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(Rc 485–523) of Caucasian Albania in the Tale of Vačʽagan

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(Rc 485–523) of Caucasian Albania in the Tale of Vačʽagan AleksanHakobyan The Creation of a “Pious” ImageofKing Vačʽagan II (r.c.485–523) of Caucasian Albania in the Tale of Vačʽagan (Early Sixth Century) The HistoryofAlbania is by the late tenth-century Armenian historian MovsēsDas- xurancʽi, (also known from historiographyand manuscripts as “Kałankatuacʽi”)who was from Artsakh.¹ This work is acompilation of numerous writings,bothlonger and shorter,which come from Artsakh. Since these works werecopied in avery literal manner,they have served as the basis for anumber of scientificcontributions pub- lished over the lastfifteen years on such texts as the Tale of Vačʽagan,the Historyof Catholicos Viro by Anonymous Kałankatuacʽi, the anonymous Historyofthe Year 684, the Canons of Ałuēn,among others. The first of these works was composed at the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth centurybyaneyewitness and has historicallybeen giventhe title of the Tale of Vačʽagan (in Armenian “Վաչագանի վէպ”–“Vačʽagani Vēp”;inGerman Wat- schagans Erzählung;inFrench ContedeVatchagan;and in Russian “Повесть оВача- гане”). MovsēsDasxurancʽicopied the Tale into chapters XIV and XVI–XXIII of the first book of his HistoryofAlbania.² The title of one of the chapters –“The life, con- duct,and regulations of Ałuankʽ defined by King Vačʽagan and the discovery of the holyrelics” (Dasx. 1.16,p.42) – must have been the original title of the entire book which the tenth-century historian divided up into chapters by inventing new titles for them. As Ihaveshown in previous publications,³ the Tale of Vačʽagan is amedieval panegyric text written in aclassicalstyle. That is, it is an apologetic hagiography that does not present achronologicalarrangement of facts by year but insteadde- scribes the laudable deeds of its hero in alogical order.The author’sgoal was not to depict acoherent history of Vačʽagan and his house but to present key challenges MovsēsKałankatuacʽi, History of the country of Ałouankʽ.Critical textand preface by V. Arakélian, Yerewan, 1983(in Armenian)(henceforth citedasDasx.); The History of the Caucasian Albanians by MovsēsDasxurançi,translated by C.J.F. Dowsett, Оxford, London, 1961. Formoredetails on the author of the HistoryofAlbania,cf. A.A.Akopyan,Albania-Ałuankʽ in Graeco-Roman and Ancient Armenian Sources,Yerevan, 1987, p. 150 –272(in Russian). Ipublished adetailed historico-philological analysisofthe Tale of Vačʽagan in my extensive article in the annual HandēsAmsorea of 2003 (A. Hakobyan,The Tale of Vačʽagan and the kingdom of Ar- schakunis in Caucasian Albania, –“Handes Amsorya”,CXVII, Vienna 2003,col. 45 – 142; [in Armeni- an]) and its critical text is published in volume III of the collection TheArmenian Authors in 2004, p. 51–112 (in Armenian). Cf. fn. 2. OpenAccess. ©2021 Aleksan Hakobyan, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110725612-012 240 AleksanHakobyan that had to be and weremastered by the pious king for the sake of the Christian com- munity and the diocese of the marzpanate kingdom of Caucasian Albania, which was subdued by Sasanian Iran (“… and the regulations of Ałuankʽ defined by King Vačʽa- gan”). Thus, the Tale of Vačʽagan marks the beginning of the depiction of King Vačʽa- gan II of Caucasian Albania as pious, of his veneration, and of his transformation into alegend. In 1970,NersesAkinian, archimandrite of the Mekhitarist congrega- tion, remarked that this veneration was deepened systematicallyduring the Middle Ages.⁴ It is notable that even now no other representative of this type of an eastern lord described in medieval Armenian literature can competewith Vačʽagan’scredentials as apious Christian ruler as defined in the Tale of Vačʽagan and other works created at alaterdate by medieval Armenian authors. The character of Vačʽagan the Pious is strikingly superior to all other pious kingsand princes who earned the respect and loveofthe Armenian people and Armenian authors. Due to his veneration and leg- endary reputation, KingVačʽagan almostreached the same level of the ecclesiastical figures who achieved canonisation. The Tale of Vačʽagan preserves the most detailed account of the state of Caucasian Albania in the earlyMiddle Ages. Even though ten kingsfrom the dynasty of Vačʽagan II held power in Caucasian Albania, King Vačʽa- gan is the undisputed hero of the Tale. The stylistic peculiarity of the Tale of Vačʽagan (as either an epic life or an apologetic hagiography) playedanimportant role in the veneration of King Vačʽagan, as will be seen in the following analysis of the Tale. The Tale describes the beginning of the Arsacid dynasty in Caucasian Albania at the turn of the fourth century