Back موسيس اوف تشورين ARZ Movses Xorenli AZ Маўсес Харэнацы BE Мовсес Хоренаци Bulgarian Moisès de Khoren Catalan Movses Chorenaci Czech Moses von Choren German Μοβσές Χορενατσί Greek Moseo de Ĥoreno EO Moisés de Corene Spanish
Movses Khorenatsi Մովսես Խորենացի | |
|---|---|
 A painting of Movses Khorenatsi by Hovnatan Hovnatanian (1730–1801) | |
| Born | c. 410 Kingdom of Armenia |
| Died | c. 490s Sasanian Armenia |
| Venerated in | Armenian Apostolic Church |
| Feast | Feast of the Holy Translators in October[1] |
| Patronage | Armenia |
Movses Khorenatsi (c. 410–490s AD; Armenian: Մովսէս Խորենացի, pronounced [mɔvˈsɛs χɔɾɛnɑˈtsʰi])[a] was a prominent Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the History of the Armenians.
Movses's History of the Armenians was the first attempt at a universal history of Armenia and remains the only known general account of early Armenian history. It traces Armenian history from its origins to the fifth century, during which Movses claimed to have lived. His history had an enormous impact on Armenian historiography and was used and quoted extensively by later medieval Armenian authors. He is called the "father of Armenian history" (patmahayr) in Armenian, and is sometimes referred to as the "Armenian Herodotus".[2] Movses's history is also valued for its unique material on the old oral traditions in Armenia before its conversion to Christianity.
Movses identified himself as a young disciple of Mesrop Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet. Moreover, he claimed to have written his history at the behest of Prince Sahak of the Bagratuni dynasty. He is recognized by the Armenian Apostolic Church as one of the Holy Translators.[3] The exact time period during which Movses lived and wrote has been the subject of some debate among scholars since the nineteenth century, with some scholars dating him to the seventh to ninth centuries rather than the fifth.[4]
The traditional 5th-century dating of this work of Armenian literature has elicited much discussion[5] and a recent, plausible proposal places the final version after 775.[6] Khorenatsi's History, then, predates the end of the 8th century.[7] Armenian historians date ten fragments earlier than the manuscripts with the full text but do not provide any of their readings. A fragment kept in Venice is dated to 9th century or earlier, a fragment kept in Vienna is dated to 9th-10th century, fragments kept in the Matenadaran are dated to 10th-11th century and one fragment on paper is dated to 14th century.[8] Approximately twenty manuscripts of Khorenatsi's History of the Armenians have reached us. The majority of these date from the 13th and 14th centuries. The scribe of one manuscript mentions that his was copied from the manuscript of Nerses Lambronatsi. It is assumed that this copy is the oldest, as it dates from the 12th century.[9]
- ^ See The Armenian Church. Holy Translators Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ Chahin, Mack. The Kingdom of Armenia: A History (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2001), p. 181. ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
- ^ (in Armenian) Traina, Giusto. "Movses Xorenac'ii «dasakan» avandowt'yownë Hayoc' patmowt'yan A grk'i 5-rd glowxin meǰ" [The 'Classical' Tradition of Movses Khorenatsi in Chapter 5 of Book I in the History of Armenians] Patma-Banasirakan Handes 134 (1992): pp. 28–32.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Woolf, Daniel R.; Feldherr, Andrew; Foot, Sarah; Hardy, Grant (2011). The Oxford History of Historical Writing: Volume 2: 400-1400. OUP Oxford. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-19-923642-8.
- ^ Garsoïan, Nina G. (2010). "Garsoïan, Nina G. (2010) - L'Histoire attribute a Movses Xorenac'i: que reste-t-il a en dire?". Studies on the Formation of Christian Armenia. Ashgate/Variorum. pp. 29–48. ISBN 978-1-4094-0366-1.
- ^ Khoren), Moses (of (2006). History of the Armenians (2nd ed.). Caravan Books. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-88206-111-5.
- ^ Khoren), Moses (of (2006). History of the Armenians (2nd ed.). Caravan Books. pp. 354–355. ISBN 978-0-88206-111-5.
- ^ The Armenian Review. Hairenik Association. 1979. p. 153.
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