Daredevils of SassounAlso known as Rebels of Sassoun. ( , also spelled Daredevils of Sasun) is an Armenian heroic epic poem in four cycles (parts), with its main hero and story better known as David of Sassoun, which is the story of one of the four parts.
In the initial decades following the discovery of the epic in the late nineteenth century a general consensus emerged attributing its theme to the struggle of four generations of Sassoun's warriors against Muslim rule in the 8th to 10th centuries. The pioneers of this interpretation of the epic were the philologist Manuk Abeghian in Armenia and academic Joseph Orbeli at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, who argued that there are no characters in the epic that could be attributed to a historical person from before the 10th century.
The historicist school held its sway until the Armenian philologist Grigor Grigoryan first in an article (1981), then in a book (1989) argued following an incisive analysis of the epic, "it is indisputable that the roots of the epic go back deep into the centuries, and they reach not only the cuneiform times when monarchy was underway in Armenia, but even the prehistoric era." Grigoryan identified various episodes in the epic as of patently matriarchal origin, prompting various scholars both in Soviet Armenia and elsewhere to probe deeper into the proto-layers of the epic.
The Daredevils of Sassoun is commonly cited as one of the most important works of Armenian folklore. This recital of the legendary deeds of four generations of strongmen in a warrior community in the Armenian Highlands is in the tradition of heroic folktales that dramatise the story of a whole nation and voice its deepest sentiments and aspirations, but unlike such well-known epics as the Iliad and the Odyssey (Homeric Greek), the Epic of Gilgamesh (Akkadian epic based on Sumerian tales), Beowulf (Old English), The Song of Roland (Old French), Cantar de mio Cid (Old Spanish) and others, it has survived solely by word of mouth, transmitted from one generation to another by village bards. The literary merits of the Sassoun saga surpass its value as a historical or linguistic document.
The performance of the Daredevils of Sassoun was included in the UNESCO Intangible cultural heritage representative list in 2012.
Background
is a genitive form of Sasun, a region located in Western Armenia in the rugged mountain country southwest of Lake Van in what is currently Batman Province, eastern Turkey. traditionally connotes an animus of rebelliousness.
The written literature of Armenia goes back to the fifth century,Leon Surmelian (1964), Daredevils of Sassoun: The Armenian National Epic, page 7. its Golden Age, when the Bible was translated into Classical Armenian directly from Koine Greek and Syriac language manuscripts. Plato and Aristotle were studied in Armenian schools and many original works of great interest to the modern specialist were produced by native historians, philosophers and poets.
While its oral literature is much older, recorded folk poetry had existed in Armenian for at least two thousand years.Leon Surmelian (1964), Daredevils of Sassoun: The Armenian National Epic, pages 7-8. According to the early Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, in his time Armenians still loved the pagan "songs" which the minstrels sang on festive occasions and quotes from them. Only the fragments of Armenian pagan songs that he quotes have survived to this day.Leon Surmelian (1964), Daredevils of Sassoun: The Armenian National Epic, page 8.
Songs celebrating memorable events have retained their hold in the popular imagination and it could be said that Armenians are a nation whose cultural identity has been formed from both the written and oral traditions, though little has survived of the latter due to its perishable nature and fluctuation of Armenia's historical borders.
Discovery of the story
The story of Sasun was "discovered" in 1873 by a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Garegin Srvandztiants, who had exceptionally close contacts with the peasantry in the more remote inaccessible parts of Western Armenia. He says:
The tale told by Gurbo was published in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1874 under the title David of Sasun or Meherr's Sword. The bishop wrote in the introduction:
Language Though the language abounds in poetic pictures, the physical sensory details are often missing. This is because an oral tale is necessarily different from that of a written story. The reciter would get on with his action and act out most parts of the story to hold interest of his audience, plot is the main thing, and the reciter suits the words of action. It's written in a beautifully controlled language and hyperbole is a characteristic device of this epic style.
Publications and translations
In 1881 "Daredevils of Sasun" was translated into Russian.
In 1902, the prominent Armenian poet and writer Hovhannes Tumanyan penned a poem telling the story of the David of Sassoun in a more modern language.
Later the tale was translated into the languages of all fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, and then into French and Chinese. For translating the epic into Russian poet Valery Bryusov was designated People's Poet of Armenia in 1923. The poet and writer Konstantine Lortkipanidze translated several chapters of the epic into the Georgian language.
Other variants of this folk epic have been published since 1874, and there are some fifty of them altogether. Bishop Garegin Srvandztiants saved the Armenian epic from oblivion. Six decades later a scholar of Armenian literature and folklore Manuk Abeghian and his co-workers collected nearly all of these variants in three scholarly volumes published in Yerevan in 1936, 1944 (part l) and 1951 (part ll), under the general title Daredevils of Sasun. All three volumes contain over 2,500 pages of text. In 1939 a collated text weaving most of the important episodes together was published for popular reading under the title "David of Sasun". As village texts are in various dialects, which presents many difficulties to the modern reader, the story was reworded and a fairly uniform style comprehensible to Eastern Armenian dialects was adopted. From 1939 until 1966 all translations were made from this popularized text.
