Ashot III

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Ashot III the Merciful (Armenian: Աշոտ Գ. Ողորմած) also known as Ashot the Gracious (952/953-977) was the king of Ani.

Armenia reached the height of its golden era during the reign of the Kings Abas I (928-951), Ashot III (952/953-977), and his sons Smbat II (X) (977-989) and Gagik I (990-1020), an era which according to Muyldermans “in regard to its brilliance and glory was unique.” Ashot III won the favour of the caliphate by defeating one of the emirs in Azerbaijan who had revolted against Baghdad and attacked Armenia. During the war between the Byzantine emperor John Tzimiskes and the Arabs, Armenia did its best to remain neutral and forced the two battling parties to respect the boundaries of its country. The Byzantine army began to march across the plain of Moush, thinking to strike the decisive blow against the Arabs from Armenia, but when they met with the 30,000 strong army of Ashot III, they altered their plan and left the Armenia territory.

Ashot III's army grew constantly and during the reign of Ashot III it consisted of 90,000 men equipped for combat. 100 An army of this size Armenia had not seen since the times of Tigran II and was an impressive number at that time – an indicator that the Bagratouni Armenia was a major power in the region.^{[citation needed]}

The great empire of Byzantine never exceeded 150,000 even during the peak of its power, and in general reached around 100,000.^{[citation needed]}

Moreover, the Byzantine army was a professional army, consisting of mercenaries, whilst the army of Bagratouni Armenia was a national army consisting of its armed people.^{[citation needed]}

He was the father of Prince Taros, fl 1000, father of Ruben, Governor of Larisse in 1025, and grandfather of Prince John-Smbat, who was the father of Ruben I of Armenia.

[edit] References

• J. Muyldermans, La Domination arabe en Arménie, Paris, 1927, p. 144
• F. Macler, Armenia, The Kingdom of the Bagratides, The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. IV, p. 161.