The Armenian History, Narrated by the Armenian Historian of the 7th Century: In English and Russian.

By Sebeos

When publishing the English translation of the manuscript by Sebeos, we adhered to the same principles that guided us in translating "History of Armenia" by Movses Khorenatsi. We considered it our duty to convey the most accurate meaning of the original, retain its expressions, and present our readers with a translation that, if possible, would

• Language: English
• Publisher: World Scholarly Press
• Release date: Jul 27, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088201510

Book preview

ՍԵԲԷՈՍ       SEBEOS          СЕБЕОС

The Armenian History,

Narrated by the Armenian Historian

of the 7th Century.

АРМЯНСКАЯ ИСТОРИЯ,

поведанная армянским историком 7 века.

Translated into English and Russian by Troy Azelli.

Перевод на английский и русский языки Троя Азелли.

Copyright © 2023 Troy Azelli, AS.

All rights reserved.  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

For feedback, please email at [e-mail] — World Scholarly Press. Los Angeles, USA.

Title: The Armenian History, Narrated by the Armenian Historian of the 7th Century.

Author: Sebeos.

Translator: Troy Azelli.

Digital distribution | 2023

Все права защищены. Никакая часть этой книги не может быть воспроизведена или передана в любой форме и любыми средствами, электронными или механическими, включая фотокопирование, запись или любую систему хранения и поиска информации, без письменного разрешения издателя.

Электронный адрес для связи: [e-mail]

Издательство — World Scholarly Press. Лос-Анджелес, США.

Название: Армянская история, поведанная армянским историком 7 века.

Автор: Себеос.

Переводчик: Трой Азелли.

Цифровая дистрибуция | 2023

FROM THE TRANSLATOR.

When publishing the English-Russian translation of the manuscript by Sebeos, we adhered to the same principles that guided us in translating History of Armenia by Movses Khorenatsi. We considered it our duty to convey the most accurate meaning of the original, retain its expressions, and present our readers with a translation that, if possible, would replace the original for them.

About Sebeos himself, we have the most insufficient information. Chamchyan (II. 345) and O. Shakhatuni (Description. I.285) called him a bishop in the domain of Bagratuni, and they claimed that Sebeos was present at the Dvin Council, convened by Nerses III in 645. Sebeos was known to medieval Armenian writers, who often mentioned him, but in expressions that were not well defined. Asogik (p.15) mentioned Bishop Sebeos, who wrote about Heraclius and placed him between Faust of Byzantium (4th c.) and Giewont (8th c.). Kirakos (Preface.3) said the same about him. Mkhitar Ayrivanksky (p.23) put Sebeos between Shapsukh Bagratuni (9th c.) and Moses Kagankatvatsi (10th c.). O. Sallantian, in his chronological table, called him a writer of the 7th century. This fact is confirmed by the very work of Sebeos, describing the events that took place in the 7th century, where the author notes: We heard this all from the men captured by the Tajiks. They, as eyewitnesses, themselves told us about this all. (part III, ch. 30)

The creation of Sebeos was considered completely lost for a long time. The Armenian Archbishop Shakhatuni was the first to find it in the dusty cellars of the Echmiadzin library. The first European who used this work was Mr. Brosset. In 1848, while in Echmiadzin, he got a hold of the manuscript by Sebeos, and in his Rapport (pp. 49-55), he gave a detailed account of the content of this story. Since 1851 when the book by Sebeos was published as History in Constantinople, it has become available to all Armenists, some of whom had already used it in their writings. Other scholars also employed it, citing quotations from it, so that the work by Sebeos in a short time became indispensable for students of the history of the East of the 6th – 7th centuries.  

The entire work is divided into three parts. The first part speaks of the Babylonian origin of the Armenians and their founder Haik, the firstborn in Babylon. The second part provides a synchronistic table of the Armenian, Persian, and Greek kings until the annihilation of the Persian kingdom. The third part is the most extensive. Along with a brief description of the deeds of the Persian kings and the destruction of the Persian kingdom, it reports the constant power struggles among the Armenians that split them into two main sections: one serving the Greeks, and another – the Persians. There were also the Armenians who left both to serve the Turkic Khagan, and later – the Arab invaders.

