Simon Krkyasharian

SIMON KRKYASHARIAN
Armenian historian, translator, source researcher, Greekist, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Correspondent Member of RA NAS, Member of the RA Writers’ Union
The Krkyasharyans ranked among the most influential families in Hadjin, Cilicia. His father, Misak Krkyasharyan, was from Hadjin, and his mother, Azniv, came from Adana. The family survived the Armenian Genocide. Simon was born on 7 December 1923 in the Kokinia suburb of Athens, where his parents had taken refuge upon their arrival from Hadjin, Cilicia. He received his primary education at the local seven-year Armenian school in 1936. Then, he entered the local Greek gymnasium and completed it in 1943. His active involvement in the Greek Resistance Movement makes up one of the brightest pages of his life. From 1944-1947, he studied at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 1947, S. Krkyasharyan emigrated to Armenia, leaving education incomplete. Initially, he taught history at a school in Yerevan. In 1950, he studied at the Department of History of the Pedagogical Institute after Kh. Abovyan and graduated with honors in 1954. In 1959, he started a postgraduate course at the Institute of History at the Academy of Sciences. He was seconded to the Chair of the Greek and Roman History of the Department of History at Leningrad University. In 1962, after completing his postgraduate studies, S. Krkyasharyan returned to Yerevan and started working as a junior researcher at the Institute of History. In 1963, Krkyasharyan defended his thesis titled, “The Interrelations of the Hellenistic Kings with the Urban Centers of Asia Minor and Armenia,” and was awarded the of Ph.D./Candidate/ in Historical Sciences. In 1980, he defended his doctoral thesis on “The State Structure of Ancient Armenia.” In 2000, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia for his significant scientific achievements. S. Krkyasharyan’s scientific interests are quite diverse. He ranks among the most prominent leading Armenian scholar translators in the last four decades of the 20th and 21st centuries. As a great admirer of translated literature, the honorable translator enriched the treasury of Armenian literature with magnificent translations for years, mostly with the historical monuments of the ancient Greek literature of global significance, with their value not only decreasing over the centuries but on the contrary, continuing to serve as a source of inspiration for Armenian writers and artists. Simon Krkyasharyan made a special selection of the works he translated. Hence, a unique literary monument of the ancient world is “The Odyssey” by Homer, which became available to Armenian readers in 1957. His brilliant knowledge of Ancient Greek, Grabar (Classical Armenian), and other languages and eruditionmade it possible for him to make excellent Armenian translations equivalent to the chronicle treasures of the ancient world. In addition, the great scholar translated the tragedies “Iphigenia in Aulis” by Euripides and “Antigone” by Sophocles. Since 1975, “Iphigenia in Aulis” tragedy has been staged with great success at the Yerevan G. Sundukyan Theatre and brought glory to the translator. It is thanks to Krkyasharyan that Armenian readers got access to Xenophon’s “Anabasis” (1970), “Cyropedia” (2000), “Socratic Works” (2001), and Plutarch’s “Biographies” (2001). The scholar also translated the sections of the works by Flavius Josephus relating to Armenia as well as Dio Cassius and Diodorus of Sicily, whose 40 books are known by the general title “Historical Library” (“Bibliotheca Historica.”) The number of the materials translated by S. Krkyasharyan and incorporated in Volume I of the “Chrestomathy of the History of the Armenian People,” a compilation published by the Yerevan State University, are quite admirable. Such materials refer to the ancient period of Armenian history and fill the gap of the knowledge in the history of the Armenian people required for the students to know. Along with the translations of the ancient literary monuments, S. Krkyasharyan also translated into Armenian the works of several Modern Greek writers (K. Varnalis, E. Panselinou). In this regard, the translation of the work “The Armenians” by M. Alexandropoulos (1984) is especially noteworthy. The last work he translated at the suggestion of RA President Serzh Sargsyan was “Azniv,” a novel by Omiros Mavridis, the story of a woman who made a hairbreadth escape from the Genocide. It is noteworthy that Simon’s mother was called Azniv as well. This novel seems to be Simon Krkyasharyan’s tribute to his parents and all the survivors of the Yeghern (the Genocide). Another primary gift the renowned scholar presents to Armenian students, professors, and the intellectual community at large is the translation of the Dictionary of Mythology. Along with giving life to these and other similar scientific, source-researching, and fictional works of art, S. Krkyasharyan is also a poet. In 1946, his first Greek collection of poems entitled ‘Daybreak’ was published in Athens. In 1977, he was elected a Member of the Writers’ Union of Armenia. The outstanding scholar’s merits were also duly appreciated abroad. In 1986, he became a foreign member of the Tiberina Roman Academy of Literature and Art. Over the years, S. Krkyasharyan was granted by the Writers’ Union of Armenia the award after Y. Charents, the “Kantegh” award, and the ones by the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.
Throughout his life, he remained faithful to his homeland. While his family members and relatives were scattered worldwide, from Argentina to Australia, Simon Krkyasharyan lived and created in Armenia till the end of his life. He was married to poetess Arshaluys Margaryan, a member of the Writers’ Union of the USSR, and they have one child, Artashes Krkyasharyan, and four grandchildren: Artak, Armine, Misak, and Anoush. Simon Krkyasharyan died on 5 January 2011 at the age of 88.