Hovhannisian was born on April 26, 1864, into a peasant family in Vagharshapat. He attended the parochial school in Armenia before studying in Moscow at the Lazarian Language Institute (1877-1883) and Moscow State University (1884-88). In 1889 he traveled around Europe visiting Constantinople, London, Paris, and Vienna. He returned to Vagharshapat and began his teaching career as a Russian language and literature, general literature, and Greek language at …