A manuscript of a work by David the Invincible

The photograph shows a manuscript copy of a work by David the Invincible, dated to the medieval period and connected with Armenian scholarly thought of the 6th century. The left page of the open manuscript is blank; the right page bears a coloured headpiece with birds and plant ornament, a miniature of a seated bearded figure with a halo, and Armenian text opening with decorative letters. The label below reads: “Definitions of Philosophy (Ms. 1280).”

David the Invincible was a philosopher and mathematician whose name is linked with the creation of one of the world’s first textbooks of arithmetic problems. The manuscript is kept at the Mesrop Mashtots Matenadaran, one of the largest repositories of ancient manuscripts in the world.