History of Armenia

By Movses Khorenatsi

The medieval historian of the Armenian people Movses Khorenatsi was the first Armenian to give a wonderful account of the inception of his nation in Babylon, the power struggles of the Armenian aristocracy, and the final dissolution of the Armenian kingdom. As the author said about his compatriots: "For a

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Scholarly Press
• Release date: Aug 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9798985923711

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History of Armenia

Movses Khorenatsi

Translated by Troy Azelli

Copyright © 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

World Scholarly Press, 2022 Printed in the USA

No one can serve two masters. Either you will have the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

MATTHEW 6:24 

HISTORY OF ARMENIA

in three books told by Movses Khorenatsi at the request of Sahak Bagratuni.

BOOK ONE.

The Genealogy of Great Armenia.

Table of Contents:

The reply to Sahak's letter and the promise to fulfill his request.

About why we chose to refer to the Greek (sources), although our history is easier to derive from the Chaldean and the Assyrian books.

About the uninquisitive nature of the former kings and rulers.

Regarding other historians who disagree about Adam and other patriarchs.

On the uniform descent of Noah's three sons’genealogies afore Abraham, Nin, and Aram, and Nin is neither Bel nor the son of Bel.

Regarding other narrators about antiquity who partially agree with Moses, partly dissent from him, and about the ancient unwritten stories of the philosopher Olympiodor.

A brief message about the one called Bel by the heathenswho is really Nebrot, according to Divine Scripture.

About who and where found these stories.

The letter of Valarshak, King of Armenia, to Arshak the Great, King of Persia.

On the rebellion of Hayk.

About the battle and the death of Bel.

About the families and descendants from Hayk and about the deeds of each of them.

About the war and the victory over the inhabitants of the East and about the death of NukarMades.

On the war with the Assyrians and the victory; about PayapisKaalea and Caesarea, and about the First and Other Armenias.

About Ara and his death in the war with Shamiram.

About how after the death of Ara, Shamiram builds a city, a river dam, and her house.

About why Shamiram destroyed her sons and how she fled from the mage Zradasht to Armenia and died at the hands of her son Niniy.

About Shamiram's war that actually tookplace in India first, and then, her death in Armenia.

About what happened after the death of Shamiram.

About Ara’s Ara and his son AnushavanSosanver.

Paruyr, son of Skaiordi, becomes the first King of Armenia; he helps a Mar - Varback seize Sardanapalus' kingdom.

The lineage of our kings and its enumeration from a father to a son.

Concerning the sons of Senekerim and the fact that the births of Artsruni and Gnuni and the ruler, called Aldzni, are descended from them; in the same chapter about the house of Angel originated from Pascam.

About Tigran; how he was in all respects.

About the fear and the suspicions of Azhdahak concerning the friendly union of Cyrus and Tigran.

About how Azhdahak, languishing in suspicion, saw the events ahead of him in a wondrous dream.

About the opinion of his advisers, then, about his own plan and its immediate execution.

The letter from Azhdahak, followed by Tigran's consent and Tigranukha's departure to the Land of the Mars.

About how the conspiracy got exposed and the war broke out in which Azdahak perished.

About (Tigran who) sent his sister Tigranukha to Tigranakert; about Anuish, the first wife of Azhdahak, and about the settlement of captives.

About the descendants of Tigran and the births descended from him.

About the Ilion War at Teutamos and the participation of our Zarmair with a few (warriors) together with the Ethiopian army and about his death in this war.

The table of contents of the First Book is over.

From Persian legends about Byuraspi Azhdahak.

A reliable account about Buraspi (in the legend).

Chapter 1.

The reply to Sahak's letter and the promise to fulfill his request.

At the beginning of this narration about our (people), Movses Khorenatsi (kindly desires) joy to Sahak Bagratuni.

Having gained acquaintance with your soul prior to the bodily appearance, I recognized in your beautiful request the incessant outpouring of divine grace on you and the continuous influence of the Spirit on your thoughts. Your request is akin to my desires and even more - accustomed to my studies. For which, you should not only be praised but also prayed that you always remain so.

For if we, thanks to the intellect, are, as they say, in the image of God, and furthermore - the virtue of an intelligent being is the ability to think, and your desire for this is inexhaustible, then you, supporting the bright light of your reason with beautiful thoughts, decorate your mind and remain in the image (of God), by which you delight his archetype in incredible and moderate passion and desire for these matters.

