Genetic Origins of Minoans and Mycenaeans

What we read about Mazandaran (Mazania/Mycenae) in Avesta and Shahnameh can be related to Indo-Iranian migration to Iran, Mazandaran was actually the main land in Iran where enemies of Aryans (Indo-Iranians) lived, there were several wars between Aryans and people of Mazandaran and in almost all of them, Aryans were deafeated, so they called Mazandaran as the land of demons and giants. But it seems in the 2nd millennium BC Mycenaeans finally had to migrate to the west.

How do you link Mazandaran or Mazania to Mycenae? Sound similarity alone or is there something else? The two words do not even sound very similar in fact, because Ancient Greek would have Mycenae being pronounced [mykenaj] (in IPA transcription), and one would really have to suspend one's disbelief to think that, without any other evidence, that's so obviously a cognate of [mazandaran] or even [mazanja].
 
I think it is better that I use the term "proto-Greek" instead of "Greek" about the ancient culture which existed in the north of Iran, Greek culture is a culture which was found in Greece, there could be a huge difference between this culture and proto-Greek culture in the north of Iran. Even languages were very different too, for example the proto-Greek word for "cow" was gʷous which is almost the same as proto-IE word but in Ancient Greek it was boûs.
Again, these are all unsubstantiated mate. Proto-Greeks began either from Yamnaya (northern route) or Anatolia/Transcaucasia (southern route), but in general from the broader region of Caucasus, so did all the rest of IE people. If there is any commonality between the Greek culture and what you have been writing about north Iran (which even you confirmed earlier that their genetics shows them hailing from the Caucasus), then it stems from a common IE heritage, or subsequent expeditions. Last, there is not much difference between "gʷous" and "βοῦς/boûs" (Attic/Ionic) or "βῶς/bôs" (Doric), despite the fact that "gʷous" is a result of linguistic reconstruction, not attested anywhere, therefore theoretical.
 
When I read Cyrus' posts, I always wonder if there is anything and anyone in Europe that didn't start in Iran or has a direct connection with Iran, having come directly from there already with their defining characteristics (I could take it more seriously if he were just proposing that the earliest stage of PIE was spoken in North Iran, but it's clearly something much more recent than that, as late as the Iron Age, and that just can't be taken seriously without severely distorting or even ignoring the scientific evidences available, with a lot of wishful thinking)​.

This exactly.
 
First of all, you assume these are all IE names, when in fact could very well be pre-IE in origin, and therefore widespread as a result of non-IE people, if we even assume there is any common origin. After all, at least for "Mycenae" it has been one of the more prevalent hypotheses in regards to its official etymology, namely that of being pre-Greek. More about the pre-Greek substrate here, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Greek_substrate. By the way, this also falls in line with the genetic findings that proved that both Mycenaeans and Minoans largely derived their ancestry from earlier Neolithic populations, and were not simply new Bronze Age plantations in the region.

Second, Mycenaeans, namely Achaeans/Danaans/Argives, or in the Archaic/Classical eras Aeolians/Achaeans/Ionians were just a part of the proto-Greeks (along with the Dorians that were not Mycenaean) that first settled the region of northwestern Greece sometime between 3,000-2,200 BCE. They certainly didn't first come in the 2nd millennium BCE.
View attachment 11290

Then between 2,200-1,900 BCE the proto-Mycenaean tribe of the Minyans began its descent into central and southern Greece, as their Minyan ware attests,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minyan_ware.

Mycenaeans or any Greek tribe didn't migrate from north Iran. North Iran is totally nonexistent in Greek mythology. If there is any cultural similarity (which again i cannot really assess, since i am not really familiar with the region you refer to), then this can be as a result of common influence from some Transcaucasian/Eastern-Anatolian culture or cultures, such as the Kura-Araxes culture (3,600-2,300 BCE) which is largely thought of being a precursor to Anatolian IEs, along with some early Balkan people,
View attachment 11291
and the Hurrians (2,300-1,000 BCE) which are largely thought of being very close to the formation of Minoans per the very interesting linguistic research of Dr. Peter G. van Soesbergen,
https://minoanscript.nl/. Even their alternative Hurrian ethnonym "Khurrites" appears identical to the Greek Κουρήτες/Kourites, legendary inhabitants of Crete and Phrygia. Even the English translation of the word gives it as Cretans, https://translate.google.gr/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=en&text=%CE%9A%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%81%CE%AE%CF%84%CE%B5%CF%82. Hurrians were not Semites by the way, but related to the Northeast Caucasian people such as the Chechen and Ingush people, which top everyone in the world in terms of Y-DNA haplogroup J2a concentration, 57% and 88.8% respectively.
View attachment 11292
The earlier ancestors of Hurrians could have also been the source of the early CHG autosomal component that was found in both the Mycenaean and Minoan genetic samples.


I didn't make that connection between Crete and Hurrite but that's super interesting. There's also a theory that Artemis comes from Hurrians or Urartians.

I just wanted to point out that Hurro-Urartians were not related to the northern Caucasian peoples for sure. The theory is actually that the proto-Hurro-Urartians came from the South Caucasus (maybe as Kura-Araxes) and perhaps had contacts with Caucasian peoples. The connection between Hurro-Urartian and Northern Caucasian is likely overblown.

I like the Greco-Armenian theory modeled by Eric Hamp and others, which suggests that Armenian and Greek came from a Steppe derived population (perhaps Catacomb) and split off from one another in Georgia or NE Turkey (they might have separated before that, but stayed in the same relative area until the Greeks went west while Armenians stayed in the general Caucasus region). Perhaps Phrygian broke off at this time too.

There was some speculation that Alaca Hoyuk might not have been Anatolian related, but was Indo-European. Perhaps it was constructed by the Greeks on their way to the Western Anatolian coasts? If so, the separation of Armenian and Greek would have had to have occurred by 2400 BCE.

The Caucasus route for the proto-Greeks is supported by genetics, which is a big reason why I find it so attractive. Also, the fact that nearly identical grave goods were found in Mycenaean tombs and MBA Armenian (Trialeti-Vanadzor) tombs, suggesting at least trade contacts.

The Caucasus/Armenian connection is discussed here: https://images.nature.com/full/nature-assets/nature/journal/v548/n7666/extref/nature23310-s1.pdf

Are there any theories about what Ahhiyawa/Hiyawa/Achaean means? Could they be related to Armenian Haya/Hayo, which may come from this PIE *h₂éyos/*áyos (metal)?
 
I didn't make that connection between Crete and Hurrite but that's super interesting. There's also a theory that Artemis comes from Hurrians or Urartians.

I just wanted to point out that Hurro-Urartians were not related to the northern Caucasian peoples for sure. The theory is actually that the proto-Hurro-Urartians came from the South Caucasus (maybe as Kura-Araxes) and perhaps had contacts with Caucasian peoples. The connection between Hurro-Urartian and Northern Caucasian is likely overblown.

I like the Greco-Armenian theory modeled by Eric Hamp and others, which suggests that Armenian and Greek came from a Steppe derived population (perhaps Catacomb) and split off from one another in Georgia or NE Turkey (they might have separated before that, but stayed in the same relative area until the Greeks went west while Armenians stayed in the general Caucasus region). Perhaps Phrygian broke off at this time too.

