Misplaced Pages

#974025

144-530: He is best known for inventing the Armenian alphabet c.  405 AD, which was a fundamental step in strengthening Armenian national identity. He is also considered to be the creator of the Caucasian Albanian and Georgian alphabets by a number of scholars. The chief sources for the life and work of Mashtots are Koriun , Ghazar Parpetsi , and Movses Khorenatsi . The Life of Mashtots (Վարք Մաշտոցի),

288-548: A Pythagorean who "does not usually rely on mythology to explain natural phenomena." Anania accepted the importance of experience, observation, rational practice and theory, and was influenced by the ideas of the 5th-century Neoplatonist philosopher Davit Anhaght (the Invincible), and Greek philosophers Thales of Miletus , Hippocrates , Democritus , Plato , Aristotle , Zeno of Citium , Epicurus , Ptolemy , Pappus of Alexandria , and Cosmas Indicopleustes . Aristotle's On

432-452: A hagiography by Koriun, a disciple of Mashtots, is the primary and most reliable source. Hrachia Acharian , who authored the most comprehensive study on Mashtots and the Armenian alphabet, defended Koriun's work as the only accurate account. It was commissioned by Catholicos Hovsep I , also a student of Mashtots, and written c. 443–450/451. The work has two versions: long and short. The former

576-599: A polymath , Anania is considered by modern scholars as the "father of the exact sciences in Armenia." Modern historians consider him as the greatest scientist of medieval Armenia and, possibly, all Armenian history, up to the 20th century astrophysicist Viktor Ambartsumian . He is widely regarded as the founder of the natural sciences in the country. He was the first classical Armenian scholar to study mathematics and several scientific subjects, such as cosmography and chronology. Nicholas Adontz argued that Anania "occupied

720-458: A reformed spelling of the Armenian language. The reform changed the digraph ու and the ligature և into two new letters, but it generally did not change the pronunciation of individual letters ( see the footnotes of the chart ). Those outside of the (former) Soviet sphere , including all Western Armenians as well as Eastern Armenians in Iran , have rejected the reformed spellings and continue to use

864-570: A sophist of the second and third centuries, wrote: And they say that a leopardess was once caught in Pamphylia which was wearing a chain round its neck, and the chain was of gold, and on it was inscribed in Armenian lettering: "The king Arsaces to the Nysian god". According to the fifth-century Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi , Bardesanes of Edessa (AD 154–222), who founded the Gnostic current of

1008-495: A sound shift it came to be pronounced [o] , and has since the 13th century been written օ ( ō ). For example, classical աւր ( awr , [auɹ] , 'day') became pronounced [oɹ] , and is now written օր ( ōr ). (One word has kept aw , now pronounced /av/ : աղաւնի ( ałavni ) 'pigeon', and there are a few proper names still having aw before a consonant: Տաւրոս Tauros, Փաւստոս Faustos, etc.) For this reason, today there are native Armenian words beginning with

1152-505: A "minor Armenian nobleman." Vardanyan believes he either came from the Kamsarakan family or that they were his patrons . Anania is traditionally thought to have been buried in the village of Anavank’; however, the tradition probably originated from the name of the village. Anania received his early education at the local Armenian schools, possibly at Dprevank’ monastery, where he studied sacred texts and earlier Armenian authors. Due to

1296-579: A "powerful impact on Armenian national pride." Vahakn Dadrian noted that Yerevan became an "arena of nationalist fervor and outburst." The statue of Mashtots was ceremonially opened in front of the Matenadaran on May 26. The Matenadaran, established three years earlier, was named after Mashtots on that day according to a government decree. In a speech at the Yerevan Opera Theater , Soviet Armenian Prime Minister Anton Kochinyan proclaimed that it

1440-579: A "progressive representative of the feudal period of Armenian science." Gevorg Khrlopian went as far as to argue that Anania was an enemy of the Armenian Church and fought against its obscurantism . Hewsen opposed this view, suggesting that, instead, he was an "independent thinker of sorts." Anania is considered by modern scholars to be a representative of the Hellenizing School since many of his works were based on classical Greek sources. He

1584-652: A Russian translation, and it contains numerous serious errors. Renewed interest in Anania's work emerged in the West since the 1950s, with a series of English articles in the Armenian Review . A French translation of his autobiography appeared in 1964 by Haïg Berbérian. Robert H. Hewsen authored an introductory article on Anania's life and scholarship in 1968. Hewsen dedicated his monumental atlas of Armenia (2001) to Anania, whom he called "Armenia's First Scientist." Hailed as

SECTION 10

#1732863200975

1728-563: A close friend and a court historian of the Armenian emperor Tigranes the Great and also wrote his biography. A third century Roman theologian, Hippolytus of Rome (170–235), in his Chronicle , while writing about his contemporary, Emperor Severus Alexander ( r.  222–235 ), mentions that the Armenians are amongst those nations who have their own distinct alphabet. Philostratus the Athenian ,

1872-455: A code for the sign – U+058F (֏). In 2012 the sign was finally adopted in the Armenian block of ISO and Unicode international standards. The Armenian eternity sign , since 2013, is assigned Unicode U+058D (֍ – RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN) and, for its left-facing variant, U+058E (֎ – LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN). The ArmSCII character encoding , developed between 1991 and 1999,

2016-407: A comprehensive collection of tables on the four basic operations . It is the earliest extant known work of its kind. The operations reach up to a total of 80 million, which is the highest number. A possible theoretical part is believed lost. Problems and Solutions (alternatively translated as On Questions and Answers ), a collection of 24 arithmetical problems and their solutions, is based on

2160-590: A few fragments exist in Greek, has been preserved entirely in Armenian. In the midst of his literary labors, Mashtots revisited the districts he had evangelized in his earlier years, and, after the death of Isaac in 439, looked after the spiritual administration of the patriarchate. He survived his friend and master by only six months. Armenians read his name in the Canon of the Liturgy and celebrate his memory on 19 February. Mashtots

2304-504: A group of 40 disciples and began missionary work among Armenians, many of whom were still pagan. He begin his first mission in Goghtn around 395. He successfully spread Christianity in the area and expelled the pagans. Koryun , his pupil and biographer, writes that Mashtots received a good education and was versed in the Greek and Persian languages. On account of his piety and learning, Mesrop

2448-574: A largely secular author, had fallen into a "bad clerical odor." S. Peter Cowe disagreed with Ashot G. Abrahamian 's hypothesis that his name was "censored in the Middle Ages because of ecclesiastical disapproval" and argued that it is "more applicable to Soviet practice than that of the relatively tolerant Armenian and other eastern churches." Soviet historians represented him as a founder of irreligious and anti-clerical thought in Armenia, who pioneered double-truth theory . Vazgen Chaloyan called him

2592-548: A layer of white (the atmosphere) and covered with a hard shell (the sky)." He accurately explained solar and lunar eclipses , the phases of the Moon , and the structure of the Milky Way , describing the latter as a "mass of dense but faintly luminous stars." Anania also correctly attributed tides to the influence of the Moon . He described the topmost sphere as the aether ( arp’i ),

