[6] See the account of Zenobius of Glak as given in the pages of Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. x. pp. 553 seq. and 703), and of Langlois (Collection des historiens de l’Arménie, Paris, 1867, vol. i. pp. 344 seq.). Zenobius is reputed to have been the first bishop of this monastery.
I must add that the work purporting to have been written by Zenobius and called History of Taron, from which Ritter quotes and which is translated in Langlois—and which the monks of Surb Karapet prize so highly—is regarded by modern scholars as a collection of legends made in the eighth or ninth centuries, and valueless as a historical document (see Gelzer, Die Anfänge der armenischen Kirche, in Verhandlungen der könig. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wiss. zu Leipzig, phil.-hist. Klasse, 1895, p. 123). A much more trustworthy account of the doings of St. Gregory in this neighbourhood is that given in the Agathangelus treatise. I have summarised it in Vol. I. Ch. XVI. pp. 295, 296. [↑]
[7] For some account of the doings of all these worthies see the history of John Mamikonean (translated in Langlois, op. cit. vol. i. pp. 361 seq.). [↑]
[8] The older names are Glak Vank (from its first abbot), and Innaknean Vank (nine sources). [↑]
[9] The moment that I placed my route on my map, I discovered that not the chaoush but my compass had misled me. The direction, as plotted, was quite wrong, as also were the shoots to known landmarks. Happily I was able to fix the position of Dodan with some confidence during my second journey; and the route has been adjusted accordingly. It is evident that the rocks of the plateau behind Surb Karapet must be heavily charged with magnetite. [↑]
[10] From Norshen in the east to the passage out of the Murad at Gurgur is a distance of about forty-five miles. Brant, adopting different results, and possibly different measurements, ascribes to the plain of Mush a length of “nearly forty miles” (J.R.G.S. 1840, vol. x. p. 352). [↑]
[11] This altitude was ascertained, and the natural features, described with so much hesitation in the present chapter, were elucidated during the second journey (see Ch. XXI.). [↑]
[12] Brant, op. cit. pp. 347 seq. [↑]
[13] But I must record the fact that the people of Bashkent, when asked the name of their plain, replied, Khinis ova. [↑]
[14] I have not reproduced my photograph of Khamur, for a view of which I may refer my reader to Ch. XII. [Fig. 177], p. 252. [↑]