The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
Pʼawstos Buzand
the Epic Histories composed c. AD 470s; the named author is a later ascription · Attributed author of the Epic Histories of Armenia — in fact anonymous · Armenia
The Nicene Age
Who Pʼawstos Buzand was
The name attached to the Buzandaran Patmutʼiwnkʼ, the Epic Histories covering Armenia from about 330 to 387 and the archive’s source for six mentions. The attribution is false. It began with the later historian Łazar Pʼarpecʼi, who called the author a Byzantine scholar from Constantinople; modern scholarship — Garsoïan above all — holds that the work is an anonymous Armenian composition of the 470s, steeped in Iranian and Parthian oral epic, and that ‘Pʼawstos’ was lifted from a bishop merely named inside the text. ‘Buzand’ may mean composer of epics rather than ‘the Byzantine’. The archive keeps the record under the traditional name and states plainly that the author is unknown. Held at the archive’s AD 400 ceiling, as Augustine, Jerome and Chrysostom are.
One attestation only — the work is self-attesting: the author names himself, his office or his circumstances inside his own text, and no independent ancient source describes him.
Common questions
When did Pʼawstos Buzand live?
Pʼawstos Buzand is dated the Epic Histories composed c. AD 470s; the named author is a later ascription in the archive, which places Pʼawstos Buzand 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 Pʼawstos Buzand write?
Pʼawstos Buzand has 1 catalogued writing in the archive: Buzandaran Patmutʼiwnkʼ (The Epic Histories).
Which early sources mention Pʼawstos Buzand?
Pʼawstos Buzand is named in 1 primary-source passage catalogued here, drawn from Łazar Pʼarpecʼi. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was Pʼawstos Buzand from?
The archive associates Pʼawstos Buzand with Armenia.
Writings (1)
Buzandaran Patmutʼiwnkʼ (The Epic Histories)
c. AD 470s, covering c. 330–387[The principal narrative source for fourth-century Armenia, and the only one for the Council of Ashtishat and the Gregorid succession.]
Primary-source mentions (1)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
The History of Łazar Pʼarpecʼi — the origin of the false attribution
c. AD 490[Łazar names ‘Pʼawstos of Byzantium’ as the author of the preceding history — the ascription modern scholarship rejects.]Łazar Pʼarpecʼi · History of Łazar Pʼarpecʼi
The History of Łazar Pʼarpecʼi, written c. AD 500, which names the Buzandaran as the work it continues — the earliest external witness to the Epic Histories. English translation by Robert W. Thomson, The History of Łazar Pʼarpecʼi (Atlanta, 1991).
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 one place the sources put Pʼawstos Buzand.
- 1Armeniaprovince only