{{Short description|Early medieval school of translation}} {{CS1 config|mode=cs1}} [[File:David Anhaght.jpg|thumb|Illumination depicting David the Invincible, also known as David Anhaght, at the beginning of his ''Definition of Philosophy'' in a manuscript dating back to 1280.]] The '''Hellenizing school''' (in Classical Armenian : Յունաբան Դպրոց, romanized ''Yownaban Dproc̕''), also called the '''Philhellenic School''', was an Armenian intellectual movement of the Early Middle Ages (5th–8th centuries). It was characterized by significant attention to Greek texts and notable translation work from Greek to Armenian, often performing literal translations from Greek. It substantially influenced the Armenian language.

The authors belonging to this school were involved in creating words and grammatical categories heavily inspired by Greek in Armenian. The translations carried out by the members of this school are interesting for philologists and modern researchers, as they preserved, in some cases, Greek texts lost in their original versions.

== Background == In the first part of the 5th century, Armenian adopted an alphabet for writing its language, traditionally attributed to Mesrop Mashtots.<ref name=":0">{{Cite thesis |title=Le substrat préchrétien et la réception arménienne du christianisme |url=https://theses.hal.science/tel-02106758 |publisher=Université Paris sciences et lettres |date=2017-12-05 |degree=PhD |language=fr |first=Sarkis |last=Sarkissian}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Mahé |first=Jean-Pierre |title=L'alphabet arménien dans l'histoire et dans la mémoire |date=2018 |publisher=les Belles lettres |isbn=978-2-251-44823-7 |series=Bibliothèque de l'Orient chrétien |location=Paris}}</ref> Historical analysis of the reasons behind this choice varies, but is generally understood as an attempt to expedite and facilitate the evangelization of Armenia by ecclesiastical authorities.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Until that moment, religious texts had been exclusively in Greek and Syriac.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Following Mesrop Mashtots, who translated the New Testament into Armenian from Greek and Syriac sources,<ref name=":1" /> the Armenian Church undertook significant translation work.<ref name=":1" /> Initially, this involved religious literature, including liturgical and patristic texts, and later extended to Greek philosophical texts.<ref name=":1" />

== History == [[File:2014 Erywań, Matenadaran (07).jpg|thumb|Statue depicting Anania of Shirak at the entrance of the Matenadaran.]] In the pursuit of translations, from the late 5th century onward in Armenia, an intellectual movement called the "Hellenizing School" emerged. This school translated numerous works of Greek literature into Armenian.<ref name=":4">{{cite book | last=Calzolari | first=Valentina | date=23 November 2009 | chapter=David et la tradition arménienne | pages=15–36 | chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/19066149 | doi=10.1163/ej.9789004160477.i-238.9 | editor-last1=Calzolari | editor-first1=Valentina | editor-last2=Barnes | editor-first2=Jonathan R. | title=L'œuvre de David l'Invincible et la transmission de la pensée grecque dans la tradition arménienne et syriaque | series=Commentaria in Aristotelem Armeniaca - Davidis Opera | volume=1 | publication-place=Leiden | publisher=Brill | isbn=978-90-04-16047-7 | oclc=318867138}}</ref> Some scholars consider that the early Armenian translations, including those by Mesrop Mashtots, are already part of this school and should be regarded as a "pre-Hellenizing School".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Armenia through the lens of time: multidisciplinary studies in honour of Theo Maarten van Lint |date=2022 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-52760-7 |editor-last=Alpi |editor-first=Federico |series=Armenian texts and studies |location=Leiden Boston |editor-last2=Meyer |editor-first2=Robin |editor-last3=Tinti |editor-first3=Irene |editor-last4=Zakarian |editor-first4=David |editor-last5=Bonfiglio |editor-first5=Emilio |editor-last6=Lint |editor-first6=Theo Maarten van |editor-last7=Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung}}</ref> This school significantly influenced the Armenian language,<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Armenian philology in the modern era: From manuscript to digital text |date=2014 |publisher=Brill | isbn=978-90-04-25994-2 | issn=0169-8524 | oclc=872222210 | editor-last=Calzolari |editor-first=Valentina |publication-place=Leiden |editor-last2=Stone |editor-first2=Michael E. | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ekz3AwAAQBAJ}}</ref> as the translators employed translation methods very close to the original Greek.<ref name=":2" /> Thus, they created Armenian words to translate certain Greek terms,<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{cite journal | last=Bolognesi | first=Giancarlo | date=1997 | title=Les differents emplois du mot qui designe l' « Art » en Armenien, en Grec et en Latin | language=fr | journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=50 |issue=1 | pages=61–65 | issn=0001-6446 | jstor=23658205}}</ref> devised prefixes and prepositions that did not exist in Armenian,<ref name=":2" /> and conceived of tenses and numbers, such as the dual or optative.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lamberterie |first=Charles de |date=1987 |title=Grammaire de l'arménien classique |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/ephe_0000-0001_1983_num_3_1_6977 |journal=Annuaires de l'École pratique des hautes études |volume=116 |issue=3 |pages=147}}</ref>

