Artavazd

But Artavazd lay under the curse of his father Artashes.

At the time of Artashes' death, when many were willingly taking their own lives for the sake of their beloved king and great carnage was taking place, Artavazd was stricken with anguish and cried out to his father:

While you depart

And take the whole world with you,

Over what ruins am I to reign?

Artashes cursed his son with these words:

When you mount your horse and ride out to the hunt,

Up along the Azat, toward Masis,

May the kajakqs seize you and carry you off —

Up along the Azat, toward Masis —

There to remain and never see the light.

Before long the father's curse was fulfilled. One day, while riding out to hunt on the slopes of Masis, the kajakqs seized Artavazd, bound him in chains, and imprisoned him in one of the caves of Masis. Two dogs gnaw ceaselessly at Artavazd's chains in order to free him from his bonds. Artavazd strains and struggles, trying to break his chains, emerge from the cave, and bring ruin upon the world. Throughout the year the dogs' gnawing wears the chains so thin that at the New Year they become as slender as a hair. Yet on the eve of every New Year — that is, at the beginning of Navasard, the ancient Armenian New Year — blacksmiths strike their anvils three times with their hammers, and as a result Artavazd's chains are doubled in thickness and strength, and Artavazd can no longer emerge from the cave. Even until recent times, blacksmiths following the ancient custom would strike their anvils three or four times with their hammers every Sunday evening, so that Artavazd's chains might hold firm.

According to an ancient tradition, when Artavazd was born, women of the dragon-kin descended from Azhdhahak's lineage cast a spell upon him, stole him from his cradle, and put a demon in his place.

TIRAN AND YERAKHNAVU

After Artavazd, his brother Tiran reigns — a man passionately devoted to hunting and riding. He possessed two nimble, exceedingly swift horses that raced as though flying through the air.

The lord Datake of the Bzuniats asked Tiran for permission to ride those celebrated swift-footed horses. And when he rode them, he boasted that he was wealthier than the king himself.

From the clan of Andzevatsyats there was a brave young man named Yerakhnavu, who had married Artavazd's last wife, brought from Greece. And since Artavazd had left no heir, Tiran transferred Artavazd's entire household and all his property to Yerakhnavu. The latter was not only brave but modest, upright, of excellent character, and law-abiding. The king loved and honoured him so warmly that he even entrusted to Yerakhnavu the throne of second-in-rank, which Artavazd had previously held, and gave him command of the eastern forces as well.

Tiran left with Yerakhnavu one of his trusted men — a Persian named Drvasp, connected by marriage to the nobles of Vaspurakan — while he himself moved the court to the town of Chermes in the province of Yekeghyats and settled there. After reigning for twenty-one years, Tiran died by accident: travelling in winter, he was caught in a blizzard and smothered in the snow.

TRDAT BAGRATUNI

Among the Bagratuni clan there was a brave, fearless man named Trdat — grandson of Smbat Bagratuni, son of Smbatuhi, powerful and stout-hearted, though short of stature and plain of face.

King Tiran gave his daughter Eranyak in marriage to Trdat, making him his son-in-law. But from the very first Eranyak did not love her husband; she disdained him, knitted her brows whenever she looked at him, and complained and lamented without cease that a woman of such beauty and noble birth was compelled to live with a man who was homely and of common origin.

Trdat, unable to endure this contempt any longer, one day flew into a violent rage, beat Eranyak savagely, cut off her auburn hair, tore out her braids, and ordered her to be dragged from the room. He himself rose in revolt against the king and made for the impregnable strongholds of Media. But he had barely reached Syunik when the news of Tiran's death overtook him there. Trdat went no further toward Media and remained in Syunik.

One day Bakur, the patriarch of Syunik, invited Trdat to supper at his palace. When the meal was over and the revelry began — the merry feasting and wine-drinking, with the singing and dancing of gusans and female performers — Trdat noticed among the dancers a woman of surpassing beauty, by the name of Nazenik. Nazenik sang and danced with exquisite grace. The wine-flushed Trdat gazed in rapture at the beautiful Nazenik and her wondrous dancing, and desired her with every fibre of his being. Turning to Bakur, Trdat demanded imperiously:

“Give me that dancer.”

“I will not,” Bakur objected with jealous fury. “She is my concubine; I will not give her up.”

Trdat rose from his seat, walked up to Nazenik, seized her by the hand, drew her to him, sat her upon his knee, and before all the guests at table embraced her with the unbridled passion and longing of a young man in love, pressed her to his chest, and kissed her wildly.

Bakur, rigid with jealousy, rose from his place to snatch Nazenik from Trdat's grasp.

YOUNG VARDGES AND VAGHARSH

In the time of the Armenian king Yervand Sakavakyats, a spirited young man named Vardges from the province of Tuhaats migrated to Ayrarat, married the sister of Yervand Sakavakyats, and near the Shresh hill, by the city of Artemid and the Kasagh River, built a village and named it Vardgesavan after himself. Of this the ancient storytellers sang in their songs:

Young Vardges left and departed

From the province of Tuhaats, along the Kasagh River,

Came and settled by the Shresh hill,

By the city of Artemid, along the Kasagh River,

To knock upon the door of King Yervand.

Vardgesavan was later resettled by Tigran the Great with Jewish captives and made into a prosperous market town.

The wife of Tigran the Last — brother of Tiran — was seized by the pains of labour while on the road, departing from the winter quarters of Ayrarat, and in the province of Basen, at the confluence of the Murts and Araxes rivers, gave birth to a son — Vagharsh.

When Vagharsh became king, he immortalised the memory of his birthplace and near that same confluence built a village, naming it Vagharshavan after himself. Vagharsh also restored the old Vardgesavan, fortified it with a strong embankment, encircled it with walls, and renamed it after himself — Vagharshapat.

In the time of Vagharsh, the Khazars and the Basils, dwelling to the north of the Caucasian mountains, came out through the Chor Gate and inundated Transcaucasia with their multitudes. Led by their king Vnasep Surhap, they came and crossed the Kura River. Vagharsh, king of Armenia, went out against these northern peoples with his great host of soldiers and bold warriors. Vagharsh inflicted a mighty defeat upon the enemy; the entire plain was covered with enemy dead. The remaining enemy forces, driven before Vagharsh, retreated back through the Chor Gate. There the enemy regrouped and gave battle once more. Though the Armenian warriors defeated the enemy and put them to flight, Vagharsh was struck by an arrow from the archers and slain.