Movses Khorenatsi
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| Movses Khorenatsi | |
 Movses Khorenatsi's statue at the Matenadaran in Yerevan.
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| Born | circa 410 Syunik, Armenia |
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| Died | 490s Armenia |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | History of the Armenians |
| Religious beliefs | Chalcedonian Christian1 |
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Notes
1See Malkhasyants. Introduction in History of the Armenians, pp. 13-14.
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Movses of Khoren (Armenian: Մովսես Խորենացի, Movsēs Xorenac‘i, Movses Khorenats'i; circa 410 - 490s)[1] was an Armenian historian and author of History of the Armenians. He is credited with the earliest known historiographical work on Armenia, but was also a poet, or hymn writer, and a grammarian.
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[edit] Life
Movses of Khoren was believed to have been born in the village of Khorni (also spelled as Khoron) in the Armenian province of Taron sometime in 410.[2] However, historians contend that if he was born here, he would have then been known as Movses of Khorneh or Khoron.[3] They instead move the location of his birth from Taron to the Armenian province of Syunik, in the village of Khorena in the Harband region.[3] As a child, he was sent to be taught under the auspices of Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet, and Catholicos Sahak Partev. In translating the Bible from Greek to Armenian, Mesrop and Sahak felt the need to send Movses and several of their other students to Alexandria, Egypt so that they themselves learn the Greek and Assyrian languages, as well as to learn grammar,oratory, theology and philosophy.[4]
They left Armenia sometime between 432 to 435. After studying in Alexandria for five to six years, Movses and his fellow classmates returned to Armenia, only to find that Mesrop and Sahak had died. Movses expressed he and his friends' grief in a lamentation:
While they [Mesrop and Sahak] waited for us, eager to see their students' accomplishments, we hastened from Byzantium, expecting that we would be celebrating and dancing at a wedding...and instead, we found ourselves grieving at the foot of our teachers' graves, mourning especially because we did not arrive in time to see their eyes close shut nor hear them speak their final words.[5]
To further complicate their problems, the atmosphere in Persian Armenia that Movses and the other students had returned to was one that was extremely hostile and they were viewed at with contempt by the native population. While later Armenian historians blamed this on an ignorant populace, Persian ideology and policy also lay at fault since its rulers "could not tolerate highly educated young scholars fresh from Greek centers of learning."[6]
[edit] Works
The following works are attributed to Movses:
- History of Armenia
- Treatise on Rhetoric
- Treatise on Geography
- Letter on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
- Homily on Christ's Transfiguration
- Oration on Hripsime, an Armenian Virgin and Martyr
- Hymns used in Armenian Church Worship
- Commentaries on the Armenian Grammarians
- Explanations of Armenian Church Offices
- Geography ("Ashharatsuyts") - a description of the World with maps (Later Movses' "Geography" was edited and renewed by the 7th century's scientist Anania Shirakatsi and other geographies of Medieval Armenia)
[edit] History
Movses is considered to be the "father of Armenian history" (patmahayr) and is sometimes referred to as the "Armenian Herodotus."[7] Some scholars doubt that Movses wrote the work in the fifth century and have moved him and History to the seventh century.[8] It covers the time-frame from the formation of the Armenian people to the 5th century.
[edit] References
- ^ (Armenian) Malkhasyants, Stepan. Introduction in Movses Khorenatsi's History of the Armenians, 5th Century (Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար). Gagik Sarkisyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, pp. 6, 16. ISBN 5-5400-1192-9.
- ^ For this reason, some have also refered to him as Movses of Taron.
- ^ a b Malkhasyants. Introduction in History of the Armenians, p. 7.
- ^ (Armenian) Sarkisyan, Gagik. «Մովսես Խորենացի» (Movses Khorenatsi). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. viii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1982, pp. 40-41.
- ^ Malkhasyants. Introduction in History of the Armenians, pp. 6-7.
- ^ Hacikyan, Agop Jack, Gabriel Basmajian and Edward S. Franchuk. The Heritage of Armenian Literature: The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age, vol. 1. Detroit: Wayne State University, 2005, p. 307. ISBN 0-8143-2815-6.
- ^ Cahin, Mack. The Kingdom of Armenia: A History. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2001, p. 181 ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
- ^ Thomson, Robert K. "Armenian Literary Culture through the Eleventh Century", in The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I, The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997.