2736-519: A monk in the Armenian Church. This is based on his religious discourses and attempts to date the feasts of the church. John A. C. Greppin doubts that Anania was ever in any religious order. Several scholars consider him a church ideologist akin to Cosmas Indicopleustes , whom he actually criticized. Hewsen noted that some of Anania's "more revolutionary ideas" were suppressed by the Armenian Church after his death. Greppin suggested that Anania,

2880-660: A monument on the tomb of his brother, the Mithraic High Priest of the Kingdom of Greater Armenia , Mazhan. Movses of Khoren notes that Bardesanes translated this Armenian book into Syriac ( Aramaic ), and later also into Greek . Another important evidence for the existence of a pre-Mashtotsian alphabet is the fact that the pantheon of the ancient Armenians included Tir , who was the patron god of writing and science. A 13th-century Armenian historian, Vardan Areveltsi , in his History , notes "that an Armenian script existed of old

3024-727: A number of errors in translations from classical Armenian and concluded that a new translation of his works was needed. Another Soviet scholar, Suren T. Eremian , studied the Geography . He insisted on Anania's authorship and published his research in 1963. The first translation of Anania's work into a European language was done by the British Orientalist Frederick Cornwallis Conybeare , who translated into English Anania's On Christmas , in 1896, and On Easter and Anania's autobiography, in 1897. Lemerle noted that Conybeare translated Anania's autobiography from

SECTION 20

#1732863200975

3168-510: A number of liturgical compositions. Some of the works attributed to him are: «Մեղայ քեզ Տէր» ( Meġay k’ez Tēr , “I have sinned against you, Lord”), «Ողորմեա ինձ Աստուած» ( Voġormea inj Astuac , “Have mercy on me, God”), «Անկանիմ առաջի քո» ( Ankanim aṙaǰi k’o , “I kneel before you”) and «Ողորմեա» ( Voġormea , “Miserere”), all of which are hymns of repentance . Mashtots is a saint of the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic churches. He

3312-587: A part of the Ashkharhatsuyts . It presents six routes from Dvin , Armenia's capital at that time, to the major settlements in different directions, with distances in miles (մղոն, mghon ), referring to the Arabic mile of 1,917.6 metres (6,291 ft), according to Hakob Manandian . Anania's major chronological work, the Chronicle , listed important events in order of their occurrence. Written between 686 and 690, it

3456-500: A royal secretary, both Koriun and Parpetsi assign him other positions as well, especially in the military. He was initially royal chancellor ( ark’uni divanapet ), then moved on to serve in the military after receiving training. In c. 394 Mashtots became a clergyman and was ordained as a monk and lived in a monastery, in Goghtn . He, thereafter, became an ascetic hermit to live in the mountains and uninhabited areas. Mashtots then gathered

3600-409: A secondary one, "possibly an epithet ." The etymologies of both Mesrop and Mashtots have been widely debated. In his authoritative dictionary of Armenian names, Hrachia Acharian described Mashtots to be of uncertain origin. Nicholas Adontz believed it stemmed from Iranian mašt (from mazd ), which is also the origin of the name Mazdak . Asatur Mnatsakanian suggested an origin from the name of

3744-416: A sort of surname. In some manuscripts, he is called Shirakuni ( Շիրակունի ) and Shirakavants’i ( Շիրակաւանցի ). Anania Shirakatsi lived in the 7th century. The dates of his birth and death have not been definitively established. Robert H. Hewsen noted in 1968 that Anania is widely believed to have been born between 595 and 600; a quarter-century later he settled on c. 610 as a birthdate and 685 as

3888-461: A statement of academic pedigree" than autobiography. It was probably written as the preface to one of his scholarly works, possibly the K’nnikon . He was the son of Yovhannes and was born in the village of Anania/Aneank’ ( Անեանք ) or in the town of Shirakavan (Yerazgavors) , in the canton of Shirak, in the central Armenian province of Ayrarat . Aneank' may be connected to the later city of Ani ,

4032-472: A system of mathematical notation based on the Armenian alphabet , although he was the only writer known to have used it. His name is usually anglicized as Ananias of Shirak ( Širak ). Anania is the Armenian variant of the biblical name Ananias, itself the Greek version of the Hebrew Hananiah . The second part of his name denotes his place of origin, the region of Shirak, though it may have become

4176-517: A unique numerical notation based on 12 letters of the Armenian alphabet . For the units, he used the first nine letters of the Armenian script ( Ա , Բ , Գ , Դ , Ե , Զ , Է , Ը , Թ ), similar to the standard traditional Armenian numerical system . The letters used for 10, 100, and 1000 were also identical to the traditional Armenian system ( Ժ , Ճ , Ռ ), but all other numbers up to 10,000 were written using these 12 letters. For instance, 50 would be written ԵԺ (5×10) and not Ծ as in

4320-525: Is attested" during the reign of King Leo the Magnificent ( r.  1187–1219 ), after coins naming idolatrous kings were found stamped with the script. The evidence that the Armenian scholars of the Middle Ages knew about the existence of a pre-Mashtotsian alphabet can also be found in other medieval works, including the first book composed in the Mashtotsian alphabet by the pupil of Mashtots, Koriwn, in

4464-402: Is based on the works of Meton of Athens and his own observations. In 667 Anania was invited by Catholicos Anastas I of Akori (r. 661/2–667) to the Armenian Church's central seat at Dvin to establish a fixed calendar of the movable and immovable feasts of the Armenian Church. The result was a perpetual calendar based on a 532-year cycle ( ՇԼԲ բոլորակ ), combining the solar cycle and

Mesrop Mashtots - Misplaced Pages Continue

4608-769: Is buried at a chapel in Oshakan , a historical village 8 km (5.0 miles) southwest from the town of Ashtarak . He is listed officially in the Roman Martyrology of the Roman Catholic Church ; his feast day is February 17. Armenia lost its independence in 387 and was divided between the Byzantine Empire and Persia, which received about four-fifths of its territory. Western Armenia was governed by Byzantine generals, while an Armenian king ruled as Persian vassal over eastern Armenia. The principal events of this period are

4752-650: Is composed of two parts: a universal chronicle, utilizing the lost works of Annianus of Alexandria and the lost Roman imperial sequence from Eusebius 's Chronographia , and an ecclesiastical history from a miaphysite perspective, which records the six ecumenical councils . Another chronological work, known as the Calendar ( Tomar ), included texts and tables about the calendars of 15 peoples: Armenians, Hebrews, Arabs, Macedonians, Romans, Syrians, Greeks, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Athenians, Bythanians, Cappadocians, Georgians, Caucasian Albanians, and Persians. The calendars of

4896-660: Is considered by most scholars to be the original. Parpetsi and Khorenatsi largely relied upon Koriun's work. The oldest extant manuscript of Koriun's Life of Mashtots has been dated to the 12th century. It was first printed in Armenian by the Mekhitarists in San Lazzaro degli Armeni , Venice in 1833, and has been translated thrice into Modern Armenian and several foreign languages. While Koriun , his chief biographer, only refers to him as Mashtots, Movses Khorenatsi and later Armenian historiography predominantly calls him Mesrop. It

