Mar Abas Katina was a learned Syrian, who, probably lived about 150 years before Christ,[12][13] wrote a book upon the origin of the Armenians, from what he had found in some book preserved in the Archives of Nineveh.[14][15][16] He was secretary to king Valarsace.[17]
Movses of Khoren states that his work is based upon Armenian, Greek and Syrian sources, but his text as we now have it is based, for the most part, upon the work of a certain Mar Abas Katina (supposedly a Syrian writer) about whom very little is known and whose work has been lost. As a matter of fact this character is shrouded in such obscurity that his very existence has been questioned. Étienne Quatremère, writing in 1850, came out with the bold statement that Mar Abas Katina was a fictitious name,[18] that there never lived such a Syrian writer; since Movses of Khoren's History is based upon the nonexistent work of a fictitious author, it is devoid of authenticity.[19] This view of Quatremère was shared by two of his country men, Nicolas Fréret who wrote before, and Ernest Renan who wrote after him,[20] while François Lenormant somewhat later (in 1871) was convinced that the said "fictitious author" was an actual writer of the Edessa School." The criticism of Quatremère, Fréret, and Renan was the first of a series that aimed at the very foundation of Movses of Khoren's History.
Arshak the Great, according to Movses, after casting off the Macedonian yoke and conquering Assyria, set his brother, Vargharshak, on the throne of Armenia. So commences the Arsacid dynasty. The new king wished to know what kind of men had been ruling the country before him. Was he the successor of brave men or of bad men. He found an intelligent man,[21] a Syrian, named Mar Abas Katina,[22] and sent him to his brother, Arshak the Great, with this letter
"To Arshak, the king of the earth and the sea, whose form and person are like unto the gods and whose triumphs are above those of all kings; the greatness of whose mind can fathom all things of earth, Wargharshak, the youngest brother and comrade in arms, appointed by thee King of Armenia, greeting, Victory ever attend thee.[23]
This Syrian (says the historian) found in the library at Nineveh a book translated from the Chaldean into Greek,[24] by order of Alexander the Great, which contained various ancient histories.[25] From this book Mar Abas copied only the authentic history of Armenia, which he took back to Vargharshak, who, esteeming this document his most precious treasure, preserved it with great care in his palace and engraved part of it on a stone monument.[26][27]
It is this document of Mar Abas Katina that Movses of Khorene cites as his chief authority for the early authentic history of Armenia, though he also mentions several other native and foreign writers as sources of his work. With regard to these statements, critics point out that the library of Nineveh was not in existence in the second century B.C, as it was destroyed in 625 B.C.; some even maintain that Mar Abas Katina was a fictitious personage, invented by Movses Khorenatsi to give more weight to his own statements, in accordance with the universal custom of his time, when contemporary writings were continually ascribed to the great men of old or even to imaginary characters.[28][29] As to Mar Abas Katina, although his book may not have been compiled under the circumstances described in the History, Movses may have believed that he was the author of the book in his possession. Professor Mar has even found, in Arabic literature, some independent traces of Mar Abas Katina.[30][31]