Page:The History of Armenia - Avdall - Volume 1.djvu/255

 212 HISTORY OF ARMENIA-.

��iCH AFTER XXIL

57ie reign of Pap and the pontificate of Shahak.

A. D. 38L Pap, the son of Af saces the Second, being appointed king of Armenia by the emperof Theodosius, marched to that country, accompa* nied by a large body of Greek troops, commanded by Terentius. M erujan, having heard of the approach of the king, fled into Persia, after leaving orders with the governors of the castles in which the wives of the chiefs were confined, to hang their prisoners upon the battlements, in derision of their husbands. He also forbade the removal of their bodies, but directed that they should remain there until they were de- voured by the birds of the air, or become so putrid as to fall to pieces. The chiefs perceiving this, first attacked these castles, and having reduced them, put the garrisons to the sword, when they took the corpses of the women and gave them christian burial. There were a few individuals who had been kept in irons, and who had escaped the fate of the women : these were released and sent to their native places. Some time previous to the departure of Merujan firom Armenia, he dispatched letters to Sbapuh, who

�� �