History of Lewond, the eminent vardapet of the Armenians (Պատմութիւն Ղեւոնդեայ Մեծի Վարդապետի հայոց)

The present translation of the History of Ghewond, “the Eminent Vardapet of the Armenians”, is from the pen of Reverend Zaven Arzoumanian, who, in the time-honored Armenian tradition, combines the demanding office of active clergyman with the no less exacting role of the scholar. 

An important source for the Arab period in Armenian history, Ghewond's text begins with the death of Muhammad in 632 and continues to the death of the Catholikos Isaiah in 778. A contemporary and often an eye-witness narrator of much that he describes, and a reliable reporter of information gleaned from older contemporaries, Ghewond is particularly interested in the relations between the Armenian nobles and their Arab overlords, and gives valuable information upon these. His chronology is accurate, his facts are found to be reliable whenever they can be verified from outside sources, and he has wisely enriched his history with copies of inscriptions, letters and other supportive documentation.