Universal History

Venice manuscript No. 896, despite its current flaws, is one of the best copies of Asoghik's "Universal History." It was transcribed in Baghesh in the years 1683–1684. The scribe of this notrgir a specific style of Armenian cursive/notarial script manuscript is David Chnchghuk. This is the manuscript O that we have compared.

Regarding one of the two manuscripts compared by K. Shahnazaryants, St. Malkhasyants wrote that, if he is not mistaken, it is located with Archimandrite vardapet doctor of theology/teacher Sargis Ter-Gasparyants; it is written on parchment in a small erkatagir iron-letter/uncial script, with significant antiquity, though not complete and containing excellent readings.1 N. Marr,2 M. Abeghyan,3 and others have also written about this copy.

According to M. Abeghyan, it was transcribed in the village of Avgori in Lori, in the Sanahin convent; the recipient was "Archbishop Sargis Sanahnetsi." This manuscript is now kept in the Mashtots Matenadaran under No. 3160. And since it is one of the manuscripts compared for the new text of "Universal History" (according to our comparison, MS. B), let us present it according to the "Catalog of Manuscripts": "1633–1652. Village of Avgori (Lori). Scribe: Nerses, recipient: Sargis Sanahnetsi. Leaves: 289. Parchment. 22x16. Two-column. Bolorgir rounded book-hand script, lines: 27. Binding: leather-covered stamped board. Content: Moses Khorenatsi, History of Armenia, Geography, Stepanos Asoghik, History of Times (pp. 133–221b), Aristakes Lastivertsi, On Past Events." According to our research, this manuscript was transcribed not in 1633–1652, but in the years 1646–1681.4 It is necessary to emphasize that this transcription is full of errors, yet there are also readings that correct the original text.

Certainly, it is not easy to compile the text of any historian's work based on incomplete manuscripts, especially for the first time, because many difficulties arise: word separation, separation of sentences and phrases, identification of common and proper names, differentiation of numbers indicated by Armenian letters, correction of confusion in letters and words, and correct punctuation. Knowledge of historical and other phenomena is necessary, as well as the ability to correctly read manuscripts and overcome many other complexities. In honor of K. Shahnazaryants, it must be said in all fairness that he was able to overcome many difficulties, although, of course, many issues remained unresolved.

The first printing of Stepanos Taronetsi's book had already been put into scientific circulation, and translations into Russian and French had been made based on it, yet there was a felt urgent need for a fully scientific publication of this work.

On the advice of the philologist and historian K. H. Yezyants (1835–1905), Stepanos Malkhasyants (1857–1947) undertook this important task. It is true that the researcher had at hand a fairly good but only single manuscript, copied in 1668, which K. Yezyants provided to Malkhasyants from his library. This manuscript is now kept in the Mashtots Matenadaran as No. 4864, which, according to our comparison, is MS. C.

St. Malkhasyants filled the missing sections of the first printing from three manuscripts: another manuscript (now Mashtots Matenadaran manuscript No. 2865), Brosset's manuscript (now...

1 Stepanos Taronetsi, p. LB (32).
2 N. Marr, "From a Summer Trip to Armenia," Notes of the Oriental Department, Vol. VI, Iss. I-VI, 1892, p. 179. The same has been translated into Armenian with abbreviations as "Summer Journey to Armenia," Vienna, 1892, pp. 85-90.
3 Movses Khorenatsi, History of Armenia, p. JTH (19).
4 G. Manukyan, Aristakes Lastivertsi, Yerevan, 1977, pp. 243-244.