There was some speculation that Alaca Hoyuk might not have been Anatolian related, but was Indo-European. Perhaps it was constructed by the Greeks on their way to the Western Anatolian coasts? If so, the separation of Armenian and Greek would have had to have occurred by 2400 BCE.

The Caucasus route for the proto-Greeks is supported by genetics, which is a big reason why I find it so attractive. Also, the fact that nearly identical grave goods were found in Mycenaean tombs and MBA Armenian (Trialeti-Vanadzor) tombs, suggesting at least trade contacts.

The Caucasus/Armenian connection is discussed here: https://images.nature.com/full/nature-assets/nature/journal/v548/n7666/extref/nature23310-s1.pdf

Are there any theories about what Ahhiyawa/Hiyawa/Achaean means? Could they be related to Armenian Haya/Hayo, which may come from this PIE *h₂éyos/*áyos (metal)?
Hurrian mythology includes a lot of volcanoes and lava giants as well, not so sure about Artemis though. The Hurro-Urartian homeland is considered to be around the lakes Van and Urmia, a very active volcanic region. The aforementioned volcanoes and lava giants bring to mind the Greek myth of Cabeiri, sons of Hephaestus, associated with metallurgy and the known mysteries. Also, according to an hymn of Callimachus, we also have Cyclopes (giants) that were Hephaestus' helpers at the forge. The Cyclopes were said to have built the "cyclopean" fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to their operations. By the way, the Greek word for volcano is "ηφαίστιο/hephaisteio", which is a cognate of the God "Ήφαιστος/Hephaestos". So you see, Hurrian mythology is not that much isolated after all. The Aegean that is associated with both Cabeiri and Cyclopes also had/has a lot of volcanoes, and at least one of the two aforementioned groups, namely the Cabeiri, we can associate with pre-Greek people. By the way, Cabeiri were associated in the past with Kourites, Telchines, and Korybantes as well.

Well, whether Hurro-Urartians were related to Northern Caucasians or not we cannot be certain at the moment. Further research is needed. But it is a hypothesis nonetheless. Again, i am not dogmatic about anything.

Regarding Graeco-Armenian, they are indeed related, but i find it more likely that the group ended up in the Balkans, and split there. Armenians (linguistically) appear to be related with an Iron Age Balkanic migration. Other than the obvious linguistic similarities, we also have ancient authors confirming this. Herodotus wrote that the Phrygians had originated as the Bryges of the Balkans, before migrating to western Anatolia and establishing the kingdom of Phrygia. After the collapse of the kingdom in the late 7th century BCE (following an invasion by Cimmerians), some of the Phrygians migrated eastward and settled in Armenia. We read specifically in Herodotus' "Histories" 7th Book, paragraph 73, "
The dress of the Phrygians closely resembled the Paphlagonian, only in a very few points differing from it. According to the Macedonian account, the Phrygians, during the time that they had their abode in Europe and dwelt with them in Macedonia, bore the name of Brygians; but on their removal to Asia, they changed their designation at the same time with their dwelling-place. The Armenians, who are Phrygian colonists, were armed in the Phrygian fashion. Both nations were under the command of Artochmes, who was married to one of the daughters of Darius.".

I am not so sure about Alaca Höyük, unless we go with an Anatolian (Renfrew) hypothesis for PIE, which i am not so fond of personally.

Actually genetics support a northern route more than a southern one, bearing in mind that the Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG) autosomal component that was found in Mycenaeans is absent from the Hittites and other Anatolian IEs. In any case, it's not rationally impossible to have had a southern route as well, and this is also written in the study, specifically "
However, the Mycenaeans differed from Minoans in deriving additional ancestry from an ultimate source related to the hunter-gatherers of eastern Europe and Siberia, introduced via a proximal source related to either the inhabitants of either the Eurasian steppe or Armenia.". Trade contacts between the Aegean and Transcaucasia were most certainly a phenomenon as i have written in a previous post. Here it is again. Have a look at these following articles, namely "The Maikop Copper Tools and Their Relationship to Cretan Metallurgy" by Philip P. Betancourt here, https://www.jstor.org/stable/503131 (you need to have a free account), as well as "Indications of Aegean-Caucasian relations during the third millennium BC" by Lorenz Rahmstorf here, https://www.academia.edu/1491114/Ind..._millennium_BC. I also found an interesting segment that relates in the following, namely "In search of the origins of metallurgy – An overview of South Caucasian evidence" (real origins of metallurgy can be traced to the central Balkans such as modern Serbia, not south Caucasus, but let's read on) by Mikheil Abramishvili here, https://www.academia.edu/3023029/Mik...asian_evidence. Specifically we read, "The second and the third phases of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture show exceptionally close relations with the Aegean and therefore deserve special emphasis. Although it is not a subject of this paper, I still want to emphasize that, besides archaeological facts, there are also linguistic data and mythological tales, which make it obvious that relations between South Caucasia and the Aegean existed in one way or another well before the Classical Period, and which reflect a historical reality. There should be no doubt that the Greeks were acquainted with South Caucasia since ancient times. The myth of the Argonauts, which describes the journey of Jason and other Greek heroes to the land of Colchis (a country rich in gold, according to Apollonius of Rhodes) and the myth of Prometheus, who was chained in the Caucasus Mountains by Hephaestus, the patron of smiths, would be sufficient to pose for historical consideration the question of South Caucasian-Aegean relations, in which metals apparently played a pre-eminent role. Although the Bronze Age period in the Black Sea area of western Georgia is fairly well-known, no material evidence has been discovered that proves there were contacts between this region and the Aegean. On the other hand, as I already mentioned, the Trialeti culture, which is spread throughout South Caucasia, demonstrates relations with this remote area. Therefore, I suggest that these relations were realized not along the Black Sea routes, but through eastern Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean. Interconnections between these regions coincide with the second and the third phases of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture, the end of the Middle Minoan period in the Aegean and the beginning of the Mycenaean Age on mainland Greece. The existence of ca. 1 m-long thrusting bronze swords with high midribs, so-called rapiers, in South Caucasia (Fig. 2,15) and the Aegean is the most striking evidence for relations between the two regions. The rapiers of South Caucasia come from contexts of artefacts that belong to the second phase of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture, thus predating even the earliest (A-type) longswords of the Aegean that we know from the ruins of the first palace of Mallia, thus ascribing them either to the end of Middle Minoan II or to the beginning of Middle Minoan IIIB. Furthermore, South Caucasian rapiers have their prototype in the first phase of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture. The sword from Saduga Kurgan 2 in East Georgia has similar morphological characteristics (except for its length) and is considered as a prototype of South Caucasian rapiers.". This is just a sample, if you read the others as well you understand of these relations between the Caucasus and the Aegean possibly going as far back as 3,000 BCE, and even earlier. But again, this doesn't necessarily suggest that the proto-Greeks had taken a southern route. I am mostly sharing this to show that relations were strong and early. Proto-Greeks could have taken a northern route, settled in north-western Greece, and then began following the same example as their fellow Minoans had done even earlier.

