Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/206

 In battle Shapuh the king of Persia and son of Artashir. Thenceforward he governed the whole of Armenia, his sway being acknowledged as far as the city of Tisbon near Nineveh. The country 0f Atropatia» however, still remained under the controul of Persia, as did Mesopotamia under that of Rome. Having brought the nation to an admirable state of order, Tiridates married Ashkhen, the daughter of the king of the Alans, giving her the title of Arsacian and queen, terms used to express the highest honours to which a woman could be raised.

From this union was born Khosrove the Little. About this time the Ripsimian Nuns appeared in Armenia, having originally come from the Roman States, thirty-seven of whom shortly after suffered martyrdom.*

Not long after the marriage of Tiridates, he a. d. 3o>. and many of the Armenian chiefs were vi&ited by the wrath of God, for their persecution of the saints, with a sore disease, which the Almighty caused to affect them. The virgin Khosrove- dught, sister of the king, having received a divine revelation, advised the Armenians to release Saint Gregory from his dungeon, by which act the divine anger would be appeased, and his sufferings would cease. The latter, on his enlargement, came and healed the king and


 * See Hist. B. 11, c. 34.

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