Hellenizing School

Illumination depicting David the Invincible, also known as David Anhaght, at the beginning of his Definition of Philosophy in a manuscript dating back to 1280.

The Hellenizing school (in Classical Armenian : Յունաբան Դպրոց, romanized Yownaban Dproc̕), also called the Philhellenic School, was an Armenian intellectual movement of the Early Middle Ages (5th–8th centuries). It was characterized by significant attention to Greek texts and notable translation work from Greek to Armenian, often performing literal translations from Greek. It substantially influenced the Armenian language.

The authors belonging to this school were involved in creating words and grammatical categories heavily inspired by Greek in Armenian. The translations carried out by the members of this school are interesting for philologists and modern researchers, as they preserved, in some cases, Greek texts lost in their original versions.

Some Armenian authors writing directly in Greek, such as David the Invincible or Anania of Shirak, are considered to have been part of this school.

Background

In the first part of the 5th century, Armenian adopted an alphabet for writing its language, traditionally attributed to Mesrop Mashtots.[1][2] Historical analysis of the reasons behind this choice varies, but is generally understood as an attempt to expedite and facilitate the evangelization of Armenia by ecclesiastical authorities.[1][2] Until that moment, religious texts had been exclusively in Greek and Syriac.[1][2]

Following Mesrop Mashtots, who translated the New Testament into Armenian from Greek and Syriac sources,[2] the Armenian Church undertook significant translation work.[2] Initially, this involved religious literature, including liturgical and patristic texts, and later extended to Greek philosophical texts.[2]

History

Statue depicting Anania of Shirak at the entrance of the Matenadaran.

In the pursuit of translations, from the late 5th century onward in Armenia, an intellectual movement called the "Hellenizing School" emerged. This school translated numerous works of Greek literature into Armenian.[3] Some scholars consider that the early Armenian translations, including those by Mesrop Mashtots, are already part of this school and should be regarded as a "pre-Hellenizing School".[4] This school significantly influenced the Armenian language,[4][5] as the translators employed translation methods very close to the original Greek.[4] Thus, they created Armenian words to translate certain Greek terms,[5][6] devised prefixes and prepositions that did not exist in Armenian,[4] and conceived of tenses and numbers, such as the dual or optative.[7]

Translations

The first works translated by this school were Dionysius Thrax's Grammar,[3][8] Aelius Theon's Progymnasmata, the Book of Chries, a Christian version of Aphtonius's Progymnasmata.[3] The school also translated a significant number of works from Greek patristic literature,[5][9] including Irenaeus, which only survived in Greek fragments but had a complete version in Latin and Armenian.[10]

The translators showed a particular interest in Platonic or Neoplatonic literature.[3][11] Consequently, they translated Euthyphro, the Apology of Socrates, the Minos, the Laws, and the Timaeus.[11][12] They also translated Aristotelian texts,[3] such as On the Universe, On Virtues and Vices, the Categories, or On Interpretation.[3] Additionally, translated works included the Hermetica attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, Zeno of Citium's On Nature,[3] or the Book of Causes.[13] Philo, John Philoponus, and Proclus were also authors translated extensively.[3]

David the Invincible, an Armenian philosopher writing in Greek during the 5th and 6th centuries, was translated into Armenian by this school.[3][4] He, along with Anania of Shirak, is considered to be a part of this school as they wrote their works in Greek during the same period.[14]

Philological interest

The fact that the translators of this movement remain very close to the original Greek, which serves as a model for their translations, makes the school interesting for modern philology. Scholars can rely on their work to try to restore the history of certain texts and even reconstruct lost originals,[5][15][16][17] both for studies related to ancient philosophy, the Church Fathers, or the biblical text.[5][9][10][15][17]

