MOSÈ di KHOREN (di CORENE), also called KHORANATSI. — Celebrated Armenian historian, author of a monumental History of Armenia divided into three parts, extending from the beginnings to 440, while in the ninth century there existed a fourth part extending to the time of the Emperor Zeno (474–91). The History of Armenia, written in a lyrical style, especially celebrates the deeds of the Armenian nobility and of the Bagratid dynasty. It concludes with the account of the deaths of Sahak the Great and Mesrop.
Much has recently been discussed concerning the author’s chronology and qualities, and opinions are not yet agreed. The author presents himself as one of the “holy translators” who, on the initiative of Sahak and Mesrop, and therefore in the fifth century, went abroad to prepare the translation of the Bible. He is said to have been a priest and probably also a bishop. The work invokes the authority of more ancient sources, such as Eusebius of Caesarea, Mar Abas Katina, Bardesanes, Julius Africanus, Pseudo-Callisthenes, and others. It is also true that in the fifth century there flourished in Armenia, according to Lazarus of Parphi and Koriun, a “blessed philosopher,” a bishop named M. Those who maintain the thesis that M. of Corene was a historian of the fifth century rely on these arguments and on the work’s consistency with fifth-century sources; among them are the Mechitarists of Venice and F. C. Conybeare.
Others, no fewer in number, point out that the work speaks of “Fourth Armenia,” a name introduced by Justinian in 536. Moreover, no quotations from the History of Armenia have survived until the ninth century, when the Bagratid dynasty, so lauded in the book, reached the height of its splendor. The work would therefore have been written sometime between the eighth and ninth centuries, and the author’s statements would be literary fictions. This is the view held, among others, by A. Carrière and N. Akinian, together with the Mechitarists of Vienna.