Sahl Smbatean Eṙanshahik

Movses Kaghankatvatsi Movses Kaghankatvatsi ( hy, Մովսէս Կաղանկատուացի ''Movses Kaġankatvac’i''), or Movses Daskhurantsi ( ''Movses Dasxuranc’i'') is the reputed author (or authors) of a tenth-century Classical Armenian historiographical work on C ...

. ''History of Aghuank''. Critical text and introduction by Varag Arakelyan. Matenadaran" Institute of Ancient Manuscripts after Mesrop Mashtots. Yerevan, Armenian SSR:

Armenian Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...

, 1983, 2.17, 3.19-22. (, in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

sources: ''Sahl ibn Sunbat'' or ''Sahl ibn Sunbat al-Armaniyy'';

Masudi Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodot ...

,
Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems. vol VIII
' birthdate unknown – c. 855) was an Armenian prince of Arran and ShakiV. Minorsky. ''Caucasica IV''. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 15, No. 3. (1953), pp. 504-529. who played a considerable role in the history of the eastern

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

during the 9th century and was the ancestor of the House of

Khachen The Principality of Khachen ( hy, Խաչենի իշխանություն, Khacheni ishkhanutyun) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh). The provinces of Artsakh and Utik we ...

established in 821. Robert H. Hewsen, ''Armenia: A Historical Atlas''.

The University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including '' The Chicago Manual of Style'' ...

, 2001, pp. 119, 163.

Name

Armenian ''Smbatean'' or Arabic ''ibn Sunbat'' was Sahl's paternal name – ''Smbat'' is derived from the Pahlavi proper name ''Sunbādh'' "Sinbad". ar, Sahl "Mask" is the Arabic form of his name, ''Sahak''.

Michael the Syrian Michael the Syrian ( ar, ميخائيل السرياني, Mīkhaʾēl el Sūryani:),( syc, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܣܽܘܪܝܳܝܳܐ, Mīkhoʾēl Sūryoyo), died 1199 AD, also known as Michael the Great ( syr, ܡܺܝܟ݂ܳܐܝܶܠ ܪܰܒ݁ܳܐ, ...

. ''Chronology''. Jerusalem, 1879, p. 365.

Origins

wrote that Sahl Smbatyan was a descendant of the ancient Armenian House of

Aranshahik Aranshahik was the first ruling dynasty of Caucasian Albania from an unknown date until the late sixth century AD. According to Movses Khorenatsi, the dyansty of Aranshahik was established by the Armenian king Vagharshak. # Prince Arran # Prince ...

(itself a branch of the Syunid dynasty). V.A.Shnirelman,
Albanian Myth
'

Cyrille Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia ...

, ''Studies in Christian Caucasian History''. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1963, pp. 257-258. This dynasty had a blood feud with the

Mihranid The Mihranids were an Iranian family which ruled several regions of Caucasus from 330 to 821. They claimed to be of Sasanian Persian descent but were of Parthian origin. History The dynasty was founded when a certain Mihran, a distant relative ...

dynasty,.

Arakel Babakhanian Arakel Grigori Babakhanian ( hy, Առաքել Գրիգորի Բաբախանյան; – 14 November 1932), commonly known by his pen name Leo ( hy, Լեո), was an Armenian historian, writer, critic and professor of Yerevan State Univers ...

(Leo). ''Ժողովածու'' (''Collected Works''). vol. ii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Sovetakan Grogh, 1967, pp. 143-145, 326-328, 419. According to tradition, in the beginning of the 7th century the Mihranids had invited 60 men of the Aranshahiks to a banquet and had killed them all, with the exception of Zarmihr Aranshahik, who had married a Mihranid princess. Hence the Mihranid family had become princes of

Gardman Gardman ( hy, Գարդման), also known as Gardmank, was one of the eight cantons of the ancient province of Utik in the Kingdom of Armenia and simultaneously, together with the canton of Tuchkatak, an Armenian principality. It roughly corre ...

and presiding princes of all

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among t ...

. Sahl Smbatean was a descendant of Zarmihr Aranshahik. Hence the House of Khachen is regarded as a cadet branch of the House of Aranshahik. Although some historians make a difference between ''Sahl of Shaki'' and ''Sahak of Syunik''. According to the historian Robert H. Hewsen, Sahl was a Syunid prince, who seized Gegharkunik from Syunid family domains and established a princedom for himself. When Sahl came to power, the Mihranid family's power was already weakening. In 822 the last heir of this family, princess Spram Mihranian, married Sahl's son Atrnerseh I in the fortress of

. Subsequently, the new princedom expanded to the east and included Artsakh and Gardman.

