David Saharuni ( hy, Դաւիթ Սահառունի, ''Dawit' Saharuni'') was '' sparapet'', ''
curopalates
''Kouropalatēs'', Latinized as ''curopalates'' or ''curopalata'' ( el, κουροπαλάτης, from lat, cura palatii " he one incharge of the palace"). and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the ti ...
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
-controlled Armenia from 635 to 638.
David was a
nakharar
''Nakharar'' ( hy, նախարար ''naxarar'', from Parthian ''naxvadār'' "holder of the primacy""նախարար" in H. Ačaṙean (1926–35), ''Hayerēn Armatakan Baṙaran'' (Yerevan: Yerevan State University), 2nd ed., 1971–79) was a here ...
from the princely noble House of Saharuni. When the
marzpan
Marzbān, or Marzpān (Middle Persian transliteration: mrzwpn, derived from ''marz'' "border, boundary" and the suffix ''-pān'' "guardian"; Modern Persian: ''Marzbān'') were a class of margraves, warden of the marches, and by extension milita ...
Osroene
Osroene or Osrhoene (; grc-gre, Ὀσροηνή) was an ancient region and state in Upper Mesopotamia. The ''Kingdom of Osroene'', also known as the "Kingdom of Edessa" ( syc, ܡܠܟܘܬܐ ܕܒܝܬ ܐܘܪܗܝ / "Kingdom of Urhay"), according to ...
, he entered in a plot against emperor Heraclius organized by his illegitimate son
John Athalarichos
John Athalarichos ( el, ; la, Ioannes Athalaricus), also spelled as Atalarichos, Kaegi 2003, p. 120. Athalaric,. and At'alarik, was an illegitimate son of the 7th century Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. In 637 or 634, depending on the source, he w ...
. David was also part of this plot. The attempt ultimately failed and Varaztirots was deported to an island near the coast of North Africa. David Saharuni was attacked by general and ruler of Byzantine Armenia, Mzhezh Gnuni but managed to evade capture and killed Mzhezh Gnuni, with the help of Gnuni's own troops, many of whom were Armenians sympathetic to Saharuni. David quickly obtained support from the local feudal lords, as a result Heraclius was forced to nominate David as ''curopalates''.J. R. Martindale (editor). ''The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire 2 volume set: Volume 3, 527-641 (Vol 3)''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, p. 389. The historian John Katholikos adds that the Armenians nobles also gave him the title of '' Ishkhan'' of Armenia. Three years later the nobility overthrew Saharuni and
Theodoros Rshtuni
Theodore Rshtuni, also spelled Theodoros Ṛštuni (, ; AD 590–655 or 656), equated with Pasagnathes (Πασαγνάθης), the "''patrikios'' of the Armenians" from the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor,Sebeos in his ''History of Heraclius''.