Mount Artos - Armenian Highland - Armenian Geographic

Mount Artos is located in the mountain belt of Armenian Tavros. The height of Artos is 3550 meters. The slopes of the mountain are covered with subalpine flora. Being on the top of Artos, you can enjoy an awesome view of the village of Gayvash (previously known as Vostan), Mount Sipan, Lake Van and its respective islands-Aghtamar and Arter.

Van lake

Myths

As it is said, one of the horns of Tavros is Mount Artos, the other one is Arnos. When Noah’s Ark landed on Artos, Noah cried, after which the mountain got its name, which means “tears”.

Zarahan St. Nshan cathedral is located on the slope of this mountain, where the relics of an Armenian historian named Eghishe are buried. According to Armenian folklore, Yeghishe died while hermitting and the shepherds buried his body in the cathedral. The head, however, was buried in St. Zoravank monastery.

The Red Gospel of Shahpagh

There was a village near Artos, called Shahpagh. One day, a girl from this village had a dream, where a woman wearing red, holding a red whip, came on a red horse and pointed to the bottom of the mountain, telling her that a red gospel is hidden there. The women exhorted her to go and find the gospel and pass it down from generation to generation.

The brother of that girl went to the bottom of the mountain to find the gospel, where he found a ruined house with a red rooster standing in the corner. He considered this as a godsend sign and started digging around the rooster for the gospel. After finding the book, he took it to their house, put it in a red box and lit a lantern in front of it, thus turning their house into the Red Gospel’s worship place. After some time, the leader of Van moved the gospel from Shahpagh to the church of St. Nshan in Van. However, the villagers ordered the gospel back and after returning, put it in the central church of the village. In 1915, Shahpagh took part in the Siege of Van and the inhabitants were forced to migrate from their houses to Eastern Armenia, and unfortunately, the majority of them were tortured and killed.

Photo by Sipan Grig & Tigran Shahbazyan

Video by Sipan Grig