Late Antique Historiography

Conversion of the Greeks

Title(s):
  • Conversion of the Greeks
  • მოქცევაჲ ბერძენთა
    (Mok‛ts‛evay berdzent‛a, Conversion of the Greeks)
Author:
Period covered:
4th c., especially the conversion of Constantine the Great
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Ecclesiastical history
Remarks:
The Life of the kings refers to this allegedly written source in regards to the Christianization of Constantine the Great. However, the anonymous Georgian author displays no direct knowledge of any Romano-Byzantine source, including Eusebius and Socrates. Indeed, the unusual story of Constantine's conversion - tied to an Irano-Georgian invasion of Anatolia - is reflected only in another Georgian source, The conversion of K‛art‛li. The allusion to The conversion of the Greeks was intended to add legitimacy to the Georgian narrative and perhaps was an acknowledgement of the existence of Eusebius and similar works.
Edition - Translation:
Fragments:
  • Life of the kings [Qaukhch‛ishvili 1955.i: 69]
Users:
Sources:
Bibliography:
  • S. Qaukhch‛ishvili (1955) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Volume One. Tbilisi.
  • S.H. Rapp (2003) Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: Early texts and Eurasian contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 610: Subsidia, 113). Leuven: 120-121.
  • S.H. Rapp (2014) The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian commonwealth in late antique Georgian literature. Farnham: 196.
  • R.W. Thomson (1996) Rewriting Caucasian history: The medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian chronicles, the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation (Oxford Oriental monographs). Oxford: 2-84.