Zabel Sibil Asadour

Who was Zabel Sibil Asadour?

Zabel Asadour better known by her literary pseudonym Sibil was born as Zabel Khanjian on July 23, 1863 in Üsküdar, a district of İstanbul. She died on June 19, 1934. She was a famous Armenian poet, writer, publisher, educator and philanthropist.

She was educated at Üsküdar Djemaran in Constantinople where she graduated in 1879. She was one of the founders of the "Azkanver Hayuhyats Enkerutiun", an Armenian organization that supported the construction, maintenance, and operation of Armenian girl schools throughout the heavily Armenian populated districts of the Ottoman Empire. She taught in the provinces and then in Constantinople.

In 1879, she wrote the textbook Practical Grammar for Modern Ashkharhabar Armenian, a classical grammar book that has been reviewed and republished many times with help of her husband Hrant Asadour. Sibil also wrote general articles about education, pedagogy and even poems for children.

Writer and political figure Krikor Zohrab, Hrant Asadour, together with Sibil collectively re-established the literary publication Massis, where Sibil under the heading «Կիսադեմեր քողին ետևեն» wrote portraits of many renowned Western Armenian literary figures. The articles were collected much later in 1921 in a joint book which Hrant Asadour entitled Timastverner.