History of the Armenians

by Movses Khorenatsi, Robert W. Thomson (Translator)

English, Armenian (translation)

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Classics, Christian

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 490

About the author

Movses Khorenatsi (circa 410-490s AD; Armenian: Մովսես Խորենացի, pronounced [mɔfˈsɛs χɔɾɛnɑˈtsʰi], also written as Movsēs Xorenac'i and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Choren, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) – the "Armenian Herodotus" – was an Armenian historian, and the author of the History of the Armenians. He is credited with the earliest known historiographical work on the history of Armenia, but was also a poet, hymn writer, and a grammarian. Movses identified himself as a young disciple of Saint Mesrop Mashtots and is recognized by the Armenian Apostolic Church as one of the Holy Translators of the 5th century.

Reviews

[Houry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most important book in Armenian history. In this book, Moses Khorenatsi talks about the dawn of the Armenian Royal families. He talks about Armenian Mythology, and shows his dissent to the pagan religions and his endorsement to the Christian Armenian Church.

This book is the first of its kind as a complete Armenian history book that gives us a lot of insight from Chaos to the 5th century Armenia, and because of this, Moses Khorenatsi is called the father of Father of Armenian History.

[Nutri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This epic book is a cultural and historical marvel. A grumpy old sage living in 5th century, heavily biased by his christian background and upbringing, brings to life an ancient long forgotten world of politics, conflict and fascinating lore.

Movses tells the story of the Armenians from the beginning of time and takes care to present Armenia as a realm of bravery and piety, constantly balancing between the surrounding powers of the empires of Byzantium (called Greeks in the book) and Persia.

The author is very opinionated and his occasional grumbling is a delight to read. I also really enjoyed the many footnotes present in the Polish edition, where the translators took care to explain or specify some of the historical persons, subjects or linguistics of the original.

I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in ancient history, especially those readers who enjoy original ancient sources. Even centuries later, and coming from a completely different world, I really loved History of Armenia. This book reads like a novel.

[Grigor Grigoryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Կարևորագույն գիրք։

[Ancillar Bradingus · Rating 5 out of 5]

My rating is limited to the introductory material by Robert W. Thomson, the translator. Worth the price of the book.

Translation's top-notch, too. I'm avoiding rating Khorenatsi's work itself: for one thing, I'm not qualified to best address the value of the translated text as a history per se, and for another, Thomson does that brilliantly for us within the introduction. It's the historiography of the translator here that has the most value to me.

[Arevik Heboyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book combining translation of many Greek authors and extensive examination of Armenian verbal history trying to combine and present history in it's the clearest form.
Highly recommended for everyone who is interested in Armenian history and heritage.

[Anton EightBall · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important works in Armenian history, this man’s work lead to the discovery of Urartu a lost Armenian kingdom, this man passed down the story of Hayk and so many things even today with modern science proves his work isn’t fairy tales but from actual historical knowledge.

[Mariam · Rating 5 out of 5]

every armenian or anyone interested in armenia should read this

[Sarahtar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the David Allen translation, which was great. This book was surprisingly fun to read. Read as part of a challenge. I have no particular interest in the topic.

[Ջոն (John Goolvart) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating is for Robert W. Thomson's subpar translation and commentary (1978). A revised critical edition in English is long overdue for this monumental work.