At the same time, I also note that while the nobles and rulers of the Armenian country who lived before us and the current rulers did not command the sages, likely to be near them, to compile this kind of chronicle and did not think of resorting to the help of foreign wisdom for this purpose, and now you do all this in front of our eyes, then, clearly it is you who should be recognized as the most exalted of all your predecessors, deserving of the highest praise and worthy of inclusion in such annals.

Therefore, I willingly agree to your request and will do my best to fulfill it and leave this (work) as an immortal monument to you and your future descendants. For you are from an ancient and brave race, and a fruitful one on the path not only of reason and useful thoughts but also of the greatest and numerous glorious deeds; we will mention them in the course of our narration, when, tracing the origin from a father to a son, we will expand the genealogy of all the principalities of Armenia, concisely and accurately describing where and under which circumstances they arose, in accordance to some Greek records.

Chapter 2.

About why we chose to refer to the Greek (sources), although our story is easier to derive from the Chaldean and Assyrian books.

Let no one be surprised that although, as it is generally known, there are historians among many peoples, and especially among the Persians and the Chaldeans, and they have preserved more references to various events concerning our people, we noted only Greek historians and promised to present their indications in our genealogy. For not only the kings of Greece, having done with the arrangement of their domestic affairs, took the trouble to tell the Greeks both about their sovereign expertise and the fruits of science; thus, Ptolemy, who is also a man of brotherly love, found it useful to translate books and legends of all peoples to the Greek language.

(But let nobody considers us ignorant here, accusing of inexperience and ignorance for the fact that Ptolemy, the Egyptian King, we here indicated as King of Greece. The truth is that he also subjugated the Greeks and began to be called King of Alexandria and Greece; nobody else was called as such among the Ptolemies and other rulers of Egypt. Being a big Grecophile, he carried out all his activities in the Greek language. There are many more similar reasons why we called him the Greek king, but in the interest of brevity, we restrict ourselves to what was said about him.)

However, many eminent and devoted to science men from the Greek world strived to introduce into Greek literature not only records from the royal and temple archives of other peoples, as the person who prompted Berossus, a Chaldean wise man, experienced in all sciences, - but also the greatest and amazing knowledge, (which) they acquired with difficulty in different places, collected and translated into Greek: A — y X, A — y F, G — y E, M — y F. Men whose names are well known to us, having collected all this, dedicated them to the glory of the Hellenic world. As admirers of wisdom, they are commendable for their diligence and for the fact that they were able to find (the fruits of) wisdom from others; but even more worthy of it are those who perceived and appreciated these gains of science. Therefore, I will not get tired of calling all of Greece the mother and provider of sciences.

Enough has been said to convince us of the need for us to turn to Greek historians.

Chapter 3.

About the uninquisitive nature of the former kings and rulers.

I don't want to omit mentioning and censuring the incurious disposition of our ancient ancestors. Still, here, at the beginning of our enterprise, I will utter words of condemnation about them. For if those of the kings are genuinely worthy of praise, who in writing, in stories, fixed the course events of their time and immortalized all the wise and valiant deeds in tales and stories, and after them, those who were also honored with our praise who worked hard in the archives to create books, thanks to which we, reading their writings, gain knowledge of worldly laws and civil orders when we especially read the wise speeches and stories of the Chaldeans and Assyrians, Egyptians and Hellenes, and at the same time it seems we envy the wisdom of men who took up such work - then, of course, we all know about the ignorance of our kings and other ancestors in the sciences, and the immaturity of their mind. For although we are a small garden, and are very limited in number, and deprived of power, and have been conquered by other nations many times, still in our country there have been many feats of courage worthy of being immortalized in writing, which, however, none of them cared to record in books. So, if they did not even think about their own benefit and did not leave the memory of themselves to the world, then is there any sense for us to blame them and make even greater demands to them - (why didn't they) and in relation to the past?

But they may say: (it happened) because of the absence of script and literature at that time, or because of various wars that followed frequently one after another. But this opinion is untenable, for there were intervals between the wars, as well as there were Persian and Greek scripts, used to write numerous books that have been stored by us to this day, containing information about property in villages and regions, and in every house, about community litigation and transactions, especially about the inheritance of ancestral estates. And it seems to me that both the current and the ancient Armenians had no attraction to science and the collection of wise songs. Therefore, it is unnecessary to continue our talk about people who are unreasonable, stupid, and wild.

But I am amazed at the fertility of your mind; from our initial births to the present, you were the only one able to undertake such an important matter and invite us to start the research - to reliably present the history of our people in a large and useful work, (tell) about kings and noble families and houses, about their origin, about the deeds of each of them, about which of the families that became famous were local, from our tribe, and which were the newcomers, rooted here and merged with our tribe, to describe all times and events from the moment of chaotic pandemonium to this day, believing by this to bring themselves wonderful glory and joy without worries.

