Ancient historical information
Nowadays the first well-known historical information about the Armenian Highland is preserved in Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions and dates back to 28-27 centuries BC. The early state formationAratta is mentioned in those inscriptions. The name is compared with the toponym Ararat, which becomes more obvious while comparing Sumerian and biblical stories about the great flood. In these stories Aratta and Ararat are supposed to be place of rescue. In ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform writings proper names were written in two ways: phonetically (in syllables) and ideographically. In the first case Aratta was written in three syllables (A-rat-ta), in the second case it was written as Subur (Subari, Subartu). This means that these two names referred to one state. The analyze of mentionings of Subur- Subari-Subatru (the ancient ones were found in manuscripts dating back to the 26th century BC) shows that it was found in the Armenian Highland (in the basin of lake Van and in its south-western parts). From the 26th century BC Mesopotamian manuscripts mentioned god Hay(a), his eponymous land and nation. It is significant that in Sumerian-Akkadian bilingual inscriptions Suburi of Sumerian part in Akkadian part coincided with Hay(a), which shows that these two toponyms referred to the same land. As a matter of fact, from one hand we have Aratta-Subur, from the other hand Subur-Hay(a), which means that in the first half of the 3rd century BC Armenia was famous with three equivalent names (Aratta-Hay(a)-Subur). From 24-23 centuries BC in the Armenian Highland <<Arman(i)>>, <<Armi>>, <<Aram>> and other toponyms were mentioned, which were proto-forms of <<Armenia>>. In inscriptions (24-23 centuries BC) of Ebla (northern part of ancient Syria) <<Sons of Haya>> (<<hayordiner>>) were mentioned, who lived in the land of Armi and who established relationship with other countries. <<Sons of Haya>> (hayordiner) in manuscripts of Ebla, god Haya and the land of Sumerian sources genealogically were connected with the Armenian nature. So still from 24-23 centuries BC connected with the Armenian Highland the main names of Armenia and the Armenians were mentioned: Aratta, Haya, Subur and Arman(i). Subur was no longer in use in the first half of 1st millennium BC, and the others are still in use as Ararat, Hayk-Hayastan and Armenia.
