Armenian legends and festivals

by Louis A. Boettiger

[1] Mar Apas Catina. Langlois’ Collection des Histoires de l’Arménie 1:16.

[2] St. Martin, Mémoire sur l’Arménie 1:281.

[3] Mar Apas Catina. Langlois 1:15–18.

Moses of Khorene. Langlois 3:63–64.

[4] St. Martin 1:306.

[5] Ibid. 1:282–3. Moses of Khorene 2:67–69.

Mar Apas Catina 1:26–27.

The first Arsacidae king of Armenia, Valarsace, whose reign began in 149 B.C. found the kingdom in general disorder and was the first to organize the country along national lines. As a Parthian he was unacquainted with the history and institutions of the people, and desiring to build upon the established foundation, such as it was, he sent a Syrian scholar, Mar Apas Catina by name, with a letter to his brother, Arsace, king of Persia, requesting the latter to allow the Syrian access to the royal archives with the view of finding a history of Armenia. Mar Apas Catina found an old MS containing a history of ancient Armenia which bore the name of no author, and which was translated from Chaldean to Greek by order of Alexander the Great. It was translated into Syriac by the Syrian scholar for the benefit of Valarsace, but the MS has been lost, and there is not the slightest trace of it anywhere. It must have been in existence however, during the fifth century after Christ for Moses of Khorene used it as his only source for Armenia’s ancient history, in writing his general history of Armenia. The old MS being lost, the translation by Mar Apas Catina and the first part of the history of Moses are given as identical to each other in Langlois’ collection of Armenian historians. The ancient history contains the legends of Haic, of Ara and Semiramis, and of Vahakn, some of the songs of heroes, still sung, and other matter which is strictly speaking not historical. As a history, therefore, it is unreliable and unauthentic, but from the standpoint of the social historian it is invaluable, for a belief is as important a fact to sociology as the dethronement of a king is to history.

[6] Boyadjian, Armenian Legends and Poetry p. 33.

[7] St. Martin 1:409.