ABSTRACT
The Symposiarch's instructions were explicit. I was to make a contribu tion on the Armenian tradition of history writing, its aims and methods, so that when Byzantinists read an Armenian chronicle, they might have some idea about the context within which it was written. After some discussion I narrowed my theme to the tenth to thirteenth centuries, concentrating on three main points. What did Armenian historians of this period reckon the purpose of their efforts to be? What models did they use in composing their histories? And how did they view Armenia in the larger scheme of things?
