Tork Angegh
An Armenian Fable

Tork Angegh is a legendary Armenian hero or minor deity, the great-grandson of Hayk. According to Movses Khorenatsi, he was a giant of extraordinary force, who could hurl boulders across the seas, flatten the surfaces of rocks, and draw pictures on them with his fingernails. He was apparently called Angegh (un-gegh: not beautiful) because of his physical appearance. It is generally assumed, however, that Tork Angegh is a combination of two deities, who have left traces of themselves in his name: Tarku, the ancient Anatolian deity of fertility, and Angegh, a pagan god who was venerated mainly in the province of Angegh, in south-western Armenia. Movses Khorenatsi also states that he was a prince of that province, hence the references in Armenian history to Angegha tun (the House of Angegh). According to this view, the name Tork Angegh means Tork of Angegh rather than Tork the Ugly. It is also interesting to note that in the ancient Armenian translation of the Bible, the name of the Babylonian god Nargal (4 Kings 17: 30) is rendered Angegh.