Paroyr Skayordi (also Paruyr, ) or Paroyr, son of Skayordi, was an Armenian king mentioned in the history of

Movses Khorenatsi Movses Khorenatsi ( 410–490s AD; , ) was a prominent Armenians, Armenian historian from late antiquity and the author of the ''History of Armenia (book), History of the Armenians''. Movses's ''History of the Armenians'' was the first attempt at ...

in the context of events of the 7th century BC. Khorenatsi describes him as a descendant of the Armenian patriarch

Hayk Hayk (, ), also known as Hayk Nahapet (, , ), is the legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation. His story is told in the ''History of Armenia'' attributed to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi and in the ''Primary History'' ...

who helped the

Median The median of a set of numbers is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a Sample (statistics), data sample, a statistical population, population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as the “ ...

king " Varbakes" defeat the Assyrian king "

Sardanapalus According to the Greek writer Ctesias, Sardanapalus ( ; ), sometimes spelled Sardanapallus (), was the last king of Assyria, although in fact Aššur-uballiṭ II (612–605 BC) holds that distinction. Ctesias' book ''Persica'' is lost, but we ...

" and received the crown of Armenia in return, becoming "the first to reign in Armenia." Different theories exist about the possible historical identity of Paroyr Skayordi, whose second name is sometimes interpreted as meaning "son of a Saka/Scythian" or "of Saka lineage." According to one view, he is identifiable with the Scythian king Partatua, who lived in the first half of the 7th century BC. Other scholars believe that he was the ruler of Arme-Shupria (according to one theory, an early polity of the Armenians) and allied with the Medes against Assyria around 612 BC. Others believe that he was the ruler of a Scythian land within the

Etiuni Etiuni (other names Etiuḫi, Etiu, Etio) was the name of an early Iron Age tribal confederation in northern parts of Aras (river), Araxes River, roughly corresponding to the subsequent Ayrarat Province of the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity), Kingd ...

confederation, which, according to one hypothesis, was the early polity of the Armenians.

Name

Hrachia Acharian Hrachia Acharian (, reformed spelling: Հրաչյա Աճառյան; ; 8 March 1876 – 16 April 1953) was an Armenian linguist, lexicographer, etymologist, and philologist. An Istanbul Armenian, Acharian studied at local Armenian schools an ...

derives the name ''Paroyr'' (''Paruyr'' in modern Armenian pronunciation) from the identical Armenian word 'circle, spiral'. Acharian derives ''Skayordi'', the name of Paroyr's father according to

, from the words 'giant' and 'child, son'.

Grigor Ghapantsyan Grigor Ghapantsyan (''Kapantsian'', , 1887–1957) was an Armenian historian, orientalist, linguist and philologist, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia, Honored Scientist of the Armenian SS ...

derives the word from the ethnonym of the

Saka The Saka, Old Chinese, old , Pinyin, mod. , ), Shaka (Sanskrit (Brāhmī): , , ; Sanskrit (Devanāgarī): , ), or Sacae (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples, Eastern Iranian peoples who lived in the Eurasian ...

Scythians The Scythians ( or ) or Scyths (, but note Scytho- () in composition) and sometimes also referred to as the Pontic Scythians, were an Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Eurasian noma ...

and thus interprets ''Skayordi'' as meaning 'son of a Saka' or, more precisely, 'of Saka lineage; a Scythian'. Correspondingly, Ghapantsyan considers the name ''Paroyr'' to be a cognate of '' Partatua''/''Protothyes'', the name of a 7th-century BC Scythian king known from

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

and Akkadian sources.

Gevorg Jahukyan Gevorg Beglari Jahukyan (, April 1, 1920 – July 8, 2005) was an Armenian linguist and philologist. Biography He was born on April 1, 1920, in the village of Shahnazar (now Metsavan), now located in the Lori Province of Armenia. In 1941 he gradu ...

instead connects ''Skayordi'' and with the ethnonym of the

Thracian The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared between north-eastern Greece, ...

tribe called the Skaioi, which according to him comes from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

*' ('bright'). In Tork Dalalyan's view, these etymologies are not mutually exclusive, as the Thracians often mixed with Scythian groups. The Scythian tribes may have been called by names with the meaning 'bright' because of their lighter skin.