Last "Achaeans" and its Hittite/Egyptian cognates, are most likely associated with the water element. So does the other common ethnonym of the Mycenaean Greeks, "Danaans". For "Achaeans" specifically, we can trace its root word to the Greek rivers of Acheloos and Acheron, which by the way are two of the three main rivers in the proto-Greek region, namely the Pindus mountain range of north-western Greece. The third river is "Aoös" (which could also be related but also maybe not). The same Indo-European root word also gave rise to Latin "aqua" (water). One other interesting fact, is that in the "Geography" of Strabo we find a Scythian tribe/region named "Achaei" in the north-western Caucasus, which by the way is how the Greek "Achaeans" is also pronounced in Greek, namely "Αχαιοί/Achaei". These Scythians were also related to the water element, since they lived by robberies at sea. Specifically it is found in Book 11, Chapter 2 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11B*.html). Here is also a map which is based on Strabo's description.
Brue,_Adrien_Hubert,_Asie-Mineure,_Armenie,_Syrie,_Mesopotamie,_Caucase._1839._(BA).jpg

In any case, later he also mentions an account that says that the name is traced to the expedition of Jason and his Argonauts, when he had visited the region of Colchis to steal/bring-back the "Golden Fleece", but this is not certain.
As for the ethnonym "Danaans", which in Greek is "Δαναοί/Danaoi-Danai", this is as well related to the water element. The root word "danu" can be found throughout the Indo-European world. For example, look at the water goddesses Danu (Hindu), Dewi Danu (Balinese Hindus), Danu (Irish), Don (Welsh), etc.. As a word for water, "danu" is compared to Avestan "dānu" (river), Scythian "danu" (water and river), Ossetian "don/dan" (water), and further to steppe river names like Don, Donets, Danube, Dneiper, Dniestr, etc.. There is also a Danu river in Nepal. In short, "danu" is found in relation to water, throughout the whole Indo-European world, with an interesting concentration in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which is where the Indo-European migrations most likely began from.
 
When I read Cyrus' posts, I always wonder if there is anything and anyone in Europe that didn't start in Iran or has a direct connection with Iran, having come directly from there already with their defining characteristics (I could take it more seriously if he were just proposing that the earliest stage of PIE was spoken in North Iran, but it's clearly something much more recent than that, as late as the Iron Age, and that just can't be taken seriously without severely distorting or even ignoring the scientific evidences available, with a lot of wishful thinking)​.

As I said in my previous, I don't believe that the same European culture existed in Iran but a proto-Culture which was probably closer to proto-IE existed here.
The important point is that when we say Iran was the original land of Indo-Europeans, it doesn't mean that all IE people migrated from a region in the center of this country. There were certainly early migrations to different parts of Iran or neighborhood lands and then India, Europe,...
 
How do you link Mazandaran or Mazania to Mycenae? Sound similarity alone or is there something else? The two words do not even sound very similar in fact, because Ancient Greek would have Mycenae being pronounced [mykenaj] (in IPA transcription), and one would really have to suspend one's disbelief to think that, without any other evidence, that's so obviously a cognate of [mazandaran] or even [mazanja].

I actually link Mazania to Mukania, an ancient land in the north of Iran which has been mentioned in Akkadian sources, the name of Mycenae in the ancient Greek was also the same Μυκῆναι. I think you know about sound changes in IE languages, for example Avestan zereda "hearh" is cognate with Greek kardia.
 
Hurrian mythology includes a lot of volcanoes and lava giants as well, not so sure about Artemis though. The Hurro-Urartian homeland is considered to be around the lakes Van and Urmia, a very active volcanic region. The aforementioned volcanoes and lava giants bring to mind the Greek myth of Cabeiri, sons of Hephaestus, associated with metallurgy and the known mysteries. Also, according to an hymn of Callimachus, we also have Cyclopes (giants) that were Hephaestus' helpers at the forge. The Cyclopes were said to have built the "cyclopean" fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to their operations. By the way, the Greek word for volcano is "ηφαίστιο/hephaisteio", which is a cognate of the God "Ήφαιστος/Hephaestos". So you see, Hurrian mythology is not that much isolated after all. The Aegean that is associated with both Cabeiri and Cyclopes also had/has a lot of volcanoes, and at least one of the two aforementioned groups, namely the Cabeiri, we can associate with pre-Greek people. By the way, Cabeiri were associated in the past with Kourites, Telchines, and Korybantes as well.

Well, whether Hurro-Urartians were related to Northern Caucasians or not we cannot be certain at the moment. Further research is needed. But it is a hypothesis nonetheless. Again, i am not dogmatic about anything.

Regarding Graeco-Armenian, they are indeed related, but i find it more likely that the group ended up in the Balkans, and split there. Armenians (linguistically) appear to be related with an Iron Age Balkanic migration. Other than the obvious linguistic similarities, we also have ancient authors confirming this. Herodotus wrote that the Phrygians had originated as the Bryges of the Balkans, before migrating to western Anatolia and establishing the kingdom of Phrygia. After the collapse of the kingdom in the late 7th century BCE (following an invasion by Cimmerians), some of the Phrygians migrated eastward and settled in Armenia. We read specifically in Herodotus' "Histories" 7th Book, paragraph 73, "
The dress of the Phrygians closely resembled the Paphlagonian, only in a very few points differing from it. According to the Macedonian account, the Phrygians, during the time that they had their abode in Europe and dwelt with them in Macedonia, bore the name of Brygians; but on their removal to Asia, they changed their designation at the same time with their dwelling-place. The Armenians, who are Phrygian colonists, were armed in the Phrygian fashion. Both nations were under the command of Artochmes, who was married to one of the daughters of Darius.".

I am not so sure about Alaca Höyük, unless we go with an Anatolian (Renfrew) hypothesis for PIE, which i am not so fond of personally.

