Kirakos Ganjakets'i's History of the Armenians Translator's Preface Kirakos Gandzaketsi's History of the Armenians is a primary source for the study of the Armenian highlands in the 13th century. This lengthy work, which has survived in 65 chapters, is divided thematically into several sections. Part one is a summary of Armenian church and political history from the 4th through the 12th centuries. This section, which describes the lives and times of the heads of the Armenian Church (kat'oghikoi), is based on earlier Armenian sources, many of which have survived. The second section describes political and military events in the 12th century both in Eastern (or Caucasian) Armenia and in the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia on the Mediterranean. The next section (chapter 10), resembling the first, contains a biographical list of the kat'oghikoi of Caucasian Aghbania (modern Azerbaijan). In chapter 11 and subsequent chapters, Kirakos described the events of his own day: the period of the Zak'arids, the Mongol invasions and domination, and their impact on the Armenians and other peoples of the Middle East. As the author himself was aware, this was by far the most important part of his History, and he devoted much of the work to it. Biographical information about Kirakos Gandzakets'i is not plentiful. In chapter 33 of his work, after a description of the activities of the influential Syrian cleric Raban, the author wrote: "This episode was written down in the year [ii] 1241 (690 of the Armenian Era)...when I was more or less forty years old." Consequently the historian was born in the early part of the 13th century, probably between 1200 and 1210. Kirakos received his early education at the monastery of Getik, at that time under the direction of Martiros, a student of the great teacher and writer Mxit'ar Gosh (d. 1213). However, it was with another of Mxit'ar's students, the historian Yovhannes Vanakan (d. 1251), that Kirakos studied for a prolonged period. This education commenced at Xoranashat monastery near Tawush fortress, northwest of Gandzak. When the Khwarazmian sultan Jalal al-Din ravaged Xoranashat in 1225, Vanakan fled with his students to a nearby cave, near the village of Lorut, south of Tawush. He continued teaching there until 1236 when a Mongol army under Molar-noyin occupied Tawush. Both Vanakan and Kirakos were taken captive by the Mongols and kept as secretaries for several months. Eventually, Vanakan was ransomed by the Christians of Gag for eighty dahekans, and Kirakos escaped secretly the same night, fleeing to Getik. Almost nothing is known about the remaining years of the historian's life. That he participated in a movement to crush a rebellion in the Church in 1251 is clear from chapter 48 of his work. Around 1255 he interviewed the Cilician Armenian king Het'um I (1224-68) at the village of Vardenis near Mt. Aragats upon the latter's return from a visit to Batu-Khan. [iii] Kirakos' name is mentioned in 1265 by his classmate and fellow-historian, Vardan Arewelts'i, from whom the author requested and received a commentary on the Song of Songs. According to another late 13th century historian, Grigor Aknerts'i, Kirakos died in 1271/72. Kirakos was eminently qualified to write about 13th century Armenia. An intelligent man trained by an intellectual of Vanakan's caliber, the author was familiar with Church organization and problems, with prominent contemporary churchmen and their historical writings. He was acquainted with important Armenian naxarars (lords) such as prince Prhosh Xaghbakean, who participated in the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258/59 and narrated to Kirakos what he had seen and heard, and prince Grigor Mamikonean, who informed Kirakos what he had heard from a Mongol noble about Chingiz-Khan. His detailed information about members of the Zak'arid family derives in part from Prhosh, himself a Zak'arid relation. As mentioned above, King Het'um I served as one informant. Furthermore, during his months of captivity by the Mongols, Kirakos served as a secretary writing and reading letters, and he learned Mongolian. In chapter 32 of his History Kirakos Gandzakets'i has left us a priceless treasure, a lexicon of some 55 Mongolian terms with their Armenian equivalents, one of the earliest monuments of the Mongolian language. Consequently, such an individual knew well not only the workings of his own society, but clearly understood aspects of the society of Armenia's conquerors and new masters. [iv] It is not known when Kirakos began his work. Father Oskean, citing the aforementioned statement in chapter 33, "This was written down in the year 690 A.E...." thinks the year 1240 a likely time. The History ends abruptly with an unfinished description of the war between the Khans Abaqa and Berke (1266/67). The cause of this sudden termination is unknown. The critical edition of Gandzakets'i's History of the Armenians was published by