with the installation of Vačʽagan Ithe Brave, namesake of the principal hero. Chronologically, this coincides with the reinstallation of the Ar- sacids at the end of the third century in greater Armenia and the coronation of Tir- idates III (r.298–330) by EmperorDiocletian, which was regulated within the frame- work of the peace of Nisibiswhose negotiations lasted forty years. Information regardingthe kingsthat precededVačʽagan the Pious is not coherent; often the au- thor is content to mention their names arbitrarilyasthey occur in different episodes and to add brief comments about them (Dasx.,1.15, p. 41– 42). One of the character- istics peculiartothe genre of the panegyric was to present the hero as superior to everyone, even to his own ancestors. This panegyric feature is also present in the Tale of Vačʽagan (p.42).The anonymousauthor does not even make an exception for Vačʽē II (Vačʽagan’suncle), the hero of the anti-Sasanian insurrection of 459 – 461, on which the Armenian Catholicos Giwt lavishlybestows laudatory epithets (Dasx.,1.11). Moreover,the historian Ełišē conveys acertain number of important details on the “rebel king of Albania” (namelyVačʽēII). These have been copied literarilyby MovsēsDasxurancʽi, who also knew the name of the king (Dasx.,1.10). Vačʽē wasin- P.N. Akinian,MovsēsDasxurancʽi(called Kałankatuacʽi) and his History of the Ałuankʽ (Albanians), Vienna, 1970 (in Armenian), p. 124–127, 140 – 149. The Creation of a “Pious” Image of King Vačʽagan II of Caucasian Albania 241 itiallyChristian and onlybecame aZoroastrian under compulsion by Yazdegerd II (r. 449–450). He revolted against the Persiansin459 by converting back to Christianity and forcinghis mother (probablyhis stepmother), who was “Zoroastrian in origin,” and his wife, perhaps his half-sister,toconvert to Christianity. The PersianKingPeroz (son of Yazdegerd) writes to him: “Liberate my sister… and my niece because they are Zoroastrian in origin and youhaveconverted them to Christianity.” The text contin- ues: “and the marvellous man made… his mother and wife return [to Peroz]” (Ełišē, 1957,p.198).Vačʽē relinquished power by asking Perozfor permission to keep onlythe thousand families he receivedfrom his father duringhis infancy (“He asked for what he possessed in his infancy and what his father had givenhim: the thousand fami- lies,” p. 199). These “thousand families” show that Vačʽē was not the oldest son of Esvałēn(Arsvałēn, Ahsvahēn), the preceding king (a contemporaryofSaint Mesrop Maštocʽ). If he had been the oldest son, he would have inherited the entire kingdom from his father as opposed to the other sons who would have onlyinheritedland from their father.The oldest son of Esvałēnwas probablythis Yazdegerd/Yazkert (Dasx.,1.17, p. 48) whose son, Vačʽagan, was recognised as the legitimate king twen- ty-five years later (while it is true that Vačʽagan, in the Tale,also inherited land in Artsakh, we must remember that his father did not become king). Accordingtothe testimonyofEłišē,the most probable sequence of events is that the death of Esvałēn must have coincided with the persecutions underYazdegerd II. It was around this time or around the insurrection of the Vardanides (451) thatthe Persians refused to recognise the oldest son of Esvałēnasking of Caucasian Albania. Vačʽē had con- verted to Zoroastrianism (in contrasttohis older brother)and married his half-sister. However Vačʽē also revolted some years laterdue to his fidelity to Christianity (459– 461), but accordingtothe Tale of Vačʽagan, KingPerozdecided to abolish royal power in Caucasian Albania after he had repressed this revolt. Even though Vačʽagan’scapital city is not mentioned in the Tale of Vačʽagan,his court is recounted in adream of Prince Xočkorik,who was the governor of the city of Tsri (about seventy-five kilometres east of the ancient city of Kapałak), not far from the city Shamakhi on the left riverbank of Kur: “And this man came to the courtand he resembled him as if the king had fallen asleep” (Dasx.,1.23, p. 79).⁵ Furthermore, in chapter 1.19 (p.60) after the same Xočkorik in Tsri discovers relics of some saints, he rides as fast as possibleonhorseback to the king (“and on horseback, he hurried to come to KingVačʽagan the Pious”). Consequently, Vačʽagan’scapital cannot be far from Tsri. AccordingtoBagrat Ulubabyan, Vačʽagan could have been under siege in the villageofDiutakan (Diwtakan, var. Giutakan) of Artsakh, which the Historyof Babken Haroutunian argued for the localisation of country of the Čiłbkʽ (Silvi) in the Shamakhi re- gion in 1971 (B.A. Haroutunyan,About the Question of LocalizingLpinkʽ, Journal of the University of Yerevan,1971, N1[in Armenian], p. 122–123). Ihavediscussed in moredetail the location of the city of Tsri of the Čiłbk in (A. Hakobyan,Onthe TimingofArsacid
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