Actually genetics support a northern route more than a southern one, bearing in mind that the Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHG) autosomal component that was found in Mycenaeans is absent from the Hittites and other Anatolian IEs. In any case, it's not rationally impossible to have had a southern route as well, and this is also written in the study, specifically "
However, the Mycenaeans differed from Minoans in deriving additional ancestry from an ultimate source related to the hunter-gatherers of eastern Europe and Siberia, introduced via a proximal source related to either the inhabitants of either the Eurasian steppe or Armenia.". Trade contacts between the Aegean and Transcaucasia were most certainly a phenomenon as i have written in a previous post. Here it is again. Have a look at these following articles, namely "The Maikop Copper Tools and Their Relationship to Cretan Metallurgy" by Philip P. Betancourt here, https://www.jstor.org/stable/503131 (you need to have a free account), as well as "Indications of Aegean-Caucasian relations during the third millennium BC" by Lorenz Rahmstorf here, https://www.academia.edu/1491114/Ind..._millennium_BC. I also found an interesting segment that relates in the following, namely "In search of the origins of metallurgy – An overview of South Caucasian evidence" (real origins of metallurgy can be traced to the central Balkans such as modern Serbia, not south Caucasus, but let's read on) by Mikheil Abramishvili here, https://www.academia.edu/3023029/Mik...asian_evidence. Specifically we read, "The second and the third phases of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture show exceptionally close relations with the Aegean and therefore deserve special emphasis. Although it is not a subject of this paper, I still want to emphasize that, besides archaeological facts, there are also linguistic data and mythological tales, which make it obvious that relations between South Caucasia and the Aegean existed in one way or another well before the Classical Period, and which reflect a historical reality. There should be no doubt that the Greeks were acquainted with South Caucasia since ancient times. The myth of the Argonauts, which describes the journey of Jason and other Greek heroes to the land of Colchis (a country rich in gold, according to Apollonius of Rhodes) and the myth of Prometheus, who was chained in the Caucasus Mountains by Hephaestus, the patron of smiths, would be sufficient to pose for historical consideration the question of South Caucasian-Aegean relations, in which metals apparently played a pre-eminent role. Although the Bronze Age period in the Black Sea area of western Georgia is fairly well-known, no material evidence has been discovered that proves there were contacts between this region and the Aegean. On the other hand, as I already mentioned, the Trialeti culture, which is spread throughout South Caucasia, demonstrates relations with this remote area. Therefore, I suggest that these relations were realized not along the Black Sea routes, but through eastern Anatolia and the eastern Mediterranean. Interconnections between these regions coincide with the second and the third phases of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture, the end of the Middle Minoan period in the Aegean and the beginning of the Mycenaean Age on mainland Greece. The existence of ca. 1 m-long thrusting bronze swords with high midribs, so-called rapiers, in South Caucasia (Fig. 2,15) and the Aegean is the most striking evidence for relations between the two regions. The rapiers of South Caucasia come from contexts of artefacts that belong to the second phase of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture, thus predating even the earliest (A-type) longswords of the Aegean that we know from the ruins of the first palace of Mallia, thus ascribing them either to the end of Middle Minoan II or to the beginning of Middle Minoan IIIB. Furthermore, South Caucasian rapiers have their prototype in the first phase of the Trialeti Middle Bronze Age Culture. The sword from Saduga Kurgan 2 in East Georgia has similar morphological characteristics (except for its length) and is considered as a prototype of South Caucasian rapiers.". This is just a sample, if you read the others as well you understand of these relations between the Caucasus and the Aegean possibly going as far back as 3,000 BCE, and even earlier. But again, this doesn't necessarily suggest that the proto-Greeks had taken a southern route. I am mostly sharing this to show that relations were strong and early. Proto-Greeks could have taken a northern route, settled in north-western Greece, and then began following the same example as their fellow Minoans had done even earlier.

Last "Achaeans" and its Hittite/Egyptian cognates, are most likely associated with the water element. So does the other common ethnonym of the Mycenaean Greeks, "Danaans". For "Achaeans" specifically, we can trace its root word to the Greek rivers of Acheloos and Acheron, which by the way are two of the three main rivers in the proto-Greek region, namely the Pindus mountain range of north-western Greece. The third river is "Aoös" (which could also be related but also maybe not). The same Indo-European root word also gave rise to Latin "aqua" (water). One other interesting fact, is that in the "Geography" of Strabo we find a Scythian tribe/region named "Achaei" in the north-western Caucasus, which by the way is how the Greek "Achaeans" is also pronounced in Greek, namely "Αχαιοί/Achaei". These Scythians were also related to the water element, since they lived by robberies at sea. Specifically it is found in Book 11, Chapter 2 (http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/11B*.html). Here is also a map which is based on Strabo's description.
View attachment 11303
In any case, later he also mentions an account that says that the name is traced to the expedition of Jason and his Argonauts, when he had visited the region of Colchis to steal/bring-back the "Golden Fleece", but this is not certain.
As for the ethnonym "Danaans", which in Greek is "Δαναοί/Danaoi-Danai", this is as well related to the water element. The root word "danu" can be found throughout the Indo-European world. For example, look at the water goddesses Danu (Hindu), Dewi Danu (Balinese Hindus), Danu (Irish), Don (Welsh), etc.. As a word for water, "danu" is compared to Avestan "dānu" (river), Scythian "danu" (water and river), Ossetian "don/dan" (water), and further to steppe river names like Don, Donets, Danube, Dneiper, Dniestr, etc.. There is also a Danu river in Nepal. In short, "danu" is found in relation to water, throughout the whole Indo-European world, with an interesting concentration in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, which is where the Indo-European migrations most likely began from.

Some very fascinating stuff, indeed. Thanks for the great write-up.

Firstly, I just felt the need to clarify the Hurro-Urartian/NE Caucasian connection because I feel that there has been a lot of misrepresentation of that due to nationalism. I do think Wikipedia is at least partially to blame.

As for the Balkan model of Armenian migration, I have a lot of issues with it. If it did occur, it would have had to have been during or before the Bronze Age Collapse (which is what Diakonoff suggests). But, besides Herodotus (and maybe Strabo?) there's no mention of Armenians coming from the Balkans. It doesn't exist in Armenian legends, it doesn't exist in the genetic input from the time in question (supposedly the Armenian ethnogenesis concluded by 1200 BCE according to the Nature genetic study from a few years ago), and the pottery culture doesn't support an expansion from the west reaching anywhere near Armenia (so if they came from the west and expanded further east than Cappodocia, which they would have had to have done, they would have had to adopt a new pottery style fairly quickly). Herodotus himself relies on clothing or weaponry as evidence of a Phrygian connection, but it seems that some of these conventions were widespread in greater Anatolia at the time. Additionally, Herodotus also claims that the Persians and Medes come from Perseus and Madea (?), which could mean that he asserted the Iranians came from Greeks too, something that no modern scholars believe.

There was an expansion FROM the South Caucasus into the interior of modern Turkey (at least as far as Elazig) during the Bronze Age Collapse, as well as significant settlement from this eastern population (with estimates of up to 50% of an increase in South Caucasus-derived populations into Turkey). According to the Assyrians, these Caucasian migrants were the Urumu (which could be read as Arama, suggesting an Armenian element), Mushki (likely Indo-European, this is the group that Diakonoff connected to the Proto-Armenians), and the Kaskas (possibly Hattic or Caucasian). These groups settled in lands that would form the nexus of Armenian culture some centuries later. People tend to focus on the western ceramic ware (the so-called "Phrygian" ceramics) but don't pay attention to the "Transcaucasian" ceramic ware.

Genetics suggests that the Mycenaeans were Minoans+a probable Indo-European element from MLBA Armenia (as in the study I linked in my previous post). It would stand to reason then that since the Mycenaeans were IE (whereas the Minoans were not) that their Indo-European language was likely introduced by the Armenian-like people, and since the Armenian and Greek languages are connected, that the Armenian language was being spoken in Armenia by this time as well (probably in the Trialeti-Vanadzor Culture), which is Hamp's model (although he doesn't specify Trialeti-Vanadzor as Proto-Armenian).

Personally, I think it was something like Catacomb=Armenian/Greek/Phrygian/possibly Balkanic. Armenians/Greeks/Phrygians went south (Pontic Indo European=Greco-Armenians). Paleo-Balkanics may have gone north or south. Armenians/Greeks/Phrygians (and I suppose Macedonians if they were indeed a separate language and not a Greek dialect) broke off in the Caucasus or NE Turkey somewhere with Armenians remaining, Greeks/Macedonians moving westward, and Phrygians moving westward with the Greeks/Macedonians, but not as far west, the Phrygians would have stopped in Cappodocia or Troy.