== Translations == The first works translated by this school were Dionysius Thrax's Grammar,<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lallot |first1=Jean |title=La grammaire de Denys le Thrace |last2=Dionysius |date=2003 |publisher=CNRS Éd |isbn=978-2-271-05591-0 |edition=2. éd. revue et augmentée |series=Sciences du langage |location=Paris}}</ref> Aelius Theon's ''Progymnasmata'', the ''Book of Chries'', a Christian version of Aphtonius's ''Progymnasmata''.<ref name=":4" /> The school also translated a significant number of works from Greek patristic literature,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |title=Armenia between Byzantium and the Orient: celebrating the memory of Karen Yuzbashyan (1927-2009) |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-39774-3 |editor-last=Outtier |editor-first=Bernard |series=Text and studies in Eastern Christianity |location=Leiden Boston |editor-last2=Horn |editor-first2=Cornelia B. |editor-last3=Lurʹe |editor-first3=Vadim Mironovič |editor-last4=Ostrovsky |editor-first4=Alexey |editor-last5=Yowzbašyan |editor-first5=Karen Mkrtč'i}}</ref> including Irenaeus, which only survived in Greek fragments but had a complete version in Latin and Armenian.<ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Irenaeus |title=Contre les hérésies. 1,1: Introd., notes justificatives, tables |date=2008 |publisher=Cerf |isbn=978-2-204-01489-2 |edition=Réimpr. |series=Sources chrétiennes |location=Paris}}</ref>

The translators showed a particular interest in Platonic or Neoplatonic literature.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last1=Gazzano |first1=Francesca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOw5DQAAQBAJ |title=Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach |last2=Pagani |first2=Lara |last3=Traina |first3=Giusto |date=2016-08-22 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-048994-1 |language=en}}</ref> Consequently, they translated ''Euthyphro'', the ''Apology of Socrates'', the ''Minos'', the ''Laws'', and the ''Timaeus''.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Calzolari |first=Valentina |title=Du pouvoir de la musique dans la version arménienne des Prolégomènes à la philosophie de David le Platonicien (Orphée et Alexandre le Grand) | language=fr | url=https://www.academia.edu/16208620 |journal=Κορυφαιω ανδρι |access-date=2024-02-09}}</ref> They also translated Aristotelian texts,<ref name=":4" /> such as ''On the Universe'', ''On Virtues and Vices'', the ''Categories'', or ''On Interpretation''.<ref name=":4" /> Additionally, translated works included the ''Hermetica'' attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, ''On Nature'' attributed to Zeno of Citium<ref name=":4" /> (but see Pseudo-Zeno), and the Book of Causes<ref>{{cite book |last=Shishmanian |first=Aum Alexandre |chapter=Bagdad, Paris, Lemberg, Etchmiadzin (Arménie), la trajectoire inattendue du ''Livre des causes'' |date=2017 |title=Textes et Etudes du Moyen Âge |volume=88 |pages=279–302 |editor-last=Fidora |editor-first=Alexander |place=Turnhout |publisher=Brepols Publishers |language=fr |doi=10.1484/m.tema-eb.4.2017181 |isbn=978-2-503-57744-9 |editor2-last=Polloni |editor2-first=Nicola}}</ref>. Philo, John Philoponus, and Proclus were also authors translated extensively.<ref name=":4" /> The Armenian scholar Anania Shirakatsi wrote works on astronomy based on those of Basil of Caesarea and Aratus; he may have also produced an Armenian translation of Aratus's ''Phenomena''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Keyser |first1=Paul Turquand |title=The Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: The Greek Tradition and its Many Heirs |last2=Irby-Massie |first2=Georgia Lynette |date=2008 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-34020-5 |location=London |pages=70}}</ref>

