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68-622: The family claimed roots in the ancient Armenian noble dynasty of the Mamikonians (Mamikonids), One branch of the family, the Toumaniani, belonged to the Armenian Church ; the other branch, the Toumanishvili, was Greek Orthodox . The house of T’umanids, moved to Georgia from Armenia Maritima ( Cilicia ) after the twelfth century and adopted the last name Toumanishvili. They were acknowledged by

136-557: A Roman puppet, Sohaemus (Roman senator and consul of Arsacid and Emessan ancestry), on the Armenian throne and deposed a certain Pacorus , who had been installed by Vologases III. As a result of an epidemic within the Roman forces, Parthians retook most of their lost territory in 166 and forced Sohaemus to retreat to Syria. After a few intervening Roman and Parthian rulers, Vologases II assumed

204-468: A client king of Rome . However, he did not succeed in establishing his line on the throne, and various princes of different Arsacid lineages ruled until the accession of Vologases II , who succeeded in establishing his own line on the Armenian throne, which ruled the kingdom until its abolishment by the Sasanian Empire in 428. Two of the most notable events under Arsacid rule in Armenian history were

272-621: A failed uprising against their brother, King Chenbakur. The Parthian king settled the two brothers and their household in Armenia, where they founded the Mamikonian clan. Another 5th-century Armenian historian, Pavstos Buzand , also mentions the reputed Chinese/ Chen origin of the Mamikonians. In his History of Armenia , he twice mentions that the Mamikonians descended from the royal house of Chenk’ /China and as such were not inferior to

340-477: A great Armenian rebellion against their Sasanian overlords, provoked by Yazdegerd II 's attempts to impose Zoroastrianism on Armenia and other outrages. The rebellion was opposed by a party of pro-Persian Armenian nobles led by marzpan Vasak Siwni . Although Vardan and many other leading Armenian noblemen died at the Battle of Avarayr in 451, the continued insurrection led by Vardan's nephew Vahan Mamikonian and

408-542: A large army to the east to install Roman client kings (see Roman–Parthian War of 58–63 ). After Tiridates I escaped, the Roman client king Tigranes VI was installed. In 61, he invaded the Kingdom of Adiabene , one of the Parthian vassal kingdoms. Vologases I considered this an act of aggression from Rome and restarted a campaign to restore Tiridates I to the Armenian throne. In the following Battle of Rhandeia in 62, command of

476-462: A non-Mamikonian noble, Smbat Saharuni . On this event, the family leadership passed to Mushegh's brother, Manuel Mamikonian , who had formerly been kept as a hostage in Persia. The Mamikonians at once broke into insurrection and routed Varazdat and Saharuni at Karin . Varazdat fled abroad and Manuel installed the two underage sons of Pap, Vagharshak (Vologases) and Arshak as kings of Armenia under

544-465: A permanent settlement in 387, which remained in place until the Arab conquest of Armenia in 639. Arsacid rulers intermittently (competing with Bagratuni princes) remained in control preserving their power to some extent, as border guardians ( marzban ) either under Byzantine or as a Sassanian protectorate, until 428. Out of the three phases (Achaemenid, Arsacid, Sasanian) of Iranian influence in Armenia,

612-451: A reputation as supporters of the Roman (later Byzantine ) Empire in Armenia against Sasanian Iran , although they also served as viceroys under Persian rule . Their influence over Armenian affairs began to decline at the end of the 6th century and suffered a final, decisive blow after a failed rebellion against Arab rule over Armenia in 774/75. The origin of the Mamikonians is shrouded in

680-620: A translation of the Gospel from the Syriac text about 411. That work must have been considered imperfect because soon afterward, John of Egheghiatz and Joseph of Baghin, two of Mashtots's students, were sent to Edessa to translate the Biblical scriptures. They journeyed as far as Constantinople and brought back with them authentic copies of the Greek text. With the help of other copies obtained from Alexandria ,

