1. N. Adontz, Armenia in the Period of Justinian (Lisbon, 1970; Eng. trans. of 1909 Russian ed.).

2. M. Toumanean, "Mi k'ani nkatoghut'iwn Mamikoneanc' gaght'akanut 'ean masin [A Few Observations on the Emigration of the Mamikoneans]", Handes Amsoreay (1911) pp. 513-528.

3. C. Toumanoff, "The Mamikonids and the Liparitids", Armeniaca (Venice , 1969) pp. 125-137; also Toumanoff's Studies in Christian Caucasian History (Georgetown, 1963).

4. H. Svazyan, "Chenere ev 'Chenac' ashxarhe' est haykakan aghbyurneri [The Chens and the 'Land of the Chens' according to the Armenian Sources]", Patma-banasirakan handes 4(1976) pp, 203-212.

5. Ashxarhac'oyc' (Venice, 1881) p. 46. Svazyan does not accept the view that this passage refers to China. Rather, he believes that the Ashxarhac'oyc's China is the land of the "Siwnets'ik" which borders Chenk' and is briefly described in #38. In my opinion, #38 describes a part of Indochina "bordered by India on the west and the land of Chenk' on the north" (p. 46). It is not unlikely that the 7th century Anania would have mentioned China ("Chenk"). It is known that in the 6th century, two important centers of exchange in the international trade between the West and the Orient were located in Armenia [Dwin and Artaxata, see H. Manandian, The Trade and Cities of Armenia in Relation to Ancient World Trade (Lisbon, 1965; Eng. trans. of 1946 Russian ed.) pp. 80-82]. Furthermore, the remark in the Primary History (see below, note 12) that the author learned his information "from the great man who had come on an embassy from the king of China to King Khosrov" deserves attention. If the king Khosrov in question is the "Khosrov the Great, king of Armenia" mentioned in the immediately preceding sentence, then Armenia and China may have had direct contact in the late 3rd-early 4th centuries.

6. Ghewond, Patmut'iwn Ghewondeay meci vardapeti Hayoc' [History of Ghewond, the Great vardapet of Armenia] (St. Petersburg, 1887, 2nd ed.) p. 37.

7. Ghewond, pp. 39-40.

8. Svazyan, pp. 204-205, 209. Svazyan's reasoning is that the Arabs, encamped by the Botis [Amu-Darya] river could not have sent their letter to the Chinese ruler and received a reply quickly enough, if the letter was taken to the depths of China.Ghewond's vague expression "i masn inch' Chenac' asxarhin, a part of the land of the Chenk' " is insufficient evidence for Svazyan's theory which supposes that Chenk' was located immediately east of Khurasan. Furthermore, he is unable to explain the boasting of the Chenk' king that his land was the mightiest in world history: "Why was it that the king of Babylon, who ruled the world, and the Macedonians and Persians were unable to rule over our land?" (Ghewond, p. 38). This is hardly the remark of a king from the Samarqand area. The region suggested by Svazyan (Bactria) was ruled by both Macedonians and Persians.

9. Ashxarhac'oyc' Vardanay Vardapeti (Paris, 1960) p. 53.

10. ibid. p. 54.

11. Het 'um Patmich' T'at''arac' [Het 'um, Historian of the T 'at 'ars] J, Awgerean trans. (Venice, 1842) pp. 5-6. Het'um's History was originally written in French. The French and Latin texts are published in vol. II of Recueil des historiens des croisades: Documents armeniens (Paris, 1906). On the editions see W.R. Long, La Flor de las Ystorias de Orient (Chicago, 1934) Introduction.

12. An English translation of the Primary History is available in R.W. Thomson's Moses Khorenats'i, History of the Armenians, pp. 357-368:

They are descendants of the forefather of our nation, Aramaneak, but they came from China in the years of Artavan, king of the Parthians, and of Khosrov the Great, king of Armenia--as I heard from the great man who had come on an embassy from the king of China to King Khosrov. I questioned him at the royal court: 'There is a noble family in Armenia, of which it is said that they have come from your country'. And he said to me: 'The bards of our country also say in their songs that Mamik and Konak were two valiant men and blood brothers of eminence, sons of Prince Karnam who was the second [in rank] in the kingdom of China. After the death of this man, their king took his wife in marriage. From her a son was born, who after the death of his father succeeded to his father's royal throne. His two brothers--from the mother, not the father--revolted against him. Bringing over a section of the princes and the army, they took an oath of unity. They hatched a wicked plot to murder their brother; Chenbakur, king of the land, and to seize his kingdom.

Mamik and Konak gathered their forces against him in one area of their country; the army of the country was divided into two. When Chenbakur heard this news, he too gathered the army of his part and went out to oppose them in battle. They attacked each other, smote (each other) with the sword, and the rebel army was destroyed.

Mamik and Konak fled to the Arsacid king who resided in Bahl-Shahastan in the land of the Kushans. And there was peace between the two kingdoms.

