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The Armenian calendar is the traditional calendar of Armenia. It was used in Old Armenia at the time before arrival of Christianity. It is a solar calendar based on the same system as the ancient Egyptian model, having an invariant 365-day year with no leap year rule. As a result, the correspondence between it and the Julian calendar slowly changes over time (such as year 769 on AD 1320 January 1, year 770 on AD 1320 December 31, and year 1032 on AD 1582 October 27 = Gregorian November 6). Some references report that the first month of the year, Navasard, corresponds to the start of Spring in the northern hemisphere, but that was only true from the 9th through 10th centuries. The current year, 1461, is the last of the great Armenian cycle of 1,461 wandering years which equal 1,460 Julian years. (See Sothic cycle). Next year, 1462, begins on 24 July 2012 (Gregorian), 11 July (Julian). Year 1 began on 11 July AD 552 (Julian).

The year consists of twelve months of 30 days each, plus five extra days (epagomenê) that belong to no month.

Years are given in the Armenian alphabet by the letters ԹՎ t’v, a siglum for t’vin "in the year" followed by one to four letters of the Armenian alphabet, each of which stands for an Armenian numeral. For example, "in the year 1455 [AD 2006]" would be written ԹՎ ՌՆԾԵ.

The Armenian month names show influence of the Zoroastrian calendar, and, as noted by Antoine Meillet, Kartvelian influence in two cases. There are different systems for transliterating the names; the forms below are transliterated according to Hübschmann-Meillet-Benveniste system:

The Armenian calendar names the days of the month instead of numbering them, a peculiarity also found in the Avestan calendars. Zoroastrian influence is evident in at least five names. The names are 1. Areg "sun", 2. Hrand, 3. Aram, 4. Margar "prophet", 5. Ahrank’ "half-burned", 6. Mazdeł, 7. Astłik "Venus", 8. Mihr (Mithra), 9. Jopaber, 10. Murç "triumph", 11. Erezhan "hermit", 12. Ani, 13. Parxar, 14. Vanat, 15. Aramazd (Ahura Mazda), 16. Mani "beginning", 17. Asak "beginningless", 18. Masis (Mount Ararat), 19. Anahit (Anahita), 20. Aragac, 21. Gorgor, 22. Kordi (a district of Ancient Armenia considered the homeland of the Kurds), 23. Cmak "east wind", 24. Lusnak "half-moon", 25. C̣rōn "dispersion", 26.Npat (Apam Napat), 27. Vahagn (Zoroastrian Vahrām from Avestan Verethragna, name of the 20th day), 28. Sēin "mountain", 29. Varag, 30. Gišeravar "evening star". The five epagomenal days are called Aveleacʿ "superfluous".

Correlation with Egyptian calendar[link]

The Armenian calendar is a derivative of Zoroastrian changes to Egyptian dates. The first month Navasard is equivalent to the month Choiak (Koyak), however its first day falls on Koyak 4 so that the first of the five epagum days falls on Egyptian Hatyr 27. This is in contrast to the Zoroastrian calendar where the first month Furvurdeen begins on Koyak 6 because its epagum (Gatha days) begin on Egyptian Koyak 1 as of 388 BC. The month Tir is equal to Egyptian Phamenoth (7th month) as Egyptian midyear; but it is of biblical interest that Armenian midyear (Mareri /Deh) is Egyptian new year month Thoth as if to imply it was at one time the 7th month, in regard of the computation of the Jubilee, and the biblical explanation of how to begin the novel age following the entering into the promised land. Two cycles of 1460 years goes back to August 11, 2369 BC.

Prior to borrowing the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Armenians had a lunar calendar based on a lunation of 28 days.

