Mar Abas Katina[a] (Assyrian: Mār Awā Qațțīnā;Armenian: Մար Աբաս Կատինա) was a Chaldean scholar,[4] presumably an ancientSyrian (or ancientArmenian) historian.[5] Mar Abas Katina first appears in the work ofMovses Khorenatsi.[6] His work served as the primary source for nearly the entirety of the first book and the first nine chapters of the second book of Movses Khorentasi's “History of Armenia”.[7][8]
The name Mar Abas Katina translates to "Lord Aba the Wise".[9]Movses Khorenatsi andSebeos made great use of his work when writing the first parts of their works. Sebeos calls him "Maraba the philosopher Mtsurnatsi".[b][10][11] Movses' placement of Mar Abas in the 2nd century BC is apparently an anachronism for a number of reasons, the main one being the particle "Mar" (Syrian: ܡܪܝ) in Abas' name, which is a Christian honorary title used for bishops and saints.[12]
Mar Abas Katina was a learned Syrian, who, probably lived about 150 years beforeChrist,[13][14] wrote a book upon the origin of theArmenians, from what he had found in some book preserved in the Archives ofNineveh.[15][16][17] He was secretary to kingValarsace.[18]
Movses of Khoren states that his work is based uponArmenian,Greek and Syrian sources, but his text as we now have it is based, for the most part, upon the work of a certain Mar Abas Katina (supposedly aSyrian writer) about whom very little is known and whose work has been lost. As a matter of fact this character is shrouded in such obscurity that his very existence has been questioned.Étienne Quatremère, writing in 1850, came out with the bold statement that Mar Abas Katina was a fictitious name,[19] that there never lived such a Syrian writer; since Movses of Khoren's History is based upon the nonexistent work of a fictitious author, it is devoid of authenticity.[20] This view ofQuatremère was shared by two of his country men,Nicolas Fréret who wrote before, andErnest Renan who wrote after him,[21] whileFrançois Lenormant somewhat later (in 1871) was convinced that the said "fictitious author" was an actual writer of the Edessa School." The criticism of Quatremère, Fréret, and Renan was the first of a series that aimed at the very foundation ofMovses of Khoren'sHistory.
Arshak the Great, according to Movses, after casting off the Macedonian yoke and conquering Assyria, set his brother, Vargharshak, on the throne of Armenia. So commences theArsacid dynasty. The new king wished to know what kind of men had been ruling the country before him. Was he the successor of brave men or of bad men. He found an intelligent man,[22] a Syrian, named Mar Abas Katina,[23] and sent him to his brother, Arshak the Great, with this letter
"To Arshak, the king of the earth and the sea, whose form and person are like unto the gods and whose triumphs are above those of all kings; the greatness of whose mind can fathom all things of earth, Wargharshak, the youngest brother and comrade in arms, appointed by thee King of Armenia, greeting, Victory ever attend thee.[24]
This Syrian (says the historian) found in the library atNineveh a book translated from the Chaldean into Greek,[25] by order of Alexander the Great, which contained various ancient histories.[26] From this book Mar Abas copied only the authentic history ofArmenia, which he took back to Vargharshak, who, esteeming this document his most precious treasure, preserved it with great care in his palace and engraved part of it on a stone monument.[27][28]
It is this document of Mar Abas Katina thatMovses of Khorene cites as his chief authority for the early authentic history of Armenia, though he also mentions several other native and foreign writers as sources of his work. With regard to these statements, critics point out that the library of Nineveh was not in existence in the second century B.C, as it was destroyed in 625 B.C.; some even maintain that Mar Abas Katina was a fictitious personage, invented byMovses Khorenatsi to give more weight to his own statements, in accordance with the universal custom of his time, when contemporary writings were continually ascribed to the great men of old or even to imaginary characters.[29][30] As to Mar Abas Katina, although his book may not have been compiled under the circumstances described in the History, Movses may have believed that he was the author of the book in his possession. Professor Mar has even found, in Arabic literature, some independent traces of Mar Abas Katina.[31][32]
It was pointed out that the title 'Mar' or Saint is commonly used for prophets as well as saints (See above, p. 15. In the second Syriac inscription, Appendix I , the title is used for Bishop Diskoros)
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