To this I will only say one thing: Do I have a book before me? - as they say in the book of Job, or the writings of your ancestors, which would have helped me, perhaps, like the Jewish historians, to unmistakably bring down the story from the beginning to you or starting from you and others go to the beginning. But be that as it may, I will begin, although it is difficult; just let there be people grateful to us for our labors. I'll start from the same as others begin, being in the bosom of the church and in Christ's faith, considering it superfluous to repeat the legends of the pagan writers about the beginning and (resorting to them) only about the following - certain times and men, in relation to whom the Holy Scriptures agree with them, until we inevitably reach the pagan stories; but from them we will only borrow what we deem reliable.

Chapter 4.

Concerning other historians who disagree about Adam and other patriarchs.

We should briefly say why other historians, I mean Berossus, Polyhistor, and Abiden, thinking contrary to the Spirit, deviated in their opinions regarding the root of humanity, or, if you like, its summits, or the same Shipbuilder and other patriarchs, and not only regarding the names or the times, but also in their interpretation of the beginning of the human race, contrary to what is resolute for us.

For Abiden, similar to others, speaks of him like this: For the all-thinking God denoted him to his people as a shepherd and leader. Then, he adds: Alor reigned ten sars, which is thirty-six thousand years. They also ascribe a different name to Noah and an uncountable number of years, although concerning the force of the flood and the devastation of the earth, they agree with the Spiritual word and equally define

the number of patriarchs as ten, including Xisutr. Not only do they calculate their year differently from ours with a four-season circle of the solar years, especially of the divine years, but they are also at odds with the Egyptian lunar year. If it occurred to anyone to count the years in (cycles), called by the names of the gods, then, they again do not exactly converge with the immeasurable numbers set by them, since the sums of the latter turn out to be either less or more. Perhaps, here we should have presented their opinions to some extent - what each of them had in mind, offering them in such a fashion. But due to the length of the work ahead, we interrupt our word, leaving it all to another place and time, and we begin (to tell) about these things according to our convictions.

Adam is primordial; having lived two hundred and thirty years, he begets Seth; Seth, having lived two hundred and seventy years, begets Enos; the latter owns two inscriptions about two future events, as Joseph says, although their whereabouts are unknown. Enos was the first to call on the name of God with hope. Why is this so, or for what reasons it is believed that he was the first to trust in the calling of the name of God, or how one should understand called? For Adam is truly God-given, and it is said about him that he received the commandment from the mouth of God, and also that having sinned and in hiding, he was asked: Where are you? by God himself and not any other; and also, he heard the decision of retribution from God's mouth. Then, there was Abel, close and known to God, who offered a sacrifice, which was accepted. So, if these were recognized by God and known to him, why it is said that he was the first to call on the name of God, and with hope? For other opinions on this, we refer to our promised place, while here, we will present what is readily available at hand.

For the first of the people, falling into violation of the commandment because (of his sin) got expelled from paradise and the eyes of God. Then, the one, closest to God among the sons of Adam, was killed by the hand of his brother. After this, the human race falls into doubt and despair and truly unauthorized actions, due to the complete absence of the Divine word and revelation. Among them, Enos, full of hope and righteousness, calls on the name of God. Call has a double meaning - to remember as forgotten or to call for help. To remember as forgotten is not suitable here, for not so many years have passed before God's name or the bearer of this name could be forgotten and, besides, a God's creation has not yet managed to find out either death or burial. Hence, Enos calls on God for help.

Having lived one hundred and ninety years, he begets Cainan; Cainan, having lived one hundred and seventy years, begets Malalayel; Malalayel, having lived one hundred and fifty years, begets Jared; Jared, after one hundred and sixty-two years, begets Enok; Enok, after one hundred and sixty-five years, begets Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, he lived a worthy and pleasing life for two hundred years, as it was known to those it pleased, and then, he was transferred away from the wicked, as they say about him. We will report its reason later. Methuselah, having lived one hundred sixty-five years, begets Lamech; Lamech, having lived one hundred eighty-eight years old, begets a son, and will call him Noah.

  About Noah.

Why did he only define him by the name of his son, and about all the others simply said that they were born? His father predicted something contradictory about him: He will console us from our deeds, and from the grief of our hands, and from the earth, which the Lord God has cursed. Which turned out to be not tranquility, but the destruction of everything on earth. It seems to me that to console means to stop, namely, to stop wickedness and evil by the extermination of the depraved people of the second century. For he said beautifully: from our deeds, that is, from iniquities, and from the sorrow of our hands, by which

we create filth. But, according to this prediction, not all the souls really calm down, but only those perfected in virtue; meanwhile, evil gets destroyed and washed away, as if by a stream, as happened in the time of Noah to those mired in evil. Under the son's name, the Scripture exalted him as a famous, popular, and worthy heir to his father's virtues.

