Mesrop Mashtots

Who is Mesrop Mashtots?

Mesrop Mashtots was an Armenian monk, theologian, and linguist who came from a family of modest status in the Taron province of ancient Armenia. After early education in Greek literature and a period in the royal court and the military, he joined the Christian church and worked as a missionary. Concerned that Armenians lacked their own script and had to rely on Greek, Syriac, or Persian for religious and administrative texts, he set out, with the support of Catholicos Sahak and King Vramshapuh, to design a writing system suited to the Armenian language. Around 405 AD, working in the Hellenized city of Samosata with the help of a Greek calligrapher, he completed an alphabet of thirty-six letters capturing the phonetic sounds of spoken Armenian. He then founded schools across the country to teach it and oversaw the first Armenian translation of the Bible. His invention gave Armenians a literature and identity independent of neighboring powers, and he is venerated as a saint in the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Sources: Koriun, The Life of Mashtots (5th century AD) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Saint Mesrop Mashtots" · World History Encyclopedia, "Mesrop Mashtots"