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the Armenian word for “fire temple,” a loan-word from Parthian. A version of this article is available in print Volume III, Fascicle 1, pp. 18 ATRUŠAN, the Armenian word for “fire temple,” a loan-word from Parthian (see H. Hübschmann, Armen. Etymologie, p. 110 and more recently H. W. Bailey, Dictionary of Khotan Saka, Cambridge, 1979, p. 309, s.v. byuvāre). Armenian Zoroastrians worshipped at both fire temples and image-shrines, the latter called bagin-kʿ. In the first century B.C., Strabo described the Magian temple cult of fire in Cappadocia, to the west of Armen…

a folkloric being that personifies puerperal fever; the name apparently derives from Iranian āl “red.” A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle …

“dragon,” various kinds of snake-like, mostly gigantic, monsters living in the air, on earth, or in the sea (also designated by other terms) sometimes connected with natural phenomena, especially rain and eclipses.…

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son of Aram, mythical king of Armenia. A version of this article is available in print Volume II, Fascicle 2, pp. 200 ARA THE BEAUTIFUL (Arm. gełecʿik), son of Aram, mythical king of Armenia. According to Movsēs Xorenacʿi (5th-8th century A.D.), Šamiram (Semiramis), the queen of Assyria and widow of the king Ninos, desired Ara and invaded Armenia in order to kidnap him. He was killed in a battle, and Šamiram ordered that the corpse be placed in an upper room of her palace, for her gods, the (y)ar(a)lez-kʿ (see Arlez), to come and lick him to life (Moses Khorenatsʿi, History of the Armenians, tr. …

Armenian linguist, born 8 March 1876 (O. S.; 20 March N. S.) at Constantinople. A version of this article is available in print Volume I, Fascicle 4, pp. 412-413 AČAṘEAN, HRAČʾEAY YAKOBI, Armenian linguist, born 8 March 1876 (O. S.; 20 March…

or Hymn of the Soul, a Syriac poem, of which an early Greek translation also exists, composed probably in the third century CE in the region of Edessa. A version of this article is available in print Volume XII, Fascicle 6, pp. 603-605 HYMN OF THE PEARL, or Hymn of the Soul, a Syriac poem, of which an early Greek translation also exists, composed probably in the third century C.E. in the region of Edessa (q.v.; modern Urfa, in southeastern Turkey), in an environment strongly influenced by the Parthians. The text (see Poirier, 1981; this inc…