Ashot III.

Statue of Ashot III. in Gyumri .

Ashot III. ( Armenian Աշոտ Գ , also: Aschot III., the gracious , Աշոտ Գ. Ողորմած, A. III. Oghormats) was a king of Armenia from the Bagratid dynasty . He ruled from 952/53 to 977. Some foreign kings referred to him as the “ Shahanshah ” (King of Kings) of “Mets Hayk” ( Greater Armenia ). He moved his seat of government to Ani , from where he inspired many developments across the kingdom. Armenia experienced a golden era during his reign, which also continued during the reign of his sons and successors Sembat II (977–89) and Gagik I (990–1020).

Reign

In the first year of his reign, Ashot led an attack to liberate the city of Dvin from the rule of the Muslim Shaddadids , but this failed. Despite this failure, Ashot was able to strengthen rule in his kingdom, especially encouraging the Armenian Apostolic Church in exchange for their support. During his reign, the Catholicos Anania von Mok also moved the patriarchal seat to Argina near Ani.

In 961 Ani was officially elevated to the capital, and Ashot itself took care of the expansion and expansion of the city. He had a city wall built, which would later be named after him, and supported the construction of monasteries, hospitals, schools and poor houses. His wife, Queen Khosrovanuysh, personally supported the building of the churches in Sanahin Monastery and Haghpat .

In the war between the Byzantine emperor Johannes Tzimiskes and the Abbasids , Armenia remained largely neutral and successfully forced the fighting parties to respect its own borders. The Byzantine army began its campaign across the plain of Mush to carry out the decisive blow against the Arabs from Armenia, but when they encountered the 30,000-strong army of Ashot they changed their plans and left Armenia. Aschot supported Tzimiskes with 10,000 soldiers who accompanied him on his campaign in Mesopotamia .

It is believed that Ashot was buried either in Ani itself or in the nearby Horomos Monastery.

Sub-kingdoms

Under Aschots III. Government developed a new institution, which was to become even stronger under his successors: the emergence of sub-kingdoms in the area of ​​Bagratuni-Armenia. Ashot III. had sent his brother Mushegh I to Kars (Vanand) to rule there, and had allowed him to use the title of "King". The ruling district of Dzoraget on Lake Sevan was transferred to Ashot's son Gurgen, the progenitor of the Kyurikid branch, in 966, and he later assumed the title of "king". Armenia took advantage of the increase in kings as long as the king in Ani was strong and could maintain his supremacy over the other kings. Soon, however, the kings, as well as the bishops, who claimed the position of Catholicos for themselves and created their own laws, were to test the limits of their autonomy.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nina G. Garsoïan :: The Independent Kingdoms of Medieval Armenia. In: The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I, The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century , ed. v. Richard G. Hovannisian . New York: St. Martin's Press 1997: 164ff.
2. ↑ Aram Ter-Ghevondyan : The Arab Emirates in Bagratid Armenia , trans .: Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon : Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation 1976: 95-96.
3. ↑ Babken Arakelyan : Բագրատունյաց թագավորության բարգավաճումը. (The bloom of the Bagratuni kingdom.) In: Tsatur Aghayan & al .: Հայ Ժողովրդի Պատմություն (History of the Armenian People.) Yerevan : Armenian Academy of Sciences 1976 vol. 3: 52-57.
4. ^ Warren Treadgold: A History of Byzantine State and Society. Stanford 1997.
5. ↑ Armen Manuk-Khaloyan: In the Cemetery of their Ancestors: The Royal Burial Tombs of the Bagratuni Kings of Greater Armenia (890-1073 / 79). In: Revue des Études Arméniennes 35 (2013): 147-48, 164-65, 171-72.
6. ↑ Garsoïan: The Independent Kingdoms of Medieval Armenia. 166.

literature

• Eghia S. Kʻasuni: Ashot Oghormats ew ir shrjanin Hayotsʻ hogeworakan vichakě, 1939.
• Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran, 1974.

Web links

Commons : Ashot III of Armenia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

predecessor	Office	successor
Abas I.	King of Armenia 952–977	Sembat II.