Suren Yeremian Suren Tigrani Yeremian (; ; – 17 December 1992) was a Soviet historian and cartographer who specialized in the study of the early history and geography of Armenia and the Caucasus. He devoted nearly thirty years of his scholarly efforts in ...

notes that a derivation of ''Skayordi'' from Scythian * (Akkadian '' Ishpakaya'', the name of Partatua's predecessor) is also possible.

Igor Diakonoff Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff (occasionally spelled Diakonov, ; 12 January 1915 – 2 May 1999) was a Russian historian, linguist, and translator and a renowned expert on the Ancient Near East and its languages. His brothers were also distinguis ...

has pointed out that the connection of ''Paroyr'' with ''Partatua''/''Protothyes'' poses certain difficulties: ''Paroyr'' is an Armenian development of a

Parthian Parthian may refer to: Historical * Parthian people * A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran * Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD) * Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language * Parthian shot, an archery sk ...

form, , which cannot be derived from the same Old Iranian origin as ''Partatua'' (*). Thus, it is not clear how a similar sounding but different Parthian name came to replace the Scythian original, since the memory of Partatua the Scythian king could not have been transmitted to the Armenians through the Parthians. Martin Schwartz rejects any connection between ''Paroyr'' and ''Partatua'', instead deriving the former from Old Iranian * via Middle Parthian * 'tall', thus interpreting ''Paroyr Skayordi'' as "Tall, son of Giant."

Sources

Paroyr Skayordi ( 'Paroyr, son of Skayordi') is mentioned in the history of Movses Khorenatsi as a descendant of the Armenian patriarch

who helped the

king " Varbakes" defeat the Assyrian king "

" (a corruption of

Ashurbanipal Ashurbanipal (, meaning " Ashur is the creator of the heir")—or Osnappar ()—was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669 BC to his death in 631. He is generally remembered as the last great king of Assyria. Ashurbanipal inherited the th ...

in classical sources, a composite figure of the last Assyrian kings) and received the crown of Armenia in return.Khorenatsʻi, ''History of the Armenians'', pp. 108–109. Paroyr is called "the first to reign in Armenia." According to some authors, this Varbakes should be identified with the historical Median king

Cyaxares Cyaxares was the third king of the Medes. He ascended to the throne in 625 BC, after his father Phraortes lost his life in a battle against the Assyrians, probably Ashurbanipal. Assyrian allies, the Scythians then ruled Media for 28 years befo ...

, who allied with the Babylonians to destroy Assyria at the end of the 7th century BC. Paroyr's son and successor was called Hracheay, whom Khorenatsi calls a contemporary of

Nebuchadnezzar II Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir", was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar ...

Genealogy

* Paroyr, son of Skayordi ** Skayordi *** Kaypak **** Yusak ***** Hoy ****** Bazuk ******* Arbun ******** Perch ********* Zarmayr ********** Hawroy *********** Gzak ************ Endzak ************* Hrant ************** Gorak *************** Vstamkar **************** Norayr ***************** Shavarsh ****************** Arnak ******************* Ampak ******************** Haykak ********************* Vashtak ********************** Havanak *********************** Sur ************************ Parnak ************************* Zavan ************************** Arbak *************************** Paret **************************** Anushawan ***************************** Ara, son of Ara ******************************

Ara the Handsome Ara the Handsome (or the Beautiful, ) is a legendary Armenian hero and king. He is the son of the legendary king Aram and a descendant of the Armenian patriarch Hayk. Scholars believe that Ara, Aram and Hayk were originally deities who were later ...

