[1]
The first man created by God, our father Adam, lived 230 years
and became the father of Seth. Seth lived 205 years and became
the father of Enosh. Enosh lived 190 years and became the father
of Cainan. Cainan lived 170 years and became the father of
Mahalalel. Mahalalel lived 165 years and became the father of
Jared. Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Methuselah.
Methuselah lived 167 years and became the father of Lamech.
Lamech lived 168 years and became the father of Noah. Noah lived
500 years and became the father of three sons—Shem, Ham,
and Japheth.
The Flood occurred one hundred years after Shem's birth. This was in the 600th year of Noah. From [the time of] Adam until the Flood 2,242 years had passed and 10 generations [end of grabar (Classical Armenian) text page 87; henceforth shown as, for example, g87].
You will find here, in its appropriate place, information about
the [territorial] borders of Japheth and his genealogy. Noah gave
the following borders to Japheth [after] demanding from the
brothers that they would not dispossess each other: from Media to
Cadiz (Gadiron) in the north, to the Tigris River which stretches
between Media and Babylon. Japheth's sons were Gomer from whom
the Cappadocians (Gamirk') derived; Magog, from whom came the
Celts (Keghtk') and Galatians; Madai, from whom the Medes
descended; Javan, ancestor of the Hellenes and Greeks; Tubal,
progenitor of the T'etalk'; Mosoch, from whom descended the
Lurikats'ik'; Tiras, ancestor of the Thracians; and Kittim,
father of the Macedonians. The sons of Tiras were Ashkenaz,
father of the Samatians, and Riphath, ancestor of the
Sauromatians, and T'orgom, ancestor of the Armenians.
[2] The sons of Javan were Elishah, father of the Sicilians and Athenians; Tarshish, father of the Georgians and Turanians; and Kitris, ancestor of the Romans, Latins, and Rhodians. In all, there were 15 generations.
From these [folk] there arose and separated off the pagan islands such as the Cypriots, descended from Japheth's sons the Kiturats'ik' [g88]. Those dwelling in the north are the relations of the Kiturats'ik', such as the Aghuans. The peoples in the Hellene land descend from those who migrated there subsequently, such as the Ayetats'ik' who dwell in the city of Athens, honored by the Greeks and Thebans.
The Sidonians, who arose and emigrated, were descended from Agenor's son, Cadmos. The Carthaginians emigrated from Tyre. Now [at the time of] the confusion of languages, there had arisen from Japheth 15 peoples, from Media to Hesperia, which extends to Ocean and looks northward. This is their country: Atrpatakan, Aghuania, Amazonia, Greater and Lesser Armenia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Colchis, India, Bosphoria, Maeotis, Der'is, Sarmatia, Tawrinis, Sawromate's, Scythia, Thrace, Macedonia, Dalmatia, Movghis, Thessaly, Locris, Boeotia, Hetaghia, Attica, Achaea, Peghenis, Akarne's, Hupiristim, Ghiuria, Ghik'nitis, Adriake', and from this the Adriatic Sea, Gaul, Spanish Gaul, Iberia, Greater Spain. Here end the borders of Japheth['s line], stretching to the British Isles. And all look to the north [g89].
The countries which are acquainted with writing are [those of]:
the Hebrews, the Latins including the Romans, the Spaniards, the
Greeks, the Medes, the Armenians, and the Aghuans. Their
boundaries extend from Media northward as far as Cadiz, from the
Pargamitos River as far as Matusia, which is Ilion.
[Included are] the islands: Sicily, Euboia, Rhodes, Chios, Lesbos, Kit'era, Zakinthos, Cephalonia, Ithaca, Corfu (Korkiria) and Kiwghade's, and the part of Asia called Ionia; the Tigris River which flows between Media and Babylon. These are the borders of Japheth.
[3] Shem held the eastern portions of the world and Ham, the southern parts, while Japheth held the western and northern areas where the Aghuans and the Caspian Sea are located and the eastern mountains. In the west these peoples extend as far as Trapizond.
From [the period of] Japheth until Tigran there were 44 kings and in the Iranian areas there were 14 kings from Arshak until Artawan [in the space of] 452 years.
Artashir, of the Sasanian Stahr [family], slew Artawan and eliminated the Parthian kingdom which had ruled the Iranians and [g90] Assyrians for 252 years before the coming of our savior, Christ. This was 270 years after the return from captivity of the Jews in Babylon. From these same Parthians, from Vagharshak to Artashir, son of Vr'amshapuh, there were 26 kings of the Armenians, during 620 years.