References

1. Sarkissian, Sarkis (2017-12-05). Le substrat préchrétien et la réception arménienne du christianisme (PhD thesis) (in French). Université Paris sciences et lettres.
2. Mahé, Jean-Pierre (2018). L'alphabet arménien dans l'histoire et dans la mémoire. Bibliothèque de l'Orient chrétien. Paris: les Belles lettres. ISBN 978-2-251-44823-7.
3. Calzolari, Valentina (23 November 2009). "David et la tradition arménienne". In Calzolari, Valentina; Barnes, Jonathan R. (eds.). L'œuvre de David l'Invincible et la transmission de la pensée grecque dans la tradition arménienne et syriaque. Commentaria in Aristotelem Armeniaca - Davidis Opera. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill. pp. 15–36. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004160477.i-238.9. ISBN 978-90-04-16047-7. OCLC 318867138.
4. Alpi, Federico; Meyer, Robin; Tinti, Irene; Zakarian, David; Bonfiglio, Emilio; Lint, Theo Maarten van; Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, eds. (2022). Armenia through the lens of time: multidisciplinary studies in honour of Theo Maarten van Lint. Armenian texts and studies. Leiden Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-52760-7.
5. Calzolari, Valentina; Stone, Michael E., eds. (2014). Armenian philology in the modern era: From manuscript to digital text. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25994-2. ISSN 0169-8524. OCLC 872222210.
6. Bolognesi, Giancarlo (1997). "Les differents emplois du mot qui designe l' « Art » en Armenien, en Grec et en Latin". Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (in French). 50 (1): 61–65. ISSN 0001-6446. JSTOR 23658205.
7. Lamberterie, Charles de (1987). "Grammaire de l'arménien classique". Annuaires de l'École pratique des hautes études. 116 (3): 147.
8. Lallot, Jean; Dionysius (2003). La grammaire de Denys le Thrace. Sciences du langage (2. éd. revue et augmentée ed.). Paris: CNRS Éd. ISBN 978-2-271-05591-0.
9. Outtier, Bernard; Horn, Cornelia B.; Lurʹe, Vadim Mironovič; Ostrovsky, Alexey; Yowzbašyan, Karen Mkrtč'i, eds. (2020). Armenia between Byzantium and the Orient: celebrating the memory of Karen Yuzbashyan (1927-2009). Text and studies in Eastern Christianity. Leiden Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-39774-3.
10. Irenaeus (2008). Contre les hérésies. 1,1: Introd., notes justificatives, tables. Sources chrétiennes (Réimpr. ed.). Paris: Cerf. ISBN 978-2-204-01489-2.
11. Gazzano, Francesca; Pagani, Lara; Traina, Giusto (2016-08-22). Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-048994-1.
12. Calzolari, Valentina. "Du pouvoir de la musique dans la version arménienne des Prolégomènes à la philosophie de David le Platonicien (Orphée et Alexandre le Grand)". Κορυφαιω ανδρι (in French). Retrieved 2024-02-09.
13. Shishmanian, Aum Alexandre (2017). "Bagdad, Paris, Lemberg, Etchmiadzin (Arménie), la trajectoire inattendue du Livre des causes". In Fidora, Alexander; Polloni, Nicola (eds.). Textes et Etudes du Moyen Âge (in French). Vol. 88. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. pp. 279–302. doi:10.1484/m.tema-eb.4.2017181. ISBN 978-2-503-57744-9.
14. Keyser, Paul Turquand; Irby-Massie, Georgia Lynette (2008). The encyclopedia of ancient natural scientists: the greek tradition and its many heirs. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-34020-5.
15. Verheul, A. (1973). "Bibliothek der griechischen Literatur, 1-4". Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale (Book review) (in French). 40: 219–221. ISSN 0034-1266. JSTOR 26188529.
16. Sgarbi, Romano (2009). "Ex Oriente Lux: Su Alcuni Contributi Armeni Alla Lessicologia Colta Greca Nell'ambito Della Yownaban Dproc O 'Scuola Ellenistica'" [Ex Oriente Lux: On some Armenian contributions to Greek scholarly lexicology in the Yownaban Dproc or 'Hellenistic School']. Aevum (in Italian). 83 (1): 221–227. ISSN 0001-9593. JSTOR 20862185.
17. Sgarbi, Romano (2002). "Treduzioni Armene di testi greci tra linguistica e filologia" [Armenian translations of Greek texts: Between linguistics and philology] (PDF). Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. N, Řada klasická. 2001-2002 (in Italian). 50 (6): 301–308. hdl:11222.digilib/113920. ISBN 80-210-2768-1. ISSN 1211-6335.

Bibliography

• Terian, Abraham (1980). "The Hellenizing School: Its Time, Place, and Scope of Activities Reconsidered". In Nina Garsoïan; Thomas F. Mathews; Robert W. Thomson (eds.). East of Byzantium: Syria and Armenia in the Formative Period. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 175–186.

Further reading

• Manandian, Hakob (1928). Յունաբան դպրոցը եւ նրա զարգացման շրջանները [The Hellenizing School and the (chronological) Limits of its Activity] (in Armenian). Vienna: Mekhitarist Press.
• Mooradian, A. N. (1964). "Հունաբան դպրոցի ժամանակագրության հարցի շուրջը". Patma-Banasirakan Handes (in Armenian) (3): 91–106.
• Acharian, Hrachia (1949). "Յունաբան հայերէն" [Hellenizing Armenian]. Sion (in Armenian). Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem: 102–104.
• Mouradian, G. S (1993). "Մովսես Խորենացու "Պատմության" լեզվի հունաբան շերտը" [The Hellenizing Layer of Lexics in the "History" of Movses Khorenatsi]. Patma-Banasirakan Handes (in Armenian) (1–2): 91–114.