Movses Kaghankatvatsi

Movses Kaghankatvatsi (Armenian: Մովսէս Կաղանկատուացի Movses Kaġankatvac’i), or Movses Daskhurantsi (Մովսէս Դասխուրանցի Movses Dasxuranc’i) is the reputed author (or authors) of a tenth-century Classical Armenian historiographical work on Caucasian Albania and eastern provinces of Armenia, known as The History of the Country of Albania (Պատմութիւն Աղուանից, Patmutʿiwn Ałuanicʿ).^[1][2][3][4]

Authorship

The first historian to mention Movses' work was medieval Armenian legal scholar Mkhitar Gosh, referring to him as "Movses Daskhurantsi."^[5] A later historian, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, author of the History of Armenia, referred to a statement in the History itself, to attribute the name of the author as Movses Kaghankatvatsi. The statement in question (Book II, ch. 11) says:

“

When the enemy became aware of what had happened, they pursued them and overtook a group of them at the foot of the mountain opposite the large village of Kaghankatuik, which is in the same province of Uti where I too am from.

”

Movses narrates the Khazar invasion of Transcaucasia and other events up to the seventh century in Book I and II of History. Book III of his History differs from the previous ones in style of writing^[6] and date. It deals with the Caspian expeditions of the Rus and their conquest of Partav in the tenth century. Because of such time lapse and difference in style, attribution of the work to a single author seems doubtful. For this reason it has been common to assume two consecutive authors or editors, Kaghankatvatsi (7th century) as the author of Books I and II, and Daskhurantsi (tenth century) as the editors of Kaghankatvatsi's text and the author of Book III.^[5]

Publications and translations

• Movses Kaghankatvatsi (1983). History of Aghuank in original Old-Armenian (Մովսէս Կաղանկատուացի.Պատմութիւն Աղուանից աշխարհի), critical text and introduction by Varag Arrakelian (in Armenian). Yerevan: "Matenadaran" Institute of old manuscripts after Mesrob Mashtots. Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences.
• Movsēs Dasxuranc'i (1961). The History of the Caucasian Albanians (translated by C. F. J. Dowsett). London: (London Oriental Series, Vol. 8).
• Movses Kaghankatvatsi (1984). The History of the Country of Aluank (translated by Š.V. Smbatian) (in Russian). Yerevan: Matenadaran.
• Movses Kaghankatvatsi (1985). The History of Albania (translated by L. Davlianidze-Tatishvili) (in Georgian). Tbilisi.

References

1. Kushnareva, Karinė Khristoforovna (1997). H. N. Michael (trans), ed. The Southern Caucasus in Prehistory. Univ. of Pennsylvania Museum History. p. 196. ISBN 0-924171-50-2. The tenth century A.D. Armenian historian Movses Kalankatuatsi states that ... line feed character in |publisher= at position 22 (help)
2. (German) Gesellschaft, Görres. Oriens Christianus. Leipzig, Germany: O. Harrassowitz 1905, p. 274
3. Encyclopædia Iranica, Arran
4. James D. Howard-Johnston (2006). East Rome, Sasanian Persia and the End of Antiquity. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 49. ISBN 0-86078-992-6.
5. Hacikyan, Agop Jack (2000). The Heritage of Armenian Literature. Wayne State University Press. pp. 171–172, 364. ISBN 0-8143-3023-1.
6. Hewsen, Robert H. (1964). Notes and Communications. London: Bulletin of Oriental and African Studies, University of London vol. 27 Museum History. pp. 151–156. line feed character in |publisher= at position 71 (help)