© sergio la porta, 2022 | doi:10.1163/9789004527607_015 This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the cc by-nc-nd 4.0 license. 13 In vino consolatio A 14th-c. Armenian Dispute Poem on Wine Sergio La Porta 1 Introduction1 Sometime near the middle of the 14th century, a scribe named Tērtēr Erewancʽi penned a dispute poem between Grape/Wine and Philosopher. The poem is preserved in M 8029, a manuscript both commissioned and copied by Tērtēr. Unfortunately, we do not have the exact date of when he copied that manuscript, but as the other manuscripts commissioned and copied by him date between 1336 and 1341, it is likely that this manuscript too was produced then. It was certainly completed before 1376 when it was purchased by a tailor named Aslan Kafacʽi.2 We know something of the life of Tērtēr, who also calls himself Tiracʽu, from the colophons he wrote in the manuscripts he copied.3 Tērtēr was born and raised in Erewan; his parents were Sargis, a priest, and Goharmelikʽ. He also had three sisters, Xatēres, Mamaxatʽun, and Saraxatʽun. After both of his parents died, Tērtēr, being without a wife, moved northwards to the Crimean peninsula where he seems to have circulated among differ- ent places.4 In 1336, he copied a manuscript in the monastery of the Holy 1 It is a pleasure to submit this small contribution in honour of Prof. Theo van Lint in recogni- tion of his sagacity, conviviality, and poetic sensibility. I would also like to thank my colleague Federico Alpi for his very useful comments. 2 Xačʽikyan 1950, 521. 3 I have been able to find four manuscripts copied and commissioned by Tērtēr where he also provides personal information in his colophons. These are: M 1654, M 8029, M 8030, and M 8281. For M 1654, I have relied upon the colophons as printed in the expanded catalogue of the Matenadaran, Eganean 2009, 763–770; for the other three, I have accessed the colophons in Xačʽikyan’s 1950, 286–288, and 328–329. He calls himself Tiracʽu in M 1654 on fols. 18r, 45v, 61r, 89r, 105v, 189v, 200v, but Tērtēr on fols. 71r and 200r; in M 8029 he calls himself Tērtēr on fols. 139r, 171v, and 235v; in M 8030 he calls himself Tērtēr on fols. 327v and 328v and Tiracʽu on fols. 328r; and in M 8281 he calls himself Tērtēr on fols. 176r and 197r. 4 On the vibrant and important Armenian communities in the Crimea, see Mikʽayelyan 1964, Mikʽayelyan 1989, Balard 1996, Buschhausen—Buschhausen—Korchmasjan 2009, and Alpi 2018. According to Mnacʽakanyan 1976, 865, Tērtēr had studied at the monastery of Teł(e)nikʽ under Yakob vardapet. Sergio La Porta - 9789004527607 Downloaded from Brill.com05/26/2023 04:10:45PM via free access