Ascendancy To The Throne
During Sassanid King Shapur II's invasion of the Kingdom of Armenia, Pharantzem and Pap were holed up with the Armenian treasure in the fortress of Artogerassa defended by a troop of Azats. According to Ammianus Marcellinus, the Persian invasion force was commanded by two Armenian defectors, Cylaces (Glak) and Artabanes (Vahan). Shapur II's intention was to replace the Armenian Arsacid monarchy with a non-Arsacid but still Armenian Naxarar diarchy. Faustus of Byzantium in his Epic Histories also mentions two Armenian nakharars, Meruzhan Artsruni and Vahan Mamikonian in leadership positions under Shapur II's suzerainty as well as Zik and Karen who carried Persian noble titles. This also implies that Shapur II might have intended to combine Sassanid administrative rule (Zik and Karen) with that of Naxarar rule (Artsruni and Mamikonian).
During the siege, Arsaces II’s wife Pharantzem appealed to Cylaces and Artabanes in the name of her husband who defected back to the Arsacid monarchy and engineered the escape of Pap. Themistius reported of Pap's arrival at Valens' court in Marcianopolis where the Emperor was wintering. Valens bade him to stay at Neocaesarea in Pontus Polemoniacus three hundred kilometers from the Armenian border. In 369, Pap returned to Armenian territory at the request of the nobility. He was accompanied by the comes et dux Terentius but was not yet endowed with a royal rank.
Read more about this topic: Pap Of Armenia
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