5040-522: Is credited with discovering the plant in Dzoghakert (near modern Taşburun , Iğdır , Turkey) and using it medically. The authorship of the "Book of the Six Thousand" ( Vec‘ hazareak ), the "most important Armenian magical text of the Middle Ages", has traditionally been attributed to Anania. According to a later legend, Anania taught alchemy to the king of Venice . Anania laid the foundations of

5184-588: Is known for certain of his life outside of his own writings, but he is considered the father of the exact and natural sciences in Armenia—the first Armenian mathematician , astronomer , and cosmographer . A part of the Armenian Hellenizing School and one of the few secular scholars in medieval Armenia, Anania was educated primarily by Tychicus, in Trebizond . He composed science textbooks and

5328-481: Is not found in Greek , Syriac, Hebrew , or any other alphabetic numeral system . Allen Shaw has argued it was just a variant of the Armenian numerals designed specifically for the representation of large numbers. No other writer used it. One of Anania's most significant works is the Cosmology ( Տիեզերագիտութիւն , Tiezeragitut’iun ). Abrahamian's version is composed of ten chapters, with an introduction titled "In

5472-410: Is now a Yerevan landmark. A statue of Mashtots and Sahak, erected by Ara Sargsyan in the 1940s, was put up in front of the main campus of Yerevan State University in 2002. Yervand Kochar created two sculptures of Mashtots in gypsum (1952) and plasticine (1953). Ara Sargsyan created a bronze plaquette in 1957/59. A statue of Mashtots and Koriun, by Levon Tokmajyan (1978–79), was erected near

5616-525: Is portrayed as the key figure who preserved the national language and the nation against cultural absorption. James R. Russell describes Mashtots as "the culture-hero of Armenian civilization." Anthony D. Smith noted that Mashtots, with his invention, helped "convert and unite Armenians as a chosen people ." Gerard Libaridian argued that Mashtots and the alphabet "constitute the most important symbols of cultural identity and regeneration ." Koriun, his biographer, compared Mashtots' return to Armenia after

5760-413: Is said to be the first sentence to be written down in Armenian by Mashtots: Ճանաչել զիմաստութիւն եւ զխրատ, իմանալ զբանս հանճարոյ : Čanačʿel zimastutʿiun yev zxrat, imanal zbans hančaroy. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding. Various scripts have been credited with being the prototype for the Armenian alphabet. Pahlavi was the priestly script in Armenia before

5904-563: Is sometimes referred to by Armenian churchmen as "The Saint of Oshakan" (Օշականի Սուրբը). There are at least two chants ( sharakan ) and several canticles ( gandz ) dedicated to Mashtots and Sahak. A number of churches in modern and historical Armenia and the Armenian diaspora are named after St. Mesrop, Sts. Mesrop and Sahak or the Holy Translators. He is regarded as the first great vardapet . The Armenian Apostolic Church has two major days of feast dedicated to Mashtots. The first

Mesrop Mashtots - Misplaced Pages Continue

6048-566: Is the Feast of the Holy Translators (Սուրբ Թարգմանչաց, Surb T’argmanchats ), which is celebrated on the second Saturday of October. It was declared a national holiday in 2001. Acharian postulates that it was established no earlier than the 12th century. It is dedicated to Mashtots, Yeghishe , Movses Khorenatsi , David the Invincible , Gregory of Narek and Nerses Shnorhali . Today pilgrimages to

6192-447: Is the most common Armenian keyboard layout, enjoying broad support across modern operating systems. Because there are more characters in the Armenian alphabet (39) than in Latin (26), some Armenian characters appear on non-alphabetic keys on a conventional QWERTY keyboard (for example, շ maps to , ). The phonetic layout is not very performant, due to the letter frequency difference between

6336-416: Is the only known Armenian geographical work prior to the 13th century. Cowe described it as "the only one of its kind in Armenia until the introduction of modern cartography in the seventeenth century." Christina Maranci described it as the "earliest surviving description of the entire known world in the Armenian language." The Ashkharhatsuyts has survived in long and short recensions . According to

6480-417: Is titled Xraxč̣anakank’ ( Խրախճանականք ), literally "things for festive occasions". It has been translated into English as Mathematical Pastimes , Fun with Arithmetic or Problems for Amusement . It also contains 24 problems "intended for mathematical entertainment in social gatherings." According to Mathews this may be the oldest extant text of its kind. For his mathematical works, Anania developed

6624-560: Is truer to the holidays' intent than celebrating them separately as is common elsewhere in the Christian world. Anania also wrote on herbal medicine , though none of his medical writings have survived. He is traditionally credited with the discovery of the miraculous flower called hamasp’iwṙ or hamasp’iur ( համասփիւռ ). One 16th century manuscript mentions that he dealt with its therapeutic properties. It has been identified by modern scholars as Silene latifolia (white campion). He

6768-501: Is usually thought to have originated from "serovbe", Armenian for " seraph ", a word of Biblical Hebrew origin. Russell described Mesrop a mysterious word, seemingly Syriac , "perhaps an epithet meaning 'seraphic'." Some scholars maintain that Mesrop is a blend of " Mar " (" lord " in Syriac) and "Serob", a version of "Serovbe". The date of birth of Mashtots is not well-established, but recent scholarship accepts 361. Others give 361–364 as

6912-402: Is written horizontally, left to right . One of the classical accounts of the existence of an Armenian alphabet before Mesrop Mashtots comes from Philo of Alexandria (20 BC – AD 50), who in his writings notes that the work of the Greek philosopher and historian Metrodorus of Scepsis ( c.  145 BC – 70 BC ), On Animals , was translated into Armenian. Metrodorus was

7056-647: The Armenian Cathedral of Moscow (2013) and in Alfortville , Paris (2015). In Akhalkalaki , the center of the Armenian-populated Javakheti (Javakhk) region of Georgia, the statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin was replaced with that of Mashtots in 1992. Mashtots has featured prominently in Armenian poetry. In one poem (« Սուրբ Մեսրովբի տոնին »), the mid-19th century poet Mikayel Nalbandian ranked him above Moses . In another, Nalbandian lamented

7200-606: The Bagratid Armenian capital. Anania probably came from a noble family. Since his name is sometimes spelled as Shirakuni ( Շիրակունի ), Hewsen argued that he may have belonged to the house of the Kamsarakan or Arsharuni princes of Shirak and Arsharunik’ , respectively. Greenwood suggests that it is more likely that Anania came from the lesser nobility in Shirak, who served the house of Kamsarakan. Broutian describes his father as

7344-610: The Bardaisanites , went to the Armenian castle of Ani and there read the work of a pre-Christian Armenian priest named Voghyump, written in the Mithraic script of the Armenian temples, named after Mihr , the Armenian national god of light, truth, and the sun. In Voghyump's work, amongst other histories, an episode was noted of the Armenian King Tigranes VII (who reigned from 144 to 161, and again from AD 164–186) erecting

SECTION 50

#1732863200975

7488-481: The Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430, contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet. Modern Armenian scholarship recognizes Mashtots as the founder of Armenian literature and education and as the "greatest enlightener and first teacher" of the Armenian people. The figure of Mashtots has become a "symbol that embodies the Armenian language, church, and school system, connecting each to one another." In Armenian narratives, Mashtots

