Armenian Legends and Festivals. Louis A. Boettiger

of Khorene, called the Herodotus of Armenia, has written the best known history of the Armenian people. The work has been translated into Latin, Italian, French, German, and Russian. Moses lived in the fifth century, two centuries after the conversion of the nation to Christianity. He belonged to the second order of translators in the school of St. Sahag and St. Mesrob, and was sent to Syria, Egypt, Greece, and Rome in order to complete his studies. Upon returning to his country he found everything in disorder. St. Sahag and St. Mesrob were dead, the king had been overthrown, and he chose the life of solitude. Sometime later he was chosen bishop and requested by an Armenian prince, Sahag Bagratide, to write a history of his country, which task he took up with great enthusiasm. The translation of Mar Apas Catina was his only source for Armenian ancient history. He carefully differentiates hearsay from fact, never fails to stamp a fable or legend as such, and generally quotes his authorities where he has them. Considering the limitation of his materials, and the time in which he wrote, Moses wrote a really remarkable book, although the verdicts of a few critics have been unfavorable.

20 Raffi p. 129.

21 Lidgett, An Ancient People. St. Martin 1:409. Mar Apas Catina p. 41.

22 The influence of Greek culture is chiefly indicated by the fact that the pagan divinities were Greek and that many temples were erected to these gods and goddesses all over the country. (Agathange, Histoire du Règne de Tiridate. Langlois 1:164–70.) Secondly, there were formed by St. Sahag and St. Mesrob in the fifth century after the conversion of the nation to Christianity, schools of translators, who studied in Greece, Egypt, and Rome and whose chief works were translations from the Greek. With the conversion (301) came the necessity for a written language, the characters of which were invented by St. Mesrob in 404. Thereupon were organized the schools of translators whose chief study of necessity was Greek, and whose translations and original works have given to the fifth century the title of “Golden Age of Armenian Literature.” (Langlois 1:xxi–xxvi, 2:vii.)

23 St. Martin 1:288, 289. Mar Apas Catina 1:41.

      Moses of Khorene 2:81.

24 Ibid.

25 Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 3:393.

      Moses of Khorene 2:155.

26 Ibid. pp. 88, 89.

27 St. Martin 1:291. Moses of Khorene p. 88.

28 Raffi p. 126.

29 Langlois 1:ix, x. These songs of which Moses of Khorene very frequently speaks are classified by Langlois into songs of the first order, the second order, and the third order. The first are relative to the prowess of Armenian kings and gods; the second concern a long series of military exploits accomplished against the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians; the third refer especially to traditions in connection with the Assyrians. The birth-song of Vahakn is an illustration of the songs of the first order (p. x, xi). Flint in his History of the Philosophy of History, p. 42, speaks of this period of minstrelsy as necessarily preceding the use of letters everywhere. “The myth and legend interest primitive man more than real fact. His vision is more largely of the imagination than of the sense of judgment. It is an error to regard the rude minstrelsy which generally preceded the use of letters as essentially historical.”

30 Countess Evelyn Martinengo Cesaresco, Essays in the Study of Folk-Songs, chapter on Armenia.

31 The battle of Avarair under the leadership of the celebrated Vartan, where Armenia defended her national ideals against the intrusion of Persia, is proof of this.

32 Ormanian p. 22. Moses of Khorene p. 158.

33 There are further proofs that may be cited. The history of English and French literature shows that the golden age of their literature followed a period of social integration along national lines. And it is true that the golden age of Armenian literature dawned with the closing decades of the Arsacidae dynasty, and continued several decades beyond. And finally, when Valarsace, the first Arsacidae, ascended the throne of Armenia, finding everything in a state of disorder, he organized the country along national lines. Dividing the kingdom into provinces he placed his governors at the heads of them; he organized a standing army, appointed guardians of the granaries, established courts of justice, a royal guard, and minutely regulated court life. What is most interesting is that he appointed two reporters, one to remind him in his anger, “le bien à faire,” the other to remind him of the necessity for doing justice. Ibid. pp. 82–85.

34 St. Martin 1:300. Moses of Khorene pp. 105–6.

35 Ibid. p. 106.

36 Boyadjian p. 49. Moses of Khorene p. 106. Moses as translated by Langlois, relates the story as legend, for after telling the tale, and quoting the songs he writes, “Voici maintenant le fait dans toute sa verité comme le cuir rouge est trés-estimé chez les Alains, Artaschés donne beaucoup de peaux de cette couleur, et beaucoup d’or en dot, et il obtient la jeune princesse Satenig. C’est là la lanière de cuir rouge garnie d’anneaux d’or. Ainsi dans les noces, ils chantent des légendes, en disant,

      ‘Une pluie d’or tombait

      Au marriage d’Artaschés;

      Les perles pleuvait

      Aux noces de Satenig.’ ”

      Moses likewise relegates the legend and songs of Artavasd to their proper places.

37 Moses of Khorene p. 111.

38 Translation from Moses by Boyadjian p. 65.

39 Moses of Khorene p. 111.

40 Raffi p. 42.

41 St. Martin 1:appendix.

42 Ibid.