Talk:Chosroid Dynasty

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A fact from Chosroid Dynasty appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 7 July 2007.

[edit] Toumanoff as a reliable source

From my dispute with Christopher Buyers (the owner of the Royal Ark) four years ago:

As I understand, a standart Western reference for Caucasian families is Toumanoff, a collector of genealogical fantasies and an enemy of any serious research. You may take a look at the Table 41 of 'Les dynasties de la Caucasie chretienne' to assess the quality of his information. Toumanoff represents there twelve consecutive generations in a span of 100 years without any trace of doubt. His detailed account of the early kings of Iberia and their descent from Achaemenids is perhaps the most shameless genealogical falsification since that abbot who proclaimed Clovis a descendant of Emperor Claudius.[1]

These concerns are still valid. --Ghirla^-трёп- 21:17, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Fair enough. The first citation from a work of Toumanoff explicitly mentions that it's his opinion in the main text, without arguing for or against its validity. While it could be expanded, there'd need to be dissenting views in the literature to warrant a rebuttal. This only leaves the first sentence of the ==Early Chosroids== section needing a less controversial source. GeeJo ^(t)⁄_(c) • 08:43, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

While I agree that Toumanoff’s assertions are sometimes premature or even dubious, we cannot dismiss the author just because one of the fellow Wikipedians self-confidently considers him "a collector of genealogical fantasies and an enemy of any serious research". Here’s the quote from the most prolific living Western scholar of medieval Caucasia who is, AFAIK, fluent in Russian and Georgia, and frequently refers to the historians from the former Soviet Union:

Toumanoff’s meticulous, well-documented publications are grounded first and foremost upon the total contemporary record. Yet, as is especially evident in his landmark Studies in Christian Caucasian History (1963), he drank plentifully from the fount of scholarship and engaged the researches of the specialists singled out here in addition to many others. The genius of Toumanoff was his adeptness at blending synthesis with his own original contributions while never losing sight of contemporary sources, both indigenous and foreign. Though he was not infallible, any serious investigation of pre-modern Caucasia must come to terms with Toumanoff’s extraordinary scholarship.

Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts, p. 17. Peeters Bvba ISBN 90-429-1318-5. Kober^Talk 08:55, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

I added a source somewhat critical of Toumanoff, however. Kober^Talk 09:20, 8 July 2007 (UTC)