7632-453: The Ge'ez script had an influence on certain letter shapes, but this has not been supported by any experts in Armenian studies. There are four principal calligraphic hands of the script. Erkatagir , or 'ironclad letters', seen as Mesrop's original, was used in manuscripts from the 5th to 13th century and is still preferred for epigraphic inscriptions. Bolorgir , or 'cursive', was invented in

7776-534: The Gospel in the district of Goghtn near the river Araxes , converting many. Encouraged by the patriarch and the king, Mesrop founded numerous schools in different parts of the country, in which the youth were taught the new alphabet. He himself taught at the Amaras monastery of the Armenian province of Artsakh (located in the contemporary Martuni region of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic). However, his activity

7920-620: The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin . In 1992–94 Khanjyan created a large mural of the same painting inside the Yerevan Cascade (now the Cafesjian Center for the Arts ). The most recognizable statue of Mashtots, depicted with his disciple and biographer Koriun, is located in front of the Matenadaran and was erected by Ghukas Chubaryan in 1962. Although it was not immediately well-received, it

8064-459: The Urartian goddess Bag-Mashtu . Russell argued that the original form of Mashtots may have been Maždoc‘, originated from Middle Parthian mozhdag and means "bearer of good news or reward". Today, Mesrop (Mesrob) is a common male name and Mesropyan (Mesrobian) a common last name among Armenians. There is more agreement about Mesrop. Acharian considered it to be of unknown origin, but noted that it

8208-513: The catholicosate for centuries. Grigor used these as a textbook at his school at Sanahin Monastery . Anania may have also influenced Byzantine scholars of Armenian origin, namely Leo the Mathematician in the 9th century and Nicholas Artabasdos Rhabdas in the 14th century. In the printed age, passing references to Anania were made as early as 1742 by Paghtasar Dpir , but it was not until

8352-450: The exact sciences in Armenia and greatly influenced many Armenian scholars who came after him. Hovhannes Imastaser (Sarkavag) and other medieval scholars extensively cited and incorporated Anania's works. In a 1037 letter, Grigor Magistros , a scholar from the Pahlavuni noble family, asked Catholicos Petros Getadardz for Anania's manuscripts of his K’nnikon , which were locked up at

8496-583: The lunar cycle since they coincide every 532 years. It was first proposed by Victorius of Aquitaine in 457 and adopted by the Church of Alexandria . Anania's calendar was never implemented by the Armenian Church; Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi believes that Anastas's death prevented a church council from ratifying it. Krikor H. Maksoudian described the endeavor a "serious attempt", which was not adopted due to circumstances. The Ashkharhatsuyts (Classical Armenian: Աշխարհացոյց , Ašxarhac’oyc’ , lit. "showing

8640-463: The ow ligature for the vowel / u / , as in Greek; the similarity of the letter ի /i/ in shape and sound value to Cyrillic И и and (Modern) Greek Η η ; and the shapes of letters which "seem derived from a variety of cursive Greek", including Greek/Armenian pairs Θ / թ , Φ / փ , and Β / բ . It has been speculated by some scholars in African studies, following Dimitri Olderogge, that

8784-438: The traditional Armenian orthography . They criticize some aspects of the reforms and allege political motives behind them. Notes: In cursive, the upper- and lower-case letters look more similar than they do in print, and the stroke order is more apparent. Ancient Armenian manuscripts used many ligatures . A commonly used ligature is և (composed of ե and ւ ). Armenian print typefaces also include many ligatures. In

SECTION 60

#1732863200975

8928-605: The "Christian spirit" is more prominent in Anania than in earlier figures of the Hellenizing School as he aims to bridge Hellenistic science and church doctrine. "Nevertheless, despite his inconsistencies, he emerges as the greatest representative of natural knowledge and natural philosophy in early feudal Armenia." In Soviet reference books , Anania was often mentioned as the earliest astronomer among its peoples . Greenwood argues that studying Anania and his works "resonated with twentieth-century political beliefs and offered

9072-423: The "greatest benefactor" of the Armenian people, while the linguist Eduard Aghayan called him simply the "greatest Armenian", a view that has been expressed by others as well. Aghayan further described Mashtots as the "greatest linguist of his time in the broadest sense of the word." Catholicos Vazgen I stated that "everything truly Armenian" was born out of the vision and genius of Mashtots. Viktor Ambartsumian ,

9216-477: The "natural course of the development of things." He asserted that the creation, existence, and decay of natural bodies and phenomena occurred through the union of these elements—without the interference of God. Both living and non-living matter came into existence from a synthesis of the four elements. Anania accepted that the Earth is round , describing it as "like an egg with a spherical yolk (the globe) surrounded by

9360-403: The 10th century and became popular in the 13th. It has been the standard printed form since the 16th century. Notrgir , or 'minuscule', invented initially for speed, was extensively used in the Armenian diaspora in the 16th to 18th centuries, and later became popular in printing. Sheghagir , or 'slanted writing', is now the most common form. The earliest known example of the script's usage

9504-420: The 13th century. In reformed Armenian orthography (1920s), the ligature և ev is also treated as a letter, bringing the total number of letters to 39. The Armenian word for 'alphabet' is այբուբեն ( aybuben ), named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet: ⟨ Ա ⟩ Armenian : այբ ayb and ⟨ Բ ⟩ Armenian : բեն ben . Armenian

9648-648: The 14th century. These manuscripts, around 20 in total were created in Constantinople , Etchmiadzin , Sanahin , Haghpat and elsewhere, depict Mashtots with a halo . In the 18th century Mashtots was portrayed by two Italian painters. Giovanni Battista Tiepolo portrayed Mashtots with a pseudo-Armenian alphabet on the frescoes on the ceiling above the staircase of the Würzburg Residence in Bavaria, while Francesco Maggiotto 's Italianate portrait of Mashtots hangs at

9792-456: The 1840s and 1890s. Constantinople was the main center of Armenian-scripted Turkish press. This portion of the Armenian press declined in the early twentieth century but continued until the Armenian genocide of 1915. In areas inhabited by both Armenians and Assyrians , Syriac texts were occasionally written in the Armenian script, although the opposite phenomenon, Armenian texts written in Serto ,

9936-528: The Armenian Catholic monastery of San Lazzaro degli Armeni near Venice. Stepanos Nersissian 's 1882 painting of Mashtots, commissioned by a wealthy Armenian from Elisabethpol , is considered the most widely recognized artistic depiction of Mashtots. During the Soviet period, numerous Armenian artists portrayed Mashtots. Van Khachatur (Vanik Khachatryan) created a panel painting of Mashtots in 1958–59 for

10080-611: The Armenian alphabet. The Armenian alphabet was added to the Unicode Standard in version 1.0, in October 1991. It is assigned the range U+0530–058F. Five Armenian ligatures are encoded in the "Alphabetic presentation forms" block (code point range U+FB13–FB17). On 15 June 2011, the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) accepted the Armenian dram sign for inclusion in the future versions of the Unicode Standard and assigned

10224-458: The Armenian and English languages, although it is easier to learn and use. Armenian Transliteration Armenian Orthography converters Anania Shirakatsi Anania Shirakatsi ( Old Armenian : Անանիա Շիրակացի , Anania Širakac’i , anglicized : Ananias of Shirak ) was a 7th-century Armenian polymath and natural philosopher , author of extant works covering mathematics, astronomy, geography, chronology, and other fields. Little