Then [political] rule was taken from the Arsacids and the patriarchate [was taken] from the clan of Saint Gregory. Now if you want to know about the Bagratids: Paroyr, son of Skayordi, called Hrach'eay, king of the Armenians, son of Hayk, requested from the king of the Babylonians one of the Jewish captives named Shambat' who was brought and settled in the country of the Armenians with great honor. The line of the Bagratids descended from him as the great line of the descendants of Japheth declined.
Here begins [an account] of the government of the Aghuans. For we
have nothing certain to say to our listeners about [the situation
which obtained] from the creation of humanity [g91] until [the
time of] Vagharshak, king of the Armenians, regarding [the folk]
inhabiting the area around the great Mount Caucasus.
[Vagharshak], in arranging his northern [borders], summoned the
wild, foreign peoples [dwelling] in the northern plain and around
the foot of the Caucasus, whether in valleys or ravines from the
south as far as the entrance to the plain. And he commanded them
to end their brigandage and murdering and to pay the royal taxes
obediently. Thus by his order he appointed for them a leader and
supervisors, chief of whom was [a man] named Ar'an, from the
Sisakan clan, of the descent of Japheth, who inherited the plains
and mountains of the Aghuans from the Araxes River to the
fortress of Hnarakert. And that land, because of [Ar'an's]
sweetness, was called Aghuank', for they called him aghu
["sweet", "agreeable"] because of his goodly behavior. They say
that Vagharshak the Parthian designated many rulers of regions
from Ar'an's line, men who were renowned and valiant. They say
that from his son were descended the people of the principalities
of Utik', Gardman, Cawdk', and Gargark'.
[4] Up to this point we have shown [these] genealogies [g92].
Located in the lofty mountains of the Caucasus, the beautiful and
desirable land of the Aghuans has the most precious resources.
The great Kur River which gently flows through it bears large and
small fish and then falls into the Caspian Sea. The plains around
it contain [the materials for] much bread and wine, as well as
oil and salt, silk and cotton, and countless olive trees. The
mountains contain gold, silver, copper and ochre. Among the wild
animals are the lion, leopard, panther, and wild ass; among the
many birds are eagles, hawks, and others like them. [Aghuania's]
capital is the great Partaw.
We did not find [any information concerning the period] from the
appointment of Ar'an over the House of the Aghuans by Vagharshak
[g93] until [the time of] the valiant Vach'agan who once ruled
over the Aghuan areas.
Now [we do have some information relating to] the time of the appearance of [Jesus], the Sun of Righteousness, and the coming of our salvation, the unknowable being, the light of glory, born from the being of the Father. [Jesus], having completed His ministry to all of us, dwelled again in the glory of His Father's being from which He had not separated. He had sent His blessed and precious disciples to preach throughout the world. The holy apostle Thaddaeus was given to us Easterners. [Thaddaeus] came the Armenians, to the district of Artaz, where he died a martyr's death at the hands of Sanatruk, king of the Armenians.
[5] His student, the blessed Elisha (Eghisha), returned to Jerusalem and related the enviable martyrdom of his fellow apostle. Through the influence of the Holy Spirit, Elisha was ordained at the hands of the blessed James, the Lord's brother, who was the first patriarch of Jerusalem. He took the east[ern regions] as his diocese. He travelled from Jerusalem to the Mask'ut' via Iran, avoiding the Armenians. He began his preaching in Ch'oghay and in various places acquainted numerous students with the salvation.
Then he came to the district of Uti, to the city of Sahar'n, with three of his students. But some of their impious relatives had pursued them. One [disciple] [g94] was martyred while the remaining two quit the venerable Elisha and followed the impious and murderous men. Now the blessed patriarch came to Gis, established a church, and offered up bloodless sacrifice. This place was the first of the eastern churches and capitals, and the [initial] place of enlightenment. Thence he crossed the plain of Zergun to the place of sacrifice of the diabolical idol-worshippers, and it was there that he received the martyr's crown. It is unknown who did this deed. The murderers threw those venerable remains into a ditch in the place called Home'nk' where they remained concealed for a long time.