Chapter 5.

On the uniform descent of Noah's three sons’ genealogies afore Abraham, Nin and Aram, and Nin is neither Bel nor the son of Bel.

It is well known that the determination of the times from the beginning to us, especially the determination (of the ranks) of the descendants of the noble clans of the three sons of Noah, is an elusive and difficult (matter), if, moreover, one tries to examine them in separate centuries. And all the more because the Divine Scripture, having singled out its people, rejected others as despicable and unworthy of mentioning on its pages. We will tell, starting with them, to the best of our capabilities, what is reliable that we have found in the ancient stories, being completely accurate from our point of view. But you, reasonable reader, now, look at the uniformity of the ranks of the three dynasties up to Abraham, Nin, and Aram and marvel!

Shem, having lived a hundred years, two years after the flood, will beget Arfaxat, according to the Divine word.

Shem

A hundred-year-old Shem begets Arpaxat;

One hundred and thirty-five years old Arpaxat begets Cainan;

One hundred and twenty years old Cainan begets Sala ;

One hundred and thirty-years old Sala begets Eber;

One hundred and thirty-four years old Eber begets Peleg;

One hundred and thirty-three years old Peleg begets Ragav;

One hundred and thirty years old Ragab begets Serug;

One hundred and thirty years old Serug begets Nahor;

One hundred and seventy-nine years old Nahor begets Tara;

Seventy years old Tara begets Abraham.

Ham

Ham begets Khush;

Hush begets Mestraim;

Mestraim begets Nebroth;

Nebrot begets Bab;

Bab begets Anebis;

Anebis begets Arbel;

Arbel begets Khayal;

Khayal begets another Arbel;

Arbel begets Nin;

Nin begets to Ninia.

Japheth

Japheth begets Gamer;

Gamer begets Tiras;

Tiras begets Torgom;

Torgom begets Hayk;

Hayk begets Aramaneak;

Aramaneak begets Aramais;

Aramais begets Amaziah;

Amaziah begets Gelam;

Gelam begets Harma;

Harma begets Aram;

Aram begets Ara the Handsome.

Hence, all the chroniclers put Cainan the fourth after Noah, after Shem - the third. Same with Tiras - the fourth after Noah, and after Japheth - the third, although according to our translation of the Bible, he does not appear somewhere in the direct line of genealogy. We do not find Mestraim as the fourth after Noah and the third after Ham either in our translation, or in any of the chroniclers. We found him, located as such, from a certain the smartest and most inquisitive Syrian, and what he said seemed to us to be trustworthy. For Mestraim is Metsraim, which means Egypt, and for many scribes who consider Nebrot, that is, Bel, an Ethiopian, convinced us that this is correct, given the contiguity of (his country of) habitat with Egypt.

Further, we will also say the following. Although the years of life of Ham's descendants right up to Nin do not appear anywhere or did not reach us, and (the years) of Nin (were not counted) accurately, (the years) of our Japheth are completely unknown, nevertheless, the given genealogy is reliable, since all three tribes include eleven (generations) each before Abraham, Nin, and our Aram; Ara is the twelfth after Nin and died at an early age. Let no one doubt: the genealogy corresponds to the truth, for the reliable in many ways Abiden tells us about it: Nin (from) Arbel, Khayal, Arbel, Anebis, Bab, Bel. Also ours - from Hayk to Ara the Handsome, killed by the fervent Shamiram, he lists as follows: Ara the Handsome (from) Aram, Kharma, Gelam, Amasia, Aramaneak, Hayk, who became the opponent of Bel and, at the same time, his killer. Abiden tells us about this in his first section of small genealogies that someone then withdrew.

Cephalion testifies to this, saying in one of the chapters the following: At the beginning of our work, we began to describe in detail all the genealogies from the royal archives, but received an order from the kings to skip the mention of invisible and bad people of the past, noting only brave, wise and sovereign ancestors, and not waste our time and so on.

It seems to me that those who consider Nin as a son of Bel or even as Bel himself are completely wrong and far from the truth, for neither genealogy nor the sum of the years confirm this. Perhaps, someone due to fame and a big name (of both) found it convenient to present the distant matter as close.

We really found all this in Greek literature, for although the Greeks themselves translated (a lot) into their language from the Chaldean and although the Chaldeans also - of their own free will