Together with these alien Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Julian, Gregorian, and ecclesiastical dating schemes, some Armenians still retain the old native calendar usage in which the new year begins at the spring equinox. In the numbering scheme of this solar calendar, the year 1 reckons out to 5818-5817 BCE. Hence March 20, 2012 CE marks the start of the Armenian year 7830.^[1]

See also[link]

• Armenian numerals
• Calendar of Saints (Armenian Apostolic Church)
• Zoroastrian calendar
• Iranian calendar

References[link]

1. ^ Sarkis Shmavonian (UCLA). Archaic Armenian Perfects: Archaic Armenian Statics

External links[link]

The Wikibook Armenian has a page on the topic of Calendar

• Website dedicated to Armenian calendar
• Armenian calendar - Navasard August 11th (Hayk calendar)

Literature[link]

• V. Bănăţeanu, “Le calendrier arménien et les anciens noms des mois”, in: Studia et Acta Orientalia 10, 1980, pp. 33–46
• Edouard Dulaurier, Recherches sur la chronologie arménienne technique et historique (1859), 2001 reprint ISBN 978-0-543-96647-6.
• Jost Gippert, Old Armenian and Caucasian Calendar Systems in The Annual of The Society for The Study of Caucasia“, 1, 1989, 3-12.[1][2]
• Louis H. Gray, On Certain Persian and Armenian Month-Names as Influenced by the Avesta Calendar, Journal of the American Oriental Society (1907)
• P'. Ingoroq'va, “Jvel-kartuli c'armartuli k'alendari” (“The Old Georgian pagan calendar”), in: Sakartvelos muzeumis moambe (“Messenger of the Museum of Georgia”), 6, 1929–30, pp. 373–446 and 7, 1931–32, pp. 260–336
• K'. K'ek'elije, “Jveli kartuli c'elic'adi” (“The Old Georgian year”), in: St'alinis saxelobis Tbilisis Saxelmc'ipo Universit'et'is šromebi (“Working papers of the Tbilisi State University by the name of Stalin”) 18, 1941, reprinted in the author's “Et'iudebi jveli kartuli lit'erat'uris ist'oriidan” (“Studies in the history of Old Georgian literature”) 1, 1956, pp. 99–124.

Atom Egoyan
Egoyan at the Third Golden Apricot Film Festival, February 11, 2007
Born	Atom Yeghoyan (1960-07-19) July 19, 1960 (age 51) Cairo, Egypt
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Occupation	film director, stage director, screenwriter, producer & actor
Spouse	Arsinée Khanjian
Website
http://www.egofilmarts.com/

Atom Egoyan, OC (Armenian: Աթոմ Եղոյեան; born July 19, 1960) is a critically acclaimed Canadian stage director and film director.^[1][2] Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica (1994).^[3] His most critically acclaimed film is The Sweet Hereafter (1997),^[4] and his biggest commercial success is Chloe (2009).^[5]

Egoyan has been nominated for two Academy Awards - The Sweet Hereafter for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He also won several awards at Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and Genie Awards.

His work often explores themes of alienation and isolation, featuring characters whose interactions are mediated through technology, bureaucracy or other power structures. Egoyan's films often follow non-linear plot-structures, in which events are placed out of sequence in order to elicit specific emotional reactions from the audience by withholding key information.^[1]

In 2008 Egoyan received the Dan David Prize for "Creative Rendering of the Past".^[6]

Life and career[link]

Egoyan was born Atom Yeghoyan in Cairo, Egypt, the son of Shushan (née Devletian) and Joseph Yeghoyan, artists who operated a furniture store.^[7] His parents were Armenian-Egyptians, and he was named Atom to mark the completion of Egypt's first nuclear reactor. In 1962, however, his parents left Egypt for Canada, where they settled in Victoria, British Columbia, and changed their last name to Egoyan. Atom and his sister, Eve, now a concert pianist based in Toronto, were raised by their parents in British Columbia.

As a boy, Atom's desire for assimilation into Canadian society and his struggle with his father led him to reject his family's Armenian culture.^{[citation needed]} However, years later, when he attended the University of Toronto, he began to study Armenian history.^[8]

As a teenager, he became interested in reading and writing plays. Significant influences included Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter. Egoyan also attributes his future in the film industry to the film Persona, which he viewed at age fourteen, according to an interview he had with journalist Robert K. Elder for The Film That Changed My Life.

