13 ғасырдағы армян тарихшысы Киракос Гандзакеци және оның еңбектері

13th century Armenian historian
[[File:Kirakos Gandzaketsi. jpg|thumb|right|The opening page of a 1664 manuscript copy of History of Armenia by Kirikos (Matenadaran MS 2561) and author of the History of Armenia, a summary of events from the 4th to the 12th century and a detailed description of the events of his own days. The work concentrates primarily on the history of Medieval Armenia and events occurring in the Caucasus and Near East. The work serves as a primary source for the study of the Mongol invasions and even contains the first recorded word list of the Mongolian language. The work has been translated into several languages including Latin, French and Russian.

Kirakos was born in the region of Gandzak (around Ganja, presently in Azerbaijan) in or around 1200. He was the pupil of Vanakan Vardapet, a scholar and native from his native Gandzak. In 1215, Kirakos along with his classmates and their teacher Vanakan moved to study at the school of Khoranashat monastery in Tavush. The school was founded by Hovhannes Vanakan a student of Mkhitar Gosh. With the Mongol invasion of the 1230s, Kirakos and his mentor were captured by Mongol forces in the spring of 1236. During this time, Kirakos learned the Mongolian language and he later compiled his knowledge of it into a list of 55 words with their corresponding Armenian meanings. A ransom was paid to free Vanakan in the summer of that year but Kirakos also managed to escape the same night and returned to the town of Getik. Following Vanakan's death in 1251, Kirakos assumed his former teacher's duties and became the head of the school in New Getik. In 1255, he was granted an audience with the leader of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, Hetum I, in the town of Vardenis (in Aragatsotn), informing him of missionary work in the region. Approximately 47 facsimiles of the 65 chapters of History of Armenia survived and can be found in numerous repositories located around the world including the Matenadaran in Yerevan, Armenia and museums in Vienna, London, Paris, and St. Petersburg.