Recent findings indicate that a Jewish community existed in Eghegis, Armenia for several centuries. In a publication in the Russian Journal "Christian Orient" for 1912 a picture appeared of Jewish tombstones in Eghegis, Armenia, dated 1497 CE. A Persian word in the inscription indicates that the Jews probably came to Armenia from Persia and this community may be related to Persian-speaking (Judeo-Tat) communities of Mountain Jews in North Caucasus and Azerbaijan. A short comment on the matter will appear in a Russian language Internet-Journal "Zametki po evrejskoj istorii" http://rjews.net/berkovich/ This is the English translation of the paper, along with a picture of the monument which was scanned from the Russian Journal "Christian Orient", V 1, No 3 (1912).

Armenia is one of only few countries where no Jewish settlement of any significant importance is known, although all neighboring countries (Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Kurdistan, Persia) had big Jewish communities. According to some legends, the king Tigran in the 1st century CE brought from Judea to Armenia several thousands Jews. There are also legends about a Jewish origin of Armenian royal dynasty of Bagratids (ruled from 7th century CE), but there are no material evidences for this kind of legends. A Byzantine chronicler tells that many Jews were brought to captivity from different Armenian cities by Persian king Sapor the 2nd (310-380 CE). The Talmud mentions Jacob from Armenia (Git 48a) and Jewish captives from Armenia (Ieb 45a). The country is mentioned sporadically in medieval Hebrew texts¹, but it should be kept in mind that historical Armenia includes besides Armenia proper territory of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkish Kurdistan.

It was reported recently², that in 1996 several Jewish tombstones were found in Armenian town of Eghegis by local bishop Abraham Mkrtchyan. A team of Israeli archeologists including Professors Michael Stone and David Amit studied the monuments. According to reports, one inscription in Hebrew with Aramaic formulas says: Niftar Baba bar David be-khodesh Tammuz shenat aleph-taf-resh (Passed away Baba, son of David in the month of Tammuz year 1600). The Seleucid era was widely used in the Middle East, the year 1600 corresponds to the year 1289 CE. Another inscription is dated with 1255 CE.

We must note that this finding is not unique. A letter was published yet in 1912 in a little-known Russian Journal Khristianskij Vostok (Christian Orient) by a leading Russian orientalist Prof. N. Marr about a similar monument found in 1910³ . The stone (size 1.6 x 0.4 m) was found in the Muslim-Turkish village of Alagaz near historical Eghegiz in Voyotz-Tzora province of Armenia. The inscription has four lines, two lines on one side of the stone include a name of the deceased and two lines on the opposite side include a blessing, in a similar manner to the inscriptions found recently. Russian Hebraist Prof. P. Kokovtsov translated it from Hebrew:

Niftar ha-bakhur ha-kasher he-anaw
mar khawaga Sharaf aldin ben ha-zaqen khawaga Sabay S[ofo]T[ov]
melekh ha-kavod yanikhehu im Abraham Yickhaq we-Yaaqov
We-Yeqayyem al qavrato yikhyu metekha navlati yaqumun we-g[amre] shenat ATTKh

Passed away young, pious, and modest
Mr. khawaja Sheraf-ed-Din, son of old khawaja Sabay, let his end be in good.
Let the King of Dignity lay him in peace with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And let fulfill over his grave your dead will resurrect,
my corpse will stand up etc. (Is. 26:19)
Year 1808 (=1496/1497 CE).

Therefore the Jewish community existed in Eghegiz not only in the late 1200s, but also for more than 230 years after that. Muslim names and titles in the inscription are remarkable: Sharaf-ed-Din, Sabay, Baba, khawajah (Mister or Teacher). The word khawajah is of Persian origin and it probably indicates that the Jews who settled in Eghegiz came from Persia and kept Persian as their spoken language. Biblical quotations and Talmudic formulas is an evidence of high learning standard in the community. We may assume that Eghegiz community was related to the Persian-speaking (Tat) Mountain Jewish community in Azerbaijan and North Caucusus, an early history of which is obscure. It should be noted also that oldest inscriptions in Chufut-Qaleh in the Crimea, which can be reliably dated, also belong to the same post-Tartar period.

By considering two archeological findings: a little known inscription published in a Russian Journal 90 years ago and very recent discoveries of Israeli archeologists, we come to a conclusion that a Jewish community existed in Armenia for several hundred years and this country should be included into a list of medieval Jewish Diaspora countries.

LITERATURE

1. 1. Armenia
   Evrejskaja Enciklopedia. St. Petersburg, [1910]. v. 3. - Pp. 145-146.

2. 2. Stones from the River
   Jerusalem Report, 24 Sept 2001, Frank Stone.
   The Unexpected Discovery of Vestiges of the Medieval Armenian Jews
   Los Muestros: The Sephardic Voice. - No. 45 (December 2001),
   (http://kulanu.ubalt.edu/armenian_jews.html), Daphna Lewy.
   The lost Jews of Armenia // Ha-Aretz (on the Internet accessed 1/30/2002
   http://www.sephardichouse.com/armenia.html).

3. 3. Evrejskaya nadgrobnaya nadpis 15 veka iz Erevanskoj gub.
   (Hebrew tombstone inscription of the 15th century from Erevan province)
   Khristianskij Vostok (Christian Orient). Vol 1 (1912).. - No. 3. Pp. 353-354

() M. Nosonovsky, Boston, Mass, Feb. 2002