|
Sparapet
' ( hy, սպարապետ) was a military title and office in ancient and medieval Armenia. Under the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, the ' was the supreme commander of the kingdom's armed forces. During the Arsacid period and for some time afterwards, the office was held hereditarily by the senior member of the of the House of Mamikonian. Later in history, the title was held by members of other noble houses, such as the Bagratuni and Pahlavuni dynasties. The title was used in the medieval Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, where the bearer of the title was also called ' ( hy, գունդստաբլ, label=none), from the Byzantine and Western title of constable. Etymology The word is of Iranian origin, ultimately deriving from Proto-Iranian ''*spādapati-'' (“commander of the army”), which is composed of ''*cwáHdaH'' (“army”) and ''*pati-'' (“lord”). Perikhanyan, A. G. (1993). ''Материалы к этимологическому словарю древнеармянск ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mkhitar Sparapet
Mkhitar Sparapet ( hy, Մխիթար Սպարապետ; ''sparapet'' meaning "general-in-chief") (? 1730), also known as Mkhitar Bek, was an 18th-century Armenian military commander and participant in the Armenian armed rebellion in the Syunik region of Transcaucasia. He was instrumental in David Bek's victories over the forces of Safavid Iran and the Ottoman Empire in Armenia's Syunik region. Their main headquarters were at the fortress of Halidzor which also served as the administrative center for Syunik. Mkhitar served as chief aide to David Bek and later his successor after his death in 1728. After the Ottomans captured and destroyed Halidzor fortress, Mkhitar managed to escape and continue a guerrilla campaign against the invaders. However, the Armenian forces faced replenished Ottoman forces, lacked a single headquarters and were plagued by internal disagreements. In 1730, Mkhitar was murdered by Armenian villagers of Khndzoresk, who had implored him to have his own fortif ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mushegh I Mamikonian
Mushegh I Mamikonian (also spelled Mushel; d. 377/8) was an Armenian military officer from the Mamikonian family, who occupied the hereditary office of ''sparapet'' (generalissimo) of the Kingdom of Armenia under the Arsacid kings Pap () and Varazdat (). He took part in the Armenian resistance against the forces of the Sasanian monarch Shapur II (), notably taking part in the Battle of Bagavan, where the Iranian forces were defeated. He was the regent of Armenia under the young and inexperienced Varazdat, who eventually suspected him of posing a danger to his rule, and thus had him executed, in 377/8. Mushegh may be identical with the Artabanes mentioned in the works of the contemporary Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus. Background Mushegh was a son of the Armenian ''sparapet'' (generalissimo) Vasak I Mamikonian. The Mamikonian family controlled the northwestern Tayk province near the Iberian border. They also hereditarily held the office of ''sparapet'', which was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mamikonian
Mamikonian or Mamikonean ( Classical hy, Մամիկոնեան; reformed orthography: Մամիկոնյան; Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Mamigonian'') was an aristocratic dynasty which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th century. They were the most notable noble house in Early Christian Armenia after the ruling Arsacid dynasty and held the hereditary positions of '' sparapet'' (supreme commander of the army) and ''dayeak'' (royal tutor), allowing them to play the role of kingmaker for the later Armenian kings. They ruled over extensive territories, including the Armenian regions of Tayk, Taron, Sasun, and Bagrevand, among others. The Mamikonians had a reputation as supporters of the Roman (later Byzantine) Empire in Armenia against Sasanian Iran, although they also served as viceroys under Persian rule. Their influence over Armenian affairs began to decline at the end of the 6th century and suffered a final, decisive blow after a failed rebellion aga ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garegin Nzhdeh
Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, better known by his '' nom de guerre'' Garegin Nzhdeh ( hy, Գարեգին Նժդեհ, ; 1 January 1886 – 21 December 1955), was an Armenian statesman, military commander and political thinker. As a member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, he was involved in the national liberation struggle and revolutionary activities during the First Balkan War and World War I and became one of the key political and military leaders of the First Republic of Armenia (1918–1921). He is widely admired as a charismatic national hero by Armenians. In 1921, he was a key figure in the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia, an anti-Bolshevik state that became a key factor that led to the inclusion of the province of Syunik into Soviet Armenia. During World War II, he cooperated with Nazi Germany, hoping to secure Soviet Armenia's existence in case of Germany's victory over USSR and a potential Turkish invasion of the Caucasus. Following an abort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varazdat
Varazdat (; flourished 4th century) was the king of Arsacid Armenia from 374/375 until 378. He was installed on the throne by the Roman emperor Valens after the assassination of his kinsman King Pap. Name The name Varazdat derives from Middle Persian ''warāz-dat'', meaning "given by the wild boar," the boar being one of the symbols of the Zoroastrian god of victoryVerethragna. Family and early life Varazdat's parentage is unclear. The classical Armenian historians Faustus of Byzantium and Movses Khorenatsi somewhat contemptuously refer to him as "a certain" member of the Arsacid house; Faustus also implies that Varazdat was not a true Arsacid but rather a bastard. Based on this information, Robert Bedrosian and Stepan Malkhasyants speculate that Varazdat was the illegitimate child of Pap. Faustus quotes Varazdat as declaring King Pap his paternal uncle, although a brother of Pap is never directly mentioned in the histories of Faustus and Khorenatsi. A later anonymous Armenia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spahbed
