B. Sources in Armenian
1. Łazar Pʿarpecʿi[1], The History of Armenia[2]
[1] Łazar Pʿarpecʿi or Ghazar Parpetsi (c. 442-early 6th century) was a 5th to 6th century Armenian chronicler and historian. He had close ties with the powerful Mamikonian noble family and is most prominent for writing a history of Armenia, titled The History of Armenia, sometime in the early sixth century.
[2] Łazar is best known for writing The History of Armenia, which is composed of three parts: the first treats Armenian history from the mid-fourth century and life in Armenia under Sassanian rule until the deaths of Sahak Partev and Mesrop Mashtots in the mid-fifth century; the second concerns the events leading up to the battle of Avarayr as well as its subsequent consequences; and the third follows up on the Vartanank wars and the 484 signing of the Nvarsak Treaty.
1.1 [ii, 48]
1.1.1 In the sixteenth year of his reign king Yazkert[3] set out with his whole host and marched to war against the Kushans.[4] He ordered the Armenian prisoners, priests and nobles, also to join his march from Vrkan[5]. On reaching the land of Apar[6] and coming to the capital called Niwšapuh[7], he commanded the Armenian prisoners, priests and nobles, to be kept there in the dungeon of Niwšapuh. But the two blessed priests, lords Samuēl[8] and Abraham[9], he ordered to march on with him. He had them continually afflicted with cruel treatment and strong chains and beatings, in order to put fear and trembling into the Christians who were with him in his army. When they arrived at the enemies’ borders, not even partially were the king’s objectives realised. But completely vanquished, he returned covered in shame, having lost the most elite and eminent men of his army, as well as other common soldiers in the cavalry. For the enemy did not fight the Persian army in opposing battle-lines, but unexpectedly falling upon each wing, they put many to the sword, then themselves disappeared again unharmed. Using these tactics for many days, they exhausted the Persian army by their savage attacks.1
[3] Yazkert (Yazdgird II): The emperor of the Sasanian Empire, son of Bahrām V, reigned from 438 to 457 CE.
[4] Kushans: At the end of the 430s CE, the Hephthalites moved south to Tokhāristan, defeated the Kidarite Kushans who were entrenched there, and banished Kidara, their king. The Hephthalites then invaded Sassanian Persia to the west of Tokhāristan, at the time when Yazdgird II was on the Sassanian throne. This was the prelude to more than a century of war between the Hephthalites and Persians. Persian troops successfully held off the Hephthalite invasion for the first decade or more of this period, and even switched from the defensive to the offensive in the twelfth year [449] of Yazdgird II’s reign. However, four years later, the Hephthalites utterly defeated Yazdgird II, not only cementing their rule over Tokhāristan, but also seizing some of the eastern territory of the Sassanian Empire. Therefore, even if the “Kushans” who first suffered at the hands of Yazdgird II were the Kushāns led by Kidāra, he in turn must have faced the ensuing invasion of the Hephthalites.2
[6] Apar: A region of Iran.4
[7] Niwšapuh: City of Nishapur.5
[8] Samuēl: A priest of Arac (a village in the province of Ayrarat).
[9] Abraham: A priest of Arac, spiritual son of Samuēl.
1.2 [iii, 79]
1.2.1 He [Hazarawuxt][10] himself left Okʿał[11] and went down to the province of Basean[12], where he camped near to the village called Du[13], in the plain of springs which is called “Silver Springs”. After he had stayed there for one day, a messenger arrived from court with a letter. In this king Peroz[14] had written to inform them of his attack on the Hephthalites with all the Aryan forces.[15] He ordered him to go to Georgia and either capture, or kill, or expel from the land the Georgian king Vaxtʿang[16]; and to leave Šapuh[17] from the house of Mihran[18] there in Armenia as marzpan[19] with a detachment of troops.[20]6
[10] Hazarawuxt: The commander of the Persian forces.
[11] Okʿał was located in Taykʿprovince (bishopric).7
[12] Basean, province (bishopric).8
[13] Du: A village on the Greco-Persian border in Taykʿ.9
[14] Peroz (Pērōz I), the emperor of the Sassanian Empire, son of Yazdgird II, reigned from 459 to 484 CE.
