Alphabets of the South Caucasus

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The historical alphabets of the South Caucasus are the Caucasian Albanian, Armenian and Georgian. Armenian and Georgian alphabets are in use today and Caucasian Albanian is not and it was rediscovered in 1937. [1]

In 1937 a 13th-century Armenian “collective codex of educational character” was discovered in the Matenadaran (ms. 7117) which contains among the accounts of several other scripts (Armenian, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Latin, Georgian, and Coptic), a list of “Albanian” letters (ałowanicʿ girn). The list comprises 52 characters arranged in alphabetical order. [2]

The earliest surviving Armenian handwriting and the only example of Armenian script surviving on any ancient papyri is a Greek Educational Papyrus in Armenian Script kept in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (BnF Arm 332), Greek text in Armenian characters dated 5th-7th century. [3]

Georgian Gospel text contained in the codex can be shown to be dated to 5th-7th centuries and is kept in Makhachkala, Republic of Dagestan. [4]

Biblical lections in Caucasian Albanian have been discovered in the undertexts of the two Georgian palimpsests in St Catherine's Monastery on Mt Sinai and the original manuscripts were produced in the 7th century. [5]

The Armenian and Georgian inscriptions from Sinai are dated 7th century and later. [6] The Caucasian Albanian inscription from Mingachevir in Azerbaijan is dated to 6th-7th centuries. [7]

Georgian pilgrimage to the Holy Places of Palestine and their writings in Georgian asomtavruli script survived in Nazareth, Bethlehem and Sinai. Active pilgrims’ traffic from Georgia to Palestine and Sinai from the 5th century onward. Georgian inscriptions from Nazareth are dated to 5th century. Peter the Iberian arrived as an ordinary man and continued his journeys after becoming a monk and later a bishop, his inscription is dated 430 and 532. The presence of Georgian monks in the Sinai peninsula is documented in Byzantine literature from the 6th century and it was not only a pilgrimage destination but also a home for a Georgian-speaking monastic community. [8] The inscription of John, Bishop of Purtavi, a Georgian is dated to the end of the 5th or the first half of the 6th century.

According to Armenian tradition, the Georgian script was developed by Mashtots and his students based on the report of Koriun in The Life of Mashtots and Movses Khorenatsi in History of the Armenians, on which the other Armenian sources depend: Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi (Catholicos of Armenia from 897 to 925) - History of the Armenians, Movses Kaghankatvatsi/Daskhurantsi - The History of the Country of Albania, Kirakos Gandzaketsi - History of the Armenians. It is also possible to think of an early interpolation of Koriun's chapters on the creation of the Georgian alphabet by Mashtots because Koriwn's Life is not always entirely trustworthy. It may be that Koriun's reporting here is either biased, or at least inaccurate and has less to do with the events of that time than with the Armenian Church's claim to leadership in church affairs, whereby Koriun implicitly expresses the dependence of the Georgian church leadership on Armenia, there is absence of any trace of the people and events in other sources. [9]

The occasion of the international symposium in 2005 in Vienna was the 1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet. His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians, performed the opening in the Great Hall of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Relatively clear research results are in stark contrast to more legendary traditions that have not been sufficiently scientifically clarified. There is no doubt that Mashtots, who in later tradition is more likely to be called Mesrop, created the Armenian alphabet in 405/406, not in Sasanian Greater Armenia, but in Sasanian Syria, with a certain amount of support from a scribe with good paleographic training. Armenian tradition also attributes to Mashtots - at least in the form in which his biography written by Koriwn has come down to us - the creation of the Albanian and the oldest Georgian alphabet. It is clear that the Armenian alphabet was in a certain sense the inspiration for the Albanian alphabet, it is clear that at least Armenian educated people played a role in the design of the alphabet, it is possible that the main impetus for this initiative came from Albanians from a former Armenian province such as Utik’ or Siwnik’. However, it is uncertain whether all of this even happened during Mashtots’ lifetime. The oldest Georgian alphabet is much closer to the Greek than the Armenian, its creator was probably of Greek education, and it was created at least in the sphere of influence of the early Byzantine Empire. Since the earliest evidence comes from the Syrian-Palestinian region, the hypothesis was presented at the symposium that it was created there, probably by a monk of eastern or western Georgian origin and there is not even a hint of direct involvement of Mashtots or other Armenians in the creation of the Georgian alphabet. Indirectly, however, the Armenian model may well have had an impact: like the Armenians, the Georgian monks also wanted to have binding liturgical texts in their own language. [10]

