KNOWLEDGE OF HISTORICAL-CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE TRANSMITTED BY ARMENIAN SCRIBES OF HAMSHEN (XV-XVII CENTURIES)

The present article focuses on the XV-XVII century scribes of the District of Hamshen, whose service to future generations cannot be overestimated. Founding their own centers of writing, they conveyed invaluable historical and cultural information, keeping to the traditions of Armenian writing, and demonstrating their profound knowledge of the spiritual and religious conventions of the time. The colophons they left in the manuscripts fill the gaps in the history of the District, proving that Hamshen was a spiritual diocese and sacred place for Armenians. They avail future scholars of an opportunity for interdisciplinary insights into the region in question. The thematic coverage of the reviewed colophons by Hamshen scribes, the miniature details and illumination irrefutably evidence that Hamshen was a unique center of Armenian spiritual life and Armenian writing.