Armenia: A Historical Atlas by Robert H. Hewsen & Christoper C. Salvatico

Author:Robert H. Hewsen & Christoper C. Salvatico [Hewsen, Robert H. & Salvatico, Christoper C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe, Eastern, Former Soviet Republics, Reference, Atlases & Gazetteers, Science, Earth Sciences, Geography, Travel, Maps & Road Atlases
ISBN: 9780226332284
Google: ZfZBrFza_IYC
Goodreads: 235018
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2000-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8 – An Armenian Emperor

Despite the fact that Armenia had been little more than a disposable battleground to the Byzantine Empire for centuries, the tide was changing. Armenia would not be a mere pawn to Byzantium forever, not the way that it had always been to Rome. Armenian influence would grow in the Byzantine Empire, and it would change the importance of this bruised and bloodied country in history.

A new age was dawning. The ancient time was fading into the shadows; the years governed by Persia and Media, by Rome and Macedonia, were almost over. Yet the time of conquering warlords was nowhere near its end, and as the world began to shift into the Middle Ages, two mighty powers would emerge from the chaos. Powers that clash to this very day—and powers that would never clash harder than in Armenia.

But all that was centuries in the future. For now, Armenia’s influence in the Byzantine Empire was growing. At first, Armenia had been to the Byzantines and Sasanids just what it had been to the Romans and Parthians, divided up twice in the late 4 th and early 5 th centuries as if it was little more than a cake and its people were mere decorations. Things had been made worse in 451 when Byzantine relief failed to save the Christian Armenians at Avarayr. Instead, while the Armenians were suffering their terrible defeat, the Byzantines were holding the Council of Chalcedon. The failure of the Armenian Church to be at the council resulted in a rift that divided the Eastern Orthodox Church from the Armenian Church, a rift that still exists to this day.

Yet even though the Byzantines treated the Armenians as being theologically inferior, they certainly had use of them in their armies. By the end of the 5 th century, the Armenians from the Byzantine-controlled (and smaller) portion of Armenia made up the bulk of the army, and they had made such a name for themselves that the palace guards were handpicked from among their ranks. Eager to seek the prosperity that the Byzantine Empire offered, Armenians flocked to its nearby capital, which was then Byzantium. It has been said that the Armenian effect on Byzantine history has been vastly underestimated as Armenian military leaders worked their way up to fame and success in Byzantium.

Entering the 6 th century, Armenia was still divided. The largest portion of its historical territory still belonged to the Sasanids, but in 582, all that was about to change.

Ever since the year 562, Byzantium and Persia had arrived at a forced treaty. Both were struggling with other invaders, and both knew that they could no longer afford to challenge one another and protect their own borders. An uneasy peace began, but Armenians in the Sasanid part of the country were unhappy with these arrangements. Byzantine Armenia was far more prosperous than Sasanid Armenia; added to that, while the Sasanid Armenians were more or less free to practice Christianity, the Sasanids were still Zoroastrians.

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