This article explains what I'm talking about well:

http://smea.isma.cnr.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Kossian_The-Mushki-problem-Reconsidered.pdf

Hamp's model (see page 13):

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp239_indo_european_languages.pdf

On Artemis:

https://pies.ucla.edu/IESV/1/VVI_Horse.pdf
 
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About "White Devil" in Mazandaran: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Div-e_Sepid

It is written in the Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society that the struggle between Rostam and the white demon represents a struggle between Persians and invaders from the north, from the Caspian provinces.[3]

The Div Sefid is believed by Joseph J. Reed to have been a northern prince.[4] Warner believes that he is a personification of the Mazandaranians, who by their climate are an unhealthy pale colour.[5] Some scholars hold the opinion that these divs of Mazandaran are merely wild people of the forest.[6] Others are of the opinion that they are a group of enemy kings of ancient Mazandaran (which might have been different from its modern location) and Tabaristan.[7] Alexander Krappe theorized that Ahriman himself was believed to have white skin.[8] P. Molesworth Sykes believes that the name "White Div" represents a white nation.[9]

According to one source Zal spoke of the horrid race of white-skinned people.[10] This however contradicts with the fact that Zal was an albino himself [11]
 
I should also add, Kossian suggests that the Transcaucasian ceramic ware (dated to the expansion of the Urumu/Mushki/Kaskas) was derived from the Trialeti-Vanadzor ceramic culture.

While the western pottery ware is called "Phrygian" there's actually no reason to believe that it was connected to the Phrygians specifically.

For some reason, Hamp suggests that Phrygian was NW Indo Euro related to Galatian (Celtic). I don't know enough about this to form my own opinion. McQueen believed that Phrygians were Anatolians, possibly closely related to Luwian. It seems that the most mainstream modern consensus is that Phrygian is closer to Greek than anything else.

Here's a paper by a Greek scholar who refutes Herodotus' claims and asserts that Phrygians were natives to Anatolia.

https://www.academia.edu/4580510/The_Mushki_Phrygian_problem_from_the_Near_Eastern_point_of_view
 
As I said in my previous, I don't believe that the same European culture existed in Iran but a proto-Culture which was probably closer to proto-IE existed here.
The important point is that when we say Iran was the original land of Indo-Europeans, it doesn't mean that all IE people migrated from a region in the center of this country. There were certainly early migrations to different parts of Iran or neighborhood lands and then India, Europe,...

But this is basically what the modern consensus is though. This is what Reich has argued. This is what I think Wang has argued, if I remember correctly. I also think that this is what Damgaard et al argued. You're the one that has been arguing that Germanics, Greeks, Celts, and Balto-Slavics, as distinct languages and cultures, originated in Iran. You argued--quite matter-of-factly--that the Kassites were Slavic Indo Euros, even though the general consensus is that they were a language isolate, perhaps with a pre-split Indo-Iranian or Indic superstratum of sorts (much like Mitanni). If the "pure" Kassite language was connected with anything directly, it's thought that it was Hurro-Urartian. You've also dismissed that Indo-Iranian languages originated in Europe.

And you've written off Armenian, which has an actual (albeit indirect) documented presence in at least the Urmia area of Iran for at least 2300 years (unlike Germanic, Celtic, Slavic, etc) suggesting that a) ancient Armenians were not the same as modern Armenians and b) that Armenian was either some minor "village language" from Armanum or descendants of Alexander's Greek mercenaries.

You cannot act innocent and moderate when confronted with criticism when there is a record of what you've said in other threads. "Oh, I was just misunderstood! I believe in the Steppe theory! I merely was arguing for the Pre-Proto-Indo European theory!" isn't going to fly, it's a total misrepresentation of the arguments that you have posited in other threads, including your own various threads.
 
Some very fascinating stuff, indeed. Thanks for the great write-up.

Firstly, I just felt the need to clarify the Hurro-Urartian/NE Caucasian connection because I feel that there has been a lot of misrepresentation of that due to nationalism. I do think Wikipedia is at least partially to blame.

As for the Balkan model of Armenian migration, I have a lot of issues with it. If it did occur, it would have had to have been during or before the Bronze Age Collapse (which is what Diakonoff suggests). But, besides Herodotus (and maybe Strabo?) there's no mention of Armenians coming from the Balkans. It doesn't exist in Armenian legends, it doesn't exist in the genetic input from the time in question (supposedly the Armenian ethnogenesis concluded by 1200 BCE according to the Nature genetic study from a few years ago), and the pottery culture doesn't support an expansion from the west reaching anywhere near Armenia (so if they came from the west and expanded further east than Cappodocia, which they would have had to have done, they would have had to adopt a new pottery style fairly quickly). Herodotus himself relies on clothing or weaponry as evidence of a Phrygian connection, but it seems that some of these conventions were widespread in greater Anatolia at the time. Additionally, Herodotus also claims that the Persians and Medes come from Perseus and Madea (?), which could mean that he asserted the Iranians came from Greeks too, something that no modern scholars believe.

There was an expansion FROM the South Caucasus into the interior of modern Turkey (at least as far as Elazig) during the Bronze Age Collapse, as well as significant settlement from this eastern population (with estimates of up to 50% of an increase in South Caucasus-derived populations into Turkey). According to the Assyrians, these Caucasian migrants were the Urumu (which could be read as Arama, suggesting an Armenian element), Mushki (likely Indo-European, this is the group that Diakonoff connected to the Proto-Armenians), and the Kaskas (possibly Hattic or Caucasian). These groups settled in lands that would form the nexus of Armenian culture some centuries later. People tend to focus on the western ceramic ware (the so-called "Phrygian" ceramics) but don't pay attention to the "Transcaucasian" ceramic ware.

Genetics suggests that the Mycenaeans were Minoans+a probable Indo-European element from MLBA Armenia (as in the study I linked in my previous post). It would stand to reason then that since the Mycenaeans were IE (whereas the Minoans were not) that their Indo-European language was likely introduced by the Armenian-like people, and since the Armenian and Greek languages are connected, that the Armenian language was being spoken in Armenia by this time as well (probably in the Trialeti-Vanadzor Culture), which is Hamp's model (although he doesn't specify Trialeti-Vanadzor as Proto-Armenian).

Personally, I think it was something like Catacomb=Armenian/Greek/Phrygian/possibly Balkanic. Armenians/Greeks/Phrygians went south (Pontic Indo European=Greco-Armenians). Paleo-Balkanics may have gone north or south. Armenians/Greeks/Phrygians (and I suppose Macedonians if they were indeed a separate language and not a Greek dialect) broke off in the Caucasus or NE Turkey somewhere with Armenians remaining, Greeks/Macedonians moving westward, and Phrygians moving westward with the Greeks/Macedonians, but not as far west, the Phrygians would have stopped in Cappodocia or Troy.