748-697: Is known was a certain Vache Mamikonian ( fl. 330–339). According to Pavstos Buzand, Vache Mamikonian, son of Artavazd and sparapet of Armenia, was ordered by King Khosrov III to exterminate two feuding noble families, the Manavazians and the Ordunis. Vache also successfully defended Armenia against Sanesan , the invading king of the Maskuts , slaying the latter in a battle near Oshakan Fortress and receiving new holdings as reward. He later fell in battle against

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816-463: The gusan , which resembled a bard or minstrel. In Arsacid Armenia, the custom of aristocratic children being raised by foster parents or tutors was widespread, as in the rest of the Iranian commonwealth. The Arsacid kings knew Parthia and regarded it as their native country. Tiridates III ( r.  298–330 ) is known to have said the following thing during a speech: "For I know the country of

884-592: The xwarrah ("fortune", cognate of Armenian pʿaṙkʿ ), which was the divine glory wielded by legitimate Iranian and Iranic kings. The city of Ani served as the centre of the cult of Aramazd (the Armenian equivalent of Ahura Mazda ), as well as the royal necropolis of the Arsacids. In the same fashion as the Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC), the Arsacids of Armenia and Iran practiced entombment and burial, probably doing it with great care to avoid contaminating

952-562: The Arab conquest of Armenia in the late 7th century, especially relative to their great rivals, the Bagratunis (Bagratids), who were generally favored by the Arabs. Several Mamikonian nobles served as presiding princes of Armenia under Arab rule, but the house lost its traditional office of sparapet to the Bagratunis in the 8th century. Grigor Mamikonian led a rebellion against Arab rule but

1020-567: The Arsacid rulers of Armenia. Although it seems that the legend of Mamikonian origins, even if untrue, does indeed concern China, more recent scholarship suggests that Chenk’ is to be identified either with the Tzans , a Kartvelian tribe in the southern Caucasus , or with a Central Asian group living near the Syr Darya river. Nicholas Adontz believed the legend to be "a confusion, prompted by

1088-600: The Arshakuni ( Armenian : Արշակունի , romanized :  Arshakuni ) in Armenian , ruled the Kingdom of Armenia (with some interruptions) from 12 to 428 AD. The dynasty was a branch of the Arsacid dynasty of Parthia . Arsacid kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad dynasty until 62, when Tiridates I , brother of Parthian King Vologases I , secured Arsacid rule in Armenia as

1156-665: The Bagratunis claimed Davidic descent and the Artsrunis claimed royal Assyrian ancestry. The later medieval Armenian author Vardan Areveltsi mentions that the Chenk’ live in the Caucasus near Derbend . One scholar argued in the 1920s that the Chenk’ were a Turkic group that lived by the Syr Darya. The Mamikonians feature prominently in the works of most of the classical Armenian historians. Pavstos Buzand speaks highly favorably of

1224-566: The Early Middle Ages is quite obscure. In the period between 655 and 750 they are not documented at all. What follows below is their reconstructed genealogy between the 5th and 7th centuries. The necropolis of the Mamikonian family was at the 4th-century Saint Karapet Monastery (also known as the monastery of Glak) in the mountains directly northwest of the plain of Mush in Taron. Arsacid dynasty of Armenia The Arsacid dynasty , called

1292-531: The Georgian lands. The latter-day Georgian feudal houses of the Liparitids-Orbeliani and Tumanishvili are sometimes surmised to have been descended from those princes. Several scholars—most notably Cyril Toumanoff and Nicholas Adontz —have suggested a Mamikonian origin for a number of leading Byzantine families and individuals, beginning with the emperor Philippikos Bardanes in the early-8th century,

1360-490: The conversion of Armenia to Christianity by Gregory the Illuminator and Tiridates III in the early 4th century and the creation of the Armenian alphabet by Mesrop Mashtots in c.  405 . In contrast to the more Hellenic-influenced Artaxiads, the reign of the Arsacids of Armenia was marked by greater Iranian influence in the country. The first appearance of an Arsacid on the Armenian throne occurred in 12 when