10368-669: The Armenian script. When the Armenian Duzian family managed the Ottoman mint during the reign of Abdülmecid I, they kept records in Armenian script but in the Turkish language. From the middle of the 19th century, the Armenian alphabet was also used for books written in the Kurdish language in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian script was also used by Turkish-speaking assimilated Armenians between

10512-452: The Armenians and Persians. Anania wrote several works on precious stones , music, and the known languages of the world. Anania's discourses on Christmas/ Epiphany and Easter are discussions on the dates of the two feasts. In the first, he uses a lost work he ascribes to Polycarp of Smyrna and insists that the Armenian custom of celebrating Christmas and the Epiphany on the same date

10656-448: The Armenians, Romans, Hebrews, Syrians, Greeks, and Egyptians contain texts, while those of other peoples only have the names of months and their length. Anania wrote several books on weights and measures. He extensively used the work of Epiphanius of Salamis to present the system of weights used by the Greeks, Jews, and Syrians, and his own knowledge as well as other sources for those of

10800-509: The Christian Faith by forbidding or rendering profane all the foreign alphabetic scripts which were employed for transcribing the books of the heathens and of the followers of Zoroaster . To Mesrop we owe the preservation of the language and literature of Armenia; but for his work, the people would have been absorbed by the Persians and Syrians, and would have disappeared like so many nations of

10944-555: The East". Medieval Armenian sources also claim that Mashtots invented the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets around the same time. Most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia , a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli . The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under King Mirian III (326 or 337) and

11088-697: The Fulfillment of a Promise", implying a patron. It covers the sun, the moon, celestial spheres, constellations , the Milky Way , and meteorological changes. Works used for the parts of the Cosmology include the Bible (mostly the Pentateuch and Psalms ) and works by the Church Fathers . Anania cites the work of Basil of Caesarea , Gregory the Illuminator , and Amphilochius (perhaps, of Iconium ). Some chapters of

11232-617: The Greek language and bring back the masterpieces of Greek literature. The most famous of his pupils were John of Egheghiatz, Joseph of Baghin, Yeznik , Koriun , Moses of Chorene , and John Mandakuni. The first monument of Armenian literature is the version of the Holy Scriptures. Isaac, says Moses of Chorene, made a translation of the Bible from the Syriac text about 411. This work was considered imperfect, for soon afterwards John of Egheghiatz and Joseph of Baghin were sent to Edessa to translate

11376-512: The Heavens had a significant influence on Anania's thought. According to Gevorg Khrlopian, Anania was heavily influenced by Yeghishe 's An Interpretation of Creation , the anonymous Interpretation of the Categories of Aristotle , and the works of Davit Anhaght, who had established Neoplatonism in Armenian thought. Anania was also the first Armenian scholar to quote Philo of Alexandria . Anania

11520-458: The Illuminator had the most influence on the course of Armenian history. Catholic Armenian Archbishop and scholar Levon Zekiyan further argued that Mashtots "was our greatest political thinker." Zekiyan argues that Mashtots laid the foundations of a national ideology, "which gave the Armenians a qualitatively new self-awareness [...] in the wider cultural-anthropological sense of a vision of the world, or Weltanschauung ." Mashtots also produced

11664-578: The Renaissance." Edmond Schütz called it an "outstanding work of medieval sciences, a rich post- Ptolemaid heredity." It was one of the earliest secular Armenian works to be published (in 1668 by Voskan Yerevantsi ). It has been translated into four languages: English, Latin (both 1736), French (1819), and Russian (1877). In 1877, Kerovbe Patkanian first attributed it to Anania as the most probable author. Another geographical work of Anania, The Itinerary ( Մղոնաչափք , Mghonach’ap’k’ ), may have been

11808-567: The Scriptures. They journeyed as far as Constantinople and brought back authentic copies of the Greek text with them. With the help of other copies obtained from Alexandria, the Bible was translated again from the Greek according to the text of the Septuagint and Origen 's Hexapla . This version, now in use in the Armenian Church, was completed about 434. The decrees of the first three ecumenical councils— Nicæa , Constantinople , and Ephesus —and

11952-481: The Soviet period. Ashot G. Abrahamian , who began his research at the Matenadaran in the 1930s, first published one of Anania's arithmetical texts in 1939, followed by a complete compilation of Anania's work in 1944. One critic objected to his compilation for attributing disputed works to Anania. Abrahamian and Garegin Petrosian published an updated edition in 1979. Some criticism persisted: Varag Arakelian noted

12096-560: The Unions where Armenian ( Silva Kaputikyan and Nairi Zarian ) and Soviet ( Vadim Kozhevnikov , Marietta Shaginyan , Mykola Bazhan , Andrei Lupan ) writers gave speeches. In 1962 the Soviets put into circulation a stamp commemorating Mashtots. The Order of St. Mesrop Mashtots , awarded for "outstanding achievements" in science, education, healthcare, and culture, was established by the Armenian government in 1993. The St. Sahak-St. Mesrop award

12240-439: The West, had very strong pro-Hellenic bias, trained the children of pagan priests and assembled their own disciples to spread the faith through learning. In his 1904 book on Mashtots, the historian Leo called him the greatest of all of Armenia's historical heroes and contrasted the continued legacy of Mashtots with the legacy of Tigranes the Great 's brief empire. Similarly, historian Ashot Hovhannisyan described Mashtots as

12384-667: The Western Syriac script, is more common. The Kipchak -speaking Armenian Christians of Podolia and Galicia used an Armenian alphabet to produce an extensive amount of literature between 1524 and 1669. The Armenian script, along with the Georgian , was used by the poet Sayat-Nova in his Armenian poems. An Armenian alphabet was an official script for the Kurdish language in 1921–1928 in Soviet Armenia . The Armeno-Tats , who've historically spoken Tat , wrote their language in

12528-427: The accepted theories of his time." Suren Yeremian named Anania, along with historian Movses Khorenatsi and philosopher David the Invincible , one of the prominent thinkers of the "great cultural flourishing" in Armenia of the fifth to seventh centuries, when Hellenistic traditions were still strong and continued to bear the influence of the secular thinking of the pre-Christian times. Sen Arevshatyan argued that

12672-561: The alphabet "Armeno-Turkish", describing it as consisting of 31 Armenian letters and "infinitely superior" to the Arabic or Greek alphabets for rendering Turkish. This Armenian script was used alongside the Arabic script on official documents of the Ottoman Empire written in Ottoman Turkish. For instance, the first novel to be written in Turkish in the Ottoman Empire was Hovsep Vartanian 's 1851 Akabi Hikayesi (Akabi's Story), written in

12816-464: The application of fractions; it is the earliest such work in Armenian. Many of its problems allude to real-world situations: six connect to the princely house of Shirak, the Kamsarakans , and at least three to Iran. Greenwood calls the problems "a rich source for seventh-century history whose value has not been sufficiently recognized." The third work, probably an appendix of the book of arithmetic,