Due to their short-lived allegiances and love-hate relationships with the Greek, Persian, and Turkic powers, the Armenians were deemed to be troublemakers.

In his letter to the Persian king, the Greek king suggested getting rid of the Armenians by sending them away from their lands: This is a stubborn and rebellious people. (They) live among us and stir up trouble. Let us (do this –) I shall assemble mine and send them to Thrace; you, too, gather yours and order them to be taken to the east. For if they die, then the enemies will die, and if they kill anyone, they will kill the enemies; and we will live in peace. As long as they remain in their own country, we cannot rest until then. (ch.6)

Sebeos also announced the beginning of Islam and interrupted his story in 661, when the Arab conqueror Moaviya, aka Mu'awiya, having defeated his rivals, managed to ascend to the throne of the caliphs and founded a new dynasty of the Umayyads.

THE NARRATION OF THE ARMENIAN BISHOP SEBEOS ABOUT Heraclius.

Part I.

I, unwillingly, [The author alludes to the fact that he penned his History not on his initiative, but as designated by an outsider. On many occasions, medieval Armenian historians, such as Movses Khorenatsi wrote by order of foreign noble dignitaries. – Ed.]  began to carefully describe the time and set forth the history of ancient heroes, mentioning fables as well. In this work, I shall talk about what happened after that, and briefly show the impact (of the past) on the disasters of the present, mentioning the years and days of the five sovereigns; I shall look into the books by Marabba, the philosopher of Mtsurniy, the inscription that he found in the city of Mtsbina (Nizibina), in the halls of King Sanatruk, opposite the royal palace doors, inscribed on a stone covered with fragments of royal dwellings. When the columns of this palace were in demand at the court of the Persian king, while digging up the ruins to find the columns, they unexpectedly found a Greek inscription engraved on a stone: the days and years of the five kings of Armenians and Parthians. Having found this inscription among his disciples in Mesopotamia, I want to tell you about it. Here is its title:

"I am a scribe – Agathangelos [a Greek by ethnicity, King Trdat’s secretary, the first historical writer of Armenia, who lived at the beginning of the 4th century. – Ed.] who wrote on this stone with my own hand the years of the first Armenian kings, at the behest of brave Trdat, taking the content from the royal archive."

Thou shalt see a copy (from this inscription) a little lower in its (due) place.

I shall begin to tell an epic about a terrible king and a brave man: firstly, the story of the ancients, from where the abundance of the earthly structure came; further, I shall add and graft to it myths of heroes and fabled tales of wild wars. When from the great torments of pandemonium, as if from childbirth, it happened that numerous people scattered in the great wilderness, in places inaccessible to noise, then Titan, who was the first to reign on Earth, raised his sword against his comrades. Bel-Titanide, unaware of his nature, fancied himself superior to the entire human race and called the entire human race into submission.

At that time, Haik-Japhetide did not want to submit to King Bel and did not agree to call him God. Then, Bel went to war against Haik, but the courageous Haik drove him out with his bow.

This is the Haik who begat his son Aramaniac in Babylon. Aramaniac begat many sons and daughters, of whom Aramais was the firstborn. Aramais had many sons and daughters, of whom Amasiah was the eldest. Amasiah begat many sons and daughters; Gegham was the firstborn. Gegham also begat many sons and daughters, of which Garma was the firstborn. Garma had many sons and daughters, the eldest of them was Aram. Aram also begat many sons and daughters, of which Aray the Handsome was the eldest.

These are the names of the ancestral men, the firstborn in Babylon, and they went to the countries of the North, to the land of Ararad. Haik migrated from Babylon with his wife, children, and all his property. He went and settled in the land of Ararad, at the foot of the mountain, in the house that had previously been built by father Zervan with his brothers.

After that, Haik bequeathed this property to his grandson Kadmiy, the son of Aramaniak. He moved from there, and went to the North, and settled in one elevated meadow. This field was named Hark (fathers) in the name of the fathers. On the same occasion, the country received the name Haik, with all the Hais.