Then with great insistence Chenbakur sought them from the Parthian king: 'That he might exterminate (them). Otherwise the treaty of peace between us will be broken'. But the latter, sparing the [two] men, did not give them up into his hands but wrote to him in a friendly way: 'Let the treaty of peace, he said, remain firm between us, for I have sworn to them that they will not die. But I had them taken to the West, to the edge of the world, to that place where the sun enters its mother'.

Then the Parthian king ordered his army to take them under heavy guard, with their wives and sons and all their effects, to Armenia to his relative the Arsacid king, who was the king of Armenia. And there they multiplied greatly, and they became a great clan from Mamik and Konak".

13. P'awstosi Buzandac 'woy Patmut'iwn Hayoc' [P'awstos Buzand's History of Armenia] (Venice, 1889) p. 204.

14. ibid. p. 247. A somewhat altered version of the Chinese origin of the Mamikoneans appears in the History of the 8-9th century anti-Mamikonean historian, Movses Xorenac'i, translated in Thomson pp. 229-231: "When Artashir, son of Sasan, died, he left the throne of Persia to his son Shapuh (240-272). In his days, they say, there came to Armenia the ancestor of the Mamikonean family from the northeast, from a valiant and noble land foremost among all the nations of the north, I mean the land of the Chinese, of whom the following tale is told.

In the year of Artashir's death a certain Arbok Chen-bakur, which means in their tongue "honor of the kingdom" had two foster brothers called Bkhdokh and Mamgon, who were great princes. When Bkhdokh slandered Mamgon, the Chinese king Arbok ordered Mamgon to be killed. But when Mamgon heard of this he did not heed the king's summons but fled with his entourage and came to Artashir, king of Persia. Arbok sent messengers to seek his extradition, and when Artashir refused, the king of China prepared to war against him. But at that point Artashir died and Shapuh came to the throne.

Now although Shapuh did not hand over Mamgon to his lord, nonetheless he did not allow him [to remain] in the land of the Aryans but sent him with all his entourage, as if exiled, to his governors in Armenia. And he sent word to the king of China, saying: 'May it not displease you that I was unable to hand over to you Mamgon, because my father had sworn to him by the light of the sun. But to cause you no trouble I have expelled him from my country to the edge of the earth in the west, which is equivalent to death for him. So let there not be war between you and me'. And because, as they say, the Chinese are the most peaceloving of all the inhabitants on the face of the earth, he agreed to make peace. So it is clear that the Chinese nation is truly devoted to peace and life.

Their land is wonderful in its abundance of all [varieties of] fruits; it is adorned with beautiful plants, rich in saffron, peacocks and silk. It has untold numbers of gazelles and marvellous [creatures] and the animals called 'donkey goats'. There the food of common people, they say, is what among us is aristocratic and food for the few--the pheasant and the swan and other such [delicacies]. The number of precious stones and pearls of the magnates they say no one knows. And as for garments which among us are the robes of the few, for them they are the common dress. So much for the land of China.

So Mamgon, having come to our country against his will, met the returning Trdat. He did not turn back with the Persian army but advanced with all his entourage to meet him with great presents. Trdat received him but did not take him with him in his war against Persia. However he gave his entourage a place [in which to settle] and a stipend for food; he changed their residence from place to place for many years".

15. Adontz, op. cit., p. 313.

16. Toumanean, op. cit., pp. 519, 526.

17. H. Skold, "L'Origine des Mamiconiens", Revue des etudes armeniennes (1925) pp. 134-35.

18. Svazyan attempts to support his view by citing a passage from the controversial "History" of Zenob Glak (Zenobay Glakay Asorwoy episkoposi Patmut'iwn Taronoy (Hisyory of Taron by the Syrian Bishop Zenob Glak) (Venice, 1889, 2nd ed.). While this author claims to have lived in the early 4th century, Armenists place his composition perhaps five centuries later. According to Zenob, Anak Pahlaw (the killer of king Xosrov) had two sons. One became Gregory the Iluminator of Armenia. The other, named Suren, was taken to the Persian court "and was raised there near his father's sister, who was the wife of Juanser, king of the Hepthalites. When he grew up he went to the country of the Chenk', after the death of king Xosrov [of Iran]. He remained there for ten years and then ruled as king over the country of the Chenk' for 19 years" (Zenob, pp. 21-22). Svazyan believes this tale was based on other written sources, and that the Mamikoneans were actually relatives of St. Gregory, descended from this king Suren, whom he identifies with the Karnam mentioned in the Primary History (Svazyan, p. 21 1 ). But the Mamikonean emigration to Armenia occurred long before the 4th century (see Toumanoff, Studies, p. 209).

19. Toumanoff, Studies, p. 140 n. 245.

20. Toumanoff, "Mamikonids . . ." pp. 132-33 accepts Adontz' hypothesis that the Chenk' originally were the Caucasian Tzans.

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