12960-695: The central square of Ejmiatsin ( Vagharshapat ). Statues, busts and sculptures of Mashtots have been erected in the Armenian diaspora , including in historical communities such as at the seminary in Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter , the library of the Vank Cathedral in New Julfa , Isfahan, Iran, the Melkonian Educational Institute in Nicosia , Cyprus and in newly-established communities, such as on

13104-605: The creation of the script, i.e. after 400, and on paleographic grounds between the 5th and 7th centuries. It is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale de France . The earliest surviving manuscripts written in Armenian using Armenian script date from the 9th–10th century. Certain shifts in the language were at first not reflected in the orthography. The digraph աւ ( au ) followed by a consonant used to be pronounced [au] (as in lu au ) in Classical Armenian , but due to

13248-585: The entrance hall of the Armenian Academy of Sciences in Yerevan. Hovhannes Minasian and Henrik Mamian created a fresco, in 1961–64, for Saint Mesrop Mashtots Church in Oshakan , where he is buried. In 1981 a tapestry titled The Armenian Alphabet , where Mashtots is the central figure, was completed by French weavers based on a painting by Grigor Khanjyan . It is kept at the Pontifical Residence at

13392-455: The first half of the fifth century. Koriwn notes that Mashtots was told of the existence of ancient Armenian letters which he was initially trying to integrate into his own alphabet. The Armenian alphabet was introduced by Mesrop Mashtots and Isaac of Armenia (Sahak Partev) in AD 405. Medieval Armenian sources also claim that Mashtots invented the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian alphabets around

13536-513: The first known geographic work in classical Armenian ( Ashkharhatsuyts ), which provides detailed information about Greater Armenia , Persia and the Caucasus ( Georgia and Caucasian Albania ). In mathematics, his accomplishments include the earliest known table of results of the four basic operations , the earliest known collection of recreational math puzzles and problems, and the earliest book of math problems in Armenian. He also devised

13680-520: The grave of Mashtots in Oshakan are made on this feast. In the Soviet period it became a secular festival. The second, the Feast of Sahak and Mashtots, is celebrated on the 33rd day after the Pentecost , on Thursdays, between June 11 and July 16. Acharian considered it the continuation of the original feast dedicated to Mashtots. It was on this feast that pilgrimages to Mashtots' grave in Oshakan were made until

13824-558: The height of the Karabakh movement in 1989, Rafayel Ishkhanian characterized Mesrop Mashtots as "our most genuine, our greatest independentist [...] who, at the moment of the disintegration of the Armenian state, gave us the Armenian alphabet, language and literature, gave us Armenian schools and, as a result, although without political independence, we kept our moral and cultural sovereignty." Levon Ter-Petrosyan , philologist and Armenia's first president, postulates that Mashtots and Gregory

13968-407: The introduction of Christianity, and Syriac , along with Greek, was one of the alphabets of Christian scripture. Armenian shows some similarities to both. However, the general consensus is that Armenian is modeled after the Greek alphabet , supplemented with letters from a different source or sources for Armenian sounds not found in Greek. This is suggested by the Greek order of the Armenian alphabet;

14112-433: The invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mashtots was primarily aimed at spreading Christianity, in the long-run it was also politically significant. Armenians entered the "family of ancient cultured peoples" and developed an original culture and rich literature. In a 1991 book Catholicos of Cilicia Karekin I complained that his work was being "depicted with colours of purely political, nationalistic and secular nature." At

14256-460: The invention of the alphabet to Moses ' descent from Mount Sinai . In another passage, Koriun compared the work of Mashtots and Sahak to the work of the Four Evangelists . Modern scholars have compared Mashtots to Gregory the Illuminator , often describing the former as the "second illuminator." Russell argues that both were visionaries, found a champion for their program in the king, looked to

14400-522: The lack of teachers and books in Armenia, he decided to travel to the Byzantine Empire to study mathematics. After first traveling to Theodosiopolis , then to the Byzantine-controlled province of Fourth Armenia (probably Martyropolis ), where he studied under the mathematician Christosatur for six months. He then left to find a better teacher and learned about Tychicus, who was based at

14544-616: The latter half of the 19th century that Anania and his work became a subject of scholarly study. In 1877 Kerovbe Patkanian published a collection of Anania's works in the original classical Armenian at St Petersburg University . Titled Sundry Studies ( Մնացորդք բանից , Mnats’ordk’ banits’ ), it is the first-ever print publication of his works. Galust Ter-Mkrtchian published a number of Anania's works in 1896. The Russian Academy of Sciences published Joseph Orbeli 's Russian translation of Anania's Problems and Solutions in 1918. Systematic study and publication of his works began in

14688-405: The letter օ ( ō ) although this letter was taken from the Greek alphabet to write foreign words beginning with o [o] . The number and order of the letters have changed over time. In the Middle Ages, two new letters ( օ [o] , ֆ [f] ) were introduced in order to better represent foreign sounds; this increased the number of letters from 36 to 38. From 1922 to 1924, Soviet Armenia adopted

14832-499: The likely range. He was born in the village of Hatsekats (Հացեկաց) in the canton of Taron , to a father named Vardan, who may have been a priest or a nobleman. Some scholars believe he was affiliated with the Mamikonian dynasty since Taron was their feudal domain. Others suggest he may have belonged to the lesser nobility or reject his noble origin at all. Leo believed he was the son of a peasant. According to Anania Shirakatsi , Vardan

14976-552: The line "The powerful language of Mashtots is the bright hope of every Armenian." Armenian alphabet The Armenian alphabet ( Armenian : Հայոց գրեր , Hayocʼ grer or Հայոց այբուբեն , Hayocʼ aybuben ) or, more broadly, the Armenian script , is an alphabetic writing system developed for Armenian and occasionally used to write other languages. It was developed around 405 CE by Mesrop Mashtots , an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. The script originally had 36 letters. Eventually, two more were adopted in

15120-526: The linguistic literature on Classical Armenian, slightly different systems are in use. For about 250 years, from the early 18th century until around 1950, more than 2,000 books in the Turkish language were printed using the Armenian alphabet. Not only did Armenians read this Turkish in Armenian script, so did the non-Armenian (including the Ottoman Turkish) elite. An American correspondent in Marash in 1864 calls

15264-418: The long-time president of the Armenian Academy of Sciences , stated in 1962։ "The history of our culture has given many outstanding figures, but of all these figures, the Armenian people owe the most to Mashtots." Soviet Armenian historiography portrayed Mashtots as a secular figure, in line with the official Marxist-Leninist interpretation of history. Hakob Manandian argued in a 1940 pamphlet that although

15408-437: The matter and created an alphabet of thirty-six letters; two more (long O (Օ, օ) and F (Ֆ, ֆ)) were added in the twelfth century. The first sentence in Armenian written down by Mesrop after he invented the letters was the opening line of Solomon's Book of Proverbs : Ճանաչել զիմաստութիւն եւ զխրատ, իմանալ զբանս հանճարոյ : Čanačʿel zimastutʿiwn ew zxrat, imanal zbans hančaroy. «To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive

15552-521: The mid-20th century. With the rise of national consciousness in the 19th century, it came to be celebrated in large Armenian communities in Tiflis and Constantinople. The Armenian Apostolic Church celebrated the 1500th anniversary of the Armenian alphabet in 1912–13 and the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots in 1961. In May 1962 the 1600th anniversary of the birth of Mashtots was marked with "massive official celebrations" in Soviet Armenia , which had

