History of the House of the Artsrunik'

by Thomas Artsruni

Translation and Commentary by Robert W. Thomson

Thomas Artsruni's vivid description of life in southern Armenia under Muslim domination in the second half of the 9th century is more than a record of the caliph's brutal attempts to subdue an unruly province. Thomas speaks for the Armenian nobility of the 9th and 10th centuries, portraying the ethos of traditional life before the collapse of Armenian independence later. The driving forces of social life in Thomas's day are vividly described.

Included in this unique history of southern Armenia is an account of the fall of the Sasanian dynasty in which Khosrow II was put to flight by Heraclius, who then ravaged Ctesiphon and seized the treasures of the Sasanian capital. A later section details the splendid decorations of Alt'amar at Lake Van, where the Armenian king Gagik built a palace with 'domes like heaven, ornamented with gold and shining lights.'

Because Armenia was an outlying region where the Byzantine and Arab empires clashed, this history provides valuable information for Armeno-Arab-Byzantine relations and for those interested in the history of western Asia, Islam and Christianity.