| 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 Armenia |
| Religious beliefs | Chalcedonian Christian1 |
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Notes
1See Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, pp. 13-14.
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Movses Khorenatsi (Armenian: Մովսես Խորենացի; Movses of Khoren, also written Movsēs Xorenac‘i, Movses Khorenats'i; circa 410 – 490s[1]) was an Armenian historian and author of the History of Armenia. He is credited with the earliest known historiographical work on the history of Armenia, but was also a poet, or hymn writer, and a grammarian. Although other Armenians, such as Agathangeghos, had written histories of Armenia, Movses' work holds particular significance because it records the old oral traditions in Armenia during its pagan era and, more importantly, traces Armenian history from Movses' day to its origins. For this, he is considered to be the "father of Armenian history" (patmahayr), and is sometimes referred to as the "Armenian Herodotus."[2]
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Biography
Early life and education
Movses was believed to have been born in the village of Khorni (also spelled as Khoron) in the Armenian province of Taron sometime in 410.[3] However, historians contend that if he was born here, he would have then been known as Movses of Khorneh or Khoron.[4] They instead move the location of his birth from Taron to the Armenian province of Syunik, in the village of Khorena in the region of Harband.[5] He received his education in Syunik and was later sent to be taught under the auspices of Mesrop Mashtots, the creator of the Armenian alphabet, and Catholicos Sahak Partev. In having considerable difficulty 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 Syriac languages, as well as to learn grammar, oratory, theology and philosophy.[6]
Return to Armenia
The students 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 his grief in a lamentation at the end of History of Armenia:
While they [Mesrop and Sahak] awaited our return to celebrate their student’s accomplishments [i.e., Movses’], we hastened from Byzantium, expecting that we would be dancing and singing at a wedding...and instead, I found myself grieving at the foot of our teachers' graves...I did not even arrive in time to see their eyes close nor hear them speak their final words.[7]
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."[8] Given this atmosphere and persecution by the Persians, Movses went into hiding in a village near Vagharshapat and lived in relative seclusion for several decades.
The Catholicos of Armenia Giut (461-471) one day met Movses while traveling through the area and, unaware of his true identity, invited him to supper with several of his students. Movses was initially silent, but after Giut's students encouraged him to speak, Movses made a marvelous speech at the dinner table. One of the Catholicos' students was able to identify Movses as a person Giut had been searching for; it was soon understood that Giut was one of Movses' former classmates and friends.[9] Giut embraced Movses and, being either a Chalcedonian Christian or at least tolerant of them, brought his friend back from seclusion and appointed him to be a bishop in Bagrevan.
History of Armenia
Serving as a bishop, Movses was approached by Sahak Bagratuni, who, having heard of Movses' reputation, asked him to write a history of the Armenians, especially the biographies of Armenian kings and the origins of the Armenian nakharar families.[10] Movses agreed to do so and he finished his book sometime in the time period of 483-485. One of his primary reasons for taking up Sahak Bagratuni's request is given in the first book of History of Armenia: "For even though we are small and very limited in numbers and have been conquered many times by foreign kingdoms, yet too, many acts of bravery have been performed in our land, worthy of being written and remembered, but which no one has bothered to write down."[11] Movses lived for several more years, and he died sometime in the late 490s.
Works
Up until the mid-twentieth century, many scholars doubted that Movses wrote the work in the fifth century, addressed him as "Pseudo-Movses", and moved him and the History to the seventh to ninth centuries.[12] Although these views have now been reversed and "much of this criticism has been rejected,"[13] there are still those who believe that Movses is not the true author of the work and criticize it heavily as a historical source.[14]
The following works are also attributed to Movses:
- 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)
Notes
- ^ (Armenian) Malkhasyants, Stepan. "Introduction" in Movses Khorenatsi's History of Armenia, 5th Century (Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար). Gagik Sargsyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, pp. 6, 16. ISBN 5-5400-1192-9.
- ^ Chahin, Mack. The Kingdom of Armenia: A History. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2001, p. 181 ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
- ^ For this reason, some have also referred to him as Movses of Taron.
- ^ Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 7.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ (Armenian) Sargsyan, Gagik. «Մովսես Խորենացի» (Movses Khorenatsi). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. viii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1982, pp. 40-41.
- ^ (Armenian) Movses Khorenatsi. History of Armenia, 5th Century (Հայոց Պատմություն, Ե Դար). Annotated translation and commentary by Stepan Malkhasyants. Gagik Sargsyan (ed.) Yerevan: Hayastan Publishing, 1997, 3.68, p. 276. ISBN 5-5400-1192-9.
- ^ Hacikyan, Agop Jack, Gabriel Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk, and Nourhan Ouzounian. The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Oral Tradition to the Golden Age, Vol. I. Detroit: Wayne State University, 2000, p. 307. ISBN 0-8143-2815-6.
- ^ Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 15.
- ^ Ibid., p. 16.
- ^ Movses Khorenatsi. History of Armenia, 1.4., pp. 70-71.
- ^ Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, pp. 3-5.
- ^ Hacikyan et al. Heritage of Armenian Literature, p. 306.
- ^ See, most notably, Robert W. Thomson's introduction and commentary in his translation of Movses' work History of the Armenians, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Further reading
- (Armenian) Sargsyan, Gagik. Հելլենիստական դարաշրջանի Հայաստանը և Մովսես Խորենացին (Armenia in the Hellenistic Age and Movses Khorenatsi). Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1966.
- (Armenian) ______________. Մովսես Խորենացու «Հայոց Պատմության» ժամանակագրական համակարգը. (The Chronological Structure of Movses Khorenatsi's History of Armenia).Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1965.
