Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Memoirs of Edessa And Other Ancient Syriac Documents/Moses of Chorene/Chapter 1

Ancient Syriac Documents.

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Moses of Chorene.

History of Armenia.

I.

Reign of Abgar; Armenia becomes completely tributary to the Romans; war with Herod&#8217;s troops; his brother&#8217;s son, Joseph, is killed.

Abgar, son of Archam, ascends the throne in the twentieth year of Archavir, king of the Persians.&#160; This Abgar was called Avak-air (great man), on account of his great gentleness and wisdom, and also on account of his size.&#160; Not being able to pronounce well, the Greeks and the Syrians called him Abgar.&#160; In the second year of his reign, all the districts of Armenia become tributary to the Romans.&#160; A command is given by the Emperor Augustus, as we are told in the Gospel of St. Luke, to number all the people in every part.&#160; Roman commissioners, sent for that purpose into Armenia, carried thither the statue of the Emperor Augustus, and set it up in all the temples.&#160; At this very time, our Saviour Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world.

At the same period there was trouble between Abgar and Herod:&#160; for Herod wished that his statue should be erected near to that of C&#230;sar in the temples of Armenia.&#160; Abgar withstood this claim.&#160; Moreover, Herod was but seeking a pretext to attack Abgar:&#160; he sent an army of Thracians and Germans to make an incursion into the country of the Persians, with orders to pass through the territories of Abgar.&#160; But Abgar, far from submitting to this, resisted, saying that the emperor&#8217;s command was to march the troops into Persia through the desert.&#160; Herod, indignant, and unable to act by himself, overwhelmed with troubles, as a punishment for his wicked conduct towards Christ, as Josephus relates, sent his nephew to whom he had given his daughter, who had been married in the first instance to Ph&#233;ror, his brother.&#160; Herod&#8217;s lieutenant, at the head of a considerable army, hastened to reach Mesopotamia, met Abgar at the camp in the province of Pouknan, fell in the combat, and his troops were put to flight.&#160; Soon afterwards, Herod died: Archelaus, his son, was appointed by Augustus ethnarch of Jud&#230;a.