Gregory Magistros

Grigor Magistros was an Armenian prince, linguist, scholar and Byzantine official. A layman of the princely Pahlavuni family, he was the son of the military commander Vasak Pahlavuni. After the Byzantine Empire annexed the Bagratid kingdom of Armenia, Gregory went on to serve as the governor (doux) of the province of Edessa. During his tenure he worked actively to suppress the Tondrakians, a breakaway Christian Armenian sect that the Armenian and Byzantine churches both labeled heretics. He studied both ecclesiastical and secular literature, Syriac as well as Greek. He collected all Armenian manuscripts of scientific or philosophical value that were to be found, including the works of Anania Shirakatsi, and translations from Callimachus, Andronicus of Rhodes and Olympiodorus. He translated Plato's Timaeus and Phaedo, but these translations have not been preserved. His private letters discuss a variety of topics, including contemporary politics and philosophy, and are useful as historical sources.