![Shamiram ara](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Shamiram_ara.jpeg)
Ara the Handsome ( hy, Արա Գեղեցիկ ''Ara Gełec‘ik'') is a semi-legendary
Armenian hero and king. Ara is notable in Armenian literature for the popular legend in which he was so handsome that the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n queen
Semiramis
''Samīrāmīs'', hy, Շամիրամ ''Šamiram'') was the semi-legendary Lydian- Babylonian wife of Onnes and Ninus, who succeeded the latter to the throne of Assyria, according to Movses Khorenatsi. Legends narrated by Diodorus Siculus, who dr ...
waged war against Armenia to capture him and bring him back to her, alive.
Ara is sometimes associated
Arame of Urartu
Arame or Aramu ( Armenian: Արամե; ruled 858–844 BC) was the first known king of Urartu.
Living at the time of King Shalmaneser III of Assyria (ruled 859–824 BC), Arame fought against the threat of the Assyrian Empire. His capital at A ...
, who ruled the
Kingdom of Urartu Biainili during the 9th century BC.
Genealogy
In
Movses Khorenatsi's ''History of Armenia'', Ara the Handsome is presented as the son of Aram and a descendant of
Hayk, the legendary forefather of the Armenians. Khorenatsi writes that Ara the Handsome had a son, also named Ara, by his wife, Nuard (Nvard). Ara, son of Ara, who was twelve years old at the time of his father's death, was appointed ruler of Armenia by Semiramis and later died in a war against her.
Legend
According to the legend, Semiramis (''Shamiram'' in Armenian) had fallen in love with the handsome Armenian King and asked him to marry her. When Ara refused, Semiramis, in the heat of passion, gathered the armies of
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
and marched against Armenia. During the battle Semiramis was victorious, but Ara was slain despite her orders to capture him alive. To avoid continuous warfare with the Armenians, Semiramis, reputed to be a sorceress, took his body and prayed to the gods to raise Ara from the dead. When the Armenians advanced to avenge their leader, Semiramis disguised one of her lovers as Ara and spread the rumor that the gods had brought Ara back to life, convincing the Armenians not to continue the war.
In one persistent tradition, Semiramis' prayers are successful and Ara returns to life.
During the 19th century, it was also reported that a village called Lezk, near
Van, traditionally held that it was Ara's place of resurrection.
Connection to Plato's Myth of Er
Scholars have connected the story of Ara the Handsome to the
Myth of Er
The Myth of Er is a legend that concludes Plato's ''Republic'' (10.614–10.621). The story includes an account of the cosmos and the afterlife that greatly influenced religious, philosophical, and scientific thought for many centuries.
The story ...
, told in
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
's ''
Republic'' (10.614–10.621).
[Petrosyan, Armen. ]
The Indo-European and Ancient Near Eastern Sources of the Armenian Epic
' (2002) pp. 88. The story begins as a man named Er (/ɜːr/; Greek: Ἤρ, gen.: Ἠρός), son of Armenios (Ἀρμένιος), of Pamphylia dies in battle. When the bodies of those who died in the battle are collected, ten days after his death, Er remains undecomposed. Two days later he revives on his funeral-pyre and tells others of his journey in the afterlife, including an account of reincarnation and the celestial spheres of the astral plane. The tale includes the idea that moral people are rewarded and immoral people punished after death.
Armen Petrosyan suggests that Plato's version reflects an earlier form of the story where Er (Ara) rises from the grave.
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]
See also
* Hayk
*Armenian mythology
Armenian mythology originated in ancient Indo-European traditions, specifically Proto-Armenian, and gradually incorporated Hurro- Urartian, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Greek beliefs and deities."Armenia (Vannic)" by A.H. Sayce, p.793-4; "Ar ...
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ara The Beautiful
Armenian mythology