Die Entstehung Der Kaukasischen Alphabete Als Kulturhistorisches Phanomen / the Creation of the Caucasian Alphabets As Phenomenon of Cultural History

by Seibt, Werner; Preiser-Kapeller, Johannes

• ISBN13: 9783700170884
• ISBN10: 3700170882
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-12
• Publisher: Austrian Academy of Sciences

Summary

The volume was created on the basis of selected contributions to an international symposium that was held in Vienna at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in 2005 on the occasion of the 1600-year anniversary of the creation of the Armenian alphabet. In order to view this major event of cultural history in a larger context, the scope of the symposium was widened in order to include not only the other two South Caucasian alphabets, the Georgian and Albanian, but also the Coptic one and the conditions in the Iranian empire during the relevant centuries. Some easy to date, relatively clear research results are often in strong contrast to the more legendary traditions, which science has not resolved sufficiently to date. That the blessed Matoc, who in the later tradition is rather called Mesrop, created the Armenian alphabet in 405/406 is beyond dispute. However, the Armenian tradition also ascribes to Matoc the creation of the Albanian and the oldest Georgian alphabet. For the former, there existed until recently only vague theories and only after the decoding and decryption of palimpsests discovered in St. Catherines Monastery in Sinai, to which a contribution in this volume is dedicated, are statements based on fact possible. For the Georgian alphabet, a completely new approach is presented in a paper (creation in the Syrian- Palestinian region, just after the creation of the Armenian alphabet).