1428-602: The partition of Armenia between the Sasanians and the Romans. Pavstos writes that Manuel was succeeded by his son Artashir as sparapet . Hamazasp Mamikonian is recorded as the family patriarch in 393. He married Sahakanoysh, daughter of Patriarch Isaac the Great . She was a descendant of the Arsacid kings and Saint Gregory the Illuminator . Through this marriage, the Mamikonians gained

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1496-538: The Arsacid one was the strongest and most enduring. The phase began with the ascendance of the Parthians in the 2nd century BC and reached its zenith following the establishment of an Arsacid branch on the Armenian throne in the mid-1st century AD. The Arsacid kings of Armenia attempted to base their court on the same model as the one in Ctesiphon . Many Parthian aspects were directly imported into Armenian civilization, such as

1564-536: The Bagratunis. One Kurdik Mamikonian was recorded as ruling Sasun c. 800, where the Surb Karapet Monastery and family seat was. Half a century later, Grigor Mamikonian lost Bagrevand to the Muslims, reconquered it in the early 860s and then lost it to the Bagratunis, permanently. After that, the Mamikonians pass out of history. After their disastrous uprising of 774–775, some of the Mamikonian princes moved to

1632-724: The Bible was translated again from the Greek according to the text of the Septuagint and Origen 's Hexapla . This version, now used by the Armenian Church, was completed about 434. During the reign of Tiran , the Sassanid king Shapur II invaded Armenia. During the following decades, Armenia was once again disputed territory between the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire until

1700-570: The Greeks and that of the Romans very well, and our regions of Parthia—for it is even our home—as well as Asorestan, Arabia and Atropatene." Under the Arsacids, the Armenians became familiar with some of the stories that were later added into the Persian epic Shahnameh . They include the stories of figures such as Hraseak ( Afrasiyab ), Shawarsh ( Siyavash ) and Spandarat ( Esfandiyar ). The Armenians viewed

1768-472: The Iranian name Artaxias (a.k.a. Zeno-Artaxias). The Parthians under Artabanus II were too distracted by internal strife to oppose the Roman-appointed king. Zeno's reign was remarkably peaceful in Armenian history. After Zeno's death in 36, Artabanus II decided to reinstate an Arsacid on the Armenian throne, choosing his eldest son Arsaces I as a suitable candidate, but his succession to the Armenian throne

1836-739: The Kings of Georgia as tavadi (princes), and received hereditary rank as the King's "mdivanbeg" ( counselor or vizier ). The Tumanishvili family was on the list of Georgian high nobility that was attached to the Treaty of Georgievsk concluded with the Georgian King Erekle II on July 24, 1783 and was recognized on the Russian Empire 's list of princely families in December 1850. The Prince Mikhail Tumanov

1904-518: The Parthian influence on Armenian to that of the French influence on English after the Norman Conquest of 1066. After their conversion to Christianity, the Arsacids continued to preserve their Iranian naming traditions, as demonstrated by the male names Trdat, Khosrov, Tiran, Arshak, Pap, Varazdat and Vramshapuh and the female names Ashkhen, Zarmandukht, Khosrovdukht, Ormazdukht, Vardandukht. Notably

1972-412: The Parthian king Vonones I was exiled from Parthia for his pro-Roman policies and Occidental manners . Vonones I briefly acquired the Armenian throne with Roman consent, but Artabanus II , incorrectly known as Artabanus III in older scholarship, demanded his deposition, and as Emperor Augustus did not wish to begin a war against the Parthians, he deposed Vonones I and sent him to Syria . Soon after

2040-518: The Parthians, who also withdrew, thus leaving open doors for Rhadamistus to regain his throne. After regaining power, according to Tacitus , the Iberian was so cruel that the Armenians stormed the palace and forced Rhadamistus out of the country, and Vologases I got the opportunity to install his brother Tiridates on the throne. Unhappy with the growing Parthian influence at their doorstep, Roman Emperor Nero sent General Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo with