David the Invincible, a philosopher writing in Greek during the 5th and 6th centuries, was translated into Armenian by this school<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> and was erroneously thought by Armenians to have been a student of Mesrop Mashtots, the inventor of the Armenian alphabet.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thomson |first=Robert W. |author-link=Robert W. Thomson |title=The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2004 |isbn=1-4039-6421-1 |editor-last=Hovannisian |editor-first=Richard G. |editor-link=Richard G. Hovannisian |pages=219-220 |chapter=Armenian Literary Culture Through the Eleventh Century |orig-date=First published 1997}}</ref>

== Philological interest == The fact that the translators of this movement remain very close to the original Greek, which serves as a model for their translations, makes the school interesting for modern philology. Scholars can rely on their work to try to restore the history of certain texts and even reconstruct lost originals,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |last=Verheul |first=A. |date=1973 |title=Bibliothek der griechischen Literatur, 1-4 | language=fr | type=Book review | journal=Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale |volume=40 |pages=219–221 |jstor=26188529 |issn=0034-1266}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sgarbi |first=Romano |date=2009 |title=Ex Oriente Lux: Su Alcuni Contributi Armeni Alla Lessicologia Colta Greca Nell'ambito Della ''Yownaban Dproc'' O 'Scuola Ellenistica' | language=it | trans-title=Ex Oriente Lux: On some Armenian contributions to Greek scholarly lexicology in the ''Yownaban Dproc'' or 'Hellenistic School' | journal=Aevum |volume=83 |issue=1 |pages=221–227 |jstor=20862185 |issn=0001-9593}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{cite journal | last=Sgarbi | first=Romano | date=2002 | title=Treduzioni Armene di testi greci tra linguistica e filologia | language=it | trans-title=Armenian translations of Greek texts: Between linguistics and philology | journal=Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity. N, Řada klasická. 2001-2002 | volume=50 | number=6 | pages=301–308 | hdl=11222.digilib/113920 | hdl-access=free | isbn=80-210-2768-1 | issn=1211-6335 | url=https://digilib.phil.muni.cz/sites/default/files/pdf/113920.pdf}}</ref> both for studies related to ancient philosophy, the Church Fathers, or the biblical text.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":10" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== *{{cite book |last1=Terian |first1=Abraham |title=East of Byzantium: Syria and Armenia in the Formative Period |editor1=Nina Garsoïan |editor2=Thomas F. Mathews |editor3=Robert W. Thomson |date=1980 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |location=Washington, D.C. |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/Terian1982DOHellenizingSchool/ | pages=175–186 |chapter=The Hellenizing School: Its Time, Place, and Scope of Activities Reconsidered}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book |last1=Manandian |first1=Hakob |authorlink1=Hakob Manandyan |title=Յունաբան դպրոցը եւ նրա զարգացման շրջանները | trans-title=The Hellenizing School and the (chronological) Limits of its Activity |date=1928 |publisher=Mekhitarist Press |location=Vienna |url=http://mechitharisten.org/hy/shop/%D5%B4%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%B6%D5%A4%D5%A5%D5%A1%D5%B6-%D5%B5-%D5%B5%D5%B8%D6%82%D5%B6%D5%A1%D5%A2%D5%A1%D5%B6-%D5%A4%D5%BA%D6%80%D5%B8%D6%81%D5%A8-%D5%A5%D6%82-%D5%B6%D6%80%D5%A1-%D5%A6%D5%A1%D6%80/ |language=hy}} *{{cite journal |last1=Mooradian |first1=A. N. |title=Հունաբան դպրոցի ժամանակագրության հարցի շուրջը |journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes |date=1964 |issue=3 |pages=91–106 |url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/665/ |language=hy}} *{{cite journal |last1=Acharian |first1=Hrachia |authorlink1=Hrachia Adjarian |title=Յունաբան հայերէն | trans-title=Hellenizing Armenian |journal=Sion |date=1949 |pages=102–104 |url=http://sionj.asj-oa.am/5515/ |publisher=Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem |language=hy}} *{{cite journal |last1=Mouradian |first1=G. S |title=Մովսես Խորենացու "Պատմության" լեզվի հունաբան շերտը | trans-title=The Hellenizing Layer of Lexics in the "History" of Movses Khorenatsi |journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes |date=1993 |issue=1–2 |pages=91–114 |url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/5460/ |language=hy}}

Category:Medieval history of Armenia Category:History of translation