The actual invention of the Armenian alphabet by Mashtots took place in North Syria and although Armenian writers claim that Mashtots invented a alphabet for the Georgians and the Caucasian Albanians as well as for themselves, there is no corroborating evidence. [11]

There can be no doubt that the Albanian alphabet as established now depends in its structure on the Armenian alphabet in quite the same way as the Armenian depends on the Greek and the two alphabets differ considerably from the Old Georgian one as this has preserved the Greek arrangement intact to a much greater extent. [12]

The earliest inscription in Georgian is dated 430 and the alphabet was devised perhaps decades before. Georgia not only received Christianity, it also disseminated it: ecclesiastical language of Caucasian Albania (Old Udi) borrowed Old Georgian vocabulary - Easter, grace, image, throne. Greek terms also entered Old Udi via Georgian. [13]

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The Life of Mashtots is the only known work by the Armenian writer Koriun about the creator of the Armenian alphabet Mesrop Mashtots. It is the earliest known original work written in Armenian and other scholars place it after Agathangelos - The Lives of Saint Gregory. According to Armenian tradition, the Georgian script was also developed by Mashtots and his students based on the report of Koriun in The Life of Mashtots and Movses Khorenatsi in History of the Armenians, on which the other Armenian sources depend: Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi - History of the Armenians, Movses Kaghankatvatsi/Daskhurantsi - The History of the Country of Albania, Kirakos Gandzaketsi - History of the Armenians. It is also possible to think of an early interpolation of Koriun's chapters on the creation of the Georgian alphabet by Mashtots because Koriwn's Life is not always entirely trustworthy. It may be that Koriun's reporting here is either biased, or at least inaccurate and has less to do with the events of that time than with the Armenian Church's claim to leadership in church affairs, whereby Koriun implicitly expresses the dependence of the Georgian church leadership on Armenia, there is absence of any trace of the people and events in other sources.

