Tiran of Armenia

Tiran Robert H. Hewsen argues that the beginning of the reign of Arshak II should be dated to 338 and that Tiran's reign should be eliminated altogether. Suren Yeremian suggests that Tiran sought to free himself from the tutelage of the clergy and adopt a more lenient attitude towards his non-Christian subjects, thus winning over the anti-Roman and anti-Church section of the nobility. According to the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ, Tiran ordered the murder of Catholicos Husik, the head of the Armenian Church, after the catholicos denied him entry to a church in Sophene on a feast day. After this, the prominent chorbishop Daniel was also murdered on Tiran's orders, and the leadership of the Armenian church passed, for a time, from the Gregorids to the patriarchs of the line of Albianos, who were obedient to the king. The Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ also records Tiran's conflict with the Armenian nobility, incited by the eunuch official Hayr Mardpet. In particular, Tiran is said to have ordered the massacre of the Rshtuni and Artsruni houses, provoking the outrage of the Mamikonians. In Yeremian's view, Tiran, with the help of Hayr Mardpet, centralized royal authority, punished the Armenian magnates with "separatist aspirations" and seized their holdings; this turned the nobility, especially its pro-Roman wing, against him.

During Tiran's reign, the Sasanian king Shapur II launched several campaigns against Rome, during which Armenia was devastated by the Persians. Both Khorenatsi and the older Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ report that Tiran was captured and blinded by the Persians, after which he was succeeded by his son Arshak II. However, the two accounts differ on some details and are mixed with epic elements. Per the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ, Tiran was betrayed to the Persians by his chamberlain Pisak Siuni. According to Yeremian, at one point Tiran attempted to appease Shapur, which angered the Romans and the pro-Roman party in Armenia; after this, the Romans executed Tiran's son Trdat, who was being held as a hostage in Constantinople (as reported by Khorenatsi). Tiran's grandsons Gnel and Tirit were also hostages in Constantinople and were under threat. At this point, writes Yeremian, Tiran changed his policy and reconciled with the pro-Roman party, provoking Shapur's wrath. During the Roman-Sasanian fighting in 344, Tiran was captured and blinded by the Persians. However, after the Battle of Singara and the death of the Persian prince Narseh, he was allowed to return to Armenia in 345 to be succeeded by his son Arshak II. Garsoïan estimates the date of Tiran's capture and deposition as 350. Hakob Manandian considers the story of Tiran's capture and blinding to be an invention of the Armenian epic tradition. According to the fourth-century Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus, Tiran's successor Arshak II was blinded by the Persians. It is possible that Tiran and Arshak were confused in the Armenian epic tradition, from which the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ drew heavily. Khorenatsi writes that Tiran spent the rest of his years in the village of Kuash on the slopes of Mount Aragats, until he was strangled on Arshak II's orders after he admonished his son for his treatment of Gnel, Arshak's nephew; the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ gives no information about Tiran's death. Family Tiran was succeeded by his son Arshak II. According to Movses Khorenatsi, Tiran's eldest son was named Artashes and predeceased him. Artashes was the father of Tirit, later killed by Arshak. Khorenatsi also names a third son of Tiran named Trdat, who was the father of Gnel (also later killed by Arshak) and was executed while a hostage in Byzantium.