Tovma Artsruni

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Tovma Artsruni (Armenian: Թովմա Արծրունի; also known as Thomas Artsruni; birth date and date of death unknown) was a ninth century Armenian historian and author of the History of the House of Artsrunik. Contrary to the given title, the four volume work not only relates the history of Artsruni royal family and its origins near Lake Van but in fact also comprehensively covers the history of Armenia.[1][2] Similar to other histories composed by Armenian historians, the first volume starts at the beginning of the Armenian nation and ends in the middle of the fifth century. However, Tovma's most valuable contributions are found in the second and third volumes which detail Armenian life under the rule of the Arab Caliphates and in particular the 851 Arab military expedition led by the Turkic general Bugha al-Kabir, its subsequent consequences, and the establishment of the independent Bagratid state north of Lake Van.[1] The precise date that Tovma completed his work is unknown although historians have determined that it was finished sometime after 905.[3]

Tovma's History was first published in 1852 in Constantinople in Armenian and was subsequently translated into French by Marie-Félicité Brosset in 1862.[1]

Tovma was a relative of the king of Vaspurakan Gagik I,[4] and wrote a detailed account in History about the famous palace and church Gagik constructed on Akhtamar Island.[5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c (Armenian) Vardanyan, V. «Թովմա Արծրունի» (Tovma Artsruni). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. iv. Yerevan: Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1978, p. 201.
  2. ^ Thomson, Robert W. "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, p. 228. ISBN 0-312-10169-4
  3. ^ Sebeos. The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos. Trans. and edited by Robert W. Thomson, James Howard-Johnston, and Tim Greenwood. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999, p. xxxv. ISBN 0-8532-3564-3.
  4. ^ Redgate, Anne Elizabeth. The Armenians (The Peoples of Europe). Cornwall: Blackwell, 1998, p. 7. ISBN 0-6312-2037-2.
  5. ^ Thomson. "Armenian Literary Culture", p. 228.

[edit] Further reading

  • Thomas Artsruni. History of the House of Artsrunik. Trans. and edited by Robert W. Thomson. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985.