Truth should not be concealed, nor should the light be covered
up. After a long period of time certain pious men had a vision
[about Elisha] and came in a group to the site of the pit where
they saw a jumbled heap of bones. All of them were in doubt but
they removed [the bones], gathered them up, and then observed
them while praying during the night. In the morning there was a
great tremor [g95] which caused those standing to fall to the
ground. Then a fierce wind blew from the desert which scattered
across the field the bones of those who were not saints. Only the
relics of the apostles remained in place. A certain pious priest
[named] Step'annos, from the village of Ur'ekan, seized one skull
from the pile and hastily made off on his horse. The multitude
went after him. But a dark cloud with lightning appeared which
frightened them, and they returned to camp.
[6] When Saint Elisha appeared [to them] in a vision, they took and buried his remains where the blessed priest Step'annos had placed his skull, in the village of Ur'ekan. Subsequently they were transferred to the holy monastery at Nersmihr, which is today called Jrvshtik, to the glory of the Lord, Almighty God. Now after a long time the pious king of the Aghuans, Vach'agan, erected a pillar at the pit where Elisha had been martyred. The king's chamberlain, who had become a stylite, [dwelled] on the summit of the pillar [g96].
It would have been most desirable to have found accounts
chronologically arranged about events [occurring] from [the time
of] the reign of Ar'an until this point. However, the burning of
books and testaments [dealing with] the many peoples of the East
explain this [absence]. Nonetheless we are served [in part] by
[passages from the History written by] Movse's
K'ert'oghahayr [the Father of Philology/Literature,
i.e., Movse's Xorenats'i] about [the Armenian king]
Artawazd's warfare with the Romans. When [Artawazd (ca. 55-30 B.C.)] massed tens
of thousands [of troops] from Atrpatakan he [also] called up the
mighty peoples of Mount Caucasus and the troops of the Aghuans
and Iberians/Georgians and went to Mesopotamia. With their power
he dislodged the Roman forces.
[Subsequently], while Artashe's was campaigning against Eruand, he was within the territory of the Aghuans, in the district of Uti. He left his troops there and went to his city. Then Artashe's came and united the Aghuan troops with his own and appeared by the shore of Lake Gegham [Sevan]. With them he expelled Eruand and he himself ruled the Armenians.
[7] In this period the Alans united with all the mountain folk [g97] and some of the Iberians/Georgians and in a great mob spread about in the country of the Armenians. Artashe's also summoned his troops and went against them, camping by the shore of the Kur River. The battle raged and the crown prince of the Alans was seized by Artashe's. Consequently Artashe's took the maiden Sat'enik as a wife and, having made peace, returned [home]. Sat'enik's father died and another person seized [power] and became king. [This usurper] then persecuted [Sat'enik's] brother. Smbat, the dayeak [guardian/tutor] of Artashe's, came with a great army, expelled the usurper and placed Sat'enik's brother on [his] ancestral throne. Then [Smbat] returned to Armenia with great booty and many captives. He settled the captives from the district of Shawarshan in the district of Artaz. And the lordship of the Ar'aweghean clan was drawn from [the clan of] Sat'enik, which, in the time of Xosrov the Great, Trdat's father, was allied by marriage with a certain valiant man of the Basighk'.
After the venerable Elisha had begun his apostolic work in the
extremities of the country [g98], he illuminated some but not all
of the Easterners of the north. He conducted the campaign in a
goodly fashion, striving for his people. Now in the time when God
visited the human race and made the West to flourish under the
great Emperor Constantine, Greater Armenia also was illuminated
by the venerable Trdat. The eastern areas were also brought to
the faith, areas which were little acquainted with the rising of
the Sun of true salvation. Once again at the hand of Ur'nayr,
[these areas] were illuminated. These divine wonders occurred at
the same time.
[8] King Ur'nayr of the Aghuans was the husband of the sister of Shapuh, king of the Persians. He was a valiant man who had inherited the renown of a champion in great battles among the Armenians and had raised the flag of victory. He had a second birth at the hands of Saint Gregory, illuminator of the Armenians, and, clothed in radiant garments of the Holy Spirit, he further illuminated the Aghuans. He lived as a son of the eternal light and then quit this human existence. Now after his death, the Aghuans requested the lad Grigoris for their kat'oghikos. For our King Ur'nayr had asked Saint Gregory to perform holy ordination [for Grigoris] as a bishop for his land [g99]. And thus, by this canon, the lands of the Armenians and the Aghuans have abided in harmonious brotherhood and indestructible covenant to the present.
In the nineteenth year of his kingship, death came to [the Iranian shah] Yazdgird. There was contention among his two sons and they fought over the lordship. While they were thus fighting, Vach'e', king of the Aghuans, also rebelled. For he was the son of their sister, and had previously been Christian, according to the patrimonial tradition which Ur'nayr had established. But the impious Yazdgird forcibly made him a Magian. Now he considered this a favorable moment [to rebel], regarding it better to die in battle than to hold the kingship in apostasy.
