Life of the Armenians

Title(s):
  • Life of the Armenians
  • ცხორებაჲ სომეხთა
    (Ts‛khorebay somekht‛a, Life of the Armenians)
Period covered:
4th c., especially the conversion of Armenian king Trdat by Gregory the Illuminator
Language:
Armenian
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
  • Secular history (ethnic history)
  • Secular history (epic history)
Remarks:
In connection with the Christianization of the Armenian king Trdat by Gregory the Illuminator, two sources are cited in early Georgian literature: Ts‛khorebay somekht‛a and Mok‛ts‛evay somekht‛a. In both cases it is doubtful whether the Georgian authors had direct access to written sources. However, both display a vague familiarity with the Armenian Gregory cycle attributed to Agathangelus.
Edition - Translation:
  • S. Qaukhch‛ishvili (1955) K‛art‛lis ts‛khovreba. Volume One. Tbilisi.
  • 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.
  • C. Lerner (2004) The wellspring of Georgian historiography: The early medieval historical chronicle The conversion of K’art’li and the Life of St. Nino. London: 140-146.
Fragments:
  • Life of the kings [Qaukhch‛ishvili 1955.i: 69]
  • Life of St. Nino [Qaukhch‛ishvili 1955.i: 84]
Bibliography:
  • S.H. Rapp (2003) Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: Early texts and Eurasian contexts (Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 610: Subsidia, 113). Leuven: 121-125.
  • S.H. Rapp (2014) The Sasanian world through Georgian eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian commonwealth in late antique Georgian literature. Farnham: 196.