The legends of Artasches and Satenik, and of Artavasd, the son of
Artasches, belong to the Arsacid period, for Artavasd and Artasches
are Armenian kings of the Arsacid dynasty, according to Moses. [40]
The Alans who, according to the legend, were a neighboring people
residing in the mountain region in the vicinity of Georgia, spread
themselves over Armenia while Artasches, the Armenian king, collected
a great army and forced the Alans to retreat across the river Kur
where they pitched camp. The son of the Alan king was taken captive
and brought to Artasches, which forced the former to seek peace on
whatever terms the Armenian king might wish, provided only his son
was returned in safety. But Artasches refused, whereupon the sister
of the captured boy came to the river bank, and standing upon a great
rock spoke to the camp of Artasches by means of interpreters saying:
"Oh brave Artasches, who hast vanquished the great nation of Alans,
unto thee I speak. Come, hearken unto the bright-eyed daughter of
the Alan king and give back the youth. For it is not the way of
heroes to destroy life at the root, nor for the sake of humbling
and enslaving a hostage to establish everlasting enmity between two
great nations." [41] Artasches, having heard of these sayings went
to the river bank and having seen that the girl was beautiful,
and listened to her words of wisdom, wished to marry her. His
chamberlain considered it a wise stroke of policy, and therefore
went to the Alan king, soliciting the hand of the princess for his
master, whose oaths and assurances of peace he vouched for, together
with the promise to return the boy. The king of the Alans answered,
"From whence shall brave Artasches give thousands upon thousands,
and ten thousands upon tens of thousands in return for the maiden?"
Writes Moses:
Concerning this, the poets of that land sing in their songs:
"Brave King Artasches
Mounted his fine black charger,
And took the red leathern cord
With the golden ring.
Like a swift winged eagle
He passed over the river
And cast the golden ring
Round the waist of the Alan Princess;
Causing much pain to the tender maiden
As he bore her swiftly back to his camp."
Which being interpreted meaneth that he was commanded to give
much gold, leather, and crimson dye in exchange for the maiden. So
also they sing of the wedding:
"It rained showers of gold when Artasches became a bridegroom,
It rained pearls when Satenik became a bride."
For it was the custom of our kings to scatter coins amongst the
people when they arrived at the doors of the temple for their
wedding, as also for the queens to scatter pearls in their
bride-chamber. [42]
The couplet quoted is still sung by the Armenians, and it is still
customary for the bridegroom to scatter money on his way to the
church, and though it may be for queens to scatter pearls, the
Armenian bride is not to be outdone. She is given a partly opened
pomegranate which she throws at the door of the bridegroom upon the
arrival at the bridegroom's home after the ceremony at the church,
the bits of pomegranate scattering themselves about as pearls.
After fifty-one years of a very prosperous reign, Artasches, who was
very much beloved by his people, died. The funeral procession was a
most magnificent one, and many of the people killed themselves, out
of love for their dead king, according to the custom of the time. And
when the body was laid in the grave they threw precious jewels, gold,
and silver after it. Nor did the lamenting and suicide stop after
his burial, for upon the grave of their dead king the nobles and
the people continued to kill themselves. So great was the slaughter
that Artavasd, son of Artasches, and king after his father's death,
addressed the spirit of his dead father, saying, "Behold, thou art
taking all with thee; dost thou leave me to rule over ruins and the
dead?" The words given by Moses of Khorene are: "Now that thou art
gone, and hast taken with thee the whole land, how shall I reign over
the ruins?" [43] Whereupon the spirit of Artasches cursed him and said,
"When thou ridest forth to hunt
Over the free heights of Ararat,
The strong ones shall have thee,
And shall take thee up
On to the free heights of Ararat.
There shalt thou abide,
And never more see the light." [44]
These words together with those of Artavasd spoken to his father's
spirit were sung by the singers of the time. [45]
One day while out hunting Artavasd was seized by some visionary terror
and lost his reason. Urging his horse down a steep bank he fell into
a chasm where he sank and disappeared. Old women told how he was
confined in a cavern and bound with iron chains which his two dogs
gnawed at daily in order to set him free. But somehow at the sound
of the hammers striking on the anvils, the chains were continually
strengthened, and it was customary among the blacksmiths of the time
to strike the anvil three or four times to strengthen, as they said,
the chains of Artavasd. And so the tradition was kept up by singers and
blacksmiths; the blacksmiths and old women having consigned the jealous
king to the world's nethermost regions, while the singers left him
to the solitude of Ararat in accordance with the curse of Artasches.