Battle of Avarayr

The Battle of Avarayr was fought in June 451, southeast of Mount Ararat, between the Armenians under Vardan Mamikonian and the army of the Persian king Yazdegerd II.¹ Yazdegerd had tried to impose Zoroastrianism on the Armenians, and the revolt began in 450.²¹ The Byzantine emperor did not send help.¹

The Armenians lost. Vardan was killed with his companions, the surviving nobles were imprisoned in Persia, and leading churchmen were put to death as martyrs.¹² The Persians then gave up the plan of converting Armenia by force.² A second revolt, from 481 to 484, was led by Vardan’s nephew Vahan Mamikonian. It secured religious and political freedom for the Armenians in return for military aid to Persia, and Vahan was appointed marzpan, the governor of Armenia under Persian rule.²

Two of the earliest Armenian historians tell the story: Yeghishe in the History of Vardan and the Armenian War, and Ghazar Parpetsi in his History of the Armenians.¹³