The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

colphons in his study, was also it seems the first
Armenian historian to understand the great importance
of epigraphical material and to make lavish use of it.
However, the modern scholarly collection and publication
of Armenian inscriptions began only in the 19th century.
Prior to the publication of K.Koataneanc''a Vimakan
laregirCAnnal of Inscriptions] , no large corpus embracing
inscriptions from both eastern and western Armenia existed.
Rather, numerous smaller collections devoted to the in-
scriptions of one district, one city, to a single monastery
or to monastic complexes had been the rule . Frequently
collected by travellers, ethnographers and historians, the
impressive volume of this work carried out in the 19th
century has acquired an added significance in the 20th
century when large areas of western and southern historical
Araenia are no longer under Armenian political control and
regrettably are closed to Armenists. The natural and
deliberate destruction of Armenian historical sites in
Lalayean (Vaspurakan) and Neraoyan(Oxford and Manchester
libraries), he did not utilize available publications of
the colophons from Berlin, Rome, Nor Bayazit, Tehran
and elsewhereCAkinean, op.clt.. pp. 468-69], Since the
publication of Xa$ikyan, numerous other catalogues of
manuascripts, providing their colophons in full or part
have appeared: from the Armenian library of Galata
(Antilias, 1959), the Library of the Monastery of Armash
(Venice, 1962), the Mxit'arist Library of Vienna (Vienna,
1963), the Library of the Monastery of Bzommar(Vienna,
1964), the Grand Catalogue of Manuscripts of St. James
Jerusalem (Jerusalem from 1966 on), the Manuscripts of
Arakelotz-Tarkmanchatz Convent of Mush (Jerusalem,1967).
1 K.Kostaneanc' Vimakan Iaregir;C'uc'ak JEo^ovacoy arjnagrut*eanc
' havoc'FAnnal of Inscriptions;" dollection of Armenian
inscriptions] (St. Petersburg, 1913T
54