Grigor Khalatiants, historian and philologist, was an important name in Armenian Studies in the late 19th century and beginning of the 20th, even though some of his works have been rejected for their maximalist positions, while others have maintained their value until our days.

He was born on September 15, 1858, in Alexandropol (nowadays Gyumri). He studied at the Lazarian College of Moscow in 1868-1877 and, upon graduation, he entered medical school at the University of Moscow, but after three years, he made a complete shift to the School of History and Linguistics, graduating in 1884.