2108-459: The Persian side, including Vasak's renegade brother Vahan Mamikonian. Vasak was later flayed alive after being lured to Persia for peace negotiations together with Arshak II. Shapur laid waste to Armenia and installed Meruzhan Artsruni and Vahan Mamikonian as governors (according to Pavstos, Vahan was later killed by his own son, Samuel). Vasak was succeeded as sparapet by his son Mushegh I Mamikonian , who restored Arshak's heir, Pap , to

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2176-525: The Persians and was succeeded as sparapet by his son Artavazd, who was a child at the time, since "no other adult could be found in that clan." This episode and others in Pavstos' History illustrate the nature of the office of sparapet as the exclusive and hereditary possession of the Mamikonian clan. The family reappears in chronicles in 355, during the reign of Arshak (Arsaces) II . At that point

2244-509: The Roman legions that had been stationed there under legatus Gaius Severianus. Encouraged by the spahbod Osroes, Parthian troops marched further west into Roman Syria . Marcus Aurelius immediately sent Lucius Verus to the eastern front. In 163, Verus dispatched General Statius Priscus , who had been recently transferred from Roman Britain along with several legions, from Syrian Antioch to Armenia. The Artaxata army, commanded by Vologases IV, surrendered to Priscus, who installed

2312-505: The Roman troops was again entrusted to Corbulo, who marched into Armenia and set a camp in Rhandeia, where he made a peace agreement with Tiridates. It stated that Tiridates was recognized as King of Armenia, but he agreed to become a Roman client king and go to Rome to be crowned by Emperor Nero. Tiridates ruled Armenia until his death or deposition around 110, when the Parthian king Osroes I invaded Armenia and enthroned his nephew Axidares ,

2380-470: The bond between their country and the royal houses of Parthia as indestructible. Armenian sources use the terms "king" and "Arsacid" ( Aršakuni ) as synonyms. The Arsacid king was regarded as the bnak tērn ašxarhis ("natural lord of this country"). The Arsacids were advocates of Iranian legitimacy, which they remained even after the fall of the Parthian Empire. They insisted that they carried

2448-463: The country's subjugation by the Persians, the Mamikonians often sided with the Eastern Roman Empire , with many family members entering Byzantine service, most notably Vardan II Mamikonian in the late 6th century after his failed revolt against Persia. Vardan's failed revolt marked the beginning of the decline of the Mamikonian dynasty in Armenia. The power of the Mamikonians waned further with

2516-522: The country. Surprisingly, Mithridates was summoned back to Rome, where he was kept as a prisoner, and Armenia was given back to Artabanus II, who gave the throne to his younger son Orodes. Another civil war erupted in Parthia upon Artabanus II's death. In the meantime, Mithridates was put back on the Armenian throne, with the help of his brother, Pharasmanes I , and of Roman troops. Civil war continued in Parthia for several years, with Gotarzes eventually seizing

2584-702: The daughter of Mushegh VI, the last living Mamikonian prince. This marriage created the Kaysite dynasty of Arminiya centered in Manzikert, the most powerful Muslim Arab emirate in the Armenian Highlands region, and thus ending the existence of the Mamikonian line in Armenia. Only secondary lines of the family survived thereafter, both in Transcaucasia and in Byzantium. Even in their homeland of Tayk, they were succeeded by

2652-505: The death of Peroz I resulted in the restoration of Armenian autonomy and religious rights with the Treaty of Nvarsak (484). Vahan was confirmed as sparapet by the Persians and appointed marzpan of Armenia in 485. Vardan Mamikonian, immortalized by the histories of Ghazar Parpetsi and Elishe , is venerated as a saint by the Armenian Church and commemorated by many churches in Armenia and an equestrian statue in Yerevan . After

2720-435: The death of the last hereditary Patriarch of Armenia , Isaac in ca. 428, when they inherited many Church lands through the marriage of his only daughter to Hamazasp Mamikonian. The family first appears in the early 4th century, although Toumanoff asserts that Mancaeus, who defended Tigranocerta against the Romans in 69 BC, was a member of the dynasty. The first Mamikonian lord, or nakharar , about whom anything certain

