APPENDIX: Pseudo-Yovhannēs Mamikonean[95], The History of Tarōn[96]

[95] Pseudo-Yovhannēs Mamikonean: The Patmutʿiwn Tarōnoy (The History of Tarōn) pretends to be the work of two men. The first section is said to have been written by Zenob Glak, the fourth century abbot of the Monastery of St. John [Yovhannēs] the Precursor [Karapet in Armenian], who had been appointed its first abbot and also the first bishop of the Mamikonean tun [feudal house] by Gregory [Grigor] the Illuminator, who is credited with the conversion of Greater Armenia to Christianity in 314 CE. The second section is said to have been compiled and partially written, after he had translated Zenob’s portion, by Yovhannēs [John] Mamikonean, thirty-fifth bishop after Zenob of the Mamikonean tun [and abbot of that same Monastery of Glak?]. He translates Zenob’s section into supposedly seventh century Armenian, adds to it “the ten sections” he had in the Monastery and then composes a history of the events of his own times, which seems to be the mid-seventh century CE; he is thus represented as the compiler of the whole work.

[96] The History of Tarōn attributed to the otherwise unknown Yovhannes (John) Mamikonean is a peculiar work. The author claims to have compiled it in 680-681 from shorter, earlier accounts written by the abbots of the monastery of Glak in the district of Tarōn (in southwestern historical Armenia, to the west of Lake Van). Actually, scholars are convinced that the work is an original composition of a later period (post-eighth century), written as a deliberate forgery. The History of Tarōn describes significant events occurring in the district of Tarōn during the Byzantine-Iranian wars when the shah of Iran was Xosrov II (r. 590-628). The records about the Hephthalites in History of Tarōn were only some traditions.

4.1 [70-71]

Now, the nurses of the other [ i.e, Grigor’s][97] brother, who was called Surēn[98], fled with him to the royal court of Persia, and there [Surēn] was raised by his father’s sister, who was the wife of Juanšer[99], king [of the Hephthalites[100]]. And when he had grown, he went to the land of the Čens[101], after the death of Xosrovuhi[102]. And after he had remained there ten years, there he ruled as king over the land of the Čens land over Drband[103]; and the length of his reign was nineteen years[104]. Some, however, are spreading the rumor that Zgawn[105], who is Yakob, was Grigor’s brother. Yet they do not know this correctly, for Yakob was the holy Grigor’s cousin [i.e., son of Grigor’s father’s sister], whose mother’s name was Xosrovuhi. And when [Yakob’s] mother died, and they had taken away the kingdom from his father, Tiran, (for the king of the Lpʿinkʿ[106], Rēgēs, had killed him in battle), then Yakob, together with his sister [Sakden] and her son, Hračʿē went into the region of Persia, and he [Hračʿē] was raised at the royal court. After a time [Yakob’s] nephew went into the land of the Goths[107] and ruled there. Later, Trdat[108] seized him while [Trdat] was with the Greek king[109]. For it was he [Hračʿē] who had come out in battle against Diokłetianos[110], the Greek emperor, as Agatʿangełos (Agathangelo) has narrated these [events].93

O blessed Bektor[111], if you should wish to know these things accurately, read the [History of ] the Kingdom of the Hephthalites in Greek[112] or about the kingdom of the Čens, which you will find in the city of Uṙha[113] with the historian Barda[sanes?][114].94

[97] Grigor, a son of Anak. Anak had killed Khosrov II, the king of Armenia, in c. 252 CE. According to Agathangelos and Moses, when the Parthian dynasty was destroyed by the Sassanids, Khosrov (Xosrov), king of Armenia, began to raise forces and assemble an army. He gathered the armies of the Albanians and the Georgians, and opened the gates of the Alans and the stronghold of the Chor; he brought through the army of the Huns in order to attack Persian territory and invade Asorestan95 as far as the gates of Ctesiphon. He ravaged the whole country, ruining the populous cities and prosperous towns for ten years. Then, Anak, who was from Aršak family, took counsel with the Persian king to go and kill Khosrov and receive as his reward Palhaw of Partaw. After Khosrov had been killed, Grigor was forced to take refuge in Rome.

[98] Surēn, the younger brother of Grigor, another son of Anak. He was raised by Khosrovuhi, his father’s sister, who was the wife of Juanšer, king of the Hephthalites. And when he had grown, he went to the land of the Čens, after the death of Xosrovuhi. And after he had remained there ten years, he ruled there as king over the land of the Čens.

[99] Juanšer: According to Pseudo-Yovhannēs Mamikonean, Juanšer was the king of the Hephthalites, whose wife, Xosrovuhi, was the younger sister of Anak.

[100] Hephthalites: This is an anachronism.96 According to this record, the Hephthalites had already risen in the first half of the third century, which is obviously impossible.

[101] Čens: The kingdom of the Čens should refer to the kingdom of Qin (China), but, in fact, the Čens in the Armenian could be tribes to the west of China.

[102] Xosrovuhi/Khosrovuhi, the younger sister of Anak, the princess of the Hephthalites.97

[103] Drband/Darband: An ancient city in Dāḡestān on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, located at the entrance to the narrow pass between the Caucasus foothills and the sea.98

[104] “Nineteen years”: This indicates another contradiction in the text: Why did Anak’s son rule over the Čenkʿ, when he had been promised his ancestral Parthian homeland?99

[105] Zgawn/Sgōn: Zenob confuses Aphraates and Zgawn/Sgōn with James of Nisibis (Yakob), and his confusion might have arisen after 410 CE.100 James of Nisibis, who died c. 338 or 350 CE, is an Assyrian saint. He was the second bishop of Nisibis. Aphraates/Aphrahat [c. 280- 345] was a Syriac-Christian author of the 3rd century from the Adiabene region of Assyria (then Sassanid ruled Assuristan), which was within the Persian Empire.

[106] Lpʿinkʿ, a tribe, the Lubieni of Pliny, H.N., VI. 10.101

[107] Goths were an East Germanic people.

[108] Trdat/Tiridates III, the king of Armenia [r. 287-330].

[109] Greek king: Agathangelos does not name the emperor under whom Tiridates fought against the Goths.102 Moses Khorenatsʿi and other late Armenian writers place this episode in the reign of Probus [r. 276-282].103

[110] Diokłetianos/Diocletian, Roman emperor [r. 285-305].

[111] Bektor/Victor was one of the Nicaean bishops.104

[112] History of the Kingdom of the Hephthalites in Greek: About which nothing is known.105

[113] Uṙha, i.e., Edessa.

[114] Barda[sanes?]: Bardesanes was a second century author; it would have been extremely difficult for him to write of events in the fourth century CE.106