PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Ave.
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
Email: hq@naasr.org

TALK ON URARTIAN INFLUENCE ON ARMENIA AT NAASR BY PROF. JOHN GREPPIN

Prof. John A. C. Greppin of Cleveland State University will give a
lecture on "The Urartian Influence on the Earliest Armenians," on
Thursday, March 5, at 8:00 p.m., at the National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont,
MA.

It is now well known that the Urartians preceded the Armenians in the
South Caucasus and that they influenced the Armenians who followed them
for at least two centuries until the arrival of the Persians under
Darius in about 525 B.C. The Armenians learned from the Urartians their
wine skills, an important cultural influence. They assuredly learned
other agricultural skills in grain crops and especially in irrigation
methods for which the Urartians were famous.

But the Urartian influence went deeper and left a linguistic substratum
in the Armenian language that has been known about for over 60 years,
following the initial scholarly investigations of Grigor Ghapantsian in
Yerevan. Prof. Greppin will focus on the linguistic relationships
between these two ancient peoples and will touch upon cultural and other
connections.

John A. C. Greppin is professor of linguistics at Cleveland State
University in Ohio where he has taught for the past 34 years. He
received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1972 in Indo-European Studies, and
through his work with the late Prof. Avedis Sanjian developed a
specialty in Classical Armenian. He is the author of 14 books and some
500 articles and reviews on the Armenian language and other subjects and
has served as the editor of the Annual of Armenian Linguistics and the
Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies and was managing editor of
Raft: A Journal of Armenian Poetry.

The NAASR Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next
to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building
and in adjacent areas. The lecture will begin promptly at 8:00 p.m.

More information about the lecture is available by calling 617-489-1610,
faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing hq@naasr.org, or writing to NAASR, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.