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The Battle of Avarayr ((アルメニア語:Ավարայրի ճակատամարտ) ''Avarayri čakatamart''; (ペルシア語:نبرد آوارایر)) was fought on 26 May 451 AD on the Avarayr Plain in Vaspurakan, between the Armenian Army under Vardan Mamikonian and Sassanid Persia. Although the Persians were victorious on the battlefield itself, the battle proved to be a major strategic victory for Armenians, as Avarayr paved the way to the Nvarsak Treaty (484 AD), which affirmed Armenia's right to practice Christianity freely. The battle is widely seen as one of the most significant events in Armenian history. The commander of the Armenian forces, Vardan Mamikonian, is considered a national hero. == Background == The Kingdom of Armenia under the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia was the first nation to officially convert to Christianity, in 301 AD under Tiridates III. In 428, Armenian nobles petitioned Bahram V to depose Artaxias IV (Artashir IV).〔''Introduction to Christian Caucasian History:II: States and Dynasties of the Formative Period'', Cyril Toumanoff, Traditio, Vol. 17, 1961, Fordham University, 6.〕 As a result, the country became a Sassanid dependency with a Sassanid governor. The Armenian nobles initially welcomed Persian rule, provided they were allowed to practice Christianity; but Yazdegerd II, concerned that the Armenian Church was hierarchically dependent on the Latin- and Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian Church (aligned with Rome and Constantinople rather than the Aramaic-speaking, Persian-backed Nestorian Church) tried to compel the Armenian Church to abandon Rome and Byzantium in favor of the Nestorians or simply convert to Zoroastrianism. He summoned the leading Armenian nobles to Ctesiphon, and pressured them into cutting their ties with the Orthodox Church as he had intended.〔Ronald Grigor Suny, ''The Making of the Georgian Nation'', (Indiana University Press, 1994), 23.〕 Yazdegerd II himself was a Zoroastrian rather than a Christian, and his concern was not enforcing a Nestorian orthodoxy but securing political loyalty. According to Armenian tradition, attempts at demolishing churches and building fire-temples were made and a number of Zoroastrian magi were sent, with Persian military backing, to replace Armenian clergy and suppress Christianity. But Yazdegerd's policy created, rather than forestalled, a Christian rebellion in Armenia. When news about the compulsion of the nobles reached Armenia, a mass revolt broke out; on their return, the nobility, led by Vardan Mamikonian, joined the rebels. Yazdegerd II, hearing the news, gathered a massive army to attack Armenia. Vardan Mamikonian sent to Constantinople for aid, as he had good personal relations with Theodosius II, who had made him a general, and he was after all fighting to remain in the Orthodox Church; but this assistance did not arrive in time. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Avarayr」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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