Isaac or Sahak of Armenia was the catholicos of the Armenian Church from c. 387 until c. 438. He is sometimes known as Isaac the Great or Sahak the Parthian in reference to his father's Parthian origin. He was the last Armenian patriarch who was directly descended from Gregory the Illuminator, who converted the Kingdom of Armenia to Christianity in the early fourth century and became the first head of the Armenian Church. He supported Mesrop Mashtots in the creation of the Armenian alphabet and personally participated in the translation of the Bible into Armenian.
Grigor Narekatsi was an Armenian mystical and lyrical poet, monk, and theologian. He is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic and Catholic Churches and was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Francis in 2015.
Abas was king of Bagratid Armenia from 928 to 953. He was a member of the Bagratid (Bagratuni) royal dynasty. He was the son of Smbat I and the brother of Ashot II the Iron, whom he succeeded. In contrast to the reign of his predecessors, Abas's reign was mostly peaceful, and he occupied himself with the reconstruction of the war-torn kingdom and the development of his capital at Kars.
Anania Shirakatsi was a 7th-century Armenian polymath and natural philosopher, author of extant works covering mathematics, astronomy, geography, chronology, and other fields. Little is known for certain of his life outside of his own writings, but he is considered the father of the exact and natural sciences in Armenia—the first Armenian mathematician, astronomer, and cosmographer.
Ashot I was an Armenian king who oversaw the beginning of Armenia's second golden age. He was the son of Smbat VIII the Confessor and was a member of the Bagratuni dynasty.
Khosrovidukht was an Armenian hymnographer and poet who lived during the early 8th century. After her slightly earlier contemporary Sahakdukht, she is the first known woman of Armenian literature and music, and among the earliest woman composers in the history of music.
The Tatev Monastery is a 9th-century Armenian Apostolic Christian monastery located on a large basalt plateau near the village of Tatev in the Syunik Province in southeastern Armenia. The term "Tatev" usually refers to the monastery. The monastic ensemble stands on the edge of a deep gorge of the Vorotan River. Tatev is known as the bishopric seat of Syunik and played a significant role in the history of the region as a center of economic, political, spiritual and cultural activity.
Stepanos Orbelian was a thirteenth-century Armenian historian and the metropolitan bishop of the province of Syunik. He is known for writing his well-researched History of the Province of Syunik.
Paghtasar Dpir, or Baghdasar Tbir, was an Armenian poet, musician, scientist, printer, and a luminary of national and educational movements. He is considered a leading figure during the revitalization period of Armenian culture.
Narekavank was a tenth-century Armenian monastery in the historic province of Vaspurakan, near the southern shores of Lake Van, in present-day Gevaş district in the Van Province in eastern Turkey. The monastery was one of the most prominent in medieval Armenia and had a major school. The poet Gregory of Narek notably flourished at the monastery. It was abandoned in 1915 during the Armenian genocide, and reportedly demolished around 1951. A mosque now stands on its location.
Gregory II the Martyrophile was the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church between 1065 and 1105.
Syunik was a region of historical Armenia and the ninth province of the Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 428 AD. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control. In 821, it formed two Armenian principalities: Kingdom of Syunik and principality of Khachen, which around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, becoming one of the last medieval eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.
Drazark monastery is a destroyed monastic complex of Armenian Apostolic Church in Adana province of modern Turkey, which lies about 40 km. northwest of the city of Sis – historical capital of Cilician Armenia, at one of inaccessible slopes of Cilician Taurus range.
The Armenian millet was the Ottoman millet of the Armenian Apostolic Church. It initially included not just Armenians in the Ottoman Empire but members of other Oriental Orthodox and Nestorian churches including the Coptic Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Assyrian Church of the East, although most of these groups obtained their own millet in the nineteenth century.
Viro or Viroy was the Catholicos and head of Caucasian Albanian Church in the early 7th century. His full official title was Catholicos of Albania, Lupenia and Chola.
Alongside old Armenian historiography and translated literature, poetry constituted a significant part of Armenian literature from the 5th to the 18th centuries. The rich tradition of oral literature preceded written poetry.
Smbat Sefedinyan-Artsruni was the last king of Armenia (1465–1471), from the Sepedin dynasty, son of Amir Gurjibek, and nephew of Catholicos Zakaria 3rd of Aghtamar. Smbat's mother was Dunia Khatun, his sister was Khanumkhatun, and his son was Iskender, who was the father of Grigoris I Aghtamartsi. Smbat was descended from the Sefedin family, thus he was considered from the royal family of Gagik Artsruni.
Hovasap Sebastasi, 16th century Armenian verse teller, writer, testimonial writer. He received his education from his father Thaddeus, who was a churchman, poet and scribe. His father ubsequently became a deacon. Following his father, Hovasap began copying manuscripts and writing poems. From Hovasap Sebastasi, we inherited love songs, historical poems, poems, moralistic, as well as spiritual works and bibliographic works that reflect the life of the Armenian people, in particular the population of Western Armenia during the political transitions of medieval Armenia.
Deacon Berdaktsi was a 16th century Armenian verse singer.
