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Vardan MamikonianVardan was the son of Sparapet (general) Hamazasp Mamikonian and Sahakanush, the daughter of the Catholicos Sahak Bartev, a descendent of Gregory the Illuminator. The Roman Emperor Theodosius II (408450) and the Persian King Bahram V (421438) had both conferred the rank of general upon Vardan. He had visited Constantinople on diplomatic missions. As a commander of Armenian contingents of the Persian army, with a record of service in 40 engagements, he had won laurels in campaigns in Khorassan (modern Turkestan). On Easter Day, April 13, 451, the Persian army, numbering 300,000 men, arrived at a location between Her and Zarevand (Khoy and Salmast in present-day Iran). The army's center was held by the division of the "Immortals"--10,000 horsemen. A herd of trained elephants, each carrying an iron tower full of bowmen, was another menace. The rear guard was reinforced by a column of elephants, on one of which, in a barbed tower, sat the commander, Mushkan Nusalavurd, viewing the entire battlefield and directing movements. Eghish, a contemporary chronicler, described the Battle of Avarair, to which he was an eyewitness: "One should have seen the turmoil of the great crisis and the immeasurable confusion on both sides, as they clashed with each other in reckless fury. The dull-minded became frenzied; the cowards deserted the fields; the brave dashed forward courageously, and the valiant roared. In a solid mass the great multitude held the river; and the Persian troops, sensing the danger, became restless in their places; but the Armenian cavalry crossed the river and fell upon them with a mighty force. They attacked each other fiercely and many on both sides fell wounded on the field, rolling in agony." Upon seeing his left flank crumbling before the Persians, Vardan led a counterattack that cut off and destroyed the Persian right wing. Mushkan, however, rallied his troops and committed his reserves. Vardan and his warriors were surrounded by the Persian vanguard and went down fighting. Vardan Mamikonian's analogy comparing the Armenians' struggle to that of the Jewish Maccabees proved to be remarkably apt. In both cases, followers of the Bible had fought for the right to worship in the face of religious oppression, and in each case the long, protracted struggle ended in a negotiated settlement assuring those rights. Both struggles also produced martyred heroes--Judas Maccabee the Hammer and Vardan Mamikonian the Brave. The Vardanian War, as it came to be called in Vardan's honor, began on May 26, 451, but the Armenian church celebrates the event in February. In the past, spring was considered the season for warfare. Armenia's ecclesiastical fathers had decided to commemorate the event in February, before spring, in order to inspire the youth and prepare their minds for battle, in defense of church and fatherland.
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