The History of the Armenians and Moses Khorenatsi

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