Vahevuni was one of the ancient noble houses of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, believed to derive from

Vahagn Vahagn or Vahakn ( hy, Վահագն), also known as Vahagn Vishapakagh ( hy, Վահագն Վիշապաքաղ, lit=Vahagn the Dragon-reaper, label=none), is a warrior god in Armenian mythology. Scholars consider him to be either the thunder, or s ...

, god (dic) of fire and war. According to

Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late an ...

, the Vahevunis were ranked in the Gahnamak among the first noble houses of Armenian by King Valarshak. The princely house of Vahevunis traditionally held the title of the high priests (qrmapet) of

. They also possessed the temple town of

Ashtishat Ashtishat (, ''Aštišat''; Western Armenian: ''Ashdishad'') is a locality and archaeological site in Muş Province of eastern Turkey. It is located near the village of Yücetepe, Muş at 38° 58' 20"N and 41° 27' 04" E on the Murat river east o ...

in the gavarr of Vahevuniq (on the left bank of the Aratzani river in Taron. Most likely, in the pre-Christian Armenia, the Vahevunis also hereditarily held the rank of the Sparapet, i.e. the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Armenian Army. The main known rulers from the Vahevuni family from c. 400–800.are: *Mani Vahevuni c. 445 *Gyut Vahevuni c. 445 *Barsegh Vahevuni c. 480 *Samvel Vahevuni c. 590 *Khosrov c. 595 *Thoros (Theodoros) c. 640

See also