David of Sassoon

Written by Hovhannes Toumanian

Translated by Thomas Samuelian

David of Sassoon is an Armenian folk epic with ancient roots. It recounts, in four cycles, the heroes of the mountainous district of Sassoon to the southwest of Lake Van and their pursuit of national liberation from foreign oppression. The David of Sassoon presented here is Armenia’s national poet’s Hovhannes Toumanian’s captivating rhymed version of the third cycle of the epic with an English translation by Thomas Samuelian that echoes the rhyme and rhythm of Toumanian’s poem.

This volume contains the English translation together with the Armenian text.