This article explains what I'm talking about well:

http://smea.isma.cnr.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Kossian_The-Mushki-problem-Reconsidered.pdf

Hamp's model (see page 13):

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp239_indo_european_languages.pdf

On Artemis:

https://pies.ucla.edu/IESV/1/VVI_Horse.pdf
Regardind Hurro-Urartian/NE-Caucasian these are still all very hypothetical, but yet again, it wouldn't be so overwhelming to consider a relationship between the two. The proto-Northeast Caucasian language had many terms for agriculture, and Johanna Nichols has suggested that its speakers may have been involved in the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, and only later moved north to the Caucasus. Proto-Northeast Caucasian is reconstructed with words for concepts such as yoke, as well as fruit trees such as apple and pear, that suggest agriculture was well developed before the proto-language broke up.

Regarding the Armenian migration, i am open to all scenarios, again nothing dogmatic about my way of thinking. Concerning the accounts of Herodotus he might not be referring directly to an Armenian migration from the Balkans, but that's what he indirectly writes in a couple of sentences. He says that Phrygians were originally Brygians, which by the way we did have in the Balkans even in the Classical period. And that then sometime during the late 7th century BCE some Phrygians migrated eastwards and colonized Armenia. The change of the name isn't that all strange, bearing in mind that even the Macedonians who used to dwell together with them in Macedon, had this peculiarity of changing Φ/Ph to Β, and back forth. For example the local Macedonians didn't say "Φίλιππος/Philippos" but "Βίλιππος/Bilippos", or "Φερενίκη/Pherenike" but "Βερενίκη/Berenike", or "κεφαλή/kephali" (head) but"κεβαλή/kebali" (head), etc.. Now, all these don't mean to suggest there were no earlier IE and non-IE people living in Armenia which they eventually might have mixed with the new migrants coming from the West, contributing to the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. Every scenario is on, especially in the case of Transcaucasia. By the way, Herodotus doesn't rely on clothing to write all these. First of all, the clothing relation that is recorded pertains to Phrygians and Paphlagonians. The Armenian record he gives is based on accounts of people he had interviewed OR even broader historical knowledge of the time. As for the Medes and Persians, well this is based on a folk etymology most likely. Herodotus did write a lot of stuff, some were most likely not historically accurate. He was the first to try and write objectively, therefore considered the father of history, but in reality this title belongs more faithfully to Thucydides, which in return is considered the father of scientific history, because of his approach of evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the deities. He is also considered the father of political realism. In the end, Herodotus simply gives us a window to look from in his period. It's our job to assess the information and try and complement it with other possible evidence from other fields of science.

Regarding Urumu and in general cognates of Armenia, well it's what i have written above. I am not suggesting that Armenians were full new western plantations in the region. They are obviously related to other local people as well. Don't forget the non-IE Hurro-Urartians which Urumu is traced to .
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%90%8E%A0%F0%90%8E%BC%F0%90%8E%B7%F0%90%8E%A1%F0%90%8E%B4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arame_of_Urartu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shupria
The same situation is true with the proto-Greeks. They came and mixed with the earlier Neolithic people sometime between 3,000-2,200 BCE, and then even possibly absorbing some Anatolian IEs that were present in the Aegean and on the mainland when they began movin
g in central and southern Greece during the 2,200-1,900 BCE.

Regarding Mycenaeans being related to Minoans it doesn't suggest they were Minoans. They were simply related people of the broader region of the Aegean. The same relation is true for the Bronze Age western Anatolians. Their basic relation is that they all had inherited the local Neolithic ancestry. And besides the study does genetically differentiate Mycenaeans from Minoans by stressing that they also processed EHG ancestry, specifically 4-16% approximately, and even more specifically for each sample, 4.4%, 5.2%, 6.5%, 13,3%, and 16.1%. Minoan samples are in the range of 0.1-0.4%. Furthermore, again take note that even though Mycenaean Greeks had this considerable EHG component, Hittite and Anatolian IE tested samples didn't. In fact none south of the Caucasus had it during this Bronze Age period. Have a read of this related study presenting Anatolian samples from different periods, "The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia." (http://www.nielsenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/science.aar7711.full_.pdf), as well as the Bronze Age Anatolian samples of the "Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5565772/) study. Also have a look at the "The genetic prehistory of the Greater Caucasus" (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2018/05/16/322347.full.pdf) study. There is no Steppe DNA among the pre-Iron Age Anatolian/Transcaucasian samples, in all studies we have till now. That is a big issue that we must seriously consider if we are to draw a realistic map for the Indo-European migrations.

Last, i am aware of Eric Hamp's hypothesis but i am not very fond of it. He even suggests that Greek presence in Pamphylia and Cyprus appeared around the same time it also did for mainland Greece, which goes against the historical, mythological, archaeological material we have relating to Cyprus and not just Pamphylia but southern Anatolia in general. Again, we would also need to see identical to Mycenaean steppe ancestry likewise for the Anatolian Bronze samples, something which hasn't been seen till now. As for the Ivanov paper, i will look into it.
 
Regardind Hurro-Urartian/NE-Caucasian these are still all very hypothetical, but yet again, it wouldn't be so overwhelming to consider a relationship between the two. The proto-Northeast Caucasian language had many terms for agriculture, and Johanna Nichols has suggested that its speakers may have been involved in the development of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent, and only later moved north to the Caucasus. Proto-Northeast Caucasian is reconstructed with words for concepts such as yoke, as well as fruit trees such as apple and pear, that suggest agriculture was well developed before the proto-language broke up.

Regarding the Armenian migration, i am open to all scenarios, again nothing dogmatic about my way of thinking. Concerning the accounts of Herodotus he might not be referring directly to an Armenian migration from the Balkans, but that's what he indirectly writes in a couple of sentences. He says that Phrygians were originally Brygians, which by the way we did have in the Balkans even in the Classical period. And that then sometime during the late 7th century BCE some Phrygians migrated eastwards and colonized Armenia. The change of the name isn't that all strange, bearing in mind that even the Macedonians who used to dwell together with them in Macedon, had this peculiarity of changing Φ/Ph to Β, and back forth. For example the local Macedonians didn't say "Φίλιππος/Philippos" but "Βίλιππος/Bilippos", or "Φερενίκη/Pherenike" but "Βερενίκη/Berenike", or "κεφαλή/kephali" (head) but"κεβαλή/kebali" (head), etc.. Now, all these don't mean to suggest there were no earlier IE and non-IE people living in Armenia which they eventually might have mixed with the new migrants coming from the West, contributing to the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. Every scenario is on, especially in the case of Transcaucasia. By the way, Herodotus doesn't rely on clothing to write all these. First of all, the clothing relation that is recorded pertains to Phrygians and Paphlagonians. The Armenian record he gives is based on accounts of people he had interviewed OR even broader historical knowledge of the time. As for the Medes and Persians, well this is based on a folk etymology most likely. Herodotus did write a lot of stuff, some were most likely not historically accurate. He was the first to try and write objectively, therefore considered the father of history, but in reality this title belongs more faithfully to Thucydides, which in return is considered the father of scientific history, because of his approach of evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the deities. He is also considered the father of political realism. In the end, Herodotus simply gives us a window to look from in his period. It's our job to assess the information and try and complement it with other possible evidence from other fields of science.