In 1964 Leon Zaven Surmelian, an Armenian-American poet, survivor, and memoirist of the Armenian genocide, chose a narrative from within all recorded versions, translated the epic into English, and published it under the name Daredevils of Sassoun. In his introduction, Surmelian sharply criticized the literary renderings of the epic published in Soviet Armenia. Surmelian denounced, among many other things, the fact that, due to both State Atheism and Censorship in the Soviet Union, "The religious element is played down."Leon Surmelian (1964), Daredevils of Sassoun: The Armenian National Epic, pages 13-14.
During a visit to Yerevan prior to the publication of his treatment in the United States of America, Surmelian expressed these opinions to a Soviet Armenian writer and professor, who replied with a smile, "We may translate your English version into Armenian."Leon Surmelian (1964), Daredevils of Sassoun: The Armenian National Epic, page 14.
Synopsis
Divisions of the book per Surmelian:
Cycle 1 Part 1 - Sanasar and Balthasar. The Christian Armenian princess Tsovinar, agrees to marry the Muslim Caliph of Baghdad rather than have her father's kingdom destroyed by his invasion to capture her. She is held hostage at the court of Sultan Melik of Musr to keep the peace. She conceives the divine twins Sanasar and Bagdasar on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land after quenching her thirst from a sacred spring. A dispute takes place between the viziers and the caliph, as a result of which it is decided that the boys should be expelled from Baghdad. The boys are taken by their grandfather King Gagik and spend their childhood in the Armenian land. One day they go to the sacred spring, where her mother conceived them. Sanasar asks his younger brother to jump in the spring, but Baghdasar refuses. Sanasar bravely jumps in the spring and falls into an underground kingdom. A miracle happens, the Holy Mother of God (Surb Astvatsatsin) hands over to Sanasar three invulnerable weapons and armor: Tur Ketsak a magical lightning sword The divine warhorse Djalali or Kurkik Jalal. This mythical horse had indescribable extraordinary qualities because in addition to speaking human language, he was able to cross endless paths and fly to the sun. The Battle Cross, which self-deploys on the wearer's right arm and leads to victory. Part 2 - The Marriages of Sanasar and Balthasar. The twins each meet a princess whom, after many feats of bravery and challenges, they end up marrying. But only after Balthasar brother mistakenly believes that Sanasar was courting one of those beautiful princesses without his knowledge, and insists on fighting his brother over this deceit. This chapter closes with Balthasar and his wife moving off childless to another land to seek his fortune, and Sanasar remaining in Sassoun with 3 sons, the eldest of which is named Mher and recognized to be superior.
The water makes Sanasar a real giant that even his brother does not recognize him. He soon learns of the incident, after which only the brave continue on their way. The brothers are walking and see how a mighty stream from the mountains cuts through all the flow of a great river. Tempted by the power of that water, Sanasar and Baghdasar find the beginning of the streamflow, building a fortress on the latter's huge rocks. Soon Sanasar and Baghdasar began to settle in the areas adjacent to the fortress they had founded, bringing 40 families from the Armenian world and settling here. Thus, from a mythological point of view, this is the story of the founding of the city of Sasun “Sason” (Batman Province former Muş district in Turkey). After the completion of the construction work, the brothers want to name the settlement they founded. It is at this time that they are accidentally met by an old man's sower, who is asked to think of a name for a lofty, magnificent city-fortress.
Cycle 2 Sanasar dies and Sassoun is invaded by Misra Melik, the warlike Lord of Egypt, who begins to exact annual tributes. Medz Mher had inhuman strength and could uproot trees. Mher used his strength for the sake and welfare of the native people. Mher killed a lion, that had invaded Sasun, blocking the road leading to the wells and almost starving people, with his bare hands. When Mher grows old enough, he liberates a beautiful captive princess and marries her. He then learns of the tributes and goes to Egypt to fight Mira Melik in one-on-one combat. After seeing they're evenly matched, they become blood brothers, the tributes are ended, and Mher returns home. Later on, he gets a letter from Mira Melik's widow that her husband has died, and Mher should come care for her and take his kingdom as promised. He goes against his wife's wishes and is tricked into fathering a child with the widow, Ismil Khatun. He hears her whispering to the child that he will crush Sassoun one day and returns home in anger. His wife who had promised not to be his wife for 40 years if he left is convinced by priests that she should be his wife again and they immediately conceive a child, David, after which they both soon die as the mother foretold.
Cycle 3