Salome ( hy, Սալոմե, ka, სალომე; born sometime after 297, died about 361) was an Armenian princess from the Arsacid dynasty who was married into the

Chosroid Dynasty The Chosroid dynasty (a Latinization of ''Khosro anni'', ka, ხოსრო ��ანები), also known as the Iberian Mihranids, were a dynasty of the kings and later the presiding princes of the early Georgian state of Iberia from the 4 ...

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

. She was a daughter of King

Tiridates III of Armenia Tiridates III ( Armenian: Գ ''Trdat III''; – c. 330), also known as Tiridates the Great ( hy, Տրդատ Մեծ ''Trdat Mets''), or Tiridates IV, was the Armenian Arsacid king from c.298 to c. 330. In 301, Tiridates proclaimed Christiani ...

and Queen Ashkhen. She is known from the early medieval Georgian chronicle ''Life of Kings''. In Georgian tradition, she is referred to as Salome of Ujarma (სალომე უჯარმელი, ''salome ujarmeli'') after a castle where she is credited to have erected a cross. She has been canonized by the Armenian and

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

churches. According to the genealogical reconstructions, Salome had a brother called Khosrov III and an unnamed sister who married St. Husik I, one of the earlier Catholicoi of the

Armenian Apostolic Church , native_name_lang = hy , icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg , icon_width = 100px , icon_alt = , image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , a ...

Biography

Her birthplace in Armenia is unknown and little is known on her early life. Salome was born at an unknown date sometime after 297. Her birth name was ''Beoun'' and changed her name to ''Salome'' after she married

Rev II of Iberia Rev II ( ka, რევ II) was a prince of Iberia of the Chosroid Dynasty (natively known as Kartli, eastern Georgia) who functioned as a co-king to his father Mirian III, the first Christian Georgian ruler and his mother was Nana of Iberia. Profe ...

. Rev II was the first son of King

Mirian III of Iberia Mirian III ( ka, მირიან III) was a king of Iberia or Kartli (Georgia), contemporaneous to the Roman emperor Constantine the Great ( r. 306–337). He was the founder of the royal Chosroid dynasty. According to the early medieval Ge ...

and his second wife, Queen

Nana of Iberia Nana ( ka, ნანა) was a Queen consort of the Kingdom of Iberia as the second wife of Mirian III in the 4th century. For her role in the conversion of Georgians to Christianity she is regarded by the Georgian Orthodox Church as saint and ...

. Mirian III ruled as King of Iberia from 284 until his death in 361. Rev II co-ruled with his father as co-king from 345 until 361. Mirian III established peaceful relations with the Roman Emperor

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

and Tiridates III, after Constantine declared

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

as the official head religion of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. In result of Mirian III's established relations, he arranged for Rev II to marry Salome in 326. Through marriage, Salome became a Queen of Iberia who co-ruled with Rev II and her in-laws from 345 until 361. Salome bore Rev II two sons: Saurmag II and Trdat, also known as Tiridates. Through her sons, Salome and Rev II would have further descendants. Rev II had an

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; french: apanage ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture. It was common in much o ...

at Ujarma where she lived with her husband and their family. Prior to converting to Christianity, Salome was a follower of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

. Salome in 337 played a role in the conversion of Iberia to Christianity. Salome is a contemporary and is associated with the life of

Saint Nino Saint Nino ( ka, წმინდა ნინო, tr; hy, Սուրբ Նունե, Surb Nune; el, Αγία Νίνα, Agía Nína; sometimes ''St. Nune'' or ''St. Ninny'') ''Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia'' (c. 296 – c. 33 ...

. Saint Nino was the woman who converted

Iberians The Iberians ( la, Hibērī, from el, Ἴβηρες, ''Iberes'') were an ancient people settled in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula, at least from the 6th century BC. They are described in Greek and Roman sources (amo ...

to the Christian faith. Salome along with Perozhavra of Sivnia a noblewoman who was married to the ruler of the

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial rol ...

region, were the helpers and closest companions of Saint Nino. Both women while serving in their imperial roles, succeeded in serving Saint Nino.Saints Salome of Ujarma and Perozhavra of Sivnia (4th century) Memory 15 (28) January
/ref> Saint Nino taught Salome and Perozhavra to pray; the women fasted regularly and both women performed good works. As Salome and Perozhavra were women of influential social status they both assisted Saint Nino in spreading the Christian faith. After the whole Iberian royal family were converted to Christianity by Saint Nino from the orders of Mirian III, Salome erected a cross in Ujarma. When Saint Nino fell ill at the village of Bodbe, Salome and Perozhavra stood by Saint Nino's bed and wept bitterly as she was dying. On her death bed, Saint Nino told Salome and Perozhavra her life story. Saint Nino died sometime between 338 and 340. As a dedication to honor the memory of Saint Nino; as a continuation of the works of Saint Nino and continue the spread of Christianity in Iberia, Salome and Perozhavra wrote a biography on her life titled ''Saint Nino, The Life of Saint Nino, Enlightener of Georgia''.St. Salome and St. Perozhavra of Ojarma Commemorated on 15 January at The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America
/ref> Salome died at an unknown date about 361, around the same time that her husband died. Salome, along with Perozhavra, are Saints in the

Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch ( el, Ελληνορθόδοξο Πατριαρχείο Αντιοχείας), also known as the Antiochian Orthodox Church and legally as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East ( ar ...

and the

Georgian Orthodox Church The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...

. Their feast day is on 15 January, the day following the commemoration of Saint Nino.

References

Sources

St. Salome and St. Perozhavra of Ojarma Commemorated on January 15 at The Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America

* * * S.H. Rapp (Jr), Studies in medieval Georgian historiography: early texts and Eurasian contexts, Volume 113, Peeters Publishers, 2003 * {{cite book, last=Thomson, first=Robert W., title=Rewriting Caucasian history: the medieval Armenian adaptation of the Georgian chronicles; the original Georgian texts and the Armenian adaptation, year=1996, publisher=Clarendon Press, location=Oxford, isbn=0198263732 * M. Wardrop, K. Lake & G.H. Gwilliam, Studies in Biblical and Patristic Criticism: Or Studio Biblica Et Ecclesiastica, Gorgias Press LLC, 2006

External links

Arsacid dynasty of Armenia 4th-century Christian saints 4th-century Christianity Converts to Christianity from Zoroastrianism Queens consort from Georgia (country) 3rd-century women 4th-century women 4th-century monarchs in Asia Late Ancient Christian female saints 4th-century Armenian people