Universal History

regarding the rule of the Ptolemies, the secular and spiritual leaders of the Hebrews, Roman emperors, and Parthian kings.

In the six chapters of the second part, the history of Armenia is briefly narrated, starting from Trdat III up to the fall of the Arshakuni dynasty (428 AD) and the emergence of the Bagratunis. Presented here is the brief activity of Armenian Catholicoses supreme heads of the Armenian Church from Grigor the Illuminator to Sahak Partev, as well as "the sequential tables of Sassanid kings, Arab caliphs, and Byzantine emperors, along with chronologies."1

Although the first and second parts are excerpts from the writings of historians of previous eras, especially the works of Movses Khorenatsi, Sebeos, and Ghevond, they have important source-critical significance because Asoghik used older manuscripts of these and other authors that have not reached us, and which were somewhat corrupted while being copied again during subsequent centuries.

For instance, the most primary manuscript of Movses Khorenatsi's "History of Armenia" that has reached us (Matenadaran, MS 2865, 13th c.) was significantly repaired in 1684 based on another manuscript by the scribe David Chnchghuk. M. Abeghyan has detailed the significant orthographic differences between the old manuscript and the new patches. The original copy was written with old orthography: av e.g., in "arnevm" (to take), ev e.g., in "arev" (sun) diphthongs; the new one [uses] o, iv, "arnvm", "arivn"; for the imperfect of verbs, the old [uses] er, eir, the new [uses] er, eir note: the Armenian text highlights shifting grammatical endings and phonetic spellings, etc.2

The oldest manuscript of Stepanos Taronetsi's "Universal History" that has reached us is the same MS 2865, where Asoghik's book was copied in the 13th century; it contains both brief and extensive excerpts from Khorenatsi's book. Therefore, by comparing the old and new spellings of Khorenatsi's book with the corresponding sections of Asoghik's book, it is possible to perform textual corrections. Likewise, corrections can be made to the books of Sebeos (7th c.) and Ghevond (8th c.), and reciprocally, to Asoghik's work as well.3

The third part of "Universal History" is both extensive and valuable because it is truly an original account, where in forty-eight chapters the author has narrated the history of the 117 years of the Bagratuni Armenian kingdom, starting from Ashot I (885-890) until the year 1004, that is, up to the 15th year of the reign of Gagik I, wherein he narrated the history of the last 80 years as an author who was contemporary to and well-informed about the historical events. The third part also reflects on the history of the Arabs and Byzantium.

1. St. Melik-Bakhshyan, Source Studies of Armenian History, Yerevan, 1979, p. 159.
2. Cf. Movses Khorenatsi, History of Armenians, edited by M. Abeghyan and S. Harutyunyan, Tiflis, 1913, p. XLI.
3. The oldest manuscript of Sebeos's History, which was copied in the 16th century, is now lost; the other oldest manuscript that reached us (Matenadaran, MS 2639) was copied in the 17th century at the Hovhannes Mkrtich Amrdolu Monastery in Baghesh. The oldest manuscript of Ghevond's History (Matenadaran, MS 1902) is a 13th-century copy. It is natural that Asoghik used older manuscripts of Sebeos's and Ghevond's books, therefore, here too, the need for comparison and correction arises.