1 H. Hubschmann, Armenische Grammatik, I. Armenische Etymologie (Leipzig, 1895), p. 240. F. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch (1895, repr. Hildesheim, 1963), p. 306.

2 The Armenian and Iranian social patterns also show numerous similarites. In Armenia, as in Iran, supreme power was exercised by a monarch ever engaged in a struggle against his own family, the nobility, and frequently against the clergy as well. In both societies the power of the nobility tended to increase with the consolidation of the state apparatus. An explanation frequently given for this phenomenon is that during the establishment of a new royal clan, in the process of overthrowing the old royal clan and its noble allies, the would-be monarch was forced to rely on the armed might of the country's dynasts who possessed large private armies. Following the seizure of power from the previous ruling clan, the new monarch was obliged to give gifts to his loyal comrades-in-arms. Such gifts were in the form of land grants.

A second stage in the growth of the nobles power came as the state increased in size or was centralized. To administer his realm, the monarch had no choice but to turn again to the most powerful rulers of the land and distribute the most important offices to them. Among these "most powerful rulers of the land" must be included not merely the king's noble supporters, but also the aboriginally powerful dynasts and clan leaders whose true power in a particular locality was not only more firmly established than that of the king, but also frequently predated it. Thus as Iranists and Armenists have noted, a mixed bureaucracy existed in both societies composed of dynasts receiving office in recognition of their ancient and real military rights and of royal appointees (such as junior members of the royal clan) through which later group the monarch tried to maintain or expand his control over the nobility. Again in both societies a hereditary principle operated which meant that offices and land grants remained in a particular family as inalienable possessions. This meant in Armenia, for example, that if the sparapet died or was killed, another member of the same family had to fill the vacant position. In the case of land-holdings, the king could not reclaim his grants and could not confiscate one family's lands without first exterminating the entire clan since as long as one male member of the clan survived, the family holdings could he reclaimed and the clan gradually reestablished when the surviver reached maturity. Any attempt on the part of the crown to alter their rights and privileges was resisted militarily by the nobllity.

In both Iran and Armenia it was through an oath of personal allegiance sworn before the king that a noble expressed his "vassalage" or recognized the king's military superiority. The oath of allegiance carried with it the obligation of military service. Each nohle was assigned a gah (seat, place) at royal assemblies based on the number of cavalry he could provide.

As Adontz, Christensen, Widengren, and others have shown, the Armenian social, ethnic, and military vocabularies bear a heavy Iranian stamp. For example, (Arm.) nahapet-Ir. nafapat; ishan-xshana; zoravor-zoravar; azg-azg; patiw-patev; shnorh-shnorh. Most revealing of all, the names of the Armenian nobles themselves are often Iranian: Varaz, Bagarat, Vahan, Vardan, Vagharsh, Vasak, etc.

These and other similarities in Armenian and Iranian society led Widengren to comment:

Comme ces faits armeniens nous ont servi a confirmer que les conditions decrites dans le SN [Shahname) sont valables pour des temps ante-islamiques, les faits armeniens peuvent aussi servir a supplement pour la periode parthe meme en Iran proprement dit et ensuit pour la periode sassanide.

See G. Widengren, "Recherches sur le Feodalisme iranien", Orientalia Suecana, V (1956); 94 and passim. R. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (New York, 1963); and N. Adontz, Armenia in the Period of Justinian, N. Garsoian, trans. -ed. (Lisbon, 1971), passim.

3 A. Christensen, L'Iran sous les Sassanides (2nd ed.. Copenhagen, 1944), p. 99.

4 Ibid., p. 370.

5 Ibid., p. 132.

6 Widengren, op. cit., p. 108. The great value of Widengren's study is that the author frequently draws upon Armenian sources to fill some of the many gaps in our understanding of the Iranian social pattern. As a result of this study Widengren equates certain Armenian and Iranian terms such as "servant"/"vassal" (Arm. caray. Ir. bandak), house/holdings (Arm. tun, Ir. katak), decree (Arm. hrovartak. Ir. fravartak), military detachment/banner (Arm. drawshs, Ir. drafsa) and others. Widengren, pp. 93-94.

7 Adontz, op.cit., p. 185.

8 Ibid., p. 340.

9 Ibid., p. 362.

10 Ibid., p. 288.

11 C. Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963), p. 209.

12 Ibid., p. 97 n. 144.

13 Ibid., p. 141 n. 253.

14 Ibid., p. 211 n. 238.

15 Ibid., p. 325.

16 The earliest use of the term sparapet is found in the Bible, translated by different hands soon after the creation of the Armenian alphabet in the early fifth century. Usually sparapet is given as the equivalent for Greek strategos (I. Ezra 3. 14; I Maccabees 2.66, 14.47; II Macc. 3.5, 4.4, 8.8, 8.9; III Kings 2.22, 2.31; Judith 2.4, 2.5).

17 N. Akinean, "Elishe vardapet ew iwr patmut'iwn hayoc' paterazmi [Eghishe Vardapet and His History of the Armenian War), Handes Amsoreay, 1931-32; 1933-34; 1935-37; 1950-51.

18 See note 219 on Xorenac'i.

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