During the protracted disturbance within the Aryan army, a certain man named R'ahat, of the Mihran clan [g100], who was the dayeak [guardian/tutor] of Yazdgird's younger son, came with his countless troops against the king's eldest son, attacked and destroyed his troops, seized the king's son, and slew him on the spot. He brought the surviving troops to acceptance and united them into the Aryan army. Then he enthroned his ward, who was named Peroz. But the king of the Aghuans did not want to submit in service [to the Iranians]; rather, he threw open the Ch'oghay Gates and brought through the troops of the Mask'ut'k'. He also allied with himself eleven mountain kings, came out in battle against the Aryan army and did substantial damage to the royal troops. [King Peroz] wrote edicts two and three time beseeching him, but was unable to bring him to agreement. [Vach'e'] reproached [Peroz] in writing and in messages for having vainly ruined the land of the Armenians. He also reminded him of the death of his naxarars, the torture of prisoners. [Vach'e'] said: "Instead of granting them life, friendship, and rewards, you took their lives. For me, it is better to die tormented than to live in apostasy."
[9] When [the Iranians] saw that neither force nor kindness would bring him to agreement [with them], they had an enormous amount of treasure taken to the land of the Xaylandurk'. And they opened the Alan Gates and brought in a large force of Huns, and battled for a year against the king of the Aghuans [g101].
Despite the fact that they depleted and dispersed his troops, they were still unable to bring [Vach'e'] into agreement. Furthermore, very great disasters befell them, some from fighting, and some from wicked diseases. Though the siege continued, and [the area called] Mets Koghm in the land was ruined, still no one deserted him.
Then King Peroz sent [this message] to Vach'e': "Send my sister and her son home, for they were Magian originally, though you made them into Christians. And then your land will be yours."
But the venerable man [Vach'e'] was not fighting for his domain, rather for his faith. He had the mother and wife taken [to Iran], [prepared] to quit the entire land taking up the Gospel. When Peroz, king of the Persians, learned about this, he repented and threw all the blame on his father. He made sincere pledges and had them delivered to him: "if only you do not quit the land, I will do whatever you say."
However [Vach'e'] agreed only to take his own private property (sephakan) as his portion along with the thousand families (erd) he had acquired from his father. These he took from the [Iranian] king and settled down in the company of monks. And thus did he live according to God, uninvolved [in worldly affairs]. Nor did he ever recall that he had once been a king. Such was his life [g102].
We omit the translation of this chapter [pp. g103-g114], which
deals with doctrinal matters. C. J. F. Dowsett's fine translation
of chapter 11 is available here.
Trdatios, the great king of the Armenians, mustered troops and
descended into the plain of the Gargarats'ik'. [There] he
encountered the Northerners and a fierce battle ensued. The king
of the Basilk' did battle with him and threw a rope around the
brave Trdat, but was not strong enough to throw him down. Rather,
he himself was split in two by him. Trdatios commenced destroying
them as far as [the territory of] the Huns. Many were felled by
the Armenian troops. The sparapet [commander-in-chief] of
the Armenians, Artawazd Mandakuni, was slain [g115]. Taking
hostages and uniting the Northerners [with him], Trdatios went
against Shapuh, king of the Persians.
Now when Trdat died, a certain Sanatruk ruled as king over the Aghuans in the city of P'aytakaran. [Sanatruk] then came against the Armenians. Trdat's son, Xosrov, went against the Aghuans, taking along the united force of Antiok'os with his Byzantine (Greek) troops, Bagarat with the western army, and Mihran, bdeash of the Iberians/Georgians. Sanatruk with Aghuanian troops hurriedly went off to Shapuh, king of the Persians, leaving many troops in the city of P'aytakaran. Antiok'os returned to the emperor with much loot and the royal taxes. Finding an opportune moment, Sanatruk, on Shapuh's orders, massed the Aghuanian troops, some 30,000 of them, and plunged into the midst of the Armenians. Now an enormous and gigantic commander of the lancers, who was clad in felt, attacked the fighters on the rocky grounds of O'shakan. And when they struck at him with their weapons, there was no effect, rather [their missiles] just bounced off. Then the valiant Vahan Amatuni, looking to the cathedral, said: "Help me." Hurling his spear into the horse's croup, he brought down that enormous animal [g116].
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