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51-648: 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

102-476: A Greek or a Hellenized Armenian writing in the 4th century, with the work being translated into Armenian after the invention of the Armenian alphabet in the 5th century. Later scholarship has demonstrated that the work was originally composed in Armenian and that the author could not have been a contemporary of the 4th-century events described by him. Nina Garsoïan writes that the work was most likely written in

153-638: 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

204-481: 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

255-466: 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

306-455: 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

357-575: A royal history, focusing on the reigns of the last Arsacid kings of Armenia; an ecclesiastical history, giving an account of the hereditary succession of Patriarchs of Armenia from the house of Gregory the Illuminator; and the Mamikonian history, telling the story of the hereditary sparapets (generals-in-chief) of Armenia from that noble house. Faustus portrays the Mamikonians as the great defenders of Armenia, who show undying loyalty to

408-456: A royal history, focusing on the reigns of the last Arsacid kings of Armenia; an ecclesiastical history, giving an account of the hereditary succession of Patriarchs of Armenia from the house of Gregory the Illuminator; and the Mamikonian history, telling the story of the hereditary sparapets (generals-in-chief) of Armenia from that noble house. Faustus portrays the Mamikonians as the great defenders of Armenia, who show undying loyalty to

459-425: Is composed of an Iranian word meaning "a reciter of epic poems, a bard", and -aran , a suffix indicating location in both Iranian languages and Armenian. Thus, Buzandaran Patmut’iwnk’ can be translated as "Epic Histories" or "Epic Tales," and the association with Byzantium was rooted in a misunderstanding of this Iranian term. As far as can be concluded from the work, the author of Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘

510-721: 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

561-628: 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

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612-581: 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

663-684: 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

714-642: 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. Buzandaran Patmut%CA%BBiwnk%CA%BB Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ ("Epic Histories", Armenian : Բուզանդարան Պատմութիւնք )

765-545: 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,

816-620: 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

867-472: The 470s. Buzand is either interpreted as meaning "the Byzantine" or, alternatively, "composer of epics". If the latter interpretation is true, then Buzandaran could be translated as "Epic Histories." Some early scholars attempted to identify Pʻawstos the author with a Greek bishop of the same name mentioned by the author as an associate of Nerses I , as well as another bishop named Faustus mentioned in

918-551: 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

969-773: 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

1020-514: 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

1071-535: 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

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1122-471: The correspondence of Basil of Caesarea , although this is no longer considered tenable as the work has conclusively been dated to the 5th century. In Garsoïan's view, the actual author of Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ remains anonymous, while later medieval authors anachronistically attributed the work to the bishop Pʻawstos mentioned in the text. Garsoïan later described it as an "anonymous compilation of oral records". The epithet Buzand or Buzandats’i

1173-472: 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

1224-732: 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

1275-575: 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

1326-435: 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

1377-446: 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

1428-686: 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

1479-534: 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

1530-461: 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

1581-455: 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

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1632-426: The issue of the identity and ethnic origin of the author of Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ , as well as the date and original language of the work. The author gives virtually no information about himself in the work; a note at the end of Book Three in which the author is identified as "Pʻawstos Biwzand the great historian who was a Greek chronicler" has been deemed a later addition. Not long after Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘

1683-638: 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

1734-520: 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:

1785-424: 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

1836-511: 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

1887-636: The newly Christianized land." Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ describes events from the military, socio-cultural and political life of Arsacid-ruled Greater Armenia in the 4th century, starting with the death of Gregory the Illuminator in 331 and concluding with the partition of Armenia between Iran and Rome in 387. While pro-Christian in content, it is written in the style of the oral Armenian epics associated with pre-Christian culture and drew from such oral sources. Scholars have identified three main parallel strands in Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ :

1938-463: The privilege of the descendants of Gregory the Illuminator to hereditarily hold the Armenian patriarchate. Garsoïan also tentatively proposes that the author may have been from the Armenian region of Taron , which would explain his fanatical support for the Mamikonian rulers of that region. James R. Russell further adds that the author must have been an Armenian "steeped in the Iranian traditions of

1989-482: 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

2040-524: The unworthy Arsacid kings. Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ consists of a "Preliminary Statement" and four "books" or "registers" ( dprut‘iwnk‘ ), beginning with Book Three ("Beginning") and ending with Book Six ("Ending"), which appears to be due to the work of a later editor of the surviving manuscript. The incongruence between the numbering of Book Three and its title has led to debates among scholars on whether or not there were originally first and second books that were lost. Other scholars have suggested that

2091-614: The unworthy Arsacid kings. Along with the Patmutʻiwn Hayotsʻ ("History of Armenia") of Movses Khorenatsi (5th century or later), the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnk‘ has been referred to as one of the best Armenian sources in Parthian and Sasanian -related studies. It has been noted by both Garsoïan and James R. Russell for its numerous reflections of Iranian , particularly Parthian, traditions. Scholars have long debated

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2142-508: 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

2193-513: The work is complete but was included in a collection of other texts. The author of Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ never cites specific sources and only refers to other written texts in the first chapter of the work. He extensively quotes the Armenian translation of the Bible , as well as some other Christian texts. The author makes references to Koriwn's Life of Mashtots and the work of Agathangelos . He does not appear to have been familiar with

2244-415: The works of classical or other foreign authors. The author's main source for information, regardless of its ultimate source, was the oral tradition of Armenia's past as told in the tales and songs related by bards ( gusans ) in his own time. Buzandaran Patmut’iwnk’ has a late manuscript history compared with other major Armenian histories, with the earliest known manuscript dating to 1599, excluding

2295-455: Was a history of 4th-century Armenia , presumably composed in the 470s. The author of the work is unknown. Until recently it had been assumed that it was written by a certain Faustus (also Faustus the Byzantine , Armenian : Փաւստոս Բուզանդ , romanized :  P'awstos Buzand ); however, his existence is now disputed. Nina Garsoïan argues that the author was an anonymous cleric who

2346-523: Was an Armenian cleric who was deeply invested in ecclesiastical matters and supported the Nicene orthodoxy of the Armenian church against the Arianism of the 4th-century Roman emperors and Armenian kings. He was a skilled preacher who wrote in an elevated style of Classical Armenian, but was probably not a particularly learned man. Additionally, he had a conservative aristocratic bent and strongly supported

2397-422: Was composed, another early Armenian historian, Ghazar Parpetsi , commented on the work and concluded that it had originally been written by a "Byzantine scholar" named P‘ostos from Constantinople , but was later modified by some other "ignorant" author who could not have been educated in Byzantium. Following Parpetsi, most older scholars believed the original author of Buzandaran Patmut’iwnk’ to have been

2448-580: 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

2499-522: Was sympathetic to the nobility and had some competence in preaching. The book starts with the death of Gregory the Illuminator in 331 and concludes with the partition of Armenia between Iran and Rome in 387. While pro-Christian in content, it is written in the style of the oral Armenian epics associated with pre-Christian culture and drew from such oral sources. Scholars have identified three main parallel strands in Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘ :

2550-470: 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

2601-409: Was traditionally interpreted as "Byzantine" or "from Byzantium," and was changed at an early date to the more accurate Armenian form Biwzandats’i . This corresponds with the theory that ascribes a Greek origin to the author. However, this left unexplained the original title of the work Buzandaran Patmut’iwnk’ . By analyzing this title, Iranologist Anahit Perikhanian concluded that Buzandaran

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