43

Taron. And he asked to take a wife from the imperial relatives, and the emperor gave him the sister of the magistros Theophylaktos as a wife. And after the marriage he drew up a will, in which he declared that: "If children are born to me from such a wife, they are to have my entire land as an ancestral inheritance." And upon this he asked the emperor that the suburb of Gregoras be given to him so that the patrikia, his wife, might reside in it, and that after her death this suburb should belong again to his majesty. And the emperor consented to this also, and after receiving him with many honors, he sent him forth with his own wife to his land. But the sons of the magistros Krikorikios, both Pankratios the patrikios himself and Asotios the patrikios, were greatly distressing and oppressing their own cousin, Tornikios the patrikios, who, not enduring the attack from them, wrote to the emperor to send a faithful man and to take over his land, and to bring him and his wife and their child to the emperor. And the emperor sent the protospatharios Krinites and interpreter to take him up according to his request and bring him into the God-guarded city. But when Krinites took possession of that land, he found that he had already departed this life, having ordained before his death that all his land be subject to the emperor of the Romans, and that his wife and his child go to the emperor, to whom, on her arrival, the emperor gave for a residence the house of the protospatharios Michael, who had once been kommerkiarios of Chaldia, and the monastery of Psomatheos. And again the said Krinites was sent by the emperor to take over the land of Apoganem, that is the portion of the patrikios Tornikios. But the sons of the Taronite, the cousins of the deceased, sent from there in return, requesting to give Oulnoutin and to have the land of their cousin, for they could not live at all if the emperor were to possess the land of their cousin as his own. And the emperor, yielding out of his own goodness, fulfilled their request, and gave to them the land of Apoganem, their cousin, while he himself took over Oulnoutin with all its surrounding country. And the whole land of Taron happened to be divided into two, of which the sons of the magistros Krikorikios had one half, and the sons of Apoganem the patrikios, their cousins, the other half. 44 Concerning the land of Apachounes and the fortress of Manzikert and of Perkri and of Chliat and of Chaliat and of Arzes and of Tibi and of Chert and of Salamas and of Tzermatzou. It is to be known that before Asotios, the archon of archons, the father of Symbatios, the archon of archons, whom the emir of Persia, Aposatai, beheaded, who also begat two sons, both Asotios, who after him became archon of archons, and Apasakios, who was afterwards honored as magistros, these three fortresses, Perkri and Chaliat and Arzes, happened to be under the dominion of Persia. That the archon of archons had his seat in great Armenia, in the fortress of Kars, and he also held the three afore-written fortresses, Perkri and Chaliat and Arzes and Tibi and Chert and Salamas. That Apelbart held Manzikert, and was under the authority of Asotios, the archon of archons, the father of Symbatios, the archon of archons. And this same Asotios, the archon of archons, gave to the same Apelbart the fortress of Chliat and Arzes and Perkri; for the aforesaid Asotios, the archon of archons, the father of Symbatios, the archon of archons, held all the lands of the east. And when Apelbart died, his own son, Abelchamit, took his authority, and when Abelchamit died, his first son, Aposebatas, held his authority.

