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MOSES OF CHORENE

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Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 898 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MOSES OF CHORENE , Armenian historian, was a native of Khor'ni in Taron, a See also:district of the Armenian See also:province of Turuberan. According to the See also:History of See also:Armenia which bears his name he was a See also:pupil of the two fathers of Armenian literature, the See also:patriarch or catholicos Sahak the See also:Great and the vartabed Mesrob. Shortly after 431 he was sent by these men to See also:Alexandria to study the See also:Greek See also:language and literature, and thus prepare himself for the task of translating Greek writings into Armenian. Moses took his See also:journey by See also:Edessa and the sacred places of See also:Palestine. After See also:finishing his studies in the See also:Egyptian See also:capital he set See also:sail for See also:Greece; but the See also:ship was driven by contrary winds to See also:Italy, and he seized the opportunity of paying a flying visit to See also:Rome. He then visited See also:Athens, and towards the end of See also:winter (440) arrived in See also:Constantinople, whence he set out on his homeward journey. On his arrival in Armenia he found that his patrons were both dead. The History of Armenia speaks of its author as an old, infirm See also:man, constantly engaged in the See also:work of translating. In the later Armenian tradition we find other notices of this celebrated man'—such as, that he was the See also:nephew of Mesrob, that he was publicly complimented by the See also:emperor See also:Marcian, that he had been ordained See also:bishop of Bagrewand by the patriarch Giut, and that he was buried in the See also:church of the Apostolic See also:Cloister at See also:Mush in the district of Taron; but these accounts must be received with great caution. This remark applies especially to the statement of See also:Thomas Ardsruni,2 that Moses, like his See also:Hebrew prototype, lived to the See also:age of 120 years, and recorded his own See also:death in a See also:fourth See also:book of his great work. The same caution must be extended to another tradition, based on an arbitrary construction of a passage in See also:Samuel of See also:Ani, which places his death in the See also:year 489. The History of Armenia,' or, as the more exact See also:title runs, the 'Collected by See also:Langlois, Collection See also:des historiens de l'armenie, ii.

47 seq. 2 In Brosset, Collection d'historiens armeniens, i. 68. S The See also:

oldest MS. is that of S. Lazaro of the 12th See also:century. Colla- Garinian, See also:Tiflis (1858), 4to.' The book has been edited and translated by See also:Whiston (See also:London, 1736, 4t0) ; and by Le Valliant de Florival (See also:Venice and See also:Paris, s.a., 1841), 2 vols. 8vo. The commencement of this See also:king's reign has been fixed by See also:Noldeke (Geschichte der Sassaniden aus See also:Tabari, p. 423) as 4t See also:August 438; and this date has subsequently been established by documentary See also:evidence from the fact of the martyrdom of Pethion (see See also:Hoffmann, Ausziige aus syrischen Akten persischer Martyrer, p. 67). 6 Translated in Langlois, i. 195 seq.

8 For the following statements, the evidence may be found in the See also:

article " Ueber See also:die Glaubwurdigkeit der Armenischen Geschichte des Moses von Khoren," by See also:Alfred von See also:Gutschmid, in the Berichte der Phil. histor. Classe der konigl. See also:sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften (i876), p. I seq. 7 The Epic Songs of See also:Ancient Armenia (See also:Arm.) (See also:Moscow, 1850). 8 " Etudes sur See also:les chants historiques at les traditions populaires de 1'ancienne Arm6nie," in the Journ. asiat., iv., see. 19 (1852), p. 5 Seq. 9 " Ueber die Glaubwiirdigkeit," &c., p. 8 seq. II and similar anachronisms,) which run through the whole book and are often closely incorporated with the narrative itself, and on the other See also:hand by the identity of the author of the History with that of See also:Geography, a point on which all doubt is excluded by a number of individual See also:affinities,2 not to speak of the similarity in See also:geographical terminology. The See also:critical decision as to the authorship of the Geography must See also:settle the question for the History also.

The Geography is a meagre See also:

sketch, based mainly on the See also:Chorography of Pappus of Alexandria (in the end of the 4th century), and indirectly on the work of See also:Ptolemy. Only Armenia, the See also:Persian See also:Empire, and the neighbouring regions of the See also:East are independently described from See also:local See also:information, and on these sections the value of the little work depends. Since the first published See also:text 3 contains names like " Russians " and " See also:Crimea," See also:Saint See also:Martin in his edition 4 denied that it was written by Moses, and assigned its origin to the loth century. It was shown, however, by L. Indjidjean'that these are interpolations, which are not found in better See also:manuscripts. And in fact it is quite evident that a book which gives the See also:division of the See also:Sassanid Empire into four spahbehships in pure old Persian names cannot possibly have been composed at a See also:long See also:interval after the See also:time of the Sassanidae. But of course it is equally clear that such a book cannot be a genuine work of Moses of Khor'ni; for that division of the empire See also:dates from the See also:early See also:part of the reign of King See also:Chosroes I. (531–579).6 Accordingly K. P. Patkanow,2 to whom we are indebted for the best text of the Geography, is of See also:opinion that we have in it a See also:writing of the 7th century. If the limits within which the Geography was composed are to be more nearly defined, we may say that, from isolated traces of Arab rule8 (which in Armenia dates from 651), it must have been written certainly after that year, and perhaps about the year 657.9 Another extant work of Moses is a See also:Manual of See also:Rhetoric, in ten books, dedicated to his pupil See also:Theodorus. It is See also:drawn up after Greek See also:models, in the See also:taste of the rhetoric and sophistry of the later imperial See also:period.

