In the ancient Armenian translation of the Bible, the Mesopotamian god of the afterlife and war Nergal is represented as Angeł. The same name is known in two legends from the books of Khorenatsi and Sebeos. It is interpreted as ‘unsightly, not nice, ugly,’ which seems rather inappropriate for a theonym. However, in the Assyrian myth, Nergal is invisible to the vizier of the goddess of the underworld. Hence the opportunity to etymologize Angeł not as an-geł ‘having no look,’ i.e. ‘invisible’ but to refer to the Indo-European context, where the closest cognate of the Armenian language is Greek. Thus, Angeł would correspond well with the Greek name of the underworld and its god Hades: Ἀΐδης, literally, ‘the Unseen’ < *ṇ-wid-. Supreme gods could be the lords of the “three worlds” – heaven, earth, and the underworld, and the Greek Hades, known as “Zeus of the underworld,” was thus one of the incarnations of Zeus. In ancient Armenian tradition, these functions would be attributed to Angeł. Notably, the supreme gods of some other ancient states of the region were also conceived to be invisible. However, the name and image of the epic hero Turk' Angełeay, i.e. “The gift of (god) Angeł,” should most probably be interpreted as the son of the god Angeł.

Keywordscomparative mythology Indo-European linguistics Armenian mythology earliest Armenian pantheon Mihr Hades Odin.

Even before Vahan Teryan, and more precisely, before 1914 when his lecture “The Coming Day of Armenian Literature” — a valuable manifesto — was delivered and subsequently published many times, Armenian literary criticism had already achieved serious success in the persons of Khachatur Abovyan, Mikael Nalbandyan, Hovhannes Tumanyan, Nikol Aghbalyan, and other great figures of ours. V. Teryan received a brilliant education in Moscow. After graduating from the Lazaryan Seminary, he studied at Moscow University, and later — for a short time — at Petersburg University.

KeywordsVahan Teryan literary critic H. Tumanyan Av. Isahakyan innovator European progress perfection of language