2788-477: The deposition of Vonones I, Artabanus II installed his son Orodes on the Armenian throne. Emperor Tiberius had no intention of giving up the buffer states of the eastern frontier and sent his nephew and heir Germanicus to the East. Germanicus concluded a treaty with Artabanus II in which he was recognized as king and friend of the Romans. In 18, Armenia was given to Zeno , son of Polemon I of Pontus , who assumed

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2856-446: The dynasty, while Movses Khorenatsi is noticeably hostile to them and minimizes their role. Under the late Arsacid Kingdom of Armenia , the family occupied a preeminent position among the Armenian noble houses: they were hereditary commanders-in-chief of the army ( sparapet ) and royal tutors ( dayeak ) and controlled large domains, including most of Taron and Tayk . The Mamikonians later increased their property further with

2924-466: The early 4th century AD, Saint Gregory the Illuminator converted King Tiridates III and members of his court to Christianity , making Armenia the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion. The Armenian alphabet was created by Saint Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD for the purpose of Bible translation, and Christianization as thus also marks the beginning of Armenian literature . According to Movses Khorenatsi , Isaac of Armenia made

2992-618: The family chief was sparapet Vasak Mamikonian . When Arshak II sided with the Sasanian Empire against the Eastern Roman Empire, Vasak raided Roman lands for six years. After Arshak switched to the Roman side against Persia, Vasak Mamikonian commanded the Armenian defense, winning a series of victories against Shapur II's forces, although he was unable to capture the rebellious Armenian nobleman Meruzhan Artsruni . After years of warfare, multiple other Armenian lords defected to

3060-523: The family's power came in the mid-770s with the defeat and death of Mushegh VI Mamikonian at the Battle of Bagrevand against the Abbasids . After the battle, Mushegh's two sons took refuge in Vaspurakan and were murdered by Meruzhan II Artsruni. Mushegh's daughter was married off to Djahap al-Qais, a tribal chief who settled in Armenia and seized part of the former Mamikonian lands and legalized it by marrying

3128-492: The following inscription: Armenia et Mesopotamia in potestatem P.R. redactæ ('Armenia and Mesopotamia brought back into the power of the people of Rome'). After a rebellion led by a pretender to the Parthian throne ( Sanatruces II , son of Mithridates V ), was put down, some sporadic resistance continued, and Vologases III had managed to secure a sizeable amount of Armenia just before Trajan's death in August 117. However, in 118,

3196-410: The formal regency of their mother, Zarmandukht . Manuel also married his daughter Vardandukht to Arshak III and accepted the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, as Roman power had effectively ended in the East following the defeat at Adrianople in 378. Armenia was to retain its autonomy but be overseen by a marzpan (governor) appointed by the Persian king. Manuel's death c. 385 precipitated

3264-451: The general and usurper Artabasdos in the mid-8th century, the families of men like Alexios Mosele or Empress Theodora and her brothers Bardas and Petronas in the 9th century, and the Phokas family in the 10th century. However, as the Armenian historian Nina Garsoïan comments, "[a]ttractive though it is, this thesis cannot be proven for want of sources". The history of Mamikonians in

3332-631: The king of Chenk’ , due to the scheming of a third brother and prince, Bghdokh. Chen-bakur demanded Mamgon's extradition from Ardashir's successor, Shapur I , who instead exiled the prince to Armenia, where he entered the service of the Armenian king Trdat and received land for him and his entourage to settle, founding the Mamikonian dynasty. A slightly different story is recorded in the Primary History traditionally attributed to Sebeos , according to which two noble brothers from Chenastan named Mamik and Konak, sons of Karnam, fled to Parthia after

3400-515: The love of exotic origins, between the ethnicon čen and that of the Georgian Čan-ians ( Tzanni ) or Lazi [...] who were settled in the neighbourhood of Tayk῾." He derives the dynasty's name from Georgian mama , meaning father, combined with the Armenian diminutive suffix -ik . This view is shared by Cyril Toumanoff , who describes the Mamikonians as the "immemorial dynasts of Tayk῾." Other Armenian dynasties also claimed foreign royal ancestry:

3468-424: The mists of antiquity. Movses Khorenatsi in his History of Armenia (traditionally dated to the 5th century) claims that in the year of the death of Ardashir I (i.e., 242) a nobleman of Chen ( Old Armenian : Ճեն , plural Ճենք , Chenk’ , thought to refer to China ) origin named Mamgon fled to the Persian court after being sentenced to death by Arbok Chen-bakur, his foster brother (or half-brother) and

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3536-501: The most notable noble house in Early Christian Armenia after the ruling Arsacid dynasty and held the hereditary positions of sparapet (supreme commander of the army) and dayeak (royal tutor), allowing them to play the role of kingmaker for the later Armenian kings. They ruled over extensive territories, including the Armenian regions of Tayk , Taron , Sasun , and Bagrevand , among others. The Mamikonians had

3604-489: The new Roman emperor, Hadrian , gave up Trajan's conquered lands, including Armenia, and installed Parthamaspates as King of Armenia and Osroene, although the Parthian king Vologases held most Armenian territory. Eventually, a compromise with the Parthians was reached, and Vologases was placed in charge of Armenia. Vologases ruled Armenia until 140. Vologases IV , the son of the legitimate Parthian King Mithridates V, dispatched his troops to seize Armenia in 161 and eradicated

3672-492: The predominance of Iranianism in the country, with Parthian replacing Greek as the language of the educated. However, Armenian Hellenism was not eradicated, as the Arsacids of Iran were proud philhellenes . Armenian was considered a "vulgar" language and so the Parthian language was spoken amongst the upper class and at the court. It was during that period that Classical Armenian incorporated most of its Iranian loanwords. The modern historians R. Schmitt and H. W. Bailey compare

3740-504: The sacred earth of the Zoroastrian yazata (angelic divinity) Spenta Armaiti . The bones of the buried Arsacid kings were believed to carry their xwarrah , which was the reason that the Sasanian shahanshah Shapur II had their bones disinterred and taken out of Armenia after his raid on the necropolis. The tombs were seemingly strongly fortified since Shapur II was unable to open

3808-642: The son of the previous Parthian king, Pacorus II , as King of Armenia. The encroachment on the traditional sphere of influence of the Roman Empire started a new war between Parthia and Rome and ended the peace that had endured for about half a century since Nero's time. Roman Emperor Trajan marched towards Armenia in October 113 to restore a Roman client king in Armenia. Envoys from Osroes I met Trajan at Athens, informed him that Axidares had been deposed and asked for Axidares' elder brother, Parthamasiris , to be granted

3876-482: The throne c. 367/370 with the support of an imperial army sent by the emperor Valens . Mushegh drove the Persians out of Armenia and brutally punished the provinces that had revolted against the Arsacid monarchy, restoring the kingdom's former borders. Following Pap's murder in 374, Mushegh acted as regent for the new king Varazdat (Varasdates) . Varazdat attempted to free himself of Mamikonian tutelage by ordering Mushegh's murder and replacing him as sparapet with

3944-399: The throne in 186. In 198, Vologases II assumed the Parthian throne and named his son Khosrov I to the Armenian throne. Khosrov I was subsequently captured by the Romans, who installed one of their own to take charge of Armenia. However, the Armenians themselves revolted against their Roman overlords, and in accordance with a new Roman-Parthian compromise, Khosrov I's son, Tiridates II (217–252),

4012-478: The throne in 45. In 51, Mithridates's nephew Rhadamistus invaded Armenia and killed his uncle. The governor of Cappadocia , Julius Pailinus, decided to conquer Armenia but settled with the crowning of Rhadamistus, who generously rewarded him. Parthian King Vologases I saw an opportunity, invaded Armenia and succeeded in forcing the Iberians to withdraw from Armenia. The harsh winter that followed proved too much for

