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Moses of Chorene
Movses Khorenatsi's statue in front of the Matenadaran in Yerevan.
Born	circa 410 AD Taron, Armenia
Died	490s AD Armenia
Occupation	Historian
Known for	History of Armenia
Notes
It has also been suggested that Movses was born in Syunik. See Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, pp. 13-14.

Movses Khorenatsi (Template:Lang-hy, Movsēs Xorenac‘i, also transliterated Movses Khorenats'i) was an early Armenian scholar, author of a History of Armenia, in reference to which Movses has been dubbed the "father of Armenian history" (patmahayr) and the "Armenian Herodotus." Nothing is known of his life apart from alleged autobiographical details contained in this work. Traditionally believed to date to the 5th century, is mostly dated to between the 7th and 9th centuries by historians.

Date

19th century scholarship first cast doubt on the fifth century date due to historical inconsistencies. Since the author self-identifies as a disciple of Saint Mesrob (d. 440), he came to be known as "Pseudo-Movses".

The work is dated to between the 7th and 9th centuries in current scholarship. The traditional date has been established as untenable since at least 1961, when C. Toumanoff summarized the arguments already presented by A. Carriere in the 1890s.

When Harvard historian R. W. Thomson published a translation of Movses' work in 1978, his account of the evidence of the later date than the traditionally assumed 5th century drew a lot of criticism from Soviet Armenian scholars.

Biography

The author of the History gives a number of auto-biographical details, posing as a disciple of Mesrop Mashtots.

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. However, some scholars contend that if he was born here, he would have then been known as Movses of Khorneh or Khoron. 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. 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, at that time the center of education and learning, so that they themselves learn the Greek and Syriac languages, as well as to learn grammar, oratory, theology and philosophy.

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 awaited our return to celebrate their student’s accomplishments , 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.

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." 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 Gyut (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 Gyut'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 Gyut had been searching for; it was soon understood that Gyut was one of Movses' former classmates and friends. Gyut embraced Movses and, being either a Chalcedonian Christian or at least tolerant of them (since Movses was also Chalcedonian), 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. 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 part of Patmutyun Hayots, or 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 of which no one has bothered to write down." Movses' history also gives a rich description of the oral traditions that were popular among the Armenians of the time, such as the romance story of Artashes and Satenik and the birth of the god Vahagn.

Notes

1. Chahin, Mack. The Kingdom of Armenia: A History. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2001, p. 181 ISBN 0-7007-1452-9.
2. Encyclopedia Britannica
3. David M. Lang. Reviewed work(s): "Moses Khorenats'i": History of the Armenians by Robert W. Thomson. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 42, No. 3 (1979), pp. 574-575
4. Toumanoff, Cyril. "On the Date of Pseudo-Moses of Chorene." Handes Amsorya. № 9 (75), 1961.
5. History of the Armenians, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
6. Template:Hy icon Hovhannisyan, Petros. "Review of History of the Armenians." Banber Yerevan Hamalsarani. № 3 (45), 1982, pp. 237-239.
7. Template:Hy icon Ter-Petrosyan, Levon. "Review of History of the Armenians. Patma-Banasirakan Handes. № 1 (88), 1980, pp. 268-270.
8. Nersessian, Vrej. "Review of History of the Armenians." Journal of Ecclesiastical History. Vol. 30: № 4, October 1979, pp. 479-480.
9. Sarkissian, Gaguik . The "History of Armenia" by Movses Khorenatzi. Trans. by Gourgen A. Gevorkian. Yerevan: Yerevan University Press, 1991, pp. 58-59, 76ff.
10. Hacikyan et al. Heritage of Armenian Literature, p. 306.
11. "Since Moses was in fact a writer of the eighth century or thereabouts, he could easily have continued his narrative for another three hundred years, but this would have exposed his own literary deception, making nonsense of his claim to be a disciple of St Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet." David M. Lang. Reviewed work(s): "Moses Khorenats'i": History of the Armenians by Robert W. Thomson. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 42, No. 3 (1979), pp. 574-575.
12. For this reason, some have also referred to him as Movses of Taron.
13. Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 7.
14. Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 7.
15. Template:Hy icon Sargsyan, Gagik. «Մովսես Խորենացի» (Movses Khorenatsi). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. vol. viii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1982, pp. 40-41.
16. Template:Hy icon 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.
17. 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.
18. Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 15.
19. Malkhasyants. "Introduction" in History of Armenia, p. 16.
20. Movses Khorenatsi. History of Armenia, 1.4., pp. 70-71.

• Template:Ru icon Abeghyan, Manuk. Истории древнеармянской литературы. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1975.
• Adonts, Nicholas. Armenia in the Period of Justinian: the Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Translated with partial revisions, a bibliographical note, and appendices by Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon, 1970.
• Conybeare, F. C. "The Date of Moses of Khoren." Bazmavep. № 10 (1901).
• Template:Hy icon Malkhasyants, Stepan. Խորենացու առեղծված շուրջը (About the Enigma of Khorenatsi). Yerevan, Armenian SSR, 1940.
• Template:Hy icon Sargsyan, Gagik. Հելլենիստական դարաշրջանի Հայաստանը և Մովսես Խորենացին (Armenia in the Hellenistic Age and Movses Khorenatsi). Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1966.
• Template:Hy icon ______________. Մովսես Խորենացու «Հայոց Պատմության» ժամանակագրական համակարգը. (The Chronological Structure of Movses Khorenatsi's History of Armenia).Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1965.
• Sarkissian, Gaguik . The "History of Armenia" by Movses Khorenatzi. Trans. by Gourgen A. Gevorkian. Yerevan: Yerevan University Press, 1991
• Topchyan, Aram. The Problem of the Greek Sources of Movsēs Xorenacʻi's History of Armenia. Peeters Publishers, 2006.

External links

• Template:Ru icon Movses Khorenatsi. The History of Armenia.

• Armenian historians
• History of Armenia