43

Ταρών. Ἠιτήσατο δὲ καὶ γυναῖκα λαβεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλικῶν συγγενίδων, καὶ δέδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν τοῦ μαγίστρου Θεοφυλάκτου ἀδελφὴν εἰς γυναῖκα. Καὶ μετὰ τὸν γάμον διαθήκας ἐξέθετο, ἐν αἷς ἐδήλου, ὅτι· "Ἐάν μοι γένωνται παῖδες ἀπὸ τῆς τοιαύτης γυναικός, ἵνα ἔχουσιν τὴν ἅπασάν μου χώραν εἰς κλῆρον προγονικόν." Καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ᾐτήσατο τὸν βασιλέα δοθῆναι αὐτῷ τὸ προάστειον τοῦ Γρηγορᾶ πρὸς τὸ ἐν αὐτῷ τὴν πατρικίαν, τὴν τούτου γυναῖκα καθέζεσθαι, μετὰ δὲ τὴν αὐτῆς ἀποβίωσιν εἶναι πάλιν τὸ τοιοῦτον προάστειον τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἐπένευσεν καὶ πρὸς τοῦτο ὁ βασιλεύς, καὶ πολλαῖς φιλοτιμίαις αὐτὸν δεξιωσάμενος, μετὰ τῆς ἰδίας γυναικὸς ἐξαπέστειλεν εἰς τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ. Οἱ δὲ υἱοὶ τοῦ μαγίστρου Κρικορικίου, ὅ τε αὐτὸς Παγκράτιος ὁ πατρίκιος καὶ Ἀσώτιος ὁ πατρίκιος, μεγάλως παρελύπουν καὶ ἐβιάζοντο τὸν οἰκεῖον αὐτῶν ἐξάδελφον, Τορνίκιον τὸν πατρίκιον, ὃς μὴ ὑποφέρων τὴν ἀπὸ τούτων ἐπίθεσιν, ἔγραψε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα ἀποστεῖλαι πιστὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ παραλαβεῖν τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ, αὐτὸν δὲ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὸ παιδίον αὐτῶν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα εἰσαγαγεῖν. Ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἀπέστειλεν τὸν πρωτοσπαθάριον Κρινίτην καὶ ἑρμηνέα πρὸς τὸ κατὰ τὴν ἀξίωσιν αὐτοῦ ἀναλαβέσθαι καὶ εἰσαγαγεῖν αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ θεοφυλάκτῳ πόλει. Ὅτε δὲ τὴν τοιαύτην χώραν ὁ Κρινίτης κατέλαβεν, εὗρεν αὐτὸν ἤδη τὸν βίον ἀπολιπόντα, διαταξάμενον πρὸς τῆς τελευτῆς εἶναι πᾶσαν τὴν χώραν αὐτοῦ ὑποκειμένην τῷ βασιλεῖ Ῥωμαίων, τὴν δὲ γυναῖκα καὶ τὸ παιδίον αὐτοῦ εἰσελθεῖν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ᾗ καὶ δέδωκεν ὁ βασιλεὺς εἰς κατοίκησιν, εἰσελθούσης, τοῦ πρωτοσπαθαρίου Μιχαήλ, τοῦ ποτε γεγονότος κομμερκιαρίου Χαλδίας καὶ τὴν τοῦ Ψωμαθέως μονήν. Καὶ πάλιν ἀπεστάλη ὁ εἰρημένος Κρινίτης παρὰ τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς τὸ παραλαβεῖν τὴν χώραν τοῦ Ἀπογάνεμ, ἤτοι τὸ μέρος τοῦ πατρικίου Τορνικίου. Ἀνταπέστειλαν δὲ ἐκεῖθεν τοῦ Ταρωνίτου υἱοί, οἱ τοῦ ἀποθανόντος ἐξάδελφοι, ἀξιοῦντες δοῦναι τὸ Οὐλνούτιν καὶ ἔχειν τὴν χώραν τοῦ ἐξαδέλφου αὐτῶν, μὴ γὰρ δύνασθαι ὅλως αὐτοὺς ζῆν, εἰ τὴν τοῦ ἐξαδέλφου αὐτῶν χώραν ὡς οἰκείαν κατάσχῃ ὁ βασιλεύς. Οἰκείᾳ δὲ ἀγαθότητι ὑπείξας ὁ βασιλεὺς τὴν αἴτησιν αὐτῶν ἐξεπλήρωσεν, καὶ δέδωκεν αὐτοῖς μὲν τὴν χώραν τοῦ Ἀπογάνεμ, τοῦ ἐξαδέλφου αὐτῶν, αὐτὸς δὲ ἀνελάβετο τὸ Οὐλνούτιν μετὰ πάσης τῆς περιχώρου αὐτοῦ. Ἡ δὲ ὅλη τοῦ Ταρὼν χώρα εἰς δύο διανεμηθεῖσα ἐτύγχανεν, ἧς τὸ μὲν ἥμισυ οἱ τοῦ μαγίστρου Κρικορικίου εἶχον υἱοί, τὸ δὲ ἥμισυ οἱ τοῦ Ἀπογάνεμ τοῦ πατρικίου, οἱ τούτων ἐξάδελφοι. 44 Περὶ τῆς χώρας τοῦ Ἀπαχουνῆς καὶ τοῦ κάστρου τοῦ Μανζικίερτ καὶ τοῦ Περκρὶ καὶ τοῦ Χλιὰτ καὶ τοῦ Χαλιὰτ καὶ τοῦ Ἀρζὲς καὶ τοῦ Τιβὶ καὶ τοῦ Χὲρτ καὶ τοῦ Σαλαμᾶς καὶ τοῦ Τζερματζοῦ. Ἰστέον, ὅτι πρὸ τοῦ Ἀσωτίου, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν ἀρχόντων, τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ Συμβατίου, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν ἀρχόντων, ὃν ἀπεκεφάλισεν ὁ ἀμηρᾶς Περσίδος, ὁ Ἀποσάται, ὃς καὶ ἐποίησεν δύο υἱούς, τόν τε Ἀσώτιον, τὸν μετ' αὐτὸν γενόμενον ἄρχοντα τῶν ἀρχόντων, καὶ Ἀπασάκιον, τὸν μετὰ ταῦτα μάγιστρον τιμηθέντα, τὰ τρία ταῦτα κάστρα τό τε Περκρὶ καὶ τὸ Χαλιὰτ καὶ τὸ Ἀρζές, ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς Περσίδος ἐπικράτειαν ἐτύγχανον. Ὅτι ὁ ἄρχων ἐκαθέζετο τῶν ἀρχόντων εἰς τὴν μεγάλην Ἀρμενίαν, εἰς τὸ κάστρον τὸ Κάρς, καὶ ἐπεῖχεν καὶ τὰ τρία τὰ προγεγραμμένα κάστρα, τό τε Περκρὶ καὶ τὸ Χαλιὰτ καὶ τὸ Ἀρζὲς καὶ τὸ Τιβὶ καὶ τὸ Χὲρτ καὶ τὸ Σαλαμᾶς. Ὅτι Ἀπελβὰρτ ἐκράτει τὸ Μανζικίερτ, καὶ ἦν ὑπὸ τὴν ἐξουσίαν Ἀσωτίου, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν ἀρχόντων, τοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ Συμβατίου, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν ἀρχόντων. ∆έδωκεν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ Ἀπελβὰρτ ὁ αὐτὸς Ἀσώτιος, ὁ ἄρχων τῶν ἀρχόντων, καὶ τὸ κάστρον τὸ Χλιὰτ καὶ τὸ Ἀρζὲς καὶ τὸ Περκρί· ὁ γὰρ προρρηθεὶς Ἀσώτιος, ὁ ἄρχων τῶν ἀρχόντων, ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ Συμβατίου, τοῦ ἄρχοντος τῶν ἀρχόντων, κατεῖχεν πάσας τὰς τῆς ἀνατολῆς χώρας. Τελευτήσαντος δὲ Ἀπελβάρτ, κατέσχεν τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῦ ὁ ἴδιος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ὁ Ἀβελχαμίτ, τοῦ δὲ Ἀβελχαμὶτ τελευτήσαντος, ἐκράτησε τὴν ἐξουσίαν αὐτοῦ ὁ πρῶτος υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ὁ Ἀποσεβατᾶς.