Arshak III.

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Arshak III. ( Latinized Arsaces , Greek called Arsakes ; * in the 4th century ; † shortly after 387) was king of Armenia from 378 to around 387 . He belonged to the Arsacid dynasty and is occasionally counted in research as Arsakes IV .

Life

Arshak III. was a son of the Armenian king Pap , the son and successor of Arshak II. His mother was an Armenian noblewoman named Zarmandukht , and he had a younger brother Valaršak . His date of birth is not known. He grew up in Armenia.

After the assassination of King Pap in 374, the Roman Emperor Valens appointed the Arsacid Varazdat , a son of Pap's half-brother Anob , as the new ruler of Armenia. Varazdat ruled for four years and in 378 had his most important advisor, General Mushel Mamikonian , assassinated. Manuel Mamikonian took over the position of his late brother Mushel as Sparapet (Commander in Chief of the Armenian Armed Forces) and drove Varazdat from Armenia. There he now held the leading position and set up young Arshak III, whom he married his daughter Vardandukht , and his brother Valaršak as joint kings. Manuel also took care of the education of Arshak III. and Valaršak, treated their mother Zarmandukht with awe and worked with her on government affairs.

In 386 Arshak III became. after the death of his brother Valaršak and the death of the regent Manuel Mamikonian in the same year. But soon afterwards the Roman emperor Theodosius I and the Sassanid great king Shapur III came to an agreement . the division of Armenia into a smaller part under Roman rule and a much larger part under Persian hegemony; the demarcation line ran through Karin ( Erzurum ) in the north and Amida ( Diyarbakır ) in the south. The date of the relevant Acilisene contract is uncertain. Most researchers move it to the year 387, but there are also isolated cases of 384 and 389/90 on the other. Arshak III. went to Acilisene after the division of the country and ruled western Armenia under Roman protection. But he soon died, after which the administration of Roman Armenia by comites began, while in Persian Armenia the Arsakid Chosroes IV came to power as the vassal king of the Sassanids .

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ So by Adolf Baumgartner (RE II, 1, Sp. 1269); by Martin Schottky ( Der Neue Pauly , Vol. 2, Col. 34) he is called Arsakes III. designated.
  2. ^ Faustus of Byzantium , History of Armenia 5, 37.
  3. ^ Faustus of Byzantium, History of Armenia 5, 44.
  4. ↑ a b M. L. Chaumont: Armenia and Iran , ii. The pre-Islamic period , 5. The Sasanian period I: Armenia between Rome and Iran , in: Encyclopædia Iranica , Vol. 2 (1986).
  5. ↑ Faustus of Byzantium, History of Armenia 6, 1; Lazarus of Pharp , History of Armenia 5; Moses of Chores , History of Armenia 3, 42; among others
  6. ↑ According to Moses von Choren ( History of Armenia 3, 46) Arshak III died. two and a half years after the partition of Armenia.
  7. ^ Prokopios of Caesarea , De aedificiis 3, 1.
personal data
SURNAME Arshak III.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Archak III .; Arsaces III .; Arsakes III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of Armenia
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century
DATE OF DEATH between 387 and 390