Of Moses (Khorenatsi)

The Armenian historian Moses/Movses Khorenatsi (no, not one of those), i.e., Moses of Khoren (or Kohren) supposedly lived at the turn of the 4th and 5th century.  We say “supposedly” because all you have to do is “google” his name and you will see that there are plenty of opinions dating his work to a much later period (i.e., 9th or even 10th century).  In particular, it seems the manuscript may have been “touched up” sometime between 900-950 (or, as some claim, perhaps even Moses lived in the 9th or 10th century).

Where national antiquity is involved, there are, of course, plenty of folks who beg to differ.

We do not intend to get in the middle of this controversy.  But we do not have to for our purposes.

If the earlier dates can be correct then we have in Moses’ History of Armenia the first ever mention of Slavs – before even Procopius and Jordanes.  However, even if the later dating is the correct one his testimony is relevant as a Slavic antiquity nonetheless.  (Of course, the fact that Slavs are mentioned may provide more evidence to those arguing for a later dating).

In any event, we follow here the text of the Slovanské Starožitnosti of Pavol Jozef Šafárik who thought it worthy to include this text (to be fair to Safarik, he did so before the whole controversy about dating Khorenatsi surfaced at the end of the 19th century).

This is what Moses writes:

“Tragacoc ascharhn harawelic galow Dahmadioh, ar jeri Sarmadioh.  Jew uni Tragia pokr ascharhs hing, jew mii [mi?] mjec, horum jen Sglawajin [or Sglawacuoc in some manuscripts] askk jotn.  Oroc pochanag mdin Kutk.  Uni ljerins [ljeries?] jew kjeds jew kahaks jew [jewzs?] lidzs [lid?] ghzis jew zercanig mairakahakn Gonsdandinubaulis.”

Yes, this is not in the original Armenian alphabet; here is the “original”:

meaning:

“The land of the Thracians lies to the East of Dalmatia, next to Sarmatia.  Thracia has five smaller regions and one big one, in which there are seven Slavic nations/tribes.  Into their lands there came the [Goths or nations]. It also has mountains, rivers, cities, lakes and islands and a happy capital city Constantinople.”

The above is from a 1736 Historiae Armenica Libri III (i.e., in three books) by Mosis Chorenensis published in London by William and George Whiston (first publication with any sort of a translation).  Here is the full page:

Thoughts

The seven Slavic tribes (or generations?) that were conquered by the Bulgars in 678 are mentioned also by Theophanes and Anastasius, Byzanthine authors.  In some other editions there appears, erroneously it seems, 25 in lieu of 7.

With regards to the “Goths”, the word used in Kutk, which may mean Goths or it may mean “nations” which could, in the latter case, then also mean the Bulgars.  And isn’t interesting that award vaguely like Goth can mean simply “peoples” or “nations” (even if it is in Armenian).

Too lazy to learn Glagolithic? Try this! First printed edition ever – from Amsterdam

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