Battle of Avarayr

39°20′20″N 45°3′26″E / 39.33889°N 45.05722°E / 39.33889; 45.05722

Battle of Avarayr

A 15th-century Armenian miniature depicting the battle
Date26 May 451[1][2]
Location
Avarayr Plain, Canton of Artaz, Vaspurakan, Greater Armenia
(modern-day Chors, Chaypareh County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran)
Result Sasanian victory[3][4][5]
Belligerents
Sasanian Empire
Pro-Sasanian Armenians		 Christian Armenians
Commanders and leaders
Vasak of Syunik
Mushkan Niusalavurt		 Vardan Mamikonian †
Ghevond Vanandetsi[6]
Strength
200,000[4]–300,000[7] Sasanians
60,000 Armenian loyalists[7]
Unknown number of elephants		 66,000 Armenians[7]
Casualties and losses
Heavy[5] Heavy[5]

The Battle of Avarayr (Armenian: Ավարայրի ճակատամարտ, romanized: Avarayri chakatamart) was fought on 26 May 451 on the Avarayr Plain in Vaspurakan between a Christian Armenian army under Vardan Mamikonian and Sassanid Persia. It is considered one of the first battles in defense of the Christian faith.[8] Although the Persians were victorious on the battlefield, it was a pyrrhic victory. The Armenians were allowed to continue practising Christianity freely.[4][5]

The battle is seen as one of the most significant events in Armenian history.[9] The commander of the Armenian forces, Vardan Mamikonian, is considered a national hero and has been canonized by the Armenian Apostolic Church.[10][11]

  1. ^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  2. ^ Nicholson, Oliver (2018-04-19). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192562463.
  3. ^ Susan Paul Pattie, Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997), p. 40.
  4. ^ a b c Thomson, Robert W. (August 17, 2011). "Avarayr". Encyclopædia Iranica. So spirited was the Armenian defence, however, that the Persians suffered enormous losses as well. Their victory was pyrrhic and the king, faced with troubles elsewhere, was forced, at least for the time being, to allow the Armenians to worship as they chose.
  5. ^ a b c d Susan Paul Pattie (1997). Faith in History: Armenians Rebuilding Community. Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 40. ISBN 1560986298. The Armenian defeat in the Battle of Avarayr in 451 proved a pyrrhic victory for the Persians. Though the Armenians lost their commander, Vartan Mamikonian, and most of their soldiers, Persian losses were proportionately heavy, and Armenia was allowed to remain Christian.
  6. ^ The Golden Age: Minor Writers, The Heritage of Armenian Literature, Vol. 1, ed. Agop Jack Hacikyan (Wayne State University Press, 2000), 360.
  7. ^ a b c Babessian, Hovhannes (1965). "The Vartanantz Wars". The Armenian Review. 18: 16–19.
  8. ^ Agadjanian, Alexander (2014). "Six: Elements of the Armenian Ethno-Religious Genealogy". Armenian Christianity Today: Identity Politics and Popular Practice. Routledge. ISBN 978-1472412713.
  9. ^ Hakobyan, Науk (2003). "Ավարայրի ճակատամարտը (պատմաքննական տեսություն) [The Avarayr Battle (historical-critical review)]". Patma-Banasirakan Handes (in Armenian) (1): 40–67.
  10. ^ Robert Armot, Alfred Aghajanian (2007). Armenian literature: comprising poetry, drama, folklore, and classic traditions. Los Angeles: Indo-European Pub. p. 5. ISBN 9781604440003.
  11. ^ Suny, Ronald Grigor (1993). Looking toward Ararat Armenia in modern history. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. p. 4. ISBN 9780253207739.