Movses Kaghankatvatsi

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

Authorship

The first historian to mention Movses' work was the medieval Armenian legal scholar Mkhitar Gosh, referring to him as "Movses Daskhurantsi."^[5] A later historian, Kirakos Gandzaketsi, 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 his 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

Grabar (Old Armenian)

• 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.

Russian translation

• Movses Kaghankatvatsi (1984). The History of the Country of Aluank (translated by Š.V. Smbatian) (in Russian). Yerevan: Matenadaran.

Georgian translation

• Movses Kaghankatvatsi (1985). The History of Albania (translated by L. Davlianidze-Tatishvili) (in Georgian). Tbilisi.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

English translations

• Movsēs Dasxuranc'i (1961). The History of the Caucasian Albanians (translated by C. F. J. Dowsett). London: (London Oriental Series, Vol. 8).

• Movsēs Dasxuranc'i (2010). The History of the Aghuans (translated by R. Bedrosian). New Jersey.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References