The “History” by Aristakes Lastiversi, like the “Histories” of his pre¬de-cessors and successors, had a promoter, since the presence of a patron-promoter was a stable and repeatable genre feature of historiographical prose. 2. In the “History”, the author’s sympathy was with the Bagratuni dynasty. 3. The translation of the expression «վասն որոյ պատմությունս է» – “who is this story about” – in the second chapter of the “History” is unconvincing, since the “History” of Aristakes does not tell about King Gagik I. 4. Taking into account the ancient Armenian semantic nuances of the word «վասն» (the main meaning: “about”), we prefer other translation options: “thanks to whom this story is”, “for whom this story is”, “through whom this story is”, “through whose mediation this story is”. In all these cases, King Gagik I Bagratuni could be considered the probable promoter of the “History”.

KeywordsAristakes Lastivertsi genre characteristics translation of the text from ancient Armenian into modern Armenian the probable promoter King Gagik I.

The fact of the former presence of Scythian tribes in the east of the Armenian Highland has long attracted the attention of researchers. In all likelihood, the Gandzak plain in the Utik province of Greater Armenia, which the Armenians called Shakashen, was one of the places of concentration of Scythian tribes that penetrated into Transcaucasia. A century ago, it was believed, that some burial mounds in the Artsakh province, bordering this region, were built by the Scythians.

KeywordsArtsakh sepulchre burial ground deceased horse bridle characteristic Scythian arrowhead.