With mighty strength, Haik was handsome, skilled in throwing arrows, and was a strong fighter. At that time, reigned in Babylon a hero-hunter, Bel-Titanide, magnificent and ranked among the Gods; he possessed extraordinary strength, and his neck was of great beauty. He was the king of all the nations scattered over the face of the Earth. Having used magical means before their eyes and distributing royal orders to all peoples, in a fit of his bold pride, he created his own likeness and forced everyone to worship him and make sacrifices (to him) as God. And immediately all nations carried out his order; but a certain Haik, from the foremen of the people, did not submit to him, did not put his image in his house, and did not give him divine honors. And his name was Haik, against whom a terrible hatred was born in King Bel. King Bel, having gathered an army in Babylon, rushed to Haik to kill him.

He reaches their fatherly home, built at the foot of the mountain the land of Ararad. Kadm fled to his father in Hark to notify him of this and said:

King Bel rushed at you and reached our house, and now I, with my wife and children, are on the run.

Haik takes with him Aramaniac and Kadm, his sons, warrior-knights, though in small numbers.

Haik met with King Bel and could not stand his ground against the multitude of giants and armed men. When Haik met Bel, Bel wanted to grab him with his own hands, but Haik dodged him and took to flight. Bel hurried after him with his squire. Haik stopped and said to him:

Why are you following me? You better return to your land so that you do not die today at my hands, for my arrow never misses.

Bel responds to him and says:

I do not want you to fall into the hands of my lads and die. Submit to me and live in peace in my house, controlling the lads-hunters of my house.

Haik answers him and says:

You are a dog and from a pack of dogs – you and your people. That is why today I shall empty (the contents of) my quiver on you.

King Titanide, being armed, relied on his armor.

Haik Japhetide approached him, having in his hand a bow, like a strong cedar club. Haik stopped and readied his bow against him.

Having inserted an arrow into the arc of a gigantic bow, which rested on the ground, he let it go with force and pierced his iron armor, and breaking through a copper shield, it hit the meaty idol so that the arrow passed through and stuck into the ground. And did collapse to the ground the knight imagining himself to be God, and his army fled. Having set off in pursuit of them, they (the Hais) took away from them herds of horses, mules and camels.

Haik returned to his land, and Haik possessed the land of Ararad and settled there with his people until our time. Before his death, he bequeathed his property to Cadm, his grandson, the son of Aramaniac, the brother of Garma. And (he) ordered Aramaniac to go north, where he had previously stopped. After the death of Haik, Aramaniac took with him his sons and daughters, their husbands, seven sisters with their husbands, their sons, and daughters, and all their property, and settled in the original region, which was named Hark in the name of their fathers.

After that, Aramaniac moves north and reaches a deep plain, located between high mountains, and through which a fast river flows. Having crossed it, Aramaniac settles there and turns the land in a mountainous and rocky country into his ancestral estate.

After Aramaniac, his son Aramais builds a dwelling on the banks of the river and calls it by his own name – Aramair. His children began to multiply and fill the Earth, and established regions. Aramais died; his son Amasiah possessed the country; and after him – Gegham. Gegham died, and his son, Garma, ruled. After him – his son Aram; then, his son Arai the Handsome, from whom the plain was also named Airarad.

Shamiram, the wife of the Assyrian king Nin, hearing about his beauty, wanted to befriend him in order to fulfill her voluptuous desires for him. The rumor of his beauty made her long for him and his beauty.

At that time there was no man who had such a beautiful appearance as he did. Therefore, she sends ambassadors with gifts to him and invites him to Nineveh. But Arai did not accept her gifts, even did not agree to go to (see) Shamiram in Nineveh. Then Shamiram, having gathered her troops, goes against him to Armenia. Having reached the plain of Arai, she gives Arai a battle, defeats his troops, and slays Arai in the battle.

After that, Shamiram orders to take his corpse to the upper chambers of her tower and says:

I shall tell the gods to lick his wounds, and he will come back to life.

