Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/760

 724 ARMENIA Zadriates, another prefect or governor, became king of Armenia Minor about 189; but his kingdom lasted only a short time. Great ob- scurity rests on the history of Armenia under the Arsacida?. Tigranes II., sometimes called Tigranes the Great, and also Tigranes L, was, according to the Armenians, a great conqueror, and brother-in-law of the Georgian chief Mith- ridates, whom he appointed king of Pontus. This Tigranes is said to have made Nisibis his capital, rebuilt the old Tigranocerta, and found- ed another city of the same name on the Nymphius, a branch of the Tigris. His son and successor Ardavast was treacherously seized by Mark Antony, carried in chains to Egypt, and put to death in 34 B. 0. Alex- ander, son of Antony and Cleopatra, ruled in Armenia a little while; but, after various changes, we find Abgar or Abgarus, grandson of Tigranes the Great, on the throne of Armenia at Edessa. The Armenians universally believe that this Abgar wrote the famous letter to Jesus which is quoted as genuine by Eusebius and others. In his reign all parts of Armenia became tributary to the Romans. About A. D. 78 Erovant transferred the capital to Armavir, and then built a new capital, Erovantashad, a little W. of Armavir. The Armenians speak of another Artaces, who ruled A. D. 88-129, built bridges, roads, and ships, encouraged lit- erature, science, commerce, and every branch of industry, and died universally lamented; but Armenia afterward suffered much from struggles with and between the Romans and Parthians, and from persecutions, especially after the Parthian dynasty of the Arsacidro gave place to the Sassanidie, 226. The Arme- nian Arsacidffl continued to reign till 428. Then for about 200 years Armenia was subject to the Sassanidoe of Persia. In 637 the Ara- bian caliphs first invaded Armenia, and 10 years afterward imposed the capitation tax upon the nation. The rivalries. between the courts of Damascus and Constantinople were long a source of great suffering in Armenia ; but in 859 the Mohammedan court set up a tributary dynasty in that country, the Bagra- tides, of Jewish origin, as already noticed, who reigned there till 1079. Their capital was Ani, 011 the Akhurian, a few miles S. E. of Ears. A branch of the Bagratides reigned at Ears from 961. There was also a third Armenian kingdom about this time, that ' of Vashburagan, with Van for its capital. These little kingdoms, though inferior to the Byzantine empire in population, are said to have surpassed it commercially, industrially, and financially. But after various changes and disasters there came in 1049 the bloody and complete destruction of Ardzen, near the mod- ern Erzerum, by the Seljukian Turks under Toghrul, which was followed by the similar de- struction of Ani under his successor. One by one the Armenian kings migrated with their people, and their kingdoms soon ceased to exist, though another, established in the Cilician Taurus in ARMENIAN CHURCH 1080 by Rnpen, lasted till it was conquered by the Egyptian Mamelukes in 1375. The Arme- nian nationality was now extinguished'; Arme- nia itself, devastated by Genghis Ehan and about 1390 by Tamerlane, afterward received as con- querors first the Turcomans and then the Os- manli Turks, while the Eurds, the Persians, and the Russians have at different times taken pos- session of certain portions. The Armenians are now widely scattered, yet they everywhere retain their own language, customs, and habits, with a special love of their country, are exten- sively engaged in commercial and industrial pursuits, and possess great influence, partic- ularly in Russia and Turkey. Their present number is variously estimated at from 2 to 10 or even 12 millions. Probably there are 2 mil- lion Armenians in the Turkish empire alone. ARMENIAN CHURCH. According to the Ar- menians, the early patriarchal religion existed in Armenia till about 1700 B. C. ; then Assyrian influence brought in Sabaism, which about 725 B. C. became Magism ; and this after Alexan- der's conquest was confusedly united with Gre- cian idolatry, to which were added Scythian superstitions and the worship of gods from India. They relate that Eing Abgar, afflicted with a disease resembling leprosy, besought Jesus by letter to come and cure him, and prof- fered him a refuge in Edessa from the Jews who sought to destroy him ; that Jesus an- swered this letter with a written promise to send, after his departure, a disciple who should cure the king's malady and give life to him and his ; that after the Saviour's as- cension the disciple Thomas sent Thaddeus, one of the seventy, to Edessa; that Abgar, with many others, believed and was bap- tized ; that Sanatrug, one of Abgar's succes- sors, put to death Thaddeus, and also flayed alive and crucified St. Bartholomew ; that Jude, Eustathius, and other preachers suffered martyrdom in Armenia ; that about this time a large part of the nation was converted, but very soon persecutions produced a general re- lapse into idolatry till about A. D. 300 ; that then Gregory the Illuminator preached the gospel with wonderful success in Armenia, bap- tized as converts Eing Tiridates and thousands of his subjects, and was ordained first bishop of the Armenians by Leontius, bishop of Cses- area, about 302 ; that Gregory and Tiridates everywhere established schools, in which the children, especially of the heathen priests, were taught the Christian religion with the Greek and Syriac languages ; and that Chris- tian churches took the places of heathen altars, and the kingdom received a new life. The Armenians profess to have been the first na- tion that unitedly embraced Christianity ; but a long and bloody conflict with Persian Magism followed before the nation fully secured reli- gious liberty, A. D. 485. The Armenians re- ceived without question the decrees of the coun- cils of Nice (325) and Ephesus (431) ; but those of Chalcedon (451) were formally rejected by