Name Vardan Aygektsi Role Author | Died 1250 | |
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Vardan Aygektsi or Vardan of Aygek (Armenian: Վարդան Այգեկցին, died 1250) was an Armenian author, and priest.
Among his works are his Fables and a Geography, both of which have been mistakenly attributed by some to Vardan Areveltsi.
Aygektsi was born in Marata, a village near Aleppo. Vardan lived for a time in Duluke (Doliche) in Cilician Armenia. He was educated in the Monastery of Arkakaghin, and received the title of vardapet. In 1198 he took part in the coronation ceremony of King Levon II. From 1210 he was at the monastery of Aygek, in the Black (Amanus) Mountains. His Fables, commonly known as Aghvesagirk ("Book of the Fox"), are said to have been only in part from his pen, many additions having been made by others. He died in 1250.
In 1668, an extensive collection of Aigektsi’s fables, under the title "Aghvesagirk" (Book of the Fox) was published in Amsterdam. The naming of the collection was based on the fact that the key character in most of the fables was a fox.
Modern interpretations
In 1825 the French academic Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin published a French translation of the Fables.
In 1975, Soviet-era director Robert Sahakyants made a 10-minute animated film, The Fox Book, based on Aigektsi's Fables. In association with the Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia, contemporary Armenian composer Stepan Babatorosyan created Six Fables, an original composition based on Aigektsi's Fables, with contemporary lyrics by Yuri Sahakyan. It won the 2004 Armenian Music Awards – Best Choir/Chorus Album. The Hover Chamber Choir of Armenia has also presented an outdoor musical-theatrical production based on Aigektsi's Fables