Anania Shirakatsi (Անանիա Շիրակացի ), also known as Ananias of Sirak, (610–685) was an Armenian scholar, mathematician, and geographer. His most famous works are Geography Guide (‘Ashharatsuyts’ in Armenian), and Cosmography (Tiezeragitutiun). He described the world as "being like an egg with a spherical yolk (the globe) surrounded by a layer of white (the atmosphere) and covered with a hard shell (the sky)." Shirakatsi's work ‘Ashharatsuyts’ reports details and mapping of the ancient homeland of Bulgars in Mount Imeon area of Central Asia.

The Anania Shirakatsi Medal is an Armenian State Award for scientists in the economics and natural sciences, engineers and inventors.

In 2005, the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia issued an Anania Shirakatsi commemorative coin.

See also

• Mount Imeon

Notes

Sources

• The Geography of Ananias of Sirak. The Long and the Short Recensions. Introduction, Translation and Commentary by Robert H. Hewsen. Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1992, Pp. 685. ISBN 9783882264852
• Anania Shirakatsi, «Geography Guide (VII c)» (in Russian translation, 1877) - «Армянская География VII века по Р.Х (приписывавшаяся Моисею Хоренскому)», СПб.,1877
• Suren Eremian, Reconstructed version of Shirakatsi's map of Central Asia.