Yeghishe


Yeghishe was an Armenian historian from the time of late antiquity. He was the author of a history documenting the successful revolt of the Armenians in the fifth century against the rule and religion of the Sassanid Persians.

Life

According to ancient and medieval sources that have trickled down to historians, Yeghishe was one of the younger pupils of Sahak Partev and Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian Alphabet. In 434, he, along with several other students, were sent to Alexandria to study Greek, Syriac and the liberal arts. He returned to Armenia in 441 and entered into military service, serving as a soldier or secretary to the Sparapet Vardan Mamikonian. He took part in the war of religious independence against the Persian King, Yazdegerd II.
Following their defeat at the battle of Avarayr, he renounced military life, became a hermit and retired to the mountains south of Lake Van. In 464-465, he was asked to write the history of the events leading up to and after the battle of Avarayr by a priest named David Mamikonian. Following his death, his remains were removed and taken to the Surb Astvatsatsin Monastery, located along Lake Van's shoreline. All ancient authorities speak of Yeghishe as a vardapet.
Beginning with Babgen Guleserian in 1909 and Father Nerses Akinian, a member of the Mkhitarian Congregation, in the 1930s, the dating of Yeghishe's work was cast into doubt and moved a century or two forward. One point from their argument was predicated on the assumption that the Armenian translation of Philo's works, which Yeghishe uses, was not made until around 600 AD. However, the translation of Philo's works had taken place during the early "Hellenizing" period of the Golden Age of Armenian literature. Scholars argue that neither the dating of the Hellenizing phase nor the presence of Hellenizing vocabulary are necessarily dependent on Yeghishe’s dating. Furthermore, there are no verbal literal parallels between the two authors, since Yeghishe directly translated Philo's work from its original Greek into Armenian.
Another argument that was made to support the later dating was the assertion that, given the parallels, Yeghishe's History of Vardan is simply an adaptation of the late fifth century Armenian historian Ghazar Parpetsi's History of Armenia. Ghazar, however, dispassionately and analytically recounts the history of Armenia from the late fourth century to his own times, the battle of Avarayr merely figuring as one episode among many in his work. Yeghishe's goal, on the other hand, was to immortalize the "heavenly valor" of the Armenians and "provide comfort to friends, hope to the hopeful, and encouragement to the brave." As opposed to Ghazar, Yeghishe is able to give the individual names of fortresses and demonstrates an expert knowledge in the military tactics used by the Armenians and the Persians during the battle, indicating that he was "standing closer to the events." His understanding of the customs of Zoroastrianism and the Zurvanite doctrine is also far more detailed and superior than Ghazar's. Yeghishe's complete failure to mention the Council of Chalcedon, the theological conclusions of which led to the complete breakdown of relations between the Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic Churches following the 506 Council of Dvin, has also led scholars to reject the later dating.

Works

Yeghishe’s most famous work is the History of Vardan and the Armenian War at the request of David Mamikonian, which he calls a "Hishatakaran". In this he recounts the struggle of the Armenians, in union with the Iberians and the Caucasian Albanians, for their common faith, against the Persians. Both sides saw religion as a badge of national identity; the Armenians were determined to retain Christianity, while the Persians attempted to force a reintroduction of Zoroastrianism. In his own words, Yeghishe wrote the work "in order to reprove his sins, so that everyone hears and knows they may cast curses on him and not lust after his deeds." The work is considered one of the masterpieces of classical Armenian literature and is almost entirely free from Greek words and expressions.
A number of other works also exist by Eliseus. There is an Exhortation to the monks; On the transfiguration, a Homily on the Passion of the Lord. The "Questions and Answers on Genesis" is probably not genuine.

Editions

The original text of Yeghishe's work, like all others written during this period, does not exist. The oldest surviving manuscript of his History of Vardan dates to 1174.
An excellent edition of it was published at Venice in 1826 by the Mechitarists of San Lazzaro. One of the manuscripts on which it is based purports to be a faithful copy of another manuscript dated to 616. The text of that edition was further improved in subsequent editions at the same place. Among other editions of value are those of Theodosia in Crimea, 1861, and of Jerusalem, 1865. Yeghishe is also the author of a commentary on Joshua and Judges, an explanation of the Our Father, a letter to the Armenian monks, etc., all found in the Venice editions of the History of Vartan. A landmark study and critical edition of the text was prepared by philologist Yervand Ter-Minassian in 1957.

Translations

There are two English translations: an incomplete 1830 translation and a modern translation by Robert W. Thomson. There is an old French translation. There is also one in Italian by G. Cappelletti.
In addition to the seven chapters mentioned by Yeghishe himself in his introductory remarks, all the editions contain an eighth chapter referring to the so-called Leontine martyrs and others. The authenticity of that chapter has been called into question. It has been also remarked that in all the manuscripts the fifth chapter is missing, while in the editions the original sixth chapter is cut in two so as to make up for the missing chapter.