STUDIES ON THE ORIENTAL SOURCES AND HISTORIOGRAPHY IN ARMENIA (EARLY Ծր․Ամփ․վերջն1 a5 | Page 20

of gradual Islamization of the population. Georgian churchgoers
did not considered this act as suffering and it became good means
of wide-spreading Oriental languages and Islamic beliefs in the
regions.
The paper specifically deals with these issues. At the
Korneli Kekelidze National Center of Manuscripts of Georgia is
preserved an undated manuscript of the Persian Gospel transla-
tion (S-16) in Georgian script, belonged to the royal family.
Scholars dated the manuscript by 17-18 th cc. (N. Marr, E. Takai-
shvili, M. Khubua, O. Suladze). The original version of the ma-
nuscript is preserved at Saint-Petersbourg Center of Oriental
Manuscripts (C-268). It presents the translation of the Gospels
from Arabic into Persian, dated by Nadir Shah’s reigning period
(1736-1747). The manuscript written in Isfahan was taken to
Tbilisi and was given its form in Georgian letters.
The manuscript is mostly important for studies of Iranian-
Georgian cultural, religious and linguistic relations. In addition,
it clearly illustrates Georgian and Persian handwritten book ma-
king traditions –decorated borders, floristic ornaments, adorned
cover, pictures of the Evangelists and the Jesus.
The manuscript comprises 358 pages. Its sizes are:
29,5*19,5. material – paper with watermarks. As watermarks are
used images of a rider with a sword, or only a hoarse. The
manuscript has a leather cover, in which the crucifixion is depicted,
and the edges - the Evangelists. The manuscript contains all four
Gospels but it lacks the last part of the Gospel of Mark. Hand-
writing is in the Georgian script, named Mkhedruli. Ink is black;
Persian letters are used for expressing some Persian sounds.
The manuscript represents all peculiarities of the New
Persian literary language of the Late Medieval epoch, notably li-
terary speech of Isfahan. The paper presents a survey of some
graphical, orthographic and phonetic distinctiveness of the ma-
nuscript.
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