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

greatly. Some inscriptions, such as those on certain
xa$k'ara serving as tombstones, are but a few lines.
oThe"ra on building walls may consist of several lengthy
paragraphs. The latter frequently record the name of the
donor of the building and geneological information about
his or her family, the date the construction commenced
and terminated, gifts (including land and money grants)
made by the donor, information about political and
military events which involved the donor and family
members and/or impeded construction, names of the donor's
patrons and of prominent secular lords (including Mongol
Khans), names of the reigning kat'otikoi and local bishops.
Tn addition, the inscriptions frequently provide the names
of taxes and rates paid in a given locality and therefore
also are of the utmost importance for the study of
Armenia's economic life.
The great significance of this epigraphic material
has been appreciated by modern scholars many of whom have
made ample use of it in their historical works devoted
to the 13-14th centuries. Indeed some monographs on
individual feudal families of this period are based almost
entirely on inscriptions [For example, G. Ovsepian
(Yovsep ean), Potomstvo larsaicha Orbeliana i Mina-Khatuny
(The Posterity of TarsaVTs Or1oelean""and Mina^fchatun)
KErlatlanskiiYostok. t. II (St. Petersburg. 1913);
I.A.Orbell. h'A"aan tizhalal kniaz' Khachenskii (Hasan Jalal
Prince of Xa?en) Izvestiia imp. AN (St. Petersburg, 1909);
More recently, K. iafadaryan, MHIs"toriographical Observattions
on the Kyurikyan Princedom of Nor-Berd" Teiekagir
#4-5 (1940), pp. 167-80 (in Arm.);_H.Kurdian, "Ihe Esei
Branch of the Hamikoneans", Bazmavep (1956), pp. 155-62,
246-51 (in Arm.)]. Finally, in modern times a number
of scholarly studies devoted to the elucidation of certain
terms in one particular inscription or group of inscriptions,
have produced important results[For example, T'.
Avdalbegyan, "A Secret in the Armenian Inscriptions and
Its Significance for the Economic History of Armenia in
the 13-14th Centuries", Teiekagir #2(1927) pp. 43-76
(in Arm.); 3. Barxudaryan, "A few Observations on the
Inscriptions of Erevan's Cathedral Church", Tetekagir
#5(1947) pp. 69-78 (in Arm.); H.