Talk:Xosroviduxt

“ Agathangelos and the 'Eusebius of Rome' Version Agathangelos' History of the Armenians is our earliest surviving narrative of how King Trdat (Tiridates) of Armenia converted to Christianity. Although the text of the original Armenian version of Agathangelos that we now read is certainly, like all such epics, the product of an evolutionary process, it seems to have reached more or less its present shape c. 460, at much the same time as the Actus Silvestri. Agathangelos 'from the great city of Rome, trained in the art of the ancients, proficient in Latin and Greek and not unskilled in literary composition' (12), tells how 'in those times the ruler of the Greeks was engaged in persecuting the Church of God. And when Trdat discovered that Gregory [the future Bishop Gregory the Illuminator] was a member of the Christian cult, ... he tormented him, that he might abandon the worship of Christ' (38). But Gregory remained steadfast, so Trdat had him cast into a deep pit and left him there for thirteen years, with only snakes for company. Following the example set by 'the kings of the Greeks' (129), Trdat mounted a general persecution of Armenian Christians, and especially of the aristocratic Roman nuns Gaiane and the beautiful Rhipsime — whom he tried unsuccessfully to rape — and their companions, fugitives from Diocletian. After relating their martyrdom, Agathangelos says of Trdat: 'He should have been ashamed, he who was so renowned for bravery in battle . . . He who was such a powerful soldier and strong of body, by the will of God was defeated by a single girl' (202). For his sins, Trdat was turned into a wild boar, and 'all the populace in the city went mad through similar demon-possession' (213).

Then there appeared a vision from God to the king's sister, whose name was Khosrovidukht. So she came to speak with the people and related the vision, saying: 'A vision appeared to me this night. A man in the likeness of light came and told me: "There is no other cure for these torments that have come upon you, unless you send to the city of Artashat and bring thence the prisoner Gregory. When he comes he will teach you the remedy for your ills'". (214)”

Fowden, Garth. The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 84. (1994), pp. 146-170.

“ In his third year Trdat was crowned and came to Armenia, where he found that prince Awta had kept the royal treasure and his sister Xosroviduxt in the castle of Ani. All of the Armenian princes came out to meet him. In the fifteenth year of Trdat Saint Gregory sat on the throne of Saint Thaddaeus the apostle, having been consecrated by the patriarch Leontius in Caesarea.”

Thomson, Robert W. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, Vol. 43. (1989), pp. 125-226.

Category: Stub-Class biography articles