15696-603: The military and later studied in Alexandria , Rome , and Constantinople . Tychicus later returned to his native Trebizond, where he established a school c. 615. Tychicus taught many students from Constantinople (including from the imperial court) and was renowned among Byzantine kings. He provided Anania special attention and taught him what Anania called a "perfect knowledge of mathematics". In Tychicus's vast library, Anania found "everything, exoteric and esoteric ", including sacred and secular Greek authors, including works on

15840-500: The monastery (or martyrium) of Saint Eugenios in Trebizond . Redgate placed this in the 620s. Anania devoted a significant part of his autobiography to Tychicus (born c. 560), with whom he spent eight years in the 620s or 630s. Tychicus had studied the Armenian language and its literature while serving in the Byzantine army in Armenia. Wounded by the Persians , he retired from

15984-508: The money he earned teaching. Thomson wrote that as a lay scholar, Anania was a "rarity in early Armenia." Hewsen termed him the only lay classical Armenian author besides Grigor Magistros , adding that he had a close relationship with the Armenian Church. Malachia Ormanian did not list him among lay authors. Hacikyan et al. describe Anania as a "devout Christian and well versed in the Bible" who "made some attempts to reconcile science and Scripture." In his later years, Anania may have been

16128-470: The most valuable works to come down to us from Armenian antiquity." The Armenian Geography —as it is alternatively known—has been especially important for research into the history and geography of Greater Armenia, the Caucasus ( Georgia and Caucasian Albania ) and the Sasanian Empire , which are all described in detail. The information on Armenia is not found elsewhere in historical sources, as it

16272-460: The national liturgy (so far written in Syriac) were also translated into Armenian, the latter being revised on the liturgy of St. Basil , though retaining characteristics of its own. Many works of the Greek Fathers were also translated into Armenian. The loss of the Greek originals has given some of those versions a special importance; thus, the second part of Eusebius 's Chronicle, of which only

16416-400: The new orthography, the character և is no longer a typographical ligature, but a distinct letter, placed in the new alphabetic sequence, before "o". The following Armenian punctuation marks are placed above and slightly to the right of the vowel whose tone is modified in order to reflect intonation: ISO 9985 (1996) transliterates the Armenian alphabet for modern Armenian as follows: In

16560-414: The point, retaining the reader's attention and citing examples to illustrate his point. Anania was primarily devoted to mathematics, which he considered the "mother of all knowledge." His mathematical books were used as textbooks in Armenia. Of Anania's several mathematical works, the most important is the book of arithmetic ( Hamaroghut’iun , Համարողութիւն ; or T’vabanut’iun , Թւաբանութիւն ),

16704-438: The prominent Surb Karapet Monastery , not far from his birthplace. Koriun tells that Mashtots received "Hellenic education," i.e. education in the Greek language . Besides his native Armenian, Mashtots knew Greek , Persian ( Middle Persian ), and Syriac (Aramaic). In late 380s Mashtots moved to Vagharshapat , Armenia's capital, where he began a career at the court of King Khosrov III . While Khorenatsi says that he worked as

16848-533: The reinvention of the Armenian alphabet , the revision of the liturgy, the creation of an ecclesiastical and national literature, and the revision of hierarchical relations. Three men are prominently associated with this work: Mashtots, Part'ev, and King Vramshapuh , who succeeded his brother Khosrov IV in 389. Armenians probably had an alphabet of their own, as historical writers reference an "Armenian alphabet" before Mashtots, but used Greek , Persian , and Syriac scripts to translate Christian texts, none of which

16992-578: The same position in Armenian education as Leo [the Mathematician] did in Byzantine education. He was the first to sow the seeds of science among the Armenians." Hacikyan et al. wrote in The Heritage of Armenian Literature : "Shirakatsi was an educator and an organizer of ideas and materials rather than an original thinker. He was often in the forefront of scientific thinking, but at other times he repeated

17136-450: The same time. However, most scholars link the creation of the Georgian script to the process of Christianization of Iberia , a core Georgian kingdom of Kartli . The alphabet was therefore most probably created between the conversion of Iberia under Mirian III (326 or 337) and the Bir el Qutt inscriptions of 430, contemporaneously with the Armenian alphabet. Traditionally, the following phrase translated from Solomon's Book of Proverbs

17280-486: The scholarly consensus, the long recension was the original. For the description of Europe, North Africa and Asia (all the known world from Spain to China), it largely uses Greek sources, namely the now lost geography of Pappus of Alexandria (4th century), which in turn, is based on the Geography of Ptolemy (2nd century). According to Hewsen, it is the "last work based on ancient geographical knowledge written before

17424-427: The sciences, medicine, chronology, and history. Russell believed his library may have included Pythagorean and alchemical books. Anania considered Tychicus to have been "predestined by God for the introduction of science into Armenia." Anania himself established a school in Armenia upon his return. That school, the first in Armenia to teach quadrivium , is presumed to have been located in his native Shirak. He

17568-526: The source of light and heat (through the Sun ). Anania was a polymath and natural philosopher . About 40 works in various disciplines have been attributed to Anania, but only half are extant. They include studies and translations in mathematics , astronomy , cosmology , geography , chronology , and meteorology . Many of his works are believed to have been part of the K’nnikon ( Քննիկոն , from " canon ", Greek: Kanonikon ), completed circa 666, and used as

17712-464: The standard science textbook in medieval Armenia. Artashes Matevosyan termed it the first secular Armenian science textbook, while Valentina Calzolari described it as a "monumental encyclopedic work." Greenwood argued that the K’nnikon was a "fluid compilation, whose contents fluctuated over time, reflecting the interests and resources of different teachers and practitioners." Modern scholars have praised Anania's writing as concise, simple, and to

17856-430: The standard system. Thus, the notation is multiplicative-additive as opposed to the ciphered-additive standard system and requires knowing 12 letters, instead of 36, to write numbers less than 10,000. Numbers greater than that could be written using multiplicative combinations of just 2 or 3 signs, but using all 36 letters. Stephen Chrisomalis believes this system was created by Anania since it only occurs in his works and

18000-429: The state of the church in Oshakan where Mashtots is buried. In his 1912 poem "St. Mashtots", Siamanto compared him to Moses and called him "God of Thought." In a 1913 poem , Hovhannes Tumanyan , Armenia's national poet , praised Mashtots and Sahak as luminaries. Paruyr Sevak , a celebrated Soviet Armenian poet, characterized Mashtots as a great statesman who won a "bloodless battle, which cannot be compared to any of

18144-503: The victories of our glorious commanders" in a 1962 poem. It was set to stage in 2011. A popular poem by Silva Kaputikyan , "Words for my Son", reads: "By Mesrop's holy genius, it [the Armenian language] has become letter and parchment; it has become hope, become a flag." In the early 1970s, the popular song "Glorious Nation" («Ազգ փառապանծ»), written by Arno Babajanian and Ashot Grashi  [ hy ; ru ] , and frequently performed by Raisa Mkrtchyan  [ hy ] , included

