Other Armenian literary greats include the philosopher Davit, and the scientist Eznik. The latter wrote the book "The Retaliation of the Sects", and with his style and poetry is considered one of the best writers of his time.
In order to be able to comprehend the part that the Armenians have had in the development of the culture and the civilisation of the human kind, it is necessary to point out that some of the above mentioned works have reached a level of great importance and their fame has crossed the borders of Armenia.
Furthermore, the Armenian translations of some of the most important literary works during the first century of Christianity are the only known copies which currently, and it is thanks to these translations that these creations have been able preserved until present-day.
The content of some of these works is an invaluable source in the study of the anthropology of many peoples and nations.
The history of Armenia has always been closely tied and at times even merged with the history of some other great nations. The information proffered by Armenian historians contains important chronologies of, among others, the history of Arsacids, Sasanids, the people of Caucasus, Arabs, Mongols and the Turkic people. Thus Victor Langlois was prompted to write: "The details which the Armenian historians depict about the wars between their country and Persia, about the attacks of the Arabs and the Mongols and the crusades, spreads an entire new light on the history of the Orient during the Middle Ages." 118
Besides, it is thanks to historians such as Movses Khorenatsi and Grigor Magistros that we have preserved parts of the works written by Greek historians, whose original scripts have been lost entirely.
Documentation about the Orient, undertaken by Armenian historians, continued also during the following centuries. During the 7th century this task was laid upon Catholicos Sebeos, who wrote about the war of Emperor Heraclius and the conquests of the Arabs, and gave us invaluable information about the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs. From the 8th century we have Ghevond's book, which describes the war of the Arabs and their conquests in Armenia, and later the work of Movses of Kalankatuata, describing the Albanians and the people of Caucasus.
Finally, one of the most interesting and important impacts that the Armenians have had on the development of the civilisation in the world, it is the influence that they exerted on the Germanic people, the Goths, a people who would play a very important role in Europe. For the famous Gothic archbishop, Wulfila (Ulvila), was the son of an Armenian prisoner of war. We know that, during the 4th century, it was he who for the first time translated the Bible into Gothic, a translation which contains many words and phrases with Armenian origins. It was the same archbishop who invented the Gothic alphabet. 125
When the Goths, who has been suggested originated from Scandinavia, settled in the northern parts of the Black Sea, they established good relations with Armenia and during this time there were exchanges of religious preachers, merchants and refugees. Moreover, it is believed that it was through these people that the Armenian art of architecture was spread to Europe. At the beginning of the 8th century when the Goths were ruling Spain, one of their princes bore the Armenian name of Artavazd. 126
Nansen mentions that the influence of the Armenian people has also been seen in Scandinavia and refers to several similarities between the tombstones and old buildings in certain places in Sweden, such as Bohuslän and Blekinge, and buildings which existed in the old Armenia. He also mentions the presence of three Armenian bishops in Iceland during the 11th century, Petros, Abraham and Stefan, who participated in the conversion of the island to Christianity. Since their Christian faith and their teaching of Christianity were much milder than others, these three Armenian bishops were met by much more openness and interest among the native people, something which annoyed the archbishop Adalbert. 130
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