History of Taron

Pseudo-John purports to be continuing the history of Zenob of Glak (which he translated from Syriac) and to be writing in 680/1 (year 130 of the Armenian era) during the reign of Vahan Mamikonean and the Armenian catholicos Nerses, but Nerses was only catholicos until 661-662. It is now believed that this text was actually written in the late tenth century, sometime between the Byzantine annexation of Taron in 966-7 and before Ukhtanes of Sebastia wrote his History in the late 980’s (terminus ante quem for the latter event is the death of Smbat II Bagratuni in the winter of 989/990) (Avdoyan 1993). The purpose of the text appears to be the promotion of the monastery of Glak near Innaknean (lit. ‘Nine Sources’; present-day Mush in Turkey) over another more ancient religious cultural center in Taron, Aštišat, by creating a connection between Glak and Gregory the Illuminator (Greenwood 2014; Greenwood 2017, 18-21).