- Tovma Artsruni
Tovma Artsruni ( _hy. Թովմա Արծրունի; also known as Thomas Artsruni; birth date and date of death unknown) was a
ninth century Armenianhistorian and author of the "History of the House of Artsrunik". Contrary to the given title, the four volume work not only relates the history ofArtsruni royal family and its origins nearLake Van but in fact also comprehensively covers the history of Armenia.hy icon Vardanyan, V. "«Թովմա Արծրունի»" (Tovma Artsruni).Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia . vol. iv. Yerevan: Armenian SSR:Armenian Academy of Sciences , 1978, p. 201.] [Thomson, Robert W. "Armenian Literary Culture through the Eleventh Century" in "The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I, The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century".Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997, p. 228. ISBN 0-312-10169-4] Similar to other histories composed by Armenian historians, the first volume starts at the beginning of the Armenian nation and ends in the middle of thefifth century . However, Tovma's most valuable contributions are found in the second and third volumes which detail Armenian life under the rule of theArab Caliphates and in particular the851 Arab military expedition led by theTurkic general Bugha al-Kabir, its subsequent consequences, and the establishment of the independent Bagratid state north of Lake Van. The precise date that Tovma completed his work is unknown although historians have determined that it was finished sometime after905 . [Sebeos . "The Armenian History Attributed to Sebeos". Trans. and edited by Robert W. Thomson, James Howard-Johnston, and Tim Greenwood. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999, p. xxxv. ISBN 0-8532-3564-3.]Tovma's "History" was first published in 1852 in
Constantinople in Armenian and was subsequently translated into French byMarie-Félicité Brosset in 1862.Tovma was a relative of the king of
Vaspurakan Gagik I, [Redgate, Anne Elizabeth. "The Armenians (The Peoples of Europe)". Cornwall: Blackwell, 1998, p. 7. ISBN 0-6312-2037-2.] and wrote a detailed account in "History" about the famous palace and church Gagik constructed onAkhtamar Island. [Thomson. "Armenian Literary Culture", p. 228.]References
Further reading
*Thomas Artsruni. "History of the House of Artsrunik". Trans. and edited by Robert W. Thomson. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985.
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