264 HISTORY OP GEORGIA.
and tlieir adoption of a common biblical patriarch, may he
explained hy reference"* to thelr ^isition and theif probable
connection in the early ages of'Christianity. The Georgians
have, like the Armenians, an old vérsion of the bible into
their language. The history of this-is little known. Klaproth
supposes it to have been made in the foürth century.
Adelung observes that it must be very ancient, since it was
mentioned by the Armenian Moses of Chörenë' in the first
half of the fifth century .* It was made from the version of
the Seventy. In 1743 the Georgian, or as the Russians term
it, the-Grusinian bible was printed, at Moskow, by ah
exiled Georgian Tzar, Buchar Wacbtangewitsch and his
brothers. A part of it had been already printed at Tiflis-,
before the flight of these exiles. It appears that the flglm-
guage of this version, old as it is supposed*Id be/-differs b'ut
little from the modern Georgian of Tiflisi >!
The origin of letters among the Georgians is nof well
known as is the date of this invention among tM* Armenién*^
but it was probably coeval with Christianity, and from* thé
time of their conversion the two nations appear havé
been a good deal connected in their ecclesiastical- and civil
history, though the Georgians adhered, with'Sö.mê temporary
deviation, to the Greek church1, while the Armenians
become hetorodox. Armenian writers have-supplied^hiS-
toricaf memoirs to Georgia, though'the lattër wÜÉry^has
not been entirely wanting in domestic ^chronicles . ' These
records are matters of great curiosity ; they have indeed
very much the style and appearance of the half-fabulous
monkish chronicles of many other countries, but they are
supposed to be founded on substantial truth, and by late
writers, who have investigated their merits, have been
regarded with so much attention, that I must not pass from
the subject of Georgian ethnology without briefly surveying
their contents, particularly as they contain some relations
which have a bearing on the history of Asia.
One of the most important works on Georgian history is
the memorials of the celebrated Orpelian family, which have
been published, with a translation, by the learned M. Saint
* Klaproth, As. Polyglott.—Adelufig, Mithridat., Th. 1.
GEORGIAN HISTORY AN© LITERATURE. 265
Martin. This work was iCOmposed in the Armenian language
by^tephenrArchfeihop of the district of Siounia, in Great
Armenia, 'who lived in the latter ;parf ,of the thirteenth
century,iand was h im s e lf distinguished .member of the
powerful .family whasfitlnstory he professed toreeord.**
His chronicle 'begins with,, the earliest■, accounts of the
Armenian and Georgian nations. He makes Haig, „ the
patriarch of the Armenian race, and K’harthlos to have been
brothers, sons of Thargamos* who is said to. have been a
descendant ,in; the third de§®^»&om Japhet, and fie COtmupts
his history with the account of Babel and the. Confusion of
languages,.. K’harthel M Georgia Proper remained subject
to native; princes, according to Stephen, till the age of the
Persian Khosrou, al|p;, called K’hek havous. Th^e names
are taken from the Mohammedan history of Persia, according
to Mirkhond. Two princes, of the Kaianian faifiily are
confounded, namely, Kai Khosrou and Kai Kaus his immediate
,successor. Neyer was moukish^forgery more palpable
than in this instance. We*are presented with a genealogy
beginning with a. biblical patriarch whc# name is wrongly
spelt, und with a story, commencing from th e ; ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ |o f
Tongues. Then come two names, taken from Mirkhond,
"blended into one. If is even very probable that the. writer
confounds^ them both with Khosipes Anushirvan .of the
Sassanian dynasty, who lived shortly before, aSe
Mohammed. It must however be. recollected that the
learned M. Saint-Martin admits the credit of, this Orpelian
history. He makes .no difficulty however in allowing that
facts may have been ante-dated two hundred years, and that
the principal event recorded, instead of happening in the age
of the' great Cyrus, may be brought down to that of the
* There is an historical work extant in the Georgian language which records
the same event, namely, the arrival of the 0'rpelians,-hut' as if hears date not
earlier than the commencement of the thirteenth century, it was probably taken
from the Armenian history of Stephen, It is the history of Georgia, composed
by Yakhtang Y, king of K’hartel. Klaproth has inserted different fragments
of this work in his Travels in Caucasus. The details of the account
give reason to suppose, as M. Saint-Martin observes, that the Orpelians came
into Georgia with a great number of their people, as did the Mamigonians into
Armenia. c
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