Groong Links:
Guest:
Topics:
- Vardanank Wars and Battle of Avarayr
- Armenian Sources, Yeghishe and Parpetsi
- Politics, Christianity, Nakharar Power Dynamics
Episode 518 | Recorded: February 22, 2026
#GroongDeepHistory #Vardanank #BattleOfAvarayr #ArmenianHistory #ZarouiPogossian
Show Notes
In the inaugural Groong Deep History episode, historian Prof. Zaroui Pogossian joins the show to unpack the Vardanank wars and the Battle of Avarayr (451 AD). The conversation sets the longer political and religious context behind the conflict, explains what we can and cannot know from the main Armenian sources, and revisits the standard “moral victory” story through modern source criticism. Pogossian also discusses her work on medieval Armenia and previews an upcoming scholarly volume on Medieval Yeghegis, then uses a critical reading by Hayk Hakobyan to question common assumptions about Avarayr’s scale, geography, and strategy.
Main Topics Addressed
- Launch of the new Deep History series
- Medieval Armenia research, and the Yeghegis scholarly project
- Why Vardanank remains central to Armenian identity
- What Armenian sources say about Avarayr (451)
- The geopolitical setup: 387 partition, 428 end of Arsacids, Persian administration
- Christianity, Church authority, and the dynastic catholicosate
- Nakharar politics, the Mamikonians, and elite fractures
- Re-reading Avarayr as strategy, not mythmaking
Key Questions Discussed
- What is Pogossian’s research focus, and why medieval Armenia?
- What is Yeghegis, and why build a full volume around it?
- Who were Yeghishe and Ghazar Parpetsi, and how reliable are they?
- Who wrote history in Armenia in this period, and for whom?
- How did the 387 partition reshape Armenian life and power?
- Why did the nakharars accept Persian rule after 428?
- What changed after the deaths of Sahak and Mashtots?
- What did Armenia’s internal offices (sparapet, marzpet, hazarapet, Church) mean in practice?
- Who were Vartan and Vasak, and what drove their choices?
- What parts of the standard Avarayr story rest on later tradition and weak reconstruction?
Referenced Articles & Sources
- Books by Prof. Pogossian:
- Original historical sources:
- Eghishe:
- Eghishe: “History of Vardan and The Armenian War” (archive.org)
- Video of Armenian narration of Eghishe’s history
- Archbishop Boghos Levon Zekian’s analysis of Eghishe’s history
- Parpetsi:
- Eghishe:
- Battle of Avarayr by historian Hayk Hakobyan
- Interview of Hayk Hakobyan on Bun TV
Wrap-up
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Thanks to Laura Osborn for the music on our podcasts.
Guests
Zaroui Pogossian
Prof. Zaroui (Zara) Pogossian is a specialist in medieval Armenian history, culture and religion, especially in relation to other peoples, cultures and religions in West Asia. She is Associate Professor of Byzantine Civilization at the University of Florence, and the Principal Investigator of the prestigious European Research Council project ArmEn: Armenia Entangled: Connectivity and Cultural Encounters in Medieval Eurasia 9th-14th Centuries. Pogossian is the author of a monograph on “The Letter of Love and Concord”, Leiden 2011, editor of several books and author of numerous articles. She has been the recipient of various fellowships, such as from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany), Käte Hamburger Collegium at the Center for Religious Studies (University of Bochum, Germany) and the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (University of Erlangen, Germany). Prof. Pogossian is a co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of Armeniaca: International Journal of Armenian Studies (first issue in September 2022). She is one of the founding members and general editors of the series Eastern Christian Cultures in Contact (Brepols editors).
Hosts
Asbed Bedrossian
Asbed Bedrossian is an IT professional, and for years oversaw the central IT enterprise infrastructure and services at USC. His decades of experience spanned across IT strategy, enterprise architecture, infrastructure, cybersecurity, enterprise applications, data center operations, high performance computing, ITSM, ITPM, and more.
Asbed founded the Armenian News Network Groong circa 1989/1990, and co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020.
Hovik Manucharyan
Hovik Manucharyan is an information security engineer who moved from Seattle to Armenia in 2022. He co-founded the ANN/Groong podcast in 2020 and has been a contributor to Groong News since the late 1990s.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by Hovik Manucharyan on the ANN/Groong podcast are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of his employer or any other organization.