Łewond (Old Armenian: Ղեւոնդ) or Leontius^[1] was a late 8th-century Armenian priest and historian.

Very little is known about his life, except that he was an eyewitness to the events he describes after 774.^[1] His historical work was commissioned by Sapuh, son of Smbat VII Bagratuni, the presiding prince of Armenia in 761–775, and covers the years 632 to 789.^[1] It is an indispensable source for the early history of Arab rule over Armenia; indeed for the years 662–770 his account is the only testimony of note.^[2] It also contains important information on the Arab–Byzantine wars of the period.^[1] The work includes a letter supposedly sent by the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–741) to the Umayyad caliph Umar II (r. 717–720) that contains a defence of the Christian faith, but this version is a later Armenian composition.^[1]

References

Sources

• Canard, Marius & Cahen, Claude (1960). "Armīniya". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume I: A–B (2nd ed.). Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 634–640. OCLC 495469456.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Mahé, Jean-Pierre; Martin-Hisard, Bernadette (2015). Łewond Vardapet: discours historique. Paris: achcbyz. ISBN 9782916716565.

Further reading

• Andrews, Tara (2018). "Levond". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.