18288-416: The words of understanding.» The reinvention of the alphabet around 405 was crucial for Armenian literature and was significant in the creation of a separate idea of Armenian language and what was connected to it. "The result of the work of Isaac and Mesrop", says St. Martin, "was to separate for ever the Armenians from the other peoples of the East, to make of them a distinct nation, and to strengthen them in

18432-570: The work, such as "On Clouds" (also called "On the Sky" or "Concerning the Skies"), are largely based on Basil's Hexameron . Anania also repeats the classical Greek notions in the fields of astronomy, physics or meteorology. Pambakian wrote about the significance of the Cosmology : Another of Anania's astronomical works, Tables of the Motions of the Moon ( Խորանք ընթացիք լուսոյ , Xorank’ ënt’ac’ik’ lusoy ),

18576-533: The world") is an anonymously published world map , believed to have been written sometime between 610 and 636, "probably shortly before AD 636", i.e. the Muslim Arab invasions and conquests . It lacks a drawn map, but contains "earliest surviving detailed description of Armenian lands." Its authorship has been disputed in the modern period; formerly believed to have been the work of Movses Khorenatsi , most scholars now attribute it to Anania. Hewsen calls it "one of

18720-450: The year he died. Agop Jack Hacikyan et al. place his birth in early 600s but agree on 685. Sen Arevshatyan , James R. Russell , Edward G. Mathews, and Theo van Lint also concur with 610–685, while Greenwood suggests c. 600–670. Vardanyan places his death in the early 690s. Anania is the only classical Armenian scholar to have written an autobiography . It is a brief text, characterized as "somewhat self-congratulatory" and "more

18864-524: Was a dedicatory inscription over the west door of the church of Saint Sarkis in Tekor . Based on the known individuals mentioned in the inscription, it has been dated to the 480s. The earliest known surviving example of usage outside of Armenia is a mid-6th century mosaic inscription in the chapel of St Polyeuctos in Jerusalem. A papyrus discovered in 1892 at Fayyum and containing Greek words written in Armenian script has been dated on historical grounds to after

19008-473: Was an azat . Some scholars, including Stepan Malkhasyants , have identified Vardan with Vrik, mentioned by Pavstos Buzand . Vrik was the illegitimate son of Catholicos Pap (not King Pap ), the grandson of Gregory the Illuminator (through Husik ). Mashtots, thus, may have been a second cousin to Catholicos Sahak Partev . Acharian outright rejected this theory, but it has been cited by Elizabeth Redgate . Other scholars, including Ormanian, believed Mashtots

19152-461: Was appointed secretary to King Khosrov IV , in charge of writing royal decrees and edicts in Persian and Greek. Leaving the court, Mashtots took the holy orders and withdrew to a monastery with a few companions, leading a life of great austerity for several years. In 394, with the blessing of Sahak Part'ev , Mashtots set out on a proselytizing mission. With the support of Prince Shampith, he preached

19296-861: Was called Mashtots. Institutions named after Mashtots include the Matenadaran , the central library of Stepanakert , the Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies at Harvard University , the Mesrop Center for Armenian Studies at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , a number of schools and universities in Armenia, Artsakh and educational and cultural institutions in the Armenian diaspora . No contemporary portraits of Mashtots have been found. The first artistic depictions appeared in Armenian illuminated manuscripts ( miniatures ), primarily in sharakans and haysmavurks , starting from

19440-520: Was disappointed with the laziness of his students and their departure after learning the basics. Anania complained about Armenians' lack of interest in mathematics, writing that they "love neither learning, nor knowledge." Nicholas Adontz considered it an exaggeration, "if not an absolute slander, to deny the Armenian innate love of investigation." The 12th-century chronicler Samuel of Ani listed five of Shirakatsi's students, who are otherwise unknown. Anania financed his research in several fields with

19584-535: Was established by the Armenian Church in 1978. Mashtots and the Matenadaran were featured on the 1,000 Armenian dram banknote of the first series, put into ciculation in 1994. The widest street in central Yerevan, called Stalin, then Lenin Avenue in the Soviet period, was renamed after Mashtots in 1990. Between 1985 and 1996, one of Yerevan's eight districts, what are now the districts of Ajapnyak and Davitashen ,

19728-603: Was not confined to Eastern Armenia . Provided with letters from the Catholicos, he went to Constantinople and obtained from emperor Theodosius the Younger permission to preach and teach in his Armenian possessions. Having returned to Eastern Armenia to report to the patriarch, his first thought was to provide religious literature for his countrymen. He sent some of his numerous disciples to Edessa , Constantinople, Athens , Antioch , Alexandria , and other centers of learning, to study

19872-400: Was not until the 20th century that he came to be referred to by both names, sometimes spelled with a hyphen . Some scholars, including Malachia Ormanian , maintain that Mashtots was his birth name, while Mesrop was his ecclesiastical name by which he was ordained . Anton Garagashian believed the opposite to be true. According to James R. Russell , Mashtots was his primary name, while Mesrop

20016-478: Was the Soviet government that made "Mesropian literature the property of the whole nation and opened the alphabet for every Armenian child." Viktor Ambartsumian , president of the Armenian Academy of Sciences , declared that while Mashtots' invention formerly served Armenian national interests, it now serves communist ideas, fraternity of peoples , world peace and progress. It was also celebrated in Moscow's House of

20160-542: Was the first Armenian scholar to have "imported a set of scientific notions, and examples of their applications, from the Greek-speaking schools" into Armenia. He was well versed in Greek literature, and the influence of Greek syntax is evident in his works. Anania was also knowledgeable about native Armenian and Iranian cultural traditions; several of his works provide important information on late Sassanian Iran . James R. Russell describes him as an alchemist and

20304-533: Was the last known lay scholar in Christian Armenia until Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni in the 11th century. He advocated rationalism in studying nature and attacked superstitious beliefs and astrology as the "babblings of the foolish." He adopted the classical theory of four elements , which considered all matter to be composed of four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. He believed that while God directly created these elements, He did not interfere with

20448-539: Was the son of Vardan Mamikonian (not the better known one ), the older brother of sparapet Vasak Mamikonian . This theory has been rejected by Hakob Manandian and Garnik Fntglian. James R. Russell writes that Mashtots' father was "probably a member of the Mamikonean clan." Another point of contention is whether Mashtots was a student of Nerses the Great , first mentioned by Khorenatsi. Both Acharian and Leo rejected it. Acharian noted that Mashtots probably studied at

20592-412: Was well suited for representing the many complex sounds of their native tongue. The Holy Scriptures and the liturgy were, to a large extent, unintelligible to the faithful and required the intervention of translators and interpreters. Mashtots was assisted in inventing an Armenian writing system by Sahak and Vramshapuh . He consulted Daniel, a bishop of Mesopotamia , and Rufinus, a monk of Samosata , on

20736-584: Was widely used in Windows 9x operating systems but has become obsolete due to the advent of Unicode. Similarly, Arasan-compatible fonts, based on Hrant Papazian's original Arasan font encoding from 1986, replaced ASCII's Latin characters with Armenian ones, like using the ASCII code for ⟨+⟩ (43) to represent the Armenian ⟨Չ⟩ . These fonts, once popular on Windows 9x , have also been deprecated in favor of Unicode . The phonetic keyboard layout

#974025