The History of the Armenians and Moses Khorenatsi

Description

“Khorenatsi created from seemingly nothing a complete history, employed an honest attitude at all times and never sought to mislead the reader. I cannot but admire his genius, and it is my hope the reader of this book will see his History as a remarkable product of fifth-century thought and methods.”
Moses Khorenatsi, also known as Moses of Chorene, is among the most problematic historians of early times. Known as the Father of Armenian History, he was a skilled philosopher and rhetorician whose History has been used as a textbook for many centuries. Constant editing and alteration of his work, however, have created difficulties in identifying the original work and, as a result, this has cast obscurity on Moses’ methods and his sources. Using extensive research into the pre-history of the Armenians and the seventh-century History of Bishop Sebeos, Gabriel Soultanian sheds light on the obscure areas of the History and its creator. Combined with the Assyro-Babylonian sources, he confirms the majority of the names, ancient sayings, demotic tales and events that Moses records and throws light on many other frustrating or ill-understood problems. In the process he also solves the problem of dating Khorenatsi and his work, a hitherto controversial subject not helped by conflicting and unfounded theories expounded by scholars previously on the subject.

– 280 pages

Published Bennett & Bloom, February 2012