[15] “Aryan forces” refers to the Iranian forces.
[16] Vaxtʿang, king of Georgia known as “Gorgasal”.10
[17] Šapuh, a Persian.
[18] Mihran: Persian noble house.
[19] Marzpan, governor of border province.
[20] In the spring [of 484] once more the Persians advanced into Armenia, this time under the command of Hazarawuxt. Crossing the Araxes, they approached Dwin. Vahan and his supporters were forced to withdraw. There ensued a period of manoeuvering in which the Armenian forces eluded their pursuers; but some were captured in ambush. At this point Hazarawuxt received instructions from the shah to move into Georgia and subdue Vaxtʿang; Peroz himself was about to march on the Hephthalites in the east. Hazarawuxt’s campaign was successful, and Vaxtʿang fled to Egeria. Meanwhile, Šapuh Mihranean was left in Armenia as marzpan, but was unable to capture Vahan. For some time the two sides stalked each other, fighting skirmishes. In one encounter Vahan, with just a few supporters, slew the apostate prince of Siwnikʿ, exasperating the far larger Persian forces.11 Łazar describes its results below (B.1.3.4).
1.3 [iii, 85]
1.3.1 With such thoughts in his mind, Šapuh set out the next morning for the province of Basean, and reached the village called Aluar[21]. While his spirits were distressed and tormented by fear of the Armenian general Vahan Mamikonean[22], there suddenly arrived a messenger from Persia with grievous news and many distressing letters written to Šapuh by the Persian nobles and by other relatives and friends who had escaped from the overpowering and crushing defeat by the Hephthalites. Šapuh took the letters; and when he realized the severity of the disaster and had learned from the messages how terrible was the catastrophe that had befallen the land of the Aryans, he was plunged into a great depression and fright. For a while he was speechless, as if he had fainted, unable to question the bearer of the letters or to come to himself. Recovering after many hours as if from a stupor or numbness, he summoned the messenger and questioned him in person how and in what way the land of the Aryans had succumbed to such a complete eclipse and debacle. [He also asked] who had been able to escape and bring the news of the slaughter of such a vast army, how in fact their divine lord Peroz had been killed, and what fate he had suffered.12
[21] Aluar: A village in Basean.
[22] Vahan Mamikonean: An Armenian general who became the marzpan of Armenia for the shah in 485.
1.3.2 In reply the messenger said: “You ask timely and suitable questions, as would any man who wishes to hear from messengers important business and news. But it is very hard for me to bring grievous tidings and to give word of such terrible disasters from fugitives who have escaped — especially as no one was the cause of such losses and destruction save the divine lord of the Aryans, Peroz himself. A subject must speak no evil about the gods; that is death and destruction. Yet because at this time misfortune has befallen the lord of the Aryans and the entire country from the gods’ anger, and the cause was no one else save the king for himself and for the Aryans, I must tell what I saw and heard, and there is no escape from so reporting.13
1.3.3 “First of all, while Peroz was in Vrkan and was gathering troops from all sides, he was intending to march against the Hephthalites. He formed the plan alone and asked no other man, worthy or unworthy. But this alone everyone in the army knew, that he wished to fight the Hephthalites. Everyone was downcast and dismayed; even to see a Hephthalite, or merely hear the name, no one could willingly endure — let alone make war against them or attack them openly — since the terror and anxiety they had implanted in the land of the Aryans were well remembered. Every mouth openly complained: ‘If we are condemned to die, and the king of kings wishes to kill us, let him right now order us to be put to the sword, rather than have the Hephthalites destroy the Aryans with the sword, which will render both himself and the land of the Aryans ignominious for ever’. ‘Similar words all the court nobles continuously addressed to each other, especially the Aryan sparapet Vahram; he even boldly often brought [these objections] to the ears of Peroz, and complained publicly. But he listened to no one, nor did he pay heed to or recall the earlier shameful defeats suffered by himself and all the Aryans at the hands of the Hephthalites. So he set off to attack them with a huge army of Aryans and non-Aryans[23]; they marched as if condemned to death and not as warriors setting out to battle. Those who escaped from there also gave this report: When they had arrived near their destination, the Hephthalite [king] sent word to Peroz: ‘You have a sworn covenant[24] with me, written and sealed, [not to attack me] if I do not wage war against you. And we have established borders across which we cannot pass with hostile intent against each other. So remember the covenant and the fearful distress from which I have mercifully released you by not killing you. Return in peace and perish not. But if you do not heed my words, know that I shall destroy you and your entire worthless host in which you have put your trust. For I fight with justice and fidelity to covenants on my side; while you are allied to falseness and violation of pacts. So how will you be able to win’?14
[23] Aryans and non-Aryans: Armenia is variously described as being part of Eran or Aneran (“non-Iran”, Middle Persian ethno-linguistic term generally used pejoratively to denote a political and religious enemy of Iran and Zoroastrianism).
[24] “A sworn covenant”: Cf. Procopius, I, iii.
1.3.4 “When the Aryans heard the arguments of the Hephthalite, they said to Peroz: ‘He is right, and we are waging an unjust war’. But Peroz, in great rage at the Aryan nobility, replied haughtily to the Hephthalite [king] saying: ‘With only half of this vast army which you can see I shall attack and destroy you. With the other half I shall have gathered up the earth on which you stand, and shall fill up be it the sea or ditches which divide us’. In the stupidity of his heart he did not realize that his subjects would fill with their dead bodies the ditches which [the Hephthalite king] had dug for his destruction and that of the entire land of the Aryans. On coming up to each other they fell to grips, and [Peroz] perished with all his sons and people. A few men escaped from the slaughter; reaching Vrkan they told everyone of these grievous events, which caused all the nobles and the rest of the populace in Vrkan to flee to Asorestan[25]. They sent a messenger to Georgia, to Hazarawuxt; and they sent me here to you, to bid you make haste to gather together and find a way to save both yourselves and the land of the Aryans”.15
[25] Asorestan: Northern Mesopotamia.
1.4 [iii, 90]
1.4.1 ... When Nixor[26] had heard all that Vahan Mamikonean had to say, he greatly rejoiced and said in front of everyone: “All these propositions and the message sent by Vahan are truly worthy of the gods. For just as those men whom Peroz forcibly led and caused to be slaughtered by the Hephthalites were innocent, and the gods will seek [vengeance] for all that blood from Peroz himself, so too is Vahan blameless in all the deeds that he planned and carried out. For he acted because of the tyranny of Peroz’ wickedness, and not of his own volition. Until today I had not been consoled for the great disaster which befell the land of the Aryans; but this news has brought me joy and consolation today. However, may the gods allow me to see the day when Vahan will submit to me and yield to the service of the Aryans”.16
[26] Nixor: The Persian envoy who stopped in the province of Her (on the Persian border).
1.5 [iii, 91]
1.5.1 When all his orders had been carried out and the whole council chamber was filled with Vahan Marnikonean’s escort and other Persians, Nixor began to speak to Vahan Mamikonean in these terms: “... However, you and the men united with you thought nothing of death and bravely plunged into this venture. The gods will demand from the arrogance of Peroz the blood of those who were killed by you; you who managed to escape and survive are innocent and blameless. For the present lord of the Aryans and all the nobility speak only of this all the time; they lament and mourn inconsolably, recalling the stubborn and presumptuous character of Peroz, which resembled not that of a man but of an evil and wild beast. He destroyed himself and the entire power and strength of the Aryan empire. He delivered a great and free kingdom to subjection to the Hephthalites; from that bitter servitude the land of the Aryans can never escape as long as it survives. But if you willingly submit and do hommage to the original[27] lord of your ancestors, and if you forget and forgive the wrongs on both sides, and do this through my mediation, then you can remain here in Armenia until the king seals [the agreement] and has it brought to you. Then you can go safely to the lord of the Aryans, and he will happily and willingly grant and carry out for you and for whomever you wish everything that is good and right”.[28]17
[27] At that time when the negotiations between Vahan Mamikonean and the new shah’s envoy as they tried to bring about a peaceful settlement. Nixor, the Persian envoy, demanded three conditions before he would submit to the shah: One of them was the practice of the Armenian patrimonial and original religion, and free observance of Christian rites.
[28] When Nixor and Vahan met face to face, he put the blame for the rebellion on the presumptuous character of Peroz.