References

  1. ↑ Gippert, Jost; Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2023). Caucasian Albania: an international handbook. De Gruyter reference. Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 4. ISBN   978-3-11-079459-5.
  2. ↑ Gippert, Jost; Dum-Tragut, Jasmine, eds. (2023). Caucasian Albania: an international handbook. De Gruyter reference. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter. p. 96. ISBN   978-3-11-079459-5. OCLC   1334722543.
  3. ↑ Clackson, James (2001). "A Greek Educational Papyrus in Armenian Script". In Andorlini, Isabella (ed.). Atti del 22. Congresso internazionale di papirologia: Firenze, 23-29 agosto 1998 (in itaengfreger). Firenze: Istituto papirologico G. Vitelli. pp. 207–218. ISBN   978-88-87829-21-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  4. ↑ Gippert, Jost (2021-01-01). "A New Treasure of Khanmeti Forms". Caucasica Antiqua et Christiana.
  5. ↑ Gippert, Jost (2007-01-01). "Some Remarks on the Caucasian Albanian Palimpsests". Iran and the Caucasus. 11 (2): 201–211. doi:10.1163/157338407X265441.
  6. ↑ Stone, Michael E.; Esbroeck, Michel van, eds. (1982). The Armenian inscriptions from the Sinai. Harvard Armenian texts and studies. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr. in Komm. ISBN   978-0-674-04626-9.
  7. ↑ Gippert, Jost; Dum-Tragut, Jasmine, eds. (2023). Caucasian Albania: an international handbook. De Gruyter reference. Berlin ; Boston: De Gruyter. p. 142. ISBN   978-3-11-079459-5. OCLC   1334722543.
  8. ↑ "Early Georgian Pilgrimage to the Holy Land". ResearchGate. Archived from the original on 2023-05-21. Retrieved 2024-12-25.
  9. ↑ Winkler, Gabriele; Koriun, Vardapet (1994). Koriwns Biographie des Mesrop Maštocʻ: Übersetzung und Kommentar. Orientalia Christiana analecta. Roma: Pontificio istituto orientale. pp. 288–319. ISBN   978-88-7210-298-5.
  10. ↑ Seibt, Werner (2011). "Foreword". In Seibt, Werner; Preiser-Kapeller, Johannes (eds.). Die Entstehung der kaukasischen Alphabete als kulturhistorisches Phänomen: Referate des Internationalen Symposions (Wien, 1. - 4. Dezember 2005) = The creation of the Caucasian alphabets as phenomenon of cultural history. Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung. Wien: Verl. der Österr. Akad. der Wiss. ISBN   978-3-7001-7088-4. The occasion for the symposium was the 1600th anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet. Since it is advisable to look at major cultural-historical events in a larger context, we went further in our planning and included not only the other two South Caucasian alphabets, Georgian and Albanian, but also Coptic and the conditions in the Iranian empire of those centuries. The symposium was not only a great scientific success, but also a social highlight, which was particularly evident at the opening ceremony in the Great Hall of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, where His Eminence Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, His Magnificence the Rector of the University of Vienna, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Winkler and Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Johannes Koder, among others, spoke as representatives of the Academy's Presidium and His Holiness Karekin II, the Catholicos and Supreme Patriarch of all Armenians, performed the opening; the President of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, Prof. Dr. Thomas V. Gamkrelidze, was invited to give the keynote speech. ... As far as the topic of the symposium is concerned, some well-dated, relatively clear research results are in stark contrast to more legendary traditions that have not been sufficiently scientifically clarified. There is no doubt that Blessed Mashtots, who in later tradition is more likely to be called Mesrop, created the Armenian alphabet in 405/406, not in Sasanian Greater Armenia, but in Sasanian Syria, with a certain amount of support from a scribe with good paleographic training. There can also be no serious doubt that these activities were actively supported and promoted by the Armenian church leadership, and that Christian missionary interests and the needs of the liturgy were the decisive driving forces. Armenian tradition also attributes to Mashtots - at least in the form in which his biography written by Koriwn has come down to us - the creation of the Albanian and the oldest Georgian alphabet. ... It is clear that the Armenian alphabet was in a certain sense the inspiration for the Albanian alphabet, especially with regard to the order and numerical value of the letters; it is clear that at least Armenian educated people played a role in the design of the alphabet; It is possible that the main impetus for this initiative came from Albanians from a former Armenian province such as Utik' or Siwnik'. However, it is uncertain whether all of this even happened during Mashtots' lifetime. The problems surrounding the creation of the oldest Georgian alphabet are different. It is much closer to the Greek than the Armenian, its creator was probably of Greek education, and it was created at least in the sphere of influence of the early Byzantine Empire. Since the earliest evidence comes from the Syrian-Palestinian region, the hypothesis was presented at the symposium that it was created there, probably by a monk of eastern or western Georgian origin. In this case too, liturgical needs were probably the main focus. In Iberia, the conditions for such work would have been much worse, and the oldest written monuments that have survived there date from a much more recent time. There is not even a hint of direct involvement of the Mashtots or other Armenians in the creation of the Georgian alphabet; Indirectly, however, the Armenian model may well have had an impact: like their Armenian brothers, the Georgian monks also wanted to have binding liturgical texts in their own language. ... A rich literature was created on the basis of these alphabets, which very quickly reached a high level of prosperity, especially among the Armenians. The political consequences are also obvious, for example in relation to the promotion of national consciousness, since one's own identity could now be much better distinguished from that of others and specifically cultivated. However, the example of Coptic, which is older than the Caucasian alphabets, or the complex developments in the Sasanian Empire show that Christian needs were not necessarily and exclusively the decisive impetus for the creation of new alphabets.
  11. ↑ "The Origins of Caucasian Civilization: The Christian Component (1980) | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. 2025-01-14. Retrieved 2024-12-26.
  12. ↑ Gippert, Jost. "The script of the Caucasian Albanians in the light of the Sinai palimpsests". Referate des Internationalen Symposiums (Wien, 1.-4. Dezember 2005), hrsg. v. Werner Seibt und Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2011 (Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung, hrsg. v. Peter Soustal und Christian Gastgeber, 28), 39-50 zu entnehmen. pp. 47–48. S2CID   165384721.
  13. ↑ Rayfield, Donald (2013). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. p. 41. ISBN   978-1-78023-070-2.
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