THE CONTRIBUTION OF D. M. LANG TO THE APPRECIATION OF ARMENIA’S CIVILIZATIONAL HERITAGE
The British Professor David Marshall Lang (1924-1991) occupies a distinct place among the Armenologists, Orientalists and Caucasiologists, dealing with the appreciation of Armenia’s civilizational heritage, having authored a number of books - “The Armenians” (1976), “Armenia: Cradle of Civilization” (1970, 1978), “The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus” (1988). Among them the most significant is “Armenia: Cradle of Civilization”. A specific feature of civilizational history is the category of cultural continuity, as follows from Lang’s concept. Having highly appreciated the civilizational significance of Armenia, D. Lang wrote: “The ancient land of Armenia is situated in the high mountains... Although Mesopotamia with its ancient civilizations of Sumeria and Babylon, is usually considered together with Egypt as the main source of civilized life in the modern sense, Armenia too has a claim to rank as one of the cradles of human culture. To begin with, Noah's Ark is stated in the Book of Genesis to have landed on the summit of Mount Ararat, in the very centre of Armenia.... Armenia has a claim on our attention as one of the principal homes of ancient metallurgy, beginning at least five thousand years ago. Later on, Armenia became the first extensive kingdom to adopt Christianity as a state religion pioneering a style of Church architecture which anticipates our own Western Gothic”.
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