The examples are taken from See also:

Hermogenes, See also:Theon, See also:Aphthonius, and See also:Libanius; although the author is also acquainted with lost writings—e.g. the Peliades of See also:Euripides. On See also:account of the divergence of its See also:style from that of the History of Armenia, Armenian scholars have hesitated to ascribe the Rhetoric to Moses of Khor'ni; but, from what has been said above, this is rather to be regarded as a See also:proof of its authenticity. Smaller See also:works bearing the same honoured name are—the See also:Letter to Sahak Arderuni; the History of the See also:Holy See also:Mother of See also:God 1 Instances of these may be found in i. 14, where the arrangement of Armenian provinces, I., II., III.. IV., introduced in the year 536, is carried back to See also:Aram, an older contemporary of See also:Ninus; and in the passage iii. 18, according to which See also:Shapur II. penetrated to See also:Bithynia, although the Persians did not reach that till 608. 2 See the confusion, See also:common to both books, between See also:Cappadocia I. and Armenia I., in consequence of which Mazaca and Mt Argaeus are transferred to the latter locality (Hist. i. 14; Geogr. Saint Martin's ed., ii. 354) ; also the passages which treat of See also:China and Dchenbakur (Hist. ii. 81; Geogr. ii. 376), &c.

6 Edition with See also:

translation by Whiston (London, 1736, See also:Ito). ' In the Memoires historiques et geographiques sur l'Armenie (Paris, 1819, 8vo), ii. 310 seq. 5 Antiquities of Armenia (Arm.), iii. 303 seq. 6 See Noldeke's Tabari, p. 155; seq. 7 Armjanskaja geographija vii. waka See also:por. Ch. (pripisiw awschajasja Moiseju Chorenskomu) (St See also:Petersburg, 1877, 8vo). Before him See also:Kiepert (in the Monatsb. d. Berliner Akad.

(1873, p. 599 seq.) had substantially arrived at the right conclusion when he assigned the portions of the Geography referring to Armenia to the time between Justinian and See also:

Maurice. (See also Abhandlungen der koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu See also:Gottingen, philol. hist. Klasse, Neue Folge, See also:Band iii. Nro. 2, 19o1) (in which Dr J. Marquart edits with commentary under the title Eransahr the sections of the geography See also:relating to See also:Persia) 6 The passage about the See also:trade of See also:Basra, which was founded in 635, is decisive on this point (Saint Martin's edition, ii. 368). 9 The See also:peculiar See also:interest which the author (Saint Martin, 11. 34o) takes in the origin of the Slays in See also:Thrace is best explained by the See also:war against them which called the emperor See also:Constans II. away from the East in the year 657. In other respects the writer displays the most See also:complete indifference, and even See also:ignorance, with regard to the See also:state of affairs in the See also:West.and her See also:Image (in the cloister of Hogotsvanch in the district Andzevatsi of the province of Vaspurakan), which is also addressed to Sahak; and the See also:Panegyric on Saint Rhipsime. Of the sacred poems attributed to him, there is only one See also:short See also:prayer, contained in the hymnal of Sharakan, which can really claim him as its author.

Of works passing under the name of Moses of Khor'ni, the following are regarded by the historians of Armenian literature as See also:

spurious: a History (distinct from the Panegyric) of the wanderings of Saint Rhipsime and her Companions; a See also:Homily on the Transfiguration of See also:Christ; a Discourse on See also:Wisdom (i.e., the See also:science of See also:grammar) ; the Commentaries on grammar (an exposition of See also:Dionysius Thrax). In the See also:case of the grammatical writings, it has been suggested that there may have been some confusion between Moses of Khor'ni and a Moses of Siunich, who lived in the 7th century. Literature.—The date of the History of Moses has been discussed in many monographs. See especially the brochure of A. See also:Carriere, Nouvelles See also:sources de Moase de Khoren (See also:Vienna, 1893), who sets it in the 8th century. A See also:Russian critic, J. Khalateants, arrives at a similar conclusion in his Armianskie Epos (Moscow, 1896). F. C. See also:Conybeare, in an article on "The date of Moses of Khoren," in the Byzantinische Zeitschrift, vol. x., and in a second in vol. ii, entitled "The Relation of the See also:Paschal See also:Chronicle to See also:Malalas," challenges See also:Professor Carriere's arguments, and contends that the History of Moses is a See also:late 5th-century work, much interpolated in the immediately succeeding centuries. (A. v. G.; F.

C.

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