Adom Yarjanian, better known by his pen name Siamanto, was an influential Armenian writer, poet and national figure from the late 19th century and early 20th century.
29 Facts About Siamanto
1.
2.
Siamanto was killed by the Ottoman authorities during the Armenian genocide.
3.
Siamanto lived in his native town until the age of 14.
4.
Siamanto studied at the Nersesian School as a youth, where he developed an interest in poetry.
5.
Siamanto ended up in Egypt where he became depressed because of the butchery that his fellow Armenians had to endure.
6.
In 1897, Siamanto moved to Paris and enrolled in literature at the Sorbonne.
7.
Siamanto had to work various jobs while pursuing his studies because of his difficult financial situation.
8.
Siamanto developed many ties with well-known Armenian personalities in and outside Paris.
9.
Siamanto enjoyed reading in French and in Armenian and read many of the best works of his time.
10.
Siamanto joined the cause and truly believed in an Armenia free of Ottoman oppression.
11.
Siamanto was treated at a hospital in Geneva and eventually fully recovered.
12.
Siamanto encouraged the youth to stand up for their rights and demand equality and justice.
13.
Siamanto portrayed the deep thoughts and feelings of the victims and their daily torment.
14.
Siamanto wrote about his yearning for his country and encouraged Armenians living abroad to return to their native soil.
15.
Siamanto's style was new and unique, and the methodology was exceptional.
16.
Siamanto's themes were very dark and dealt extensively with death, torture, loss, misery, and sorrow.
17.
Siamanto recounted scenes of massacres, executions by hanging, bloody streets, pillaged villages, etc.
18.
Siamanto spent many sleepless nights thinking about those who perished.
19.
Life for the Armenians was bleak under Ottoman rule and Siamanto's works described that fact of life very well.
20.
Siamanto wrote about hope, freedom from oppression, and the possibility of a better future.
21.
Siamanto's ideas went to revolutionary themes and revenge for the murdered.
22.
Siamanto had two sides to his writing: one of lamentation, and the other of resistance.
23.
Siamanto was convinced that the road to salvation for his people was through armed struggle.
24.
Siamanto was hoping to ignite the revolutionary spirit in the younger generation of Armenians and to make them understand that indifference and inaction was not going to save them.
25.
Siamanto was so gripped with these troubles that he seldom wrote about himself, his personal life, love, or joy.
26.
Siamanto used many aspects from the symbolic school of thought in his works.
27.
Siamanto did not know modesty; we went to extremes both while writing about desperation or about hope.
28.
Siamanto's works give a clear image of the spirit that existed at the time in the minds of many of the Armenian populace.
29.
Siamanto was one of the Armenian intellectuals tortured and killed by the Ottomans in 1915 during the Armenian genocide.