that relate to
the work as a whole. The final group of essays by Arpiné
xiv Preface

Khatchadourian, Aram Tolegian, Chaké Der Melkonian-Minassian,

and Vahé Oshagan, focus on particular aspects of the work or its
effect on later literature. At the end are Ashough Hovnani’s poem,
short biographies of the contributors, a Critical Bibliography, and an
index.
The Symposium could not have been held without the support of
the administration of California State University, Fresno, which
provided funding from the Louise Nalbandian Memorial Fund. The
logistics and arrangements of the various receptions and gatherings
held in conjunction with the premiere of the opera and the
Symposium and panel discussion were largely undertaken by a
number of my students in the Armenian Studies Program for which I
am still appreciative.
I would like to thank Lilyan Chooljian for bringing to my
attention what appears to be the only variant of David of Sassoun to
have been recorded in the Diaspora. She put at my disposal her
recording of Sanam Stenian of Los Angeles reciting the epic.
Margaret Mason, Sanam Stenian’s daughter, also graciously supplied
details about her mother’s life. My thanks also go to Flora
Chaderjian-Istanboulian, my former student and later Armenian
language instructor, for making the Armenian transcription from the
tape and preparing a draft translation. I am grateful to Norma Der
Mugrdechian who was kind enough to have typed the articles into
the computer. Finally, I am beholden to Charles Dowsett for having
read the Introduction, Synopsis, and Critical Bibliography, and
especially for his remarkable translation of the “California” Sassoun
variant, published here for the first time.
The volume is dedicated to the memory of Aram Ter-
Ghevondian, whose untimely death in February 1988 in Erevan was
announced as this volume was going to press.

Dickran KOUYMJIAN
Paris, April 1988

Post Scriptum to the original Preface.

The volume was set up for printing by the late Herman

Vahramian (1940-2009), architect, painter, sculptor, intellectual, and
 Dickran Kouymjian xv

authority on the history of Armenian architecture to appear as a

volume in his series Dizonance and to be published in Milan.
Unfortunately, for reasons beyond his and my control, it remained
stillborn.
In 1984 a collection of Hovsep Onanian’s poems, Qa∂;akn;r
(Quatrains), including “The House of Giants or David of Sassoun,”
was published in Armenian by the Mekhitarist Fathers in Venice; a
reprinted version of the work will be issued in Erevan in 2012 during
the 500th anniversary celebration of Armenian printing. Ashough
Hovnani passed away at the age of 100 in 1996. A few years before,
the composer Earl Robinson (1910-1991) had died, without ever
seeing a second performance of his opera nor its publication.
During the decades since the first attempt to release these papers
many of the contributors have passed away: Charles Dowsett (1924-
1998), Frédéric Feydit (1908-1991), Arpiné Khatchadourian (1925-
2012), Vahé Oshagan (1922-2000), Leon Surmelian (1905-1995),
and Aram Tolegian (1909-1988).
Even after nearly 35 years, the essays are still fresh and full of
new ideas, often critical, and of importance. They regularly point to
the dichotomy between the authentic voices of the bards transcribed
or recorded in the act of reciting, the Sasna tsrer variants, and the
artificial nature of the official version created by scholars in 1939
known now as David of Sassoun. Thus, most of the scholars who
participated in the Symposium anticipated by two decades the
approach of Azat Yeghiazarian of 1999 toward the epic cycle by
relying almost exclusively on the variants rather that the
reconstructed version (see the Critical Bibliography for the recent
English translation by Peter Cowe).
May this belated volume serve as a tribute to the memory and the
scholarship of the authors who have passed away before its
publication.

Dickran KOUYMJIAN
Paris, December, 2012