The Major Works of Armenian Historiography (Classical and Medieval)

Abstract

This chapter briefs about the parameters of Philology and attempts a critical assessment of results achieved up to now in the field of works of historiography, both ancient and medieval. Works of history have been privileged in this regard, reflecting primarily the interest of scholars in using Armenian texts for the wider study of the Near Eastern world. A survey of Armenian texts in other areas would reveal a much larger proportion of unpublished texts. In writers of the tenth and later centuries another question arises. It became usual for historians to give a brief summary of earlier Armenian history before embarking on a more expansive account of events closer to their own time. Kirakos, for example, gives a summary history of the Armenian Church covering some eight hundred years. The cataloguing of manuscripts and the study of codicology and palaeography have also seen great advances recently. Keywords: Armenian history; codicology; Eastern world; Kirakos; palaeography