Arshak II participated in the Roman emperor Julian's ill-fated campaign against Persia; after the consequent Perso-Roman Treaty of 363, Armenia was left to fend for itself against a renewed attack by the Persian king Shapur II.
20 Facts About Arshak II
1.
2.
Arshak II's reign was followed by the conquest and devastation of Armenia by the Persians, although his son and heir Pap managed to escape and later ascended to the Armenian throne with Roman assistance.
3.
Arshak II was the name of the eponymous founder of the ruling dynasty of the Parthian Empire, of which the Armenian Arsacids were a branch.
4.
Arshak II was the second son of Tiran by a mother whose name is unknown.
5.
Arshak II preferred to rule from his royal encampment rather than from the capital Dvin.
6.
Arshak II seems to have attempted to balance Armenia's relations with the Roman and Sassanid empires.
7.
In 358, at Constantius II's suggestion, Arshak II married the Greek noblewoman Olympias, daughter of the late consul Ablabius.
8.
In 359, Arshak II ordered the murder of his nephews Gnel and Tirit.
9.
Arshak II's plan was opposed by the clergy and nobility, who destroyed the city and killed its inhabitants.
10.
In 363, the Romans and Sasanian empires clashed again, and Arshak II raided Persian territory in support of Emperor Julian's campaign.
11.
Arshak II was sent to the Castle of Oblivion in Khuzestan.
12.
The Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus gives an alternative account where Arshak II is captured, blinded and executed by the Persians.
13.
Arshak II is held in poor regard and is described as sinful by the classical Armenian historians, which can partly be explained by his acrimonious relationship with the Armenian church.
14.
Arshak II had two known wives: the Greek noblewoman Olympias and the Armenian noblewoman Parandzem.
15.
Arshak II was married to Olympias until her death in 361, purportedly by poisoning at the instigation of Parandzem.
16.
Arshak II's other known wife, Parandzem, was a member of the Siuni dynasty and the widow of Arshak II's nephew Gnel.
17.
Arshak II proposes another hypothesis according to which Arshak and Parandzem had Pap around 350, after which Parandzem was passed to Gnel in a temporary marriage and later taken back by Arshak, thus explaining how Pap could have been born prior to Gnel's death in 359.
18.
Arshak II is the titular character of the first Armenian classical opera, Arshak II, composed by Tigran Chukhajian to a bilingual Italian-Armenian libretto by Tovmas Terzian in 1868.
19.
Bedros Minasian and Mkrtich Beshiktashlian wrote plays where Arshak II is the titular character.
20.
Arshak II is a character in the play by Sargis Vanandetsi.