Abstract
The article is devoted to the Byzantine officer of Armenian origin, Artabanes Arshakuni, who was in the service of the Iranian King of Kings Khosrow I Anushirvan, and later went over to the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. The author pays attention to various aspects of Artabanes’ integration into the ranks of the military nobility of the Eastern Roman empire. An important factor contributing to this process was the support of his relatives and other immigrants from Armenia and Iran. These persons assisted Artabanes to suppress the rebellion raised by Gontharis against the Byzantine authorities in Africa in 546, as well as to make the unsuccessful assassination attempt of Justinian I in 548/549. The value system shared by Artabanes and his entourage had a significant impact on their motivation. When analyzing this problem, the information of Procopius of Caesarea was compared with examples known from the works of ancient Armenian authors.
Keywords
Byzantine Empire, Ancient Armenia, Sasanian Iran, Armenian Arsacids, Arshakuni, socio-cultural adaptation.
Andrey D. Nazarov
Ural State Forest Engineering University, Yekaterinburg, Russia
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