When his corpse began to rot in the upper chambers, she ordered to secretly throw it into a ditch and cover it. Having one of her lovers – a handsome man dressed up (like him), she spread a rumor that the gods licked (the wounds) of Arai and resurrected him. Keeping it secret and not showing him to any (of her) acquaintances, Queen Shamiram thus invented the myth about the Aralezes. [In Armenian mythology, the Aralezes are spirits that appear in the form of the winged dogs that descend from the sky to resurrect those who fell in a battle by licking their wounds. – Ed.]

Afterward, Shamiram took possession of the Armenian land, and thenceforth, the Assyrian kings owned it until the death of Senekarim, after which the Armenians freed themselves from the yoke of the Assyrian kings. They were ruled by Zareh, the son of one of Aramaniac’s children, a strong man and skillful in throwing arrows. After him – Armog, then – Sargang, after him –Shavash, and finally, Parnavaz. He begat Bagam and Bagaram; Bagaram begat Buram; Buram begat Aspat; Bagaram's children received lands in western countries. They make up the Angekh tribe because Bagaram was also called Angekh, who was deified at that time by the barbarian peoples. This Parnavaz submitted to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. Since then, the kings of Mar (Media) and Babylon owned (Armenia) until Alexander the Great, who subjugated the entire universe. [Though Movses Khorenatsi did not say that the Armenians were subject to the Babylonians, the Medes, or the Persians, other sources, such as the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius, confirm that indeed the Armenians were subjugated by the Persians of the Achaemenid dynasty until the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great. See Die altpersischen Keilinschriften von Spiegel, Leipzig, 1862, p. 13 –19]

And they served the Macedonians until the revolt of the Parthians against the Macedonians, and until the establishment of the kingdom of Arshakun. This is what the chronicler narrates, as thou see it.

They say that Marsiak, a slave of Abraham, fled from Isaac in Damascus and settled at the foot of two mountains that looked at the great glade of Arai –Aragats peak and Mount Geg. She named after her own name (i.e. Masis from Marsiak) the mountains, which (currently) are called Azat. And she had three sons: Paroh, that is, Eliazar. His place of residence is called Paroht, and the field for their raids and hunting is called Parakan. They mixed up with the Aramaniak clan.

The uprising of the Parthians that happened at that time.

After the death of Alexander, King of Macedonia, [In the original, it is Caesar. – Ed.] the Parthians served the Macedonians for 61 years. Seleucus Nicator reigned in Babylon (until that time) for 38 years; Antioch Soter – 19 (years); Antioch Theos – 10 years.

In the 11th year (of the reign) of King Antiochus, the Parthians rebelled and freed themselves from Macedonian slavery. The great Arshak [According to Movses Khorenatsi, he was a Parthian by birth. – Ed.], the son of the king of Tetal, reigned in Bakhl-Shahastan, in the land of the Kushans, and all the peoples of the East and North submitted to him as slaves. King Arshak with all his army went to war from the East to Babylon, to the realms of the aforementioned kings, in order to establish his kingdom there, and he reached Babylon.

When Antiochus saw that the king of the Parthians, Arshak, rushed at him with an innumerable army, and he could not rely on his troops to meet his enemy, he went into hiding and fled to Asiastan, and he reigned (there) for 5 years. After him, for some time, the Macedonians ruled Asiastan one after another.

King Arshak subjugated the Assyrians, subject to Antiochus, as well as the Babylonians, the Persians, the Mars (the Medes), and the land of the Armenians as far as Mount Kapkokh up to the shores of the great Western Sea.

Arshak reigned in Babylon for many years. In the 114th (year of the reign) of the Parthian king Arshak and in the 4th year of the reign of Demetrius in Asiastan and Syria, when Arshak was absent in the East, Demetrius gathered an army and took Babylon. Demetrius, seeing that Arshak was advancing on him with an innumerable army, yielded to him and retreated to Antioch, and there (he) gave Arshak a battle. There was a terrible battle at the city of Antioch. Demetrius's troops were defeated and exterminated, and Demetrius himself was captured. Arshak, having tied his hands and feet, took him along to the East, to Bakhl-Shakhastan.

