The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Mesrop Mashtots
b. c. AD 362 Hatsʼekatsʼ; d. 17 February 440 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) · Royal secretary · Monk · Inventor of the Armenian alphabet · Hatsʼekatsʼ, Taron → Vagharshapat → Edessa → Samosata
The Nicene Age
Who Mesrop Mashtots was
A secretary in the Armenian royal chancery who left the court for the monastic life and then did the single most consequential thing anyone did for the Armenian church: about 405, with the backing of King Vramshapuh and the catholicos Sahak, he devised an alphabet for a language that had none. The scriptures were translated into it at once, and a literature began. He worked at Edessa and Samosata on the letter-forms and is credited with a share in the Georgian and Caucasian Albanian scripts as well. He was active for two decades before the archive’s ceiling and is held at it.
Named in the fifth-century Armenian sources only — late attestation for a fourth-century figure, on the same footing as Gregory, Trdat and Nerses in this archive.
Also listed in desert fathers & mothers.
Common questions
When did Mesrop Mashtots live?
Mesrop Mashtots is dated b. c. AD 362 Hatsʼekatsʼ; d. 17 February 440 (held at the timeline’s ceiling) in the archive, which places Mesrop Mashtots in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
What did Mesrop Mashtots write?
Mesrop Mashtots has 2 catalogued writings in the archive: The Armenian alphabet and The Armenian translation of the Scriptures (with Sahak and their pupils).
Which early sources mention Mesrop Mashtots?
Mesrop Mashtots is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Koriwn. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Mesrop Mashtots from?
The archive associates Mesrop Mashtots with Hatsʼekatsʼ, Taron, Vagharshapat, Edessa, Samosata. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Writings (2)
The Armenian alphabet
c. AD 405[Thirty-six letters devised for a language previously written only in Greek, Syriac or Persian script.]
The Armenian translation of the Scriptures (with Sahak and their pupils)
from c. AD 405[Begun with the Book of Proverbs; the version is still called the Queen of Translations.]
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The Life of Mashtots — by his own pupil, and the earliest original work of Armenian literature
c. AD 443[Koriwn, who studied under him, wrote the Life within a few years of his death; it is the foundation of everything known about him.]Koriwn · Life of Mashtots
Koriwn’s Life of Mashtots, written c. AD 443–51 by a pupil of the inventor of the Armenian alphabet — the earliest original work of Armenian literature. English translation by Bedros Norehad, Koriun: The Life of Mashtots (New York, 1964).
Connected in the archive
People
Events in this lifetime
- AD 339 · The persecution of Shapur II, AD 339
- AD 343 · The Council of Serdica, AD 343
- AD 361 · Julian’s pagan restoration, AD 361
- AD 366 · Damasus and the catacomb epigrams, AD 366
- AD 367 · Athanasius lists the 27 NT books, AD 367
- AD 372 · The martyrdom of Sabbas the Goth, AD 372
- AD 378 · Queen Mavia’s revolt, AD 378
- AD 380 · The Edict of Thessalonica, AD 380
- AD 381 · The Council of Constantinople, AD 381
- AD 381 · The Council of Aquileia, AD 381
- AD 384 · The Altar of Victory petition, AD 384
- AD 390 · Thessalonica and the penance of Theodosius, AD 390
- AD 397 · Carthage confirms the canon, AD 397
Place
Places served
The 3 places the sources put Mesrop Mashtots, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.