Preceded by Position created Name Hovhannes Masehyan Role Translator | Preceded by vacant Died 1931 Succeeded by Hovsep Mirzaians Resting place Vanak | |
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Succeeded by Hassanali Kamal Hedayat Constituency Abdul Ali Khan Sadigh-es-Saltaneh | ||
Hovhannes Khan Masehyan (Armenian: Հովհաննես Մասեհյան, February 23, 1864 in Tehran - November 19, 1931 in Kharbin) was an Iranian Armenian translator and diplomat, well known as the translator of Shakespeare's and Byron's works into Armenian. Since 1912 he was the Persian Ambassador to Germany. From 1927 to 1929 he was the Persian Ambassador to the Great Britain. He was the first Ambassador of Persia in Japan.
Masehyan's translation of Hamlet was printed in 1894 by the Armenian publishing society. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and Hovhannes Tumanyan praised this translation in their reviews. According to Gevorg Emin, Masehian's translations are "excellent" and "sound so wonderful in Armenian". The polished and refined translations by Masehyan have always been among the greatest treasures in the long history of Armenian translation activities.
Masehyan was the editor of Shavigh Armenian journal (Tehran, 1894).
As a diplomat, he was responsible for introducing Western political thought and technological innovations into Iran. He was a delegate to the Sixth Majles. Masehyan died in Kharbin and was buried in Tehran.