Regarding Urumu and in general cognates of Armenia, well it's what i have written above. I am not suggesting that Armenians were full new western plantations in the region. They are obviously related to other local people as well. Don't forget the non-IE Hurro-Urartians which Urumu is traced to .
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%90%8E%A0%F0%90%8E%BC%F0%90%8E%B7%F0%90%8E%A1%F0%90%8E%B4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arame_of_Urartu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shupria
The same situation is true with the proto-Greeks. They came and mixed with the earlier Neolithic people sometime between 3,000-2,200 BCE, and then even possibly absorbing some Anatolian IEs that were present in the Aegean and on the mainland when they began movin
g in central and southern Greece during the 2,200-1,900 BCE.

Regarding Mycenaeans being related to Minoans it doesn't suggest they were Minoans. They were simply related people of the broader region of the Aegean. The same relation is true for the Bronze Age western Anatolians. Their basic relation is that they all had inherited the local Neolithic ancestry. And besides the study does genetically differentiate Mycenaeans from Minoans by stressing that they also processed EHG ancestry, specifically 4-16% approximately, and even more specifically for each sample, 4.4%, 5.2%, 6.5%, 13,3%, and 16.1%. Minoan samples are in the range of 0.1-0.4%. Furthermore, again take note that even though Mycenaean Greeks had this considerable EHG component, Hittite and Anatolian IE tested samples didn't. In fact none south of the Caucasus had it during this Bronze Age period. Have a read of this related study presenting Anatolian samples from different periods, "The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia." (http://www.nielsenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/science.aar7711.full_.pdf), as well as the Bronze Age Anatolian samples of the "Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5565772/) study. Also have a look at the "The genetic prehistory of the Greater Caucasus" (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2018/05/16/322347.full.pdf) study. There is no Steppe DNA among the pre-Iron Age Anatolian/Transcaucasian samples, in all studies we have till now. That is a big issue that we must seriously consider if we are to draw a realistic map for the Indo-European migrations.

Last, i am aware of Eric Hamp's hypothesis but i am not very fond of it. He even suggests that Greek presence in Pamphylia and Cyprus appeared around the same time it also did for mainland Greece, which goes against the historical, mythological, archaeological material we have relating to Cyprus and not just Pamphylia but southern Anatolia in general. Again, we would also need to see identical to Mycenaean steppe ancestry likewise for the Anatolian Bronze samples, something which hasn't been seen till now. As for the Ivanov paper, i will look into it.

I think that there is a connection between Hurro-Urartian and NE Caucasian in a broad sense. I think its very possible (and even probable, if Kura-Araxes was proto-Hurro-Urartian and also if the Urartians made it as far as Karabakh and Javakh and encountered Lezgins) that these people interacted with one another. I also think that it's possible that there was a genetic relationship between Hurro-Urartian, Indo-European, and various Caucasian languages 5000+ years ago. But at the same time, I wanted to underscore that Hurro-Urartian is not a direct ancestor/relative of languages like Chechen, which is a common misconception/misrepresentation of the HU/NE Caucasian theory.

The Phrygians did not call themselves Phrygians though. We don't know what they called themselves. That seems to be the name that the Greeks applied to them. Perhaps this exonym is related to the root of Bryges (I've seen this explained as meaning "hill people" or something along those lines) without the peoples being directly connected. Herodotus says, "the Armenians were equipped like the Phrygians, being Phrygian colonists," which is why I assumed he was referring to clothing. I do think that there were Phrygians who settled in the vicinity of Armenia, but I do not believe that they brought the Armenian language or that Armenians are an offshoot of them. I do think that at least the Eastern Mushki were connected to Armenians in some way, perhaps they spoke a now extinct Armenic language.

I'm familiar with Arama, etc. I think that Arama is an Armenian name and that the Urartian king Arame might have been from an Armenian tribe (Arame lived in the 9th century BCE, well after Armenians would have entered according to most contemporary models). This name has been theorized as being of Indo-European origins, related to Rama, possibly related to Romulus. Arme (in the sense of Shupria) could be connected to Armenian or it could be connected to Anatolian (as stated by Damgaard et al.), I'm not too keen on a non-Indo Euro connection for this name. Urumu (the tribe) is mentioned in conjunction with the Mushki (a people may or may not have been Phrygians). Anyway, the king of the Mushki was named Mita, which is accepted as an Indo-European name. "Mushki" is likely some sort of Indo-European name with an Armenian plural suffix (ki/k).

From the Biorvix paper that you linked:
Perceiving the Caucasus as an occasional bridge rather than a strict border during the Eneolithic and Bronze Age opens up the possibility of a homeland of PIE south of the Caucasus, which itself provides a parsimonious explanation for an early branching off of Anatolian languages. Geographically this would also work for Armenian and Greek, for which genetic data also supports an eastern influence from Anatolia or the southern Caucasus.

Trialeti-Vanadzor is often theorized as being an Indo-European culture, as are some of the other "Armenian" cultures from that time (starting around 2300-2200 BCE), for example Verin/Nerkin Navers. These people buried their dead in kurgans, sacrificed genetically Steppe-derived horses, and left ceramic ware with images of spoked chariot wheels decorating them. Additionally, their burial practices are in line with hero burials in Armenian legends. There are three options for who these people were a) Armenian b) Anatolian IE or c) some culture that died off without leaving any records. And again, the Transcaucasian ceramic ware is, according to Kossian, a descendent/progression of the Trialeti ceramic ware. A post 1200 BCE migration of the Armenian language, especially one as late as the 700s BCE, doesn't fit with the ethnogenetic model of Armenians (https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2015206), nor does it explain the early contacts between Armenian and Urartian or Armenian and Caucasian languages, both of which are widely accepted. For example, there are likely numerous loanwords from Armenian into Urartian from the Urartian language's first attestations in the 800s BCE. Direct Akkadian loans into Armenian is also suggestive of an earlier Armenian presence in Armenia/Urartu.

As for the Minoans and Mycenaeans, fair point. Perhaps what I should say is pre-Indo-European Minoan-like "native" peoples+(Indo-European?) LMBA Armenian-like people=Mycenaeans.

Why is it that as far as Iranian go, Herodotus relied on "folk etymologies" as an explanation for the origins of Iranians--an explanation we have long known is hogwash--but with Armenian he relied on "interviews" and "broader historical knowledge of the time"? Don't you think that's a little bit of a double standard? Armenian, unlike Iranian, does not have 86 languages in its family to compare and contrast, or 2300 years of written records, or another accepted close language family with a long written tradition (Indic) so that makes tracing its origins significantly more difficult. If Armenian did, it might be clear whether Herodotus actually relied on interviews and historical knowledge or if he relied on "folk etymologies" like he did with Iranian. The fact that he connected Iranians to Greek origins should call into question his historical credibility, at least as far as the origins of ethnic groups go.
 
