Hephthalites and Kushan in the Early Armenian Literature

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  • 初期アルメニア史書に見えるエフタルとクシャン
  • ショキ アルメニア シショ ニ ミエル エフタル ト クシャン

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Armenia, sister kingdom to Parthia under Arsacid rule since 53/54 A. D., found herself threatened by Sasanid Persia upon the overthrow of The Parthian dynasty in the early half of the third century. Her independence temporarily regained with a Roman assistance, Armenia continued as an ally of the Roman Empire until 386/387 when Rome and Persia divided her between themselves. Yet the Arsacides remained until Rome conceded its Armenian territory to Persia in 428/429, putting an end to the dynasty. Such history of Armenian-Persian antagonism reflects itself in many an Armenian literature dealing with the early days of the dynasty, For one, there is a legend concerning a brother of St. Gregory, founder of Armenian Christianity: When Armenian King Khosrov was assassinated by Anag, an Arsacid, two sons of the latter escaped the ensuing execution, Gregory, the elder, taking refuge in Roman Empire and Suren, the younger, in Persia. Some Armenian historian have it that Suren was raised by the Hephthalites later to become king in the land of Djen, or China. Others maintain that Arsaces the Great was a Hephthalite prince who lived in the land of Kushan, or even that the Hephthalite kings were Arsacids. These accounts are historically unfounded, and there seems to be lying at the bottom of such stories an attempt to bolster the Armenian stand in face of Persian threat by relating themselves to powerful adversaries of the Sasanid Empire, namely Hephthalites and Kushan.

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