Moses of Choirs

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Moses von Choren (left) on a 14th century manuscript

Moses von Choren ( Armenian Մովսէս Խորենացի , Mowses Chorenazi, in scientific transliteration Movsēs Xorenac'i; 5th century AD) was a late ancient Armenian historian. In Armenia he is considered to be the most important Armenian historian and father of Armenian historiography.

Life

According to his own account, Moses was a disciple of St. Mesrop and wrote the work of his master at the request of the Bagratunid prince Isaac ( Sahak ), who died in the war in 482.

The Armenians consider Moses von Choren to be the "father of history" ( Patmahayr ) and one of the most venerable fathers of the Armenian Church. According to the assessment by Nerses Akinian in 1929, "The story of Moses remains the most authentic and trustworthy book after the Bible for a large majority of its readers". Lazarus of Pharp testifies to the existence of an Armenian bishop named Moses in the 5th century who is said to have been a brilliant author.

According to the Armenian view, this Moses von Choren was also known as a poet or hymn writer . He was also an important grammarian . There is talk of a resident of Khoren who was sent by Mesrop, the founder of Armenian literature, to Edessa , Constantinople , Alexandria , Athens and Rome for study purposes . After his return he helped Mesrop with the translation of the Bible into Armenian. His date of birth is unknown. But the above data suggest that he was born towards the end of the 4th century. According to Armenian tradition, his death is dated to the end of the 5th century.

History of Armenia

Moses von Choren's work "History of Armenia" covers the history of the beginnings of the Armenian people up to the year 439, that is, to a time when the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire fought over influence on Armenia. It contains rich and unique material on ancient Armenian legends, pre-Christian religion, everyday life in the country and its relationships with the rest of the world. The representation also contains a lot of information about the history and culture of the neighboring countries.

The work is generally considered to be extremely unreliable in historical studies. The historical truth content is limited because the author treats the facts quite arbitrarily, tends to falsify them in favor of the Bagratids and because the time lag between the time described and the writing of the work is great. The "History of Armenia" was compiled in the 8th or 9th century (more likely around 870). This timeframe arises because the author mentions several authors whose works were only translated into Armenian in the 7th century, and because his own work was not noticed by other Armenian authors until the 10th century. For example, Moses transfers the Orontid ruler Jerwand, who lived around 200 BC. The capital Jerwandaschat , which was to replace Armavir as the capital, and founded the temple of Bagaran in the post-Christian period.

Besides Moses von Choren, there are only a few Armenian sources on early Christian Armenian history: The historical work of Faustus of Byzantium was compiled around 470. The oldest surviving historical text under the pseudonym Agathangelos comes from the 560s. Bishop Sebeos wrote the "History of Herakleios " in the second half of the 7th century . Lazarus von Pharp and Yeghishe Vardapet describe the troubled second half of the 5th century, which was marked by uprisings against the Persians, while Koriun in his hagiography by Mesrop Mashtots tells a lot about the religion and culture of the 5th century.

Characteristic are the extraordinary literary merits of the author in the descriptive description of the people and the events, the harmony of the structure as a whole and above all the painterly laconic language. The book had a huge impact on Armenian historiography.

The book consists of three parts:

  • “ Genealogy of Greater Armenia” covers the history of Armenia from the beginning to the establishment of the Arsakid dynasty in 149 BC. And is largely fabulous.
  • “The history of our ancestors in the middle period” extends from 149 BC. Until the death of St. Gregory the Illuminator and the reign of King Trdat III. between AD 149 and 332
  • The third part deals with the story up to the fall of the Arsakid dynasty in 428 AD.

The first part is largely useless as a source of history. There is also a fourth part, which continued the story up to the Eastern Roman emperor Zeno (474–491). This was later added to the work by another author. The first three parts also contain some dates that are incorrectly arranged in terms of time, which contradict other Armenian writings, such as those of Koriun and Lazarus of Pharp, which also lived in the 5th century AD. Because of these contradictions and incorrect classifications, some researchers (Bardenhewer, Carrière) suspected that the “History of Armenia” did not come from Moses von Choren, but was written around 870.

We do not know what the motive of the author of the fourth book was, who edited the book in the name of Moses von Choren in the 8th or 9th century. However, it is likely that he wanted to glorify the Bagratun dynasty, which by the end of the 7th century surpassed all other dynasties in splendor.

Although this author lived later, his dates are considered reliable. He used a flowery way of narrating the statesmen of the time, with his characters in the narratives occasionally being transformed, depending on the author's mood, and the ideas being adapted to the characters; however, it cannot be said that the characters treated were fictional. His information about the early history of Armenia comes principally from legends and folk songs

The first edition "History of Armenia" was printed in Amsterdam in 1695 , the second in London in 1736 and the third in Venice in 1752 . The third edition has been translated into French and Italian. The best translation comes from Langlois with the title "Historiens Anciens de l'Arménie" (Paris, 1867). The Venice Mechitharists also published several editions of the work in 1827 and between 1843 and 1864. German translation: Des Moses von Chorene history of Greater Armenia . Translated from the Armenian by M. Lauer. Manz, Regensburg 1869. English: Robert W. Thomson: Moses Khorenats'i, History of the Armenians . Translation and Commentary on the Literary Sources. Revised Edition. Caravan Books, Ann Arbor 2003. ISBN 2-87754-141-X

plant

The following works are attributed to him:

  • «History of Armenia»
  • «The Treatise on Rhetoric»,
  • «The Treatise on Geography»,
  • «A letter about BVM's thesis»,
  • "The sermon on Messiah's transformation",
  • «An address for Hripsime , the Armenian virgin and martyr»,
  • "Hymns used in worship in the Armenian Church",
  • «Comments on the Armenian grammarians» and
  • «Statements by the Armenian Church Representatives».

Translations

literature

Web links

Commons : Moses von Choren  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nerses Akinian in Anahid (Armenian quarterly magazine in Paris) 1929, p. 72; quoted from: AO Sarkissian: On the Authenticity of Moses of Khoren's History. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 60, No. 1, March 1940, pp. 73–81, here p. 73.
  2. ^ Annegret Plontke-Lüning: Early Christian Architecture in Caucasus. The development of Christian sacred buildings in Lazika, Iberia, Armenia, Albania and the border regions from the 4th to the 7th century (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class, Volume 359. Publications on Byzantium Research, Volume XIII) Verlag der Österreichische Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2007, p. 90, ISBN 978-3-7001-3682-8 .
  3. ^ Martin Schottky: Media Atropatene and Greater Armenia in Hellenistic times. (Habelt's dissertation prints. Alte Geschichte series, issue 27). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1989, pp. 128-131.
  4. ↑ Robert H. Hewson, The Primary History of Armenia ": An examination of the validity of an immemorially transmitted historical tradition. History in Africa 2, 1975, 91-100.
  5. ^ Annegret Plontke-Lüning: Early Christian Architecture in Caucasus. The development of Christian sacred buildings in Lazika, Iberia, Armenia, Albania and the border regions from the 4th to the 7th century (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class, Volume 359. Publications on Byzantium Research, Volume XIII) Verlag der Österreichische Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2007, p. 90.
personal data
SURNAME Moses of Choirs
BRIEF DESCRIPTION late antique Armenian historian
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century
DATE OF DEATH 5th century