CHAP. XIII.
monarch an important territory, which, since the reign of Nero, had been always granted under the protection of the empire to a younger branch of the house of Arsaces [1].
A.D. 286.
His restoration to the throne of Armenia.
When Tiridates appeared on the frontiers of Armenia, he was received with an unfeigned transport of joy
and loyalty. During twenty-six years, the country had
experienced the real and imaginary hardships of a foreign yoke. The Persian monarchs adorned their new
conquest with magnificent buildings ; but those monuments had been erected at the expense of the people,
and were abhorred as badges of slavery.
State of the country.
The apprehension of a revolt had inspired the most rigorous precautions: oppression had been aggravated by insult,
and the consciousness of the public hatred had been
productive of every measure that could render it still
more implacable. We have already remarked the intolerant spirit of the magian religion. The statues of
the deified kings of Armenia, and the sacred images of
the sun and moon, were broke in pieces by the zeal of
the conqueror ; and the perpetual fire of Ormuzd was
kindled and preserved upon an altar erected on the
summit of mount Bagavan[2].
Revolt of the people and nobles.
It was natural that a
people, exasperated by so many injuries, should arm
with zeal in the cause of their independence, their religion, and their hereditary sovereign. The torrent
bore down every obstacle, and the Persian garrisons
retreated before its fury. The nobles of Armenia flew
to the standard of Tiridates, all alleging their past
merit, offering their future service, and soliciting from
the new king those honours and rewards from which
they had been excluded with disdain under the foreign
government[3]. The command of the army was bestowed
- ↑ See the sixty-second and sixty-third books of Dion Cassius.
- ↑ Moses of Chorene, Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 74. The statues had been erected by Valarsaces, who reigned in Armenia about one hundred and thirty years before Christ, and was the first king of the family of Arsaces. See Moses, Hist. Armen. 1. ii. 2, 3. The deification of the Arsacides is mentioned by Justin, xli. 5. and by Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 6.
- ↑ The Armenian nobility was numerous and powerful. Moses mentions many families which were distinguished under the reign of Valarsaces,
