Arshak III, also known as Arsaces III, Arsak III and Arshak III-Vagharshak ( hy,
Արշակ Գ, flourished 4th century – died 387), was a prince who served as a Roman client king of
Arsacid
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquer ...
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
from 378 until 387. Arshak III is often known as the last serving Roman client king of Armenia. During his reign, the part of Armenia that Arshak III governed was under
Roman rule from the
Peace of Acilisene
The Peace of Acilisene was a treaty between the Eastern Roman Empire under Theodosius I and the Sasanian Empire under Shapur III, which was resolved in 384 and again in 387.
Terms
The treaty, resolved in 384 and later in 387, divided Greater Arm ...
.
Family and early life
Arshak III was the first-born son of the previous Roman client Armenian King
Papas (Pap), who reigned from 370 until 374, and his wife, the Armenian noblewoman called
Zarmandukht Zarmandukht (also spelled Zarmanduxt; fl. 383) was the consort of King Pap of Arsacid Armenia, who ruled from 370 to 374. She was regent of Armenia during the minority of her sons, co-rulers Arsaces (Arshak) III and Vologases (Vagharshak) II, wh ...
. He had a younger brother called
Vologases. His known grandparents, both from his paternal side, were the previous ruling Arsacid monarchs
Arsaces II (Arshak II) and his wife
Pharantzem
Parandzem ( hy, Փառանձեմ, translit=Pʻaṛandzem; died winter 369/70) was the consort of King Arshak II of Armenia. She was a member of the noble house of Siwni. She was regent of Armenia during the absence of her spouse and son in 368 ...
.
Arshak III was named in honor of his late paternal grandfather; several of his
Arsacid
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conquer ...
ancestors ruled
with this name as King. Arshak III was born at an unknown date during his father's reign and was raised in Armenia. Following the assassination of his father in 374, as Arshak III and his brother were too young to rule, the
Roman emperor Valens
Valens ( grc-gre, Ουάλης, Ouálēs; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the eastern half of ...
sent their paternal first cousin
Varasdates (Varazdat) to occupy the Armenian throne. Their cousin, who was a young man highly reputed for his mental and physical gifts, had lived in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
for an unknown period of time. Varasdates began his rule under the regency of
Mushegh I Mamikonian
Mushegh I Mamikonian (also spelled Mushel; d. 377/8) was an Armenian military officer from the Mamikonian family, who occupied the hereditary office of ''sparapet'' (generalissimo) of the Kingdom of Armenia under the Arsacid kings Pap () and ...
, whose family were pro-Roman.
Rise to the Throne
In 378, following the failed reign of Varasdates and the murder of his regent Mushegh Mamikonian, the brother of Mushegh,
Manuel Mamikonian
Manuel Mamikonian was the real leader of Armenia after the exile of King Varasdates (Varazdat) who ruled from 374 until 378. The Mamikonian family had long been the leading generals of Armenia, holding the title of ''sparapet'', commander-in-chief ...
, filled his late brother's position of
Sparapet. Manuel bore a grudge against the Armenian king, and raised a military force which drove Varasdates out of Armenia and back to Rome. He then raised Arshak III and Vologases to the throne as co-kings of Armenia, under the nominal regency of their mother Zarmandukht.
To end the political anarchy in the country, as Manuel was now the powerful regent-in-charge of Armenia, he married Arsaces III to his daughter
Vardandukht Vardandukht (4th century), was a Queen consort of Armenia, as the wife of Arsaces III (Arshak III) who was the last serving Roman Client King of Arsacid Armenia. Arsaces III reigned from 378 until his death in 387.
Life
Vardandukht was the daught ...
and Vologases to the daughter of Sahak from the
Bagratuni Dynasty
The Bagratuni or Bagratid dynasty ( hy, Բագրատունի, ) was an Armenian royal dynasty which ruled the medieval Kingdom of Armenia from c. 885 until 1045. Originating as vassals of the Kingdom of Armenia of antiquity, they rose to beco ...
. The Mamikonian government brought peace and stability to Armenia, as Manuel guided the country wisely. Manuel treated Arshak III, Vologases and Zarmandukht with honor. He brought up Arshak III and Vologases and nurtured them as if they were his own children.
Arshak III, like his paternal ancestors, aggressively pursued policies based on
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
Arianism
Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God ...
. In 386, Vologases died without leaving an heir and Arshak III became the sole ruler of Armenia. As Manuel Mamikonian died at the same time as Vologases did, the authority of Arshak III became lessened by the
Sassanid invasions from Persia of Armenia. In 387, the last year of his kingship, Arshak III resided in Ekeleac’, also known as Ekeghiats, in Western Armenia,
[Hovannisian, ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century'', p.92] as he then ruled only Western Armenia along a line from
Erzurum
Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010.
The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...
to
Mush
In multiplayer online games, a MUSH (a backronymed variation on MUD most often expanded as Multi-User Shared Hallucination, though Multi-User Shared Hack, Habitat, and Holodeck are also observed) is a text-based online social medium to which mul ...
. Later that year Arshak died without leaving an heir. Western Armenia was annexed to and became a province of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
. Eastern Armenia was annexed by the Sassanid Empire and the subsequent ruling Arsacid monarchs in Eastern Armenia became client kings of Armenia under Sassanid rule.
In the Arts
* Arshak is a character in the tragedy ''Nerses The Great, Patron of Armenia'' written in 1857, by the Western Armenian playwright, actor & editor of the 19th century, Sargis Vanadetsi, also known as Sargis Mirzayan.
References
Sources
*
Faustus of Byzantium
Faustus of Byzantium (also Faustus the Byzantine, hy, Փաւստոս Բուզանդ, translit=P'awstos Buzand) was an Armenian historian of the 5th century. Faustus' ''History of the Armenians'' (also known as '' Buzandaran Patmut'iwnk) exists ...
, History of the Armenians, 5th century
* D.M. Lang, Armenia: Cradle of Civilization – p.p. 163-165, Boston: George Allen & Unwin, 1970
* N. Lenski, Failure of Empire: Valens and the Roman State in the Fourth Century A.D, University of California Press, 2003
* R.G. Hovannisian, The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century, Palgrave Macmillan, 2004
* A. Terian, Patriotism And Piety In Armenian Christianity: The Early Panegyrics On Saint Gregory, St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 2005
* A. Topchyan, The Problem of the Greek Sources of Movses Xorenac’i's History of Armenia, Peeters Publishers, 2006
* V.M. Kurkjian, A History of Armenia, Indo-European Publishing, 2008
* R.P. Adalian, Historical Dictionary of Armenia, Scarecrow Press, 2010
{{Arsacid dynasty of Armenia
4th-century kings of Armenia
Roman client kings of Armenia
Theodosian dynasty
Valentinianic dynasty
Arsacid kings of Armenia