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Echoes of the Definitions Ascribed to Plato in a Medieval Armenian Compendium

Muradyan, Gohar · 2024

Before 1267 a certain Gregory of Jerusalem compiled an Armenian collection of philosophical texts whose core is 365 definitions covering logic, natural philosophy, ethics and epistemology, translated from a lost or unidentified Greek collection. Definitions are variously ascribed to Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics. Muradyan traces parallels for 175 of the Armenian definitions and presents 25 that correspond, sometimes as literal translations, to the pseudo-Platonic Horoi, plus three parallels with authentic Plato. She also notes that a passage translated from the Timaeus differs from the known medieval Armenian version.

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Published in
Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 45–57 (Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran / Brepols); eISSN 3041-5063
Year
2024
Language
English

Citation

Muradyan, Gohar 2024. Echoes of the Definitions Ascribed to Plato in a Medieval Armenian Compendium. Matenadaran: Medieval and Early Modern Armenian Studies (MEMAS), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 45–57 (Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran / Brepols); eISSN 3041-5063.

What this offers a reader

For students

Greek philosophy as Armenians actually received and rewrote it.

For academics

Grabar philology by a senior Matenadaran scholar; important for the Hellenizing translation tradition.

For the community

Plato reached us in Armenian, and we changed him on the way.

For a general reader

How Greek philosophy was translated, reshaped and preserved in Armenian.

Topics

Hellenizing SchoolGrabar philologyGreek-Armenian translationpseudo-Platomedieval Armenian philosophyGrigor of Jerusalem

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