“Ancient Armenia” or the “Byzantine Armenian satraps”
Posted on April. 27. 2022
I want to thank all those who read/responded/and heeded my request to also write to the Getty museum’s Ancient Iran Exhibit organizers (antiquities@getty.edu,visitorservices@getty.edu). The Exhibit displays nothing short of history revisionism by omitting/circumventing the useage of the names “Ancient Armenia” or the “Byzantine Armenian satraps”, and subliminally promotes the country of Turkey at every turn and on most of the plaques, when Turkey, a 100 year old country and the successor of the 600 year old Ottoman Empire, has nothing to do with the time period the exhibit covers. Turks showed up much later in the 1,400s on the maps of the region as the leaders of the Ottoman Empire, who having invaded from Central Asia took over the Byzantine empire.
Here’s my original letter to the Getty. They have responded saying the plaques had no room to explain the sensitives of the region!
Hello,
To the organizers of the Getty Ancient Iran and the Classical World- Persia exhibit currently at display at the Getty Center Villa in Malibu,
I visited your exhibit last Thursday, April 21st and while I was admiring the amazing selection of artifacts, something grabbed my attention and tugged at my heart. At every turn, and in every plaque (including the main one) describing the geographical vicinity of ancient Iran, the verbiage of “Asia Minor, present-day Turkey” was used in place of Armenia. This was quite an obvious omission when the exhibit goes to great lengths to name contemporary neighboring nations from the period such as Assyria (also erroneously described as current day Iraq in one of the plaques).
To the visitor who is not familiar with the history of the region, this comes across as a subliminal promotion of the country of Turkey, which did not come onto the scene of world history until the 1,400s as the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was founded by Turkic migrants/invaders who came to the region from the Steppes of Central Asia starting the 11th century. Today’s Turkey, as the plaques so often refer to, has been founded in year 1923.
Why this monumental omission? As an American with Armenian ancestry, I was looking forward to a reference to one of the most important Persian inscriptions from the antiquities: the Behistun inscriptions of Persian King Darius the great from the 6th century BC, that were inscribed in three languages, and where Armenia is mentioned as its neighboring nation as “Armina” in old Persian, “Harminuia” is old Elamite and “Urartu” in Babylonian. The Armenian nation was born in what is today’s Eastern Turkey, around lake Van, in the lowlands of Ararat mountain. Armenia was a satrap of the Byzantine empire with Armenia Minor and Armenia Major. This is also omitted in the plaques that mention the Byzantine empire. Instead the words “Asia minor, present-day Turkey” appear again!
Armenia is one of the oldest nations of the region, appearing on the oldest map of the world (currently in the British museum), a Babylonian clay from the 6th century BC that depicts the center of the world with only three nations mentioned: Assyria, Babylon and Urartu. So why doesn’t your exhibit mention Armenia anywhere? It shows up only on one of your maps about the Sassanid dynasty, and even then, it is completely omitted in the description on the attached plaque!
As an Armenian American, whose ancestors were murdered and deported from Western Armenia, the same “Asia minor present day Turkey” you are describing, you have to understand how the verbiage and presentation of this exhibit add salt to my family’s wounds. Please let me know, who to contact, or how you will go about correcting this monumental omission that has been noticed by several of my acquaintances who have also visited the exhibit.
I am hopeful, that one day, the Getty museum will have an exhibit dedicated to the rich history and culture of Ancient Armenia.
Respectfully,
Katia Karageuzian