Stepanos Orbelian

Stepanos Orbelian (Armenian: Ստեպանոս Օրբելյան; circa 1250 - 1305) was a thirteenth century Armenian historian and the Metropolitan of the province of Syunik. He is best known for his well-researched "Patmutyun Nahangin Sisakan", or "History of the Province of Syunik", which virtually picks up from where Movses Khorenatsi's "History of Armenia" left off.hy icon Torosyan, K. "«Ստեպանոս Օրբելյան»" (Stepanos Orbelian). Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, vol. xi, 1985, pp. 139-140] Orbelian's other works also called on Armenians to repopulate historic Armenia, then under foreign control, as he "sought 'to apply psychological pressure on the conscience of nobles to return and reestablish an Armenian state.'" [cite book
last =Panossian
first =Razmik
title =The Armenians: From Kings And Priests to Merchants And Commissars
publisher=Columbia University Press
location=New York
pages=pp. 65-66
isbn=0-2311-3926-8 ]

Orbelian was a descendant of Orbelian family of princes and feudal lords that ruled Syunik. He received his education at a religious seminary and in 1285, his father, Tarsayich Orbelian, sent him to Cilician Armenia to be ordained as a metropolitan. He remained there for three months as a guest of King Levon III and finally returned to Syunik in 1287. [cite book
last =Hacikyan
first =Agop Jack
coauthors =Gabriel Basmajian, Edward S. Franchuk
title =The Heritage of Armenian Literature: From the Eighteenth Century to Modern Times, vol. 3
publisher =Wayne State University
date =2005
location =Detroit
pages =p. 534
isbn = 0-8143-3221-8]

Orbelian died in 1305 and was buried in the family mausoleum in the monastery complex at Noravank.

History of the Province of Syunik

Of the three works Orbelian completed in his lifetime, his most prominent is that on the history of Syunik and the Orbelian family. Prior to writing it, he conducted an extensive amount of research, utilizing a wide variety of sources derived from speeches, letters, colophons, previous chronicles by Armenian historians as well as works by Georgian authors. [Ibid., p. 535] Like other Armenian historians and chroniclers, Orbelian's work briefly concentrates on the beginning of the world with Adam and Eve but soon moves on to document Syunik's history and Armenian history spanning from the time of king Tiridates I to the end of the thirteenth century. Orbelian's work is especially valuable as it notes many previously unknown details about the province and Armenian history.

In 1864 and 1866, Orbelian's work was translated into French by the French orientalist Marie-Félicité Brosset. Some excerpts of "History" were also translated into Russian and Georgian.

Works

*(1299) "History of the Province of Syunik" ("Patmutyun Nahangin Sisakan").
*(1300) "Lament on Behalf of the Cathedral" ("Voghb i dimats surb Katoghikein")
*(1302) "Argument Against Dyophysitism" ("Hakacharutiun enddem yerkabnakats")

References