Plus, you have both the Armenian endonym (Hay=Hayasa) and exonym (Urumu and other similar names=(?) Aram, etc) represented in the Armenia-region well before the 700s BCE. Hayasa from the 16th century to the 13th century BCE, with names the reflect some Armenian names like gods Unag-Astuas, Baltaik, some city names such as Ura, and kings' names Hakkana (which has been connected to Armenian Hayk/Hayka (patriarch) and Luwian Huhaha (grandfather)), Karanni (Kar? Karen? This has also been connected to Greek Karannos and Macedonian Caranus). The city of Samukha, on the border of Hayasa and the Hatti lands, is theorized as having contributed to Somkheti, the Georgian exnonym for Armenians.

So, with all due respect, I think a 700 BCE migration of Armenians into Armenia is really only possible with a considerable amount of mental gymnastics, no offense.

Because of all this I believe the southern route of Greek migration (Hamp's model).
 
I actually link Mazania to Mukania, an ancient land in the north of Iran which has been mentioned in Akkadian sources, the name of Mycenae in the ancient Greek was also the same Μυκῆναι. I think you know about sound changes in IE languages, for example Avestan zereda "hearh" is cognate with Greek kardia.

Ah, now that sounds more interesting to be investigated, particularly because a southern route of dispersion for Graeco-Armenian cannot be ruled out. In any case, the Mukania > Mazania change just does not make sense ifit assumes that the change to Indo-Iranian languages only happened much later than the arrival of Mycenaeans in the Aegean area, as late as the IA, because languages do not have a "long-term memory" in order to apply sound changes that happened long ago well after they ceased to be productive. That is, the satemizing changes that characterize Indo-Iranian languages necessarily happened even before the divergence of the distinct II branches, therefore probably in the Early-Mid Bronze Age, but I gather that your position is that II speakers arrived in that region of Iran only much later. Thus they wouldn't apply the typical II sound changes to Mukania when they came to know the region and its people. Therefore, unless Mazania from Mukania was a term that appeared roughly when II was still spoken and undergoing satem changes (probably as early as the Early BA, ~2500 B.C.), their being cognates is not that likely.

Languages do not go back, they move forward, and they do not apply past sound changes after they were fully completed in the language. For instance, Germanic people did not apply the k > h change to words they only imported in the Roman era (e.g.German Käse from Latin caseum), because that typical Germanic sound change had already happened many centuries before and had already been completed and, thus, made improductive in the language by that time.
 
I actually link Mazania to Mukania, an ancient land in the north of Iran which has been mentioned in Akkadian sources, the name of Mycenae in the ancient Greek was also the same Μυκῆναι. I think you know about sound changes in IE languages, for example Avestan zereda "hearh" is cognate with Greek kardia.

Wouldn't Iranian Mazania be Makhania or Magania in Greek? Iranian z=Greek kh or g.
 
Ah, now that sounds more interesting to be investigated, particularly because a southern route of dispersion for Graeco-Armenian cannot be ruled out. In any case, the Mukania > Mazania change just does not make sense ifit assumes that the change to Indo-Iranian languages only happened much later than the arrival of Mycenaeans in the Aegean area, as late as the IA, because languages do not have a "long-term memory" in order to apply sound changes that happened long ago well after they ceased to be productive. That is, the satemizing changes that characterize Indo-Iranian languages necessarily happened even before the divergence of the distinct II branches, therefore probably in the Early-Mid Bronze Age, but I gather that your position is that II speakers arrived in that region of Iran only much later. Thus they wouldn't apply the typical II sound changes to Mukania when they came to know the region and its people. Therefore, unless Mazania from Mukania was a term that appeared roughly when II was still spoken and undergoing satem changes (probably as early as the Early BA, ~2500 B.C.), their being cognates is not that likely.
Languages do not go back, they move forward, and they do not apply past sound changes after they were fully completed in the language. For instance, Germanic people did not apply the k > h change to words they only imported in the Roman era (e.g.German Käse from Latin caseum), because that typical Germanic sound change had already happened many centuries before and had already been completed and, thus, made improductive in the language by that time.
I certainly don't believe that Indo-Iranians lived anywhere other than northern part of South Asia and southern part of Central Asia in the 3rd millennium BC, if they lived more northern than this region then there should be some Altaic or Uralic words in this langauge and if they lived more southern, we should find some Dravidian words in II.
About sound changes I have said several times that they just relate to phonology of languages, when you can't pronounce something, you change it another thing. It is clear that Greek k couldn't be changed to s/z in Iranian, unless it was proto-Greek or proto-IE ḱ/ǵ, anyway as I said Greeks didn't live in the north of Iran but a people who were closer to original IE people lived there.
 
Wouldn't Iranian Mazania be Makhania or Magania in Greek? Iranian z=Greek kh or g.

Maz is a variant of mas in Avestan, cognate with Old Persian maθ (modern Persian mah) which means "big, long, strong", and ancient Greek mêkos‎ from proto-IE *meh₂ḱ- "long", compare to the names of Massagetae and Macedonia.
Of course the change of u>a is important, Iranians usually build meaningful words from unknown words, Muzania means nothing but Mazania means "land of tall or big people".
 
Maz is a variant of mas in Avestan, cognate with Old Persian maθ (modern Persian mah) which means "big, long, strong", and ancient Greek mêkos‎ from proto-IE *meh₂ḱ- "long", compare to the names of Massagetae and Macedonia.
Of course the change of u>a is important, Iranians usually build meaningful words from unknown words, Muzania means nothing but Mazania means "land of tall or big people".

And in Armenian the equivalent word is mets, which, unsurprisingly, seems to be between the ancient Greek and the Avestan.

So perhaps there was a sister language to proto-Armenian and proto-Greek (i.e. also derived from Greco-Armenian) that died out and either a) didn't leave any records at all and/or b) we haven't identified as being such whether we have their name or not.

What if this the group in question were a people similar to the Cimmerians? The Assyrians and Armenians placed the Cimmerian homeland south of the Black Sea and south of the Caucasus, even though the Greeks (or at least Herodotus) placed their homeland on the north Black Sea. Perhaps the Greeks would know better since they were actually seafarers whereas the Armenians and Assyrians were not, maybe these latter groups were mistaking Cimmerian colonies for the Cimmerian homeland. Anyway, the Assyrians placed the Cimmerian homeland in Mannea (modern Iranian Azerbaijan). And while the Cimmerians are identified as Indo-Europeans, there is a debate whether they were Iranian or Thracian or Celtic, or something in between.

So I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with your theory, nor am I saying that this hypothetical Greco-Iranian language you're looking for in Mazania is Cimmerian, but it could be from a similar Bronze or Iron Age group that doesn't fit nicely in our categories.

Or an alternate theory could be that these areas were settled by the ancestors of the Tocharians, if they took the southern migration route (i.e. south of the Caspian). Tocharian is often believed to have been an early split off of PIE, so theoretically early dialects they would have been "close" to PIE.

If the Cimmerians were a "missing link" between Iranian and Thracian maybe there was a quasi-Greco-Armenian/quasi-Tocharian cross group, or a quasi-Greco-Armenian/quasi-Thracian (or more broadly Paleo-Balkanic) cross group or a quasi-Greco-Armenian/quasi-Indo-Iranian cross group, depending on how closely these groups actually separated from each other.
 

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