Tiridates III: The Life And Facts Of The King Of Arsacid Armenia (250-330 AD)

Today, on this blog, we continue to discuss about eastern monarchies. This time, we move to Armenia, located in the region today acknowledged as Eurasia, although more in proximity to eastern culture. It was very difficult to find a figure of monarchy in its history due to the lack of sources, but here we managed to bring one, nonetheless. His name is Tiridates III, sometimes nicknamed as 'The Great', however arguable this might be.

A warrior king, Tiridates was born likely around the year of 250 AD as the only son of Khosrov II, King of Armenia, and a woman whose name is lost to history. It is claimed that she was killed by a Parthian agent named Anak who served a Persian king named Ardashir, founder of the Sasanian Empire. We know almost nothing of  his early domestic life, except that he had a sister named Khosrovidukht and that he received his name on behalf of his paternal grandfather, Tiridates II of Armenia.

At a young age, however, we are brought to decisive events that would mark Tiridates' reign. As he was the presumptive heir to Armenian throne, he was taken safely to Rome when his father was assassinated. There, the new king:

"[...] was educated [...] and was skilled in languages and military tactics; in addition he firmly understood and appreciated Roman law. The Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi described him as a brave and strong warrior who participated in the battles against enemies. He personally led his army to victories in many battles."

This period, in which above we are introduced to Tiridates' victories, is regarded as having been the reconquest of Armenia. Once his throne was secured, "[...] he made the citoy of Vagharshapat his capital, as it had been the capital of his late father". But, in spite of the victories he accomplished throughout the battles that led to him become officially the king of Armenia, especially when sending away from his territory his enemies and fighting into Assyria, not all of his deeds would be accompanied by good fortune. As seen below:

"At the time the Persian Empire was in a distracted state. The throne was disputed by the ambition of two contending brothers, Hormuz and Narses. The civil war was, however, soon terminated and Narses was universally acknowledged as King of Persia. Narses then directed his whole force against the foreign enemy. The contest then became too unequal. Tiridates once more took refuge with the Romans. The Roman-Armenian alliance grew stronger, specially while Diocletian ruled the empire. This can be attributed to the upbringing of Tiridates, the consistent Persian agressions and the murder of his father by Anak. With Diocletian's help, Tiridates pushed the Persians out of Armenia. In 299, Diocletian left the Armenian state in a quasi-independent and proctetorate state possibly to use it as a buffer in case of a Persian attack."

Following these events, we are told briefly that Tiridates married "an Alani Princess called Ashkhen in 297 by whom he had three children: a son called Khosrov III, a daughter called Salome and an unnamed daughter who married St Husik I". Other than that we cannot tell how these familiar relations worked or how they were cultivated. As formerly mentioned, there were not many informations, sources in general that we could have been fortunate to find.

But Armenia's conversion to Christianity is one debatable matter that should be discussed. Although we are not very familiar with Armenian's polytheism, we are aware that such form of praise was very strong in that region. So here lies the question: how did Christianity manage to sweep it away? As we will find out, it was far from being a pacific form that Christian religion replaced the polytheistic one. This is much to be credited to Gregory the Illuminator, saint of the Orthodox Church who is also celebrated in Catholic one. Here's how his role in propagating Christian values and morality ended to converting the king, who established this religion the one of State:

"The conversion of Armenia was the work of Gregory the Illuminator, the apostle of the Armenians. Converso to the Christianity of Caesarea, he began to preach the new religion towards the year 280, when Tiridates re-conquered Armenia. He had great ascendancy over Khosrovidukht, a sister of the king, thanks to which he ended up enjoying the favouritism of the sovereign: a very characteristic process, since we know that the clergy have always used women, sisters, wives or beloved of the princes to dominate them. By this procedure the 'Christianization' of entire nation was achieved."

Therefore,

"Persuaded by his sister, King Tiridates finally sent a delegation headed by Gregory to Caesarea. Once there, the ordinary Leontius made him bishop and spiritual head of the Armenian Church. Shortly after Tiridates and his wife Ashken were converted, they promulgated an edict by which all the subjects (as Sozomen, historian of the Church, recounts) were forced to embrace the religion of the monarch. It is the first proclamation of Christianity as the official religion." 

As a result,

"Backed and protected by the king, Gregory devoted himself to throughly destroying the temples to replace them with Christian churches, which were also endowed with generosity. In Artaxata, which had been a prominent centre of polytheism, 'the wonderful Gregory' (as Faustus of Byzantium called him) razed the temple of Vahagn (Hercules), that of Astiik (Venus) and that of Anahit; then he built a splendid Christian church destined to be the new 'national sanctuary' of Armenia". 

This conversion, although allegedly partially done to provoke the Persians, was imposed -as has already been pointed out- with the use of violence. Not only the temples were destroyed, but common people suffered under the command of the king, who would not tolerate any remains of the old religion. He was not, as we see, popular at all as accounts points to several conspiracies against his authority in order to have him murdered. Therefore, we question the nickname of 'The Great' to attribute his deeds. Was he really a great monarch?

Looking back at the context in which the king is inserted, perhaps he was seen as such: he was surrounded by two powerful empires: the Persian's and the Roman's. In between those two, he had to do what was necessary, especially taking in consideration the struggle for his throne, the reconquest of Armenia and the considerable enemies he was forced to deal with. He built a strong 'state', if we can deliberatedly use such concept, but unfortunately there is not much to tell about his reign as a whole. That he was a formidable military chief, we can perceive it clearly. But violence was part of his kingship and that might explain why so many intern conflicts exploded, leading eventually to his death. Then we might consider that, as a whole, he was not that great at all, as his nickname might have suggested. However, this is what makes even more interesting to cast a look upon Armenia's history in Antiquity period.

Bibliography:

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiridates_III_of_Armenia

-https://chechar.wordpress.com/category/tiridates-iii-of-armenia/

MARTIROSYAN, Hayk A."The character of Tiridates III the Great: Reality and transformation".

-http://fmwww.bc.edu/SL-R/Bossey/%5BBosseyFrodo%5D/Martirosyan.pdf

-http://eurasianroyalancestry.com/timeline/king-tiridates-iii-of-armenia-2/