THE STORIES OF LIVES: BIOGRAPHICAL TRADITION FROM “ROMAN” TO ARMENIAN LITERATURE

Year 2023, , 1 - 17, 30.12.2023

İlhami Tekin Cinemre

https://doi.org/10.30517/cihannuma.1412247

Abstract

The first touchstone that comes to mind when considering the tradition of biographical writing in ancient literature is Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, although he was not the earliest example of this method. Much later, came the Vita Constantini, a panegyric written by the church historian Eusebius in honour of the Emperor Constantine, and Athanasius’ Vita Antonii. Moreover, further east, a patristic and encomiastic Armenian biographical tradition exists, albeit partly obscured in Armenian literature and overlooked by ancient authors. Surprisingly, existing literature has not dedicated sufficient attention to the transmission of literature between the East and West, despite the likelihood that the first written Armenian text was a biography. Therefore, this study will discuss the extent to which Armenian literature was influenced by its Roman predecessors in the biographical tradition, especially those who wrote in Greek, and how this tradition was shaped in Armenian literature.

Keywords

Biographical Tradition, Armenian Literature, Vita, Varkʿ Maštocʿ

HAYAT ÖYKÜLERİNİN HİKÂYELERİ: ROMA’DAN ANTİK ERMENİ LİTERATÜRÜNE BİYOGRAFİ GELENEĞİ

Abstract

Antik literatürde biyografi denildiğinde akla gelen ilk Plutarchus’un Paralel Yaşamlar adlı eseridir, ancak bu türün en eski örneği o değildir. Çok daha sonra, kilise tarihçisi Eusebius’un İmparator Constantinus’un onuruna yazdığı biyografik bir panegyrik olan Vita Constantini ve Athanasius’un Vita Antonii’si bu ünü miras almıştır. Bununla birlikte, daha doğuda, Ermeni literatüründe kısmen gizlenmiş ve antik yazarlar tarafından göz ardı edilmiş olsa da, patristik ve anonim bir Ermeni biyografi geleneği de vardır. Şaşırtıcı bir şekilde, ilk yazılı Ermenice metnin bir biyografi olma ihtimaline kardeşın mevcut literatür Doğu ve Batı arasındaki literatür aktarımına yeterli ilgiyi göstermemiştir. Bu nedenle bu çalışma Ermeni literatürünün biyografi geleneğindeki Romalı seleflerinden, özellikle de Yunanca yazanlardan ne ölçüde etkilendiği ve bu geleneğin Ermeni literatüründe nasıl şekillendiğini tartışmayı amaçlamaktadır.

Keywords

Biyografi Geleneği, Ermeni literatürü, Vita, Varkʿ Maštocʿ.

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