Having learned that Demetrius was in the hands of King Arshak, Antiochus, brother of Demetrius, (ascended the throne and) reigned over Syria and Asiastan, (and) after ten years, gathered an army and went to Babylon. Arshak found out that Antiochus, Demetrius's brother, had taken up the reigns and was going to Babylon. After 10 years, Arshak frees Demetrius and lets him go to his brother to talk with him about what should be done. But Demetrius did not go to his brother in Babylon, merely moved to Asiastan. Then Arshak set out against Babylon with 130 thousand (warriors).

In the 128th year of his reign, when approaching Babylon, Antiochus unexpectedly attacked him, in winter, in the gorges, but did not overpower him. Having defeated his troops, Arshak struck down and threw Antiochus to the ground, and killed him; at the same time, he took captive Seleucus, the son of Antiochus, whom, as they say, the king used to keep at his court. 

Then Arshak put on throne Arshak Jr., his son, over Armenia, in the city of Mtsbina; subjugated to him Aruastan on the borders of the Tajiks, and Syria, and Cappadocia along with Cilicia, up to the shores of the great Western Sea, to the great mountain of the Caucasus in the North, which extends to the East and goes along the border of the fortified country of the Mars, reaches Mount Zarasp, and passes through the country of Nor-Shirak. [Nor-Shirak means New Syria. – Ed.]

Arshak sends him from Mrtsana to the West with a strong army of 70,000 armed forces along with distinguished noblemen – commanders over ten thousand (warriors). No one could resist him with a war. Bagarat-Parazian, one of Aramaniac’s offspring, a prominent nobleman, went out to meet him with an army, brought him gifts of gold and silver, dressed him in a fine fabric coat and amice, crowned him with the national crown, seated him on a golden throne adorned with precious stones, and gave him his daughter in marriage.  

Arshak made him the aspet [Aspet was a hereditary noble military title like a knight in Parthia. – Ed.] of the Armenian land, i.e. the chief and manager, the executor in chief of all the orders of the king, the king's father, and brother; gave him power over this state. He destroyed the knights who gathered in Mesopotamia, planning to go against him.

Here are the rulers of the Parthians [According to Dr. Sanducci’s research Ancient Scholars about the Turks and the Turkic Nations, Parthians were a branch of the Scythians who had a Turkic origin. – Ed.] who reigned after Arshak, their father, in Bakhl-Shahastan, in the land of the Kushans. They say that Arshak, the king of Parthia, had 4 sons; they say that he appointed the first of them a king in the country of the Tetals; the second one – in Cilicia; the third one – over the Parthians; the fourth one – in Armenia. 

All the years of Arshak's life are 130, and he reigned 56 years. After him, his son Arshak reigned over the Parthians in Bakhl-Shahastan, in the land of the Kushans, for 70 years; after him, his son Ashnash – for 32 years; Arshen – for 22 years; Arshavir – for 45 years; Artashes – for 34 (years); Dareh – for 30 (years); Arshak – for 17 (years); Artashir – for 46 (years); Peroz – for 64 (years); Valarshak – for 50 (years); Artavan – for 36 (years).

All the years of the rule of the Parthians are therefore 573 years.

Here are the Arshakid kings who reigned in Armenia after Arshak the Great. In the 129th year of the reign of his father Arshak, Arshak Jr. reigned over Armenia in the city of Mrtsuin with his brother Vagharshak, whom he appointed king of Armenia for 42 years; after him Arshak – for 13 (years); Artashes – for 25 (years); Artavan and Arshavir – for 12 (years); Arshak, the son of Arshavir – for 37 (years); Yervand, the son of Arshak – for 21 (years); Artashes, his brother – for 52 (years); Tiran, the son of Artashes – for 22 (years); Tigran, his brother – for 42 (years); Arsham – for 20 years; Abgar, the son of Arsham – for 38 (years); Sanatruk, the son of Abgar's sister – for 30 (years); Artashes, the son of Sanatruk – for 41 (years); Artavazd and Tigran, the sons of Artashes – for 24 (years); Vagarsh, the son of Tigran – for 20 (years); Khosrow the Brave, the son of Vagharsh – for 48 years; after him the great Trdat, the son of Khosrow – for 56 (years); Khosrow, the son of Trdat – for 9 (years); Tiran, the son of Khosrow – for 48 (years); Arshak, the son of the Tiran – for 7 (years); Shapukh, king of Persia – for 74 (years); Pap, the son of Arshak – for 7 years. And glory to Christ the King forever.