4080-455: The throne. Trajan declined the proposal and in August 114 captured Arsamosata , where Parthamasiris asked to be crowned, but instead of crowning him, he annexed his kingdom as a new province to the Roman Empire. Parthamasiris was dismissed and died mysteriously soon afterwards. As a Roman province, Armenia was administered along with Cappadocia by Lucius Catilius Severus . The Roman Senate issued coins that celebrated this occasion and borne

4148-409: The tomb of Sanatruk . The ancient sanctuary of Bagawan was of high importance to the Arsacids, who celebrated the Iranian New Year's festival ( Nowruz ) there. The boar, which was the favourite totem of the yazata Verethragna ( Vahagn in Armenian), was the symbol of the Arsacids. While the culture of Armenia was dominated by Hellenism under the Artaxiads, the reign of the Arsacids marked

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4216-508: The western part of Taron centered on Ashtishat , as well as Bagrevand and Ekegheats (Acilisene). Hamazasp and Sahakanush's eldest child Vardan Mamikonian is revered for his leadership of the Armenian rebellion against Persia in 450/451 (called Vardanants’ paterazm in Armenian, meaning "the war of Vardan and his companions"). After Vardan became sparapet in 432, the Persians summoned him to Ctesiphon . Upon his return home in 450, Vardan repudiated Zoroastrianism and instigated

4284-495: Was an unfortunate choice because Sassanid King Shapur I defeated the Romans and made peace with Emperor Philip . In 252, Shapur invaded Armenia and forced Tiridates to flee. After the deaths of Tiridates and his son Khosrov II, Shapur installed his own son, Hurmazd, on the Armenian throne . When Shapur I died in 270, Hurmazd took the Persian throne, and his brother Narseh ruled Armenia in his name. Under Diocletian , Rome installed Tiridates III as ruler of Armenia, and in 287, he

4352-463: Was defeated and forced to flee to Byzantium in ca. 748. By 750, the Mamikonians had lost Taron, Khlat, and Mush to the Bagratunis. In the 770s, the family was led by Artavazd Mamikonian, then by Mushegh IV Mamikonian (+772) and by Samuel II. The latter married his daughter to Smbat VII Bagratuni , constable of Armenia. His grandson Ashot Msaker ("the Carnivorous") became forefather of the Bagratuni rulers of Armenia and Taron. The final death-blow to

4420-499: Was disputed by his younger brother Orodes, who had been overthrown by Zeno. Tiberius quickly concentrated more forces on the Roman frontier and once again after a decade of peace, Armenia was to become the theater of bitter warfare between the two greatest powers of the known world for the next 25 years. Tiberius sent an Iberian , Mithridates , who claimed to be of Arsacid blood. Mithridates successfully subjugated Armenia to Roman rule and deposed Arsaces, inflicting huge devastation upon

4488-411: Was in possession of the west Armenian territory. The Sassanids stirred some nobles to revolt when Narseh left to take the Persian throne in 293. Rome, nevertheless, defeated Narseh in 298, and Khosrov II's son Tiridates III regained control over Armenia with the support of Roman soldiers. As late as the later Parthian period, Armenia was predominantly Zoroastrian. However, that was soon to change. In

4556-447: Was made king of Armenia. In 224, Persian King Ardashir I overthrew the Arsacids in Parthia and found the new Persian Sassanid dynasty . The Sassanids were determined to restore the old glory of the Achaemenid Empire and so they proclaimed Zoroastrianism as the state religion and considered Armenia as part of their empire. To preserve the autonomy of Arsacid rule in Armenia, Tiridates II sought friendly relations with Rome. That

4624-411: Was the Ambassador (Minister plenipotentiary) of Armenia to Georgia during the first republic of Armenia . Mamikonian Mamikonian , or Mamikonean ( Old Armenian : Մամիկոնեան , reformed orthography : Մամիկոնյան , Western Armenian pronunciation: Mamigonian ), was an Armenian aristocratic dynasty which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th centuries. They were

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