Varazdat

Varazdat was a king of Arsacid Armenia in the fourth century, ruling from 374 or 375 until 378. The Roman emperor Valens installed him after the assassination of his kinsman King Pap, at a time when a large Roman army stood in Armenia and the nobility had little choice but to accept him. Early in his reign he was under the regency of the general Mushegh Mamikonian, but he soon clashed with him, and the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium says his tutor Bat Saharuni urged him to have the general killed. Varazdat apparently had Mushegh assassinated at a banquet after Roman troops left Armenia to fight the Goths. Mushegh's kinsman Manuel Mamikonian then marched against him, defeated him in single combat but spared his life, and Varazdat fled to the Roman Empire. Manuel installed Pap's two young sons as co-rulers. His parentage is uncertain, and the sources disagree on how his reign ended.