What They Say

[Arpa]

What They say and Why.

 

If one were to read history written by Armenians one would be under the impression that our neighbors near and far, the Persians, the Romans and others had nothing else to do but be tangled with us.

Sometime ago I asked the not so rhetorical question as to what the histrigraphies of those people say about us, or better yet, do they say anything at all.

There were some responses, some did say that yes indeed Persian history does mention the Armenians but no more then a blurb, a few sentences in passing at best.

 

Remember this site is written by Persians.

 

http://www.sasanika.com/Sasanian%20History...0Sasanika-2.pdf

 

Anak and Grigor Lousavorich;

 

"Armenia would be the focal point between the Sasanians and the Romans and

remained so until the end of the Sasanian period. The Armenian situation was much more

complex and important to both sides, because of strategic and economic interests, and

Armenia served as a buffer between Persia and Rome. But also when a branch of theParthian

royal family remained in Armenia, this was enough for Šabuhr to put an end to

it. He planned the assassination of king Xosrov and installed a king loyal to him by the

name of Tirdates (Tirdad) who ruled from 252-262 CE. Armenia’s importance in the eyes

of the Persians is quite clear, since several of the heirs to the Sasanian throne would be

the princes who were stationed in Armenia and were called wuzurg-Arman-š ~h “The

Great King of Armenia."

 

Vardananq;

 

"He then moved towards Armenia and Albania and at the instigation of his prime-minister

(Wuzurg-framadar / Armenian Vzurk hramatar), Mihr-Narseh issued an edict in which

Zoroastrianism was re-imposed as the official religion in Armenia.58 This edict provides

us with an interesting glimpse of the Zurvanite tendency of Mihr-Narseh and the reasons

why the Armenians should convert to Zoroastrianism.59 This caused an uprising by some

of the Armenian naxarars who had become Christian. We can tell that the Armenians

were not united in this action and as a result at the battle of Avarair in 451 CE the

Armenian forces, led by Vardan of the Mamikonian’s family were annihilated, and many

were deported to Persia.60 This anti-Christian measure did not only befall the Armenian

Christians, since there are also Syriac martyrologies from this period which mention

Christian and Jewish persecutions. Consequently Yazdgerd II is remembered well by the

Zoroastrian priests and the Sasanian chronicle as someone who defeated his enemies

(non-Zoroastrians) but behaved with benevolence towards the Zoroastrians and the army.

In terms of imperial ideology, he is the first to use the new title of “Mazdaean Majesty

Kay” (mzdysn bgy kdy). This means the Sasanian kings were not seen as gods anymore,

at least in the empire where these coins were circulated, but were connected with the

Avestan dynasty of the Kayanids."

[gamavor]

Armenians have never been an "easy bite" for the invaders. We kept the Barbarians away from the civilized world for a long time (wrong in my opinion, we should have joined them ). Romans and Persians haven't missed an opportunity to pride themselves with their victories over the Armenians. Romans even were so absorbed with their victories that even issued coins commemorating their victories. I wonder if Tigran, Tirdat and others were so boastful about their victories how much more coins should have been poured into King's treasure. Yes, we beat the hell out of them at one point or another.

 

Persians too. Armenians being annihilated at Avarair 451, but not too long after they were forced to sign the treaty of Navasarg. I trust Yeghishe not about the motives of the war but rather the action. We showed them "this and that".

 

Let them write whatever they want.

[Accelerated]

As far as I know, most information about Ancient Armenia was obtained from our neighbours: Romans, Assyrians, Persians etc. I dont want to sound unpatriotic, but the fact of the matter is, we probably like to think we played a bigger role in the reginal history than we actually did....

[Anonymouse]

Either way, the Armenians were the buffer zone and were never easy to invade, always rebelled, whether it was the Arabs or Persians controlling, and from the highlands they had a homeland advantage. Eventually with the disintegration of the nakharar system and the warrior class, and stupid Byzantine leadership, the Turks would have a field day.