******************************* Aram ******************************** Harmay ********************************* Gegham ********************************** Amasia *********************************** Aramayis ************************************ Aramaneak *************************************

Historical identity

According to one theory, Paroyr Skayordi is identifiable with the Scythian king Partatua. Partatua was a contemporary of the Assyrian kings

Esarhaddon Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (, also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 681 to 669 BC. The third king of the S ...

and Ashurbanipal and probably allied with the Assyrians after marrying Esarhaddon's daughter. In Maxim Katvalian's view, Paroyr Skayordi/Partatua was the ruler of a Scythian kingdom in the

Armenian highlands The Armenian highlands (; also known as the Armenian upland, Armenian plateau, or Armenian tableland)Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: ...

. Paroyr/Partatua's father allied with King

Rusa II Rusa II was king of Urartu between around 680 BC and 639 BC. It was during his reign that the massive fortress complex, Karmir-Blur, was constructed.Ian Lindsay and Adam T. Smith, ''A History of Archaeology in the Republic of Armenia'', Journal ...

of Urartu against Assyria, hence Khorenatsi's report that Skayordi (father of Paroyr) gave refuge to the sons of

Sennacherib Sennacherib ( or , meaning "Sin (mythology), Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 705BC until his assassination in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynasty, Sennacherib is one of the most famous A ...

after they killed their father. Paroyr/Partatua allied with the Assyrians. Katvalian identifies Partatua's son and successor

Madyes Madyes was a Scythian king who ruled during the period of the Scythian presence in West Asia in the 7th century BCE. Madyes was the son of the Scythian king Bartatua and the Assyrian princess Šērūʾa-ēṭirat, and, as an ally of the Neo-Ass ...

with Armenian Hracheay.

Boris Piotrovsky Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky, also Piotrovskii (; – October 15, 1990) was a Soviet Russian academician, historian- orientalist and archaeologist who studied the ancient civilizations of Urartu, Scythia, and Nubia. He is best known as a key fi ...

suggests that Paroyr was the Armenian ruler of Scythian origin of one of the smaller countries subject to

Urartu Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom centered around the Armenian highlands between Lake Van, Lake Urmia, and Lake Sevan. The territory of the ancient kingdom of Urartu extended over the modern frontiers of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Armenia.Kleiss, Wo ...

located near the northwestern border of Assyria, either Arme or an adjacent land. Having helped the Medes and Babylonians defeat Assyria, he received autonomy and was recognized as king. For this reason, he was later remembered as the first king in the Armenian tradition. Similarly, Suren Yeremian believes that the Armenian Paroyr is not identifiable with Partatua, who lived in the first half of the 7th century BC, but with a later ruler of Arme-Shupria (the early nucleus of the Armenian kingdom, according to one theory) who allied with the Medes and participated in the final defeat of the Assyrians at the Battle of Nineveh around 612 BC. After this, Paroyr was recognized as king of Arme-Shupria by Cyaxares. Gevorg Tiratsian believes that Khorenatsi's account takes the name and certain characteristics of Partatua for the figure of Paroyr and is an echo of interactions between the Scythians and Armenians in this period. Felix Ter-Martirosov asserts that those Scythians who assimilated into the early Armenians after the destruction of Scythian power in West Asia brought with them the memory of their first king, Partatua, whose name later transformed into ''Paroyr'' in Armenian. More recently, Armen Petrosyan, in the context of the hypothesis that the confederation of

was the early polity of the Armenians, has argued that Paroyr was likely the ruler of a Scythian constituent land of Etiuni, positing an Armeno-Scythian alliance around the time of the collapse of Urartu and Assyria. This is supported by the mentioning in an Urartian cuneiform inscription of Shagaputara, ruler of Ishqugulkhi (), one of the lands of Etiuni. ''Shagapatura'' has been interpreted as Scythian * 'son of a Saka', corresponding to Armenian ''Skayordi'', while ''Ishqugulkhi'' has been interpreted as the Urartian rendering of one variant of the ethnonym of the Scythians.

Name

Sources

Genealogy

Historical identity

Notes

References

Further reading