Tag Archive for: This Week in Armenian History

DEATH OF ARSHAG TCHOBANIAN

Arshag Tchobanian (1872–1954) was a prominent Armenian literary critic, writer, and political activist. Born in Constantinople, he began publishing and teaching at a young age before settling in Paris in 1895. There he founded and edited *Anahid*, becoming a leading figure in Armenian literature and a major advocate of the Armenian Cause in Europe. He promoted Armenian culture through numerous Armenian and French publications, including *Roseraie de l’Arménie*. During and after World War I, he denounced the Armenian Genocide, served on the Armenian National Delegation, and later became a leader of the Ramgavar Party. He remained active in literature and public life until his death in Paris in 1954…

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BIRTH OF PERCH PROSHIAN

Perch Proshian (Hovhannes Ter-Arakelian, 1837–1907) was a pioneering Eastern Armenian novelist. Born in Ashtarak, he studied at local parish and monastic schools, Tiflis’ Nersisian School, and briefly at a state gymnasium. He taught across the South Caucasus, helped found Armenian professional theater, and promoted girls’ education. Proshian translated the Gospel into Modern Armenian, earning the title Master of Theology. His works include *Sos and Varditer*, *Aghasi*, *Apple of Discord*, *The Beginning of Birth Pangs*, *The Bread Issue*, and *Moths*, alongside translations of Dickens and Tolstoy. His legacy is preserved at the Perch Proshian House-Museum in Ashtarak…

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BIRTH OF VAHAKN DADRIAN

Vahakn Dadrian (1926–2019) was one of the foremost scholars of the Armenian Genocide. Born in Constantinople to a family devastated by the genocide, he studied mathematics, philosophy, international law, and sociology in Berlin, Vienna, Zurich, and Chicago. Fluent in several languages, including Ottoman Turkish, he researched archives internationally and taught sociology at SUNY Geneseo from 1970 to 1991. Dadrian authored influential books on genocide studies, received major Armenian and international honors, directed genocide research projects, and lectured worldwide before being buried in Yerevan after his death in New York.

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BIRTH OF NATALIA MEILKIAN

Natalia Melikian (1906–1989), born Natalia Ter Meliksetian, was a pioneering Armenian scientist and professor whose work transformed plant anatomy and physiology in Armenia. A survivor of the Armenian Genocide, she studied biology at Yerevan State University and later conducted doctoral research at Moscow State University. Returning to Yerevan in 1934, she became a leading scholar, researching oil-producing plants and lignin accumulation in plant stalks. Melikian headed YSU’s Department of Plant Anatomy and Physiology, earned numerous state honors, and was named Scientist Emeritus of Armenia in 1967.

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BIRTH OF RUBEN HOVSEPIAN

Ruben Hovsepian (1939–2016) was a prominent figure of Armenia’s 1970s “youth prose.” Born in Yerevan, he studied geology before turning to literature and journalism, publishing his first collection Searches in 1965. He held editorial roles at Avangard, Sovetakan Grakanutiun, and Nork, and was a member and secretary of the Writers’ Union of Armenia. Hovsepian also worked in TV, publishing, and politics, serving in the National Assembly (2000–2007). Known for contemporary-themed prose, his major works include The Wine Press, The Hottest Country, and Under the Apricot Trees. He translated Gabriel García Márquez’s novels and received numerous awards, including the Movses Khorenatsi Medal.

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BIRTH OF NAZARET DAGHAVARIAN

Nazaret Daghavarian was a prolific scientist and scholar, as well as public figure who became one of the first victims of the Armenian Genocide.

He was born Nazaret Chaderjian on December 25, 1862, in Sepastia (Sivas). He moved to Constantinople, where he studied at Armenian schools in the neighborhoods of Scutari and Galata. He studied and graduated from agricultural schools in Paris (1879–1883). After a short stint at the Ottoman Ministry of Agriculture in 1883, he returned to Sepastia, where he was director of the Armenian schools of the province and introduced reforms to their educational system. His progressive views, however, were not welcomed by the local conservative authorities and the Armenian clergy, and as a result he returned to Constantinople. ..

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BIRTH OF VAHE VAHIAN

Vahe Vahian, born Sarkis Abdalian on December 22, 1908, in Gürün, Sepastia, was a remarkable Lebanese Armenian poet, educator, and intellectual who dedicated his life to the preservation and development of Armenian culture. His early years were marked by the horrors of the Armenian Genocide, during which he lost his father and two brothers but survived alongside his mother and sisters. After fleeing to Aintab and later Aleppo, Vahian pursued his education in various schools before earning a degree in Structural Engineering from the American University of Beirut in 1930. His passion for writing flourished during these years, and he adopted the pen name Vahe Vahian, under which he became a celebrated poet and literary figure…

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BIRTH OF STEPAN BALASANIAN

Stepan Balasanian (born December 5, 1837, in Botoșani, Moldavia) became a major figure of the late-19th-century Armenian intelligentsia in the Caucasus. After early schooling in his hometown, he studied in Paris at the Samuel-Moorat College (1852–1855) and the Haigazian School, graduating in 1858. Invited by Archbishop Gabriel Ayvazovsky, he taught at the Khalibian School in Feodosia until conflicts prompted him and colleagues to leave in 1861 and establish a new school in Nor Nakhijevan near Rostov-on-the-Don. His progressive journalism led to his expulsion from Rostov, after which he settled in Tiflis, where he taught Armenian subjects and French at the Nersisian School and also worked at the city’s Royal School…

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DEATH OF KING LEVON V OF CILICIA

After an existence of almost three centuries, the Armenian state of Cilicia fell in 1375. Levon V was the last Armenian king.

The future king of Armenia, born in 1342 in Sis, was the younger son of Jivan Lusignan, grandson of King Levon III (1270–1289) and of a Georgian mother (or Armenian, according to some sources). His mother and her sons Bohemund and Levon escaped Cilicia in 1345 for Cyprus, fleeing the persecution of King Constantine II (1345-1363).

After the death of his brother Bohemund in 1359, Levon became a pretender to the throne. In 1374, with the support of Pope Urban V and the agreement of Catholicos Constantine V, Levon arrived in Cilicia and was crowned king on September 14, 1374, in the cathedral of …

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BIRTH OF CYRUS MELIKIAN

Cyrus Melikian was an Armenian American coffee industry pioneer credited with several inventions, like the coffee vending machine and the first fresh-brew machine in the U.S. that gave great impulse to coffee consumption among the American public. He was also instrumental in the invention of coffee pods.

Khoren Cyrus Sirak Melikian was born on November 24, 1920, in Philadelphia to refugees from the Armenian Genocide. He graduated from Northeast High School and was working while attending the University of Pennsylvania when he was drafted.

While serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1944, Melikian wanted a cup of coffee in Ohio, but it was not available between meals in the cafeteria. He and a friend…

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