Evolution Of The Armenian Flag
THE ARMENIAN FLAG
The origin of the Armenian flag is very old and there is no resemblance between
the flag of ancient times and the one that is used today. The ancient flag was a
piece of carving representing a dragon, an eagle, or some mysterious object of
the gods which was fastened to the end of a pole and led the armies into battle.
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Ardashesian Dynasty
(180BC-1AD) |
|
Vatchudian flag
(XIV century) |
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Baratouni
(X century) |
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Broshian flag
(XIV century) |
The Armenian
word "Drosh," meaning flag, is derived from the Persian "Drafsh" and perhaps the
Parthian "Dravsha" which was very familiar during the Armenian Golden Age. The
ancient Armenians Armenianized the word into "Dravshag," which in later
centuries, with the introduction of the letter "o" into the Armenian alphabet,
was converted into "Drosh" and "Droshag." In the beginning, the flag generally
used by the Armenians was square or rectangular with cloth fastened to a pole.
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Mamigonian flag
(IV-IX century) |
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Marzbanate period
(IV-VII century) |
|
The
flag was called "Var," the Armenian word for cloth. In the immediate
aftermath of the introduction of Christianity, the Armenians named
this flag "Khachvar" because the flag was embossed with a cross of
gold brocade. Thus, the use of the cross on the flag followed the
use of the oldest emblems such as the eagle, the lion and the
dragon. |
The Armenian
Apostolic Church, in the early centuries of the Christian era, adopted a second
monogrammatic form of the flag in which the cross was accentuated even more. The
color of the flag was purple, the royal colors, and the embossed cross was a
gold brocade according to the custom.
I.
|
Arsacide Dynasty
(64AD - 428AD) |
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Rubenian Dynasty
(1080AD-1375AD) |
|
In
the Middle Ages, the flag was unicolored regardless of the shades.
When Levon II was being anointed King of the Rubenian Dynasty of
Cilicia, Pope Celestine III of Rome sent him a banner with the
insignia of a lion in 1197. The flag, which was white, carried a red
lion with raised paws |
After the
downfall of the Rubenian Dynasty and the loss of their independence, the
Armenians naturally had no national flag. The question of the Armenian flag came
up in 1885, when the Armenian Students Association of Paris, desirous of joining
the funeral of Victor Hugo with a national flag, appealed to Father Alishan for
the true colors of the flag.
|
Father Alishan, without any historical proof, composed the "Armenian
Flag" which later was adopted as the official flag of the Hunchak
party. The flag was based solely on data from the Armenian Church
calendar according to which the first Sunday of Easter is called
"Red" Sunday, the second, "Green" Sunday, and selecting an arbitrary
color of his own, the white completed the color combination.
|
|
Tricolor of
Alishan (1855) |
Thereafter,
Father Alishan created a second classification of colors: yellow, red and green
or blue, red, and green, taking it from the colors of the rainbow based on the
premise that God gave the Armenian flag on the very day when the colors of the
rainbow bathed the Ark of Noah on Mount Ararat.
|
Armenian
Tricolor (1918) and nowadays
Republic of Armenian
Coat of Arms (1918)and
nowadays |
|
The
yellow, red, and green flag was adopted by the Armenians and used
during World War I.
Finally, seeing that the colors of Father Alishan were arbitrary,
with no historic basis or value, the Government of the Independent
Republic of Armenia selected the colors of the last period of the
Rubenian Dynasty: red, blue and yellow, in which the yellow
immediately was replaced by the orange, because it easily merged
with the rest of the colors and presented a more pleasing
composition.
"This was the origin of the beautiful and glorious Armenian Tricolor
which became the flag of the Independent Republic of Armenia."
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COATS OF
ARMS
|
Escutcheon of
King Leo V |
|
Cilicia Coat of
Arms (Cyprus
UK XIV century) |
|
Coat
of Arms |
|
Coat
of Arms |
From the Atlas of Historical Armenia- by H. K. Babessian.
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