————

Reader, if thou like, I shall give thee the genealogy (of the kings), passing from a father to a son from reliable and fair historians – Movses Khorenatsi and Stefan of Taron.

[There are so many errors and distortions in the provided synchronistic table, that in no way it can serve as a source for historical criticism. Since we do not want to splatter the text with numerous amendments, and we know from what sources the information was borrowed, we convey everything without alteration as it is in the original, suggesting the reader to refer to Stefan Asogic and Movses Khorenatsi for more accurate information. The end of this Part is so distorted and the information in it is so mixed up that it could have been completely omitted without any damage to readers. – Ed.].

Part II.

After the death of Alexander, Arshak the Brave reigns in Bahl-Shahastan, in the land of the Kushans. He lived for 130 years and reigned for 57. After him, his son Artashir ruled for 31 years. After him, his son, Arshak, called the Great, reigned for 52 years. He made his brother Vagharshak king in Armenia, and thus the reigning clans of Persia and Armenia separated from each other.

Arshak the Brave, the ancestor of two royal families – the Pahlavis and the Arshakunis [The common name of the Arshakids, aka Arsacids, among Armenians is Arshakuni. In a narrow sense, this name was given only to the Armenian Arsacids, and the Persian Arsacids bore the name Pahlavuni or Pahlavi from the city of Bahla, according to Khorenatsi. Book II, Ch. LXVIII. –Ed.], reigned valiantly for 57 years. After him, his sons (descendants) reigned separately in Persia: Arshak the Great – (for) 52 (years); Arshakan – (for) 30 (years); Arshanak – (for) 32 (years); Arshes – (for) 20 (years); Arulanir – (for) 46 (years); Artashes – (for) 31 (years); Dareh – (for) 30 (years); Arshak – (for) 18 (years); Artashes – (for) 20 (years); Peroz – (for) 33 (years); Valarshak – (for) 50 (years); Artavan – (for) 36 years.

Artashir Starhatsi, the son of Sassan [Also known as Artashir of Stahr, or Ardeshir, the founder of the Sassanid dynasty. G. Mordman read the name of his city in the form of Stahr on three coins. See Erklärung der Münzen mit Pehlvi-Legenden, Zeitschr. d. Deut. Morg. Gesellsch. VIII, p. 141. – Ed.], having killed him, destroyed the kingdom of the Pahlavis, which began from the 30th year of the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus and existed for 457 years.

After that, Artashir Starhatsi, the son of Sassan, having conquered all the Arians [Arians, or Arioi, was the ancient name of the Medes. See Herodotus. 7.62. – Ed.] and the Anariy and many of the same royal family of the Parthians and the Pahlavi, ascended the throne. After him his successors (reigned).

Let's say a few words about the family of the Mamikonian princes. They (the princes of Mamikonian) did not descend from the offspring of the ancestor Aramaniac, but came from Tchenastan (China) in the days of the Parthian king Artavan and the Armenian king Khosrow the Great, as I heard from a great man who came as an ambassador from the Tchen king to King Khosrow, and whom I asked at the royal court: There is a great family in Armenia, about which it is said that they migrated from your country.

He answered me: "Singers in our country also say in their songs that there were two noble men – Mamik and Konak, the brothers, the sons of the nobleman Karnam, who was the second in the kingdom of Tchen. After his death, the king took his wife as his wife. And he had a son by her, who, after the death of his father, succeeded him and sat on his father's throne. But those (Mamik and Konak), being his brothers by mother and not by father, rebelled against him, and having attracted part of the army and nobles to their side, they made a conspiracy and attempted an