the late K.A. Melik'-Ohanjanyan in 1961. That text was based on more than thirty manuscripts housed at the Matenadaran in Erevan, Armenia, collated with three earlier editions. Translations have been made into French by M. Brosset (St. Petersburg, 1870); Russian by A. Khanlarian (Moscow, 1976); and modern Armenian by V. Arhak'elyan. The present English translation, which was completed in 1975, was made from the Melik'-Ohanjanyan edition, but omits several lengthy sections which are of doctrinal or theological, rather than historical, importance. For a detailed study of the Turco-Mongol invasions see volume five of the Cambridge History of Iran (Cambridge, 1968 ); for Armenia in particular, see R. Bedrosian, The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13-14th Centuries (New York, 1979). The transliteration system employed in this translation is a modification of the Library of Congress system. Robert Bedrosian New York, 1986 A Note on Pagination The following chronological tables may be useful as accompaniments to the translation. The tables open in separate windows, for persistence. Use ALT-F4 to close, or ALT-TAB to toggle back to this page or to other documents. Additional tables are available on another page of this site: Chronological Tables. Rulers of Armenia and of Eastern and Western Empires Kat'oghikoi and Corresponding Secular Rulers of the Armenians Rulers of Armenia and Iberia/Georgia Continue to Translation Return to Historical Sources Menu Return to History Workshop Menu Return to Main Menu Kirakos Ganjakets'i's History of the Armenians 1. Brief history of the period from Saint Gregory to the present, written by Kirakos of the renowned congregation of Getik [1] The desire to want to learn about things which have transpired or about events which will take place, is implanted in the nature of man by the care of the Creator. It is not possible to know about and become competent in such endeavors without much work and lengthy efforts. It is necessary to become fatigued and exhausted through labor and many pains that perchance something useful be discovered which may satisfy the desires of the inquisitive. [g3] One must read Christian and secular histories with diligence, not negligence. To make the ignorant wise, and the irrational rational, the power of the Holy Spirit must also be considered. One must believe in Him with unwavering and unblemished faith. [2] For everything is created and directed according to His will, both the visible and the invisible. With a pure holy heart and without bias must one hear the celestial and inner divine words, and read the writings, which can give to the seeker what he seeks. [Translator's note: The first letter of each first word of the preceding paragraphs form an acrostic which reads K-I-R-A-K-O-S in the Armenian.] For these are divine precepts: "Fathers must teach their sons so that the next generation learns [Psalms 78. 5,6]" as the prophet David enjoins, and as the great prophet Moses advised the sons of Israel: "Meditate on this by day and by night, sitting at home, travelling along the way, sleeping and arising [Joshua I. 8; II Deuteronomy 6, 7; 11, 19]." Among those who have helped in this education have been many men of God who left behind a living monument--their writings for all generations succeeding them. Such a person was [g4] the great Eusebius who left two books. One is the Chronicle which begins with the ancestor Adam, in which Eusebius compared the barbarous names of the Patriarchs found in pagan histories to the names in Christian histories, continuing [3] until the Coming of Christ and beyond, and including the names of chiefs and kings of many peoples of this region. The other book is the History of the Church which begins with the birth of the Sun of Righteousness and contains accounts of the kings and the missionary activities of the holy Apostles, describing who of them did what and where each went and how he was martyred. It describes the holy bishops and the work and bravery of distinguished men, down to the days of the pious Constantine, where the book ends. The book of the learned Socrates Scholasticus, written with forceful expression, begins with Saint Sylvester, the bishop of Rome, describes Constantine the Great, and proceeds until the days of Theodosius the Younger, narrating the deeds and accomplishments of each of the kings and bishops, the virtuous and the wicked, the acts of many councils, good and bad, in a lengthy and extensive work. [g5] Many Armenian historians [also] have produced works. Among them are the venerable and brilliant Agat'angeghos (which translates "glad tidings") who, at the order of the mighty, brave king Trdat, put down the details of events which transpired among the Armenians at the hands of Saint Gregory the Parthian, the confessor of Christ; deeds, miracles and [4] wonders, and the circumstances of the illumination of the land of Armenia, all in a beautiful and clear narration.