The Armenian-Caucasian Albanian Capture of Sasanian Derbent, 450 CE
Background and Passages
Background
In 450 CE, a rebellious coalition of Armenian and Caucasian Albanian troops stormed and took control of the Sasanian fortifications at the Pass of Derbent (literally “pass”). Subsequently, they negotiated alliances with Hunnic forces and others that reigned beyond the gates of transcaucasia. The assault on the pass took place amid a bloody anti-Sasanian revolt in the Caucasus, which lasted from early spring, 450 CE to late spring, 451 CE. Being one of multiple uprisings