A medieval EPIC poem,David of Sassoun is the most
widely cherished literary work of the Armenian
people.
Armenians have lived in the eastern regions of
present-day Turkey and adjacent areas since the
second millennium B.C. Though exposed to many
diverse cultural influences, the common people
preserved their own language even while the aristocracy
adopted Greek during the Hellenistic and
Byzantine eras.
After the country adopted Christianity around
A.D. 400, an alphabet was developed and a literature
emerged using a standard literary tongue that survived
up to the 19th century. ORAL LITERATURE, however,
continued to flourish in the spoken dialects of
the various regions. For most of its history, the
David cycle existed solely in oral form, the possession
of often poorly educated bards and storytellers
from every region of historic Armenia who, as early
as the fifth century, performed at pagan festivals.
The cycle, whose stories may partly be based on
incidents in ninth- and 10th-century Armenia,
probably reached its highest development during
the 11th century. Armenians were then reeling
from the onslaughts of the Seljuk Turks, and the
glorious victories of the epic’s heroes may have
consoled and inspired them. It probably reached
its final form in the 12th century.
In the second half of the 19th century, a nationalistic
cultural revival began to champion the popular
dialects, both in West Armenia (under Turkey)
and East Armenia (under Russia). In 1874 an Armenian
bishop recorded and published the first
David tale, causing a literary sensation. Over the
next few decades, scholars combed the mountains
of Armenia looking for storytellers who could add
episodes and complete the cycle, publishing some
50 different versions. From 1936 to 1951, a major
project was conducted in Soviet Armenia that published
2,500 pages of variants. In 1939 a standard
version was issued in a unified dialect, though
under Soviet aegis the Christian religious aspect
was downplayed.
The work is divided into four sections, each
dealing with a different hero, or pair of heroes,
fighting to defend the common folk of the Sassoun
region. Scholars detect echoes from many different
episodes in the country’s history, from prebiblical
days to the struggles against the Arab Muslim invaders
in the early Middle Ages. However, the details
are confused, with cities, countries, and
kingdoms exchanging names and switching centuries.
Thus, the work cannot be a reliable guide
to historical events.
The chief inspiration for the character of David,
who gives his name to the entire work, may well
have been Hovnan of Khout. Hovnan was a peasant
youth who led a successful rebellion of Christian
Armenians against Arab overlords in the
Sassoun region in A.D. 851.
The David cycle is written in a mixture of prose
and poetry; the poetry, originally meant to be
sung, has a fairly loose meter and rhyming pattern.
Action predominates, described in compact, vivid
prose with many metaphors taken from rural life.
Though the saga in explicity Christian, it also
alludes to pagan legendary and mythological
themes and symbols, such as apparent references
to soma, the intoxicating beverage of Indo-European
deities. Scholars find echoes from Sumerian,
Hittite, Indian, Persian, Greek, and biblical literature.
On the other hand, many Armenian critics
detect a particular Armenian national ethos, or
value set, that brings all the elements together.
David and the other heroes all show a strong
sense of justice and duty. They are egalitarian and
have no use for wealth and power, they marry
princesses but reject the accompanying crowns,
and they are steadfast in defense of the oppressed.
David of Sassoun, in its various classic and popular
versions, has remained an important cultural
reference point for Armenians in the home country
and in the diaspora. The character of David,
often represented in paintings and sculpture, acts
as the Armenian national hero.
English Versions of David of Sassoun
Shalian,Artin K.David of Sassoun: The Armenian Folk
Epic in Four Cycles. Athens: Ohio University Press,
1964.
Tolegian, Aram. David of Sassoun: Armenian Folk
Epic. New York: Bookman Associates, 1961.
Works about David of Sassoun
Surmelian, Leon. Daredevils of Sassoun. Denver,
Colo.: Alan Swallow, 1964.