Reign

In Armenian sources, Sahl Smbatean and his brothers are remembered for their successful battles against enemy invaders in the mountains of Artsakh. The earliest known clash between Sahl and the Arab army took place in 822, when the latter invaded the canton of

Amaras Amaras is a village ''de jure'' in the Khojavend District of Azerbaijan, ''de facto'' in the Martuni Province of the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh Artsakh, officially the Republic of Artsakh () or the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic ...

. The Arab rule in the region was substantially weakened due to the revolt of

Babak Khorramdin , native_name_lang = , birth_date = 795 or 798 , birth_place = Ardabil, Abbasid Caliphate , spouse = Banu , death_date = probably 7 January 838 (age 40 or 43) , death_place = Samarra, Abbasid Caliphate , years_active ...

Iranian Azerbaijan Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...

(822-837). Babak married the daughter of Vasak, Prince of Syunik, and fought with him against the

Islamic conquest of Persia The Muslim conquest of Persia, also known as the Arab conquest of Iran, was carried out by the Rashidun Caliphate from 633 to 654 AD and led to the fall of the Sasanian Empire as well as the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion. The r ...

. However, after the death of Vasak (in 822), Babak tried to dominate Syunik and Artsakh, and in 826-831 committed atrocities against the revolted Armenians of

Balk In baseball, a pitcher can commit a number of illegal motions or actions that constitute a balk. Most of these violations involve pitchers pretending to pitch when they have no intention of doing so. In games played under the Official Baseball R ...

, Gegharkunik and

Lachin Lachin ( az, Laçın, , ; hy, Բերձոր, translit=Berdzor; ku, Laçîn) is a town in Azerbaijan and the administrative center of the Lachin District. It is located within the strategic Lachin corridor, which links the disputed region of N ...

(the three cantons of Syunik). In that account, Babak was described as "the murderous, world-ravaging, bloodthirsty beast" by the Armenian historiographer

. The Armenians continued the struggle against Babak in the cantons of Artsakh. In 837-838 Afshin, the prominent general of the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim, was sent to Armenia to fight against Babak. Vardan Areveltsi, ''A Universal History''. Yerevan, 2001, pp. 118-119. After a crushing defeat, Babak took refuge in the mountains controlled by Sahl Smbatean, who, however, captured him and surrendered to Afshin. Sahl received 1,000,000 silver

dirham The dirham, dirhem or dirhm ( ar, درهم) is a silver unit of currency historically and currently used by several Arab world, Arab and Arabization, Arab influenced states. The term has also been used as a related unit of mass. Unit of ...

's in reward from Afshin. According to Movses Kaghankatvatsi, the Caliphate assigned him sovereignty over

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 ''O ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and share ...

Exile

In 854, according to

Tovma Artsruni Tovma Artsruni ( hy, Թովմա Արծրունի; also known in English-language historiography as Thomas Artsruni; precise birth date and date of death unknown) was a ninth-century to tenth-century Armenian historian and author of the ''History ...

, Sahl Smbatean and many other princes of Armenia (including Atrnerseh of Khachen and Esayi Abu-Muse of Ktish) were captured by

Bugha al-Kabir Bugha al-Kabir (), also known as Bugha al-Turki (), was a 9th-century Khazar general who served the Abbasid Caliphate. He was of Khazar origin, and was acquired along with his sons as a military slave (''ghulam'') by al-Mu'tasim in 819/820.Gordo ...

, the Turkish commander of the Abbasid Caliph

Al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was ...

, and exiled to

Samarra Samarra ( ar, سَامَرَّاء, ') is a city in Iraq. It stands on the east bank of the Tigris in the Saladin Governorate, north of Baghdad. The city of Samarra was founded by Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutasim for his Turkish professional ar ...

.Emeri "van" Donzel. ''Islamic Desk Reference'', BRILL, 1994, , p. 110 Atrnerseh would soon return to Sodk; the fate of Sahl Smbatean is unknown, although he died sometime after 855.

References

{{reflist, 2 House of Aranshahik 9th-century Armenian people Monarchs of Hereti

Name

Origins

Reign

Exile

See also

References