Hayk – Legendary Patriarch And Founder Of Armenia Who Defeated King Bel Of Babylon

Ellen Lloyd - AncientPages.com - People in Armenia say they are descendants of Hayk (Haic), who was their Patriarch and founder of the nation.

Knowledge about the fascinating legend of Hayk comes from Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi (410 – c. 490). Khorenatsi documented the events in the life of the legendary Patriarch in the book History of Armenia, which contains unique material on ancient Armenian legends and historical information on the nation's contact with the Sassanid and Byzantine Arsacid empires.

Legend tells Hayk was as beautiful as the gods and strong as a giant. He was the son of Torgom, one of Noah's descendants, and he lived in Shinar, the land of modern-day Iraq, where he was a director of the famous Tower of Babel. When Hayk was still a young man, the patron god of Babylon was Bel, often referred to as God Bel Marduk.

"In ancient times, Babylon was considered almost the "center of the world." For the ancient people, Babylon was the "sacred city" dedicated to the cult of Marduk, who had there his temple and a golden statue, which unfortunately was looted several times by attacking Hittites, Elamites, Assyrians." ¹

The conflict between Bel Marduk and Hayk is said to have happened sometime between 2492 B.C. and  2107 B.C. King Bel Marduk made himself king overall and demanded to be worshipped. Still, Hayk refused to obey what he considered to be an arrogant deity and fled with his family and animals to the land of Ararat.

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