It gave me an incredible respect for the medium and its possibilities. To me, Persona marries a pure form and a very profound vision with absolute conviction. It’s very inspiring. I felt that it was able to open a door that wasn’t there before.^[9]

He graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto. It was at Trinity College that Egoyan came into contact with Harold Nahabedian, the Armenian-Canadian Anglican Chaplain of Trinity College. In interviews Egoyan credited Nahabedian for introducing him to the language and history of his ethnic heritage.

Egoyan is now based in Toronto, where he lives with his wife Arsinée Khanjian, a trilingual (English, French and Armenian) Armenian-Canadian actress who appears in many of Egoyan's films, and their son, Arshile (named after the Armenian-American painter Arshile Gorky), who attends the Toronto French School. In 1999, Atom Egoyan was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Egoyan has directed a dozen full-length films, several television episodes, and a few shorter pieces. His early work was based on his own material. In 1984, his debut film "Next of Kin" worldpremiered at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg and won a major prize. He received some notice for the film Exotica (1994), but it was Egoyan's first attempt at adapted material that resulted in his best-known work, The Sweet Hereafter (1997), which earned him universal critical acclaim and Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

He also directed Sarabande featuring Khanjian, Lori Singer, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma's performance of Bach's Fourth Suite for Unaccompanied Cello, as part of the latter's Inspired by Bach film series for Sony Classical.

The film Ararat (2002) generated much publicity for Egoyan. After Henri Verneuil's French-language film Mayrig (1991), it was the first major motion picture to deal directly with the Armenian Genocide. Ararat later won the Best Picture prize at the Genie Awards.

In 2004 Egoyan opened Camera Bar, a 50-seat cinema-lounge on Queen Street West in Toronto.

In 2005 Atom Egoyan joined the faculty of the media and communications division at European Graduate School (EGS) in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he conducts intensive summer seminars.^[1] Beginning in September 2006, Egoyan taught at the University of Toronto for three years.^[10] He joined the faculty of arts and science as the dean's distinguished visitor in theatre, film, music and visual studies.

In 2006, he received the Master of Cinema Award of the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

Later, he directed the erotic thriller Chloe (2009), theatrically released by Sony Pictures Classics on March 26, 2010. This film grossed $3 million in the United States theatrically and became one of the higher-grossing specialty films in the United States in 2010^[11](according to Variety, "$3 million is the new $10 million" for specialty films' box office in 2010^[12]). Several months after the DVD/Blu-ray release of Chloe, Atom Egoyan said that Chloe had made more money than any of his previous films.^[13] The success of Chloe led Egoyan to receive many scripts of erotic thrillers.^[14]

Egoyan has won four awards each at the Cannes Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. He is due to present at the 2012 TARA Awards in early April.

Filmography[link]

Feature films[link]

TV films[link]

• In This Corner (1985)
• Gross Misconduct (1993)
• Sarabande (1997)
• Krapp's Last Tape (2000)

Short films[link]

• Howard in Particular (1979)
• After Grad with Dad (1980)
• Peep Show (1981)
• Open House (1982)
• Men: A Passion Playground (1985)
• Looking for Nothing (1988)
• Montréal vu par... / Montreal Sextet (1991)
  • segment: En passant (In Passing)
• A Portrait of Arshile (1995)
• The Line (2000)
• Diaspora (2001)
• Chacun son cinéma / To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
  • segment: Artaud Double Bill

Documentary films[link]

• Citadel (2003)

Bibliography[link]

• Dear Sandra Atom Egoyan, Volumina (2007)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ego Film Arts - official Web site
• Atom Egoyan Faculty page at European Graduate School (Includes biography, filmography, photos and video lectures)
• Atom Egoyan at the Internet Movie Database
• Atom Egoyan at AllRovi
• Order of Canada citation
• CTV.ca Filmmaker Egoyan set to teach at U. of Toronto
• Canadian Film Encyclopedia
• northernstar.ca
• Discussion of Egoyan's film, Calendar by Ron Burnett
• Literature on Atom Egoyan