Two Armenian Historians: Kirakos of Gandzak and Ukhtanes of Edessa

VII
INTRODUCTION.

for our western chronicles of this period, and even sometimes the contemporaries, are not exempt from similar legends.

The text of Kiracos was published for the first time in Moscow, in 1858, by Oscan Hohanésiants, in-12, from a single manuscript, almost without notes. The § are not numbered in the course of the book, but only in the Table of Contents, where No. 14 is missing, so that all the other Nos. are false.

In 1865, the learned Father Léon Alichan, a Mekhitarist of Venice, gave a 2nd anonymous edition, with a good preface, which I have often used for the drafting of the present notice, and critical notes of all kinds. On the other hand, if the new editor thought it necessary to omit the letter to Alexius Comnenus, forming our § III, he has on the other hand added at the end, in the form of an appendix, an unpublished article, entirely legendary, whose hero is the vartabied learned monk Mkhithar-Goch, which was found in a manuscript of Siav-Liarhn, forming part of § XIV. The miracles attributed there to the holy man, following a pilgrimage executed by him to Jerusalem, in 645—1196, are without interest for secular readers. I assume well that the writing of it does not belong to our Kiracos, although the author calls himself there "I Kiracos, the historian," and precisely because he expresses himself thus. The editor of Venice established a division of his text into two parts, of which the first ends with the letter of Nersès; the rest is divided into 63 §; moreover, he added to his edition a short, but substantial alphabetical Table, containing more than 1400 proper names, and which makes research very easy.

Bishop Oukhtanès wrote the work whose translation we offer today, and whose title, at the head of the manuscript belonging to the Asiatic Museum, is conceived thus: "History in three parts, composed by the Bishop Ter Oukhtanès, at the prayer of Father Anania, superior of the convent of Narec and vartabied learned monk of the first rank." (1)

"Part 1st. Of our kings and pontiffs;
2nd. Of the secession of the Iberians;
3rd. Of the conversion of the nation called Dzad."

The copy of the Asiatic Museum was executed in 1847, for the Imperial Academy of Sciences, on the original belonging to the library of the convent of Edchmiadzin, and marked N. 1675 in the Catalogue of the said library, printed at Tiflis in 1865, p. 186. Thus speaks the editor of the Catalogue: "By Oukhtanès, bishop of Ourha Edessa, History, in-4°, in round script, full page; there are questions on the book of Job. No memento; the end is incomplete." Indeed, the 3rd Part is entirely missing, and for lack of a memento from the copyist, one does not know to which year the original goes back. Our copy is a small in-folio, of cursive writing, not very elegant, but correct, passably readable and, which gives it

1. As the present Notice on Oukhtanès has already been published in the Bulletin of the Academy, vol. VI, I will indicate by an * the most considerable changes and additions that I have introduced there.