Vardan Areveltsi was a medieval Armenian historian, geographer, philosopher and translator.
15 Facts About Vardan Areveltsi
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Vardan Areveltsi is known for writing the Historical Compilation, one of the first ever attempts to write a history of the world by an Armenian historian.
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Vardan Areveltsi received his education at a school in Gandzak and at Nor Getik Monastery, where he was student of the prominent scholar Mkhitar Gosh.
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Vardan Areveltsi continued his studies at the Khornashat monastery in Tavush, learning literature, grammar, and theology.
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Vardan Areveltsi learned several languages while at Khornashat, mastering Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Persian.
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In 1235, Vardan became a vardapet and put his experience in education into action: he opened a school at St Andre monastery in Kayenaberd and taught there from 1235 to 1239 and from 1252 to 1255.
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Vardan Areveltsi returned home in 1245, bringing along with him the canon laws that were decided upon at Sis.
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Three years later, Vardan Areveltsi traveled to the Cilician Armenia once more, this time participating in the governmental and social affairs of the kingdom.
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Vardan Areveltsi was a fierce opponent of what he saw as the encroachment of the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine and Catholic churches in Cilician Armenia and fought diligently to counter their influences.
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In 1252, Vardan Areveltsi returned to Armenia and began organizing an ecumenical council that would convene in Haghpat and Dzagavan.
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Vardan Areveltsi remained an instructor at Haghpat for several years until 1255, when he traveled to Khor Virap, establishing a seminary there.
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In 1264, Vardan Areveltsi played an important role as a negotiator when he went to Tabriz, where the Mongol leader Hulagu Khan was residing.
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Vardan Areveltsi brokered an agreement which gave special privileges to the Armenians living under the yoke of the Mongol Empire and settled a deal on the collection of levies and taxes.
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Vardan Areveltsi died in 1271 in Khor Virap, bequeathing a significant literary legacy which encompassed Armenia's political, cultural, religious, and social lives.
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Over 120 works attributed to Vardan Areveltsi have been preserved.