''Spāhbed'' (also spelled ''spahbod'' and ''spahbad'') is a Middle Persian title meaning "army chief" used chiefly in the Sasanian Empire. Originally there was a single ''spāhbed'', called the , who functioned as the generalissimo of the Sasanian army. From the time of Khosrow I ( 531–579) on, the office was split in four, with a ''spāhbed'' for each of the cardinal directions.Gyselen (2004) After the Muslim conquest of Persia, the ''spāhbed'' of the East managed to retain his authority over the inaccessible mountainous region of Tabaristan on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, where the title, often in its Islamic form ( fa, اسپهبذ; in ar, اصبهبذ ), survived as a regnal title until the Mongol conquests of the 13th century.Bosworth (1978), pp. 207–208 An equivalent title of Persian origin, '' ispahsālār or sipahsālār'', gained great currency across the Muslim world in the 10th–15th centuries. The title was also adopted by the Armenians ( hy, սպ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manuel Mamikonian
Manuel Mamikonian was the real leader of Armenia after the exile of King Varasdates (Varazdat) who ruled from 374 until 378. The Mamikonian family had long been the leading generals of Armenia, holding the title of ''sparapet'', commander-in-chief. Manuel had served in the Kushan War in the troops of the Persian king. His brother Mushegh I Mamikonian had been slain by Varasdates and Manuel had come to be sparapet in his place. In 378 Varasdates and Manuel had become so mad at each other that they went to war. According to Faustus of Byzantium, Manuel was convinced that the Persian ruler was plotting against him and so attacked the Persian emissary Suren and his 10,000 troops. Manuel decimated Suren's army but allowed Suren to live and leave. This led to an invasion of Armenia by the Persian forces. Armies under generals such as Varaz were sent to invade Armenia but were defeated by Manuel. According to Faustus, this led to seven years of peace for Armenia. Manuel died in 385 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spaspet
''Spaspet'' ( ka, სპასპეტი) was a feudal office in Georgia (country), Georgia that originated in Caucasian Iberia, ancient Iberia. It is usually translated in English language, English as High Constable. The institution of ''spaspet'', like its rough equivalent ''sparapet'' in neighboring Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Armenia, was designed under the influence of the Sassanian Persian Empire, Persian ''spahbed'', but differed in that it was a non-hereditary rank and included not only military, but also civil functions.Robert Bedrosian, "Sparapet", in: Joseph Reese Strayer (1983), ''Dictionary of the Middle Ages'', p. 460. Scribner, . According to the medieval Georgian chronicles, the rank of ''spaspet'' was introduced by the first king Parnavaz I of Iberia, P’arnavaz in the 3rd century BC. At the same time, it served as ''ex officio'' eristavi, duke of Inner Iberia (Shida Kartli), around Mtskheta and Uplis-Tsikhe. It seems that this office was in fact occupied b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syunik (historic Province)
Syunik ( hy, Սիւնիք, translit=Siwnik') was a region of historical Armenia and the ninth province (') of the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Kingdom of Armenia from 189 BC until 428 AD. From the 7th to 9th centuries, it fell under Arab control. In 821, it formed two Armenian principalities: Kingdom of Syunik and principality of Khachen, which around the year 1000 was proclaimed the Kingdom of Artsakh, becoming one of the last medieval Eastern Armenia, eastern Armenian kingdoms and principalities to maintain its autonomy following the Turkic invasions of the 11th to 14th centuries.Hewsen. ''Armenia'', pp. 118-121. Name The name Syunik is ancient and appears in the earliest Armenian written sources. ', a later name for the province of Iranian languages, Iranian origin, first appears in the 6th-century Syriac language, Syriac chronicle of Pseudo-Zacharias Rhetor, Pseudo-Zacharias; it is first mentioned in Armenian sources in the history of Movses Khorenatsi, who explains this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named after the House of Sasan, it endured for over four centuries, from 224 to 651 AD, making it the longest-lived Persian imperial dynasty. The Sasanian Empire succeeded the Parthian Empire, and re-established the Persians as a major power in late antiquity alongside its neighbouring arch-rival, the Roman Empire (after 395 the Byzantine Empire).Norman A. Stillman ''The Jews of Arab Lands'' pp 22 Jewish Publication Society, 1979 International Congress of Byzantine Studies ''Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21–26 August 2006, Volumes 1–3'' pp 29. Ashgate Pub Co, 2006 The empire was founded by Ardashir I, an Iranian ruler who rose to power as Parthia weakened from internal strife and wars with t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arminiya
Arminiya, also known as the Ostikanate of Arminiya ( hy, Արմինիա ոստիկանություն, ''Arminia vostikanut'yun'') or the Emirate of Armenia ( ar, إمارة أرمينيا, ''imārat Arminiya''), was a political and geographic designation given by the Muslim Arabs to the lands of Greater Armenia, Caucasian Iberia, and Caucasian Albania, following their conquest of these regions in the 7th century. Though the caliphs initially permitted an Armenian prince to represent the province of ''Arminiya'' in exchange for tribute and the Armenians' loyalty during times of war, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan introduced direct Arab rule of the region, headed by an '' ostikan'' with his capital in Dvin. According to the historian Stephen H. Rapp in the third edition of the ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'': History Early period: the Arab conquest of Armenia The details of the early conquest of Armenia by the Arabs are uncertain, as the various Arabic sources conflict with the G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_Mushegh_Mamikonian_(right)%2C_the_King_Pap_and_Armenian_cavalry_soldiers._Miniature_from_the_16th_century..jpg "Click for more on -> Mushegh I Mamikonian")
.png "Click for more on -> Arminiya"){kind=spacer}