Arshak II

Arshak II (or Arsaces II) was the son of King Diran and was himself king of Armenia from 350-367.

Reign

In the early years of Arshak's reign, he found himself courted by the empires of Rome and Persia, both of which hope to win Armenia to their side in the ongoing conflicts between them. Arshak consented to marry a Roman princess, Olympia, but managed to maintain Armemia's neutrality until 361.

Meanwhile, Persian King Shapur II intensified his efforts to conquer Armenia once and for all. He was able to bribe two Armenian noblemen, Vahan Mamikonian and Meruzhan Artzruni, and make them join his royal court. Arshak II focused on strengthening the army. He rewarded loyal generals and severely punished disloyal ones. He crafted an ambitious plan in which all criminals that settled in his newly founded city, Arshakavan, were given complete amnesty. Approximately 150 000 individuals settled in the city. His hope was to create a large army directly under his command. But, many in the Armenian nobility did not agree with the plan and subsequently destroyed the city and killed the inhabitants.

The Romans and the Persians were involved in conflict again. Jovian, being a weak emperor, made a dishonorable peace with Shapur II in which he allowed the Persians to take over the fortresses of Nisbis, Castra Maurorum, and Singara along with a part of Armenia. Arshak II found himself abandoned by the Romans and left to defend Armenia all alone. The Persians swiftly attacked but were unsuccessful, partly due to the leadership of the general (Armenian: sparapet) Vasak Mamikonian. Shapur II, seeing that brute force was not going to subjugate Arshak II, he turned to treachery. Arshak was invited by the Persian king for peace talks. When Arshak arrived with Vasak Mamikonian, he was taken prisoner and his general was skinned.

"The letter of Valarshak, king of Armenia, to Arshak the Great, king of Persia,"

"To Arshak, king of earth and sea, whose person and image are as those of our gods, whose fortune and destiny are superior to those of all kings, and whose amplitude of mind is as that of the sky above the earth, from Valarshak your younger brother." [History of Armenians, Moses of Choren, pp.82]

Imprisonment and suicide

Living in a Persian prison, the king was unable to stop the Persian invasion of Armenia. Shapur II had conquered Armenia, and was relentlessly trying to convert Christian Armenians to Zoroastrianism.

Years later, an Armenian by the name of Trastamat, saved Shapur’s life in battle. The Persian king thanked him and granted him his wish: to visit the imprisoned Arshak. During the visit Arshak was reminiscing on his glory days and feeling depressed, he took his visitor’s knife and killed himself. Trastamat, moved by what he had just witnessed, took the knife from Asrshak’s chest and stabbed himself as well.

Legacy

Despite having a troublesome reign, Arshak II was able to improve many aspects of his kingdom. The chief architect of the reforms was Saint Narses I the Great. They included:
*The establishment of many monasteries, to isolate monks from the stress of everyday life and helped spread the gospel;
*The building of hospitals;
*The founding of many schools that would teach Assyrian and Greek, since the Holy Bible was read in those languages at that time;
*The interdiction of inbred marriages, polygamy, divorce, pagan rituals, drunkenness and revenge killings;
*Strongly encouraging slave-owners to be merciful to slaves and treat them as equals.

References

*Translated from the Armenian: Mihran Kurdoghlian, Badmoutioun Hayots, A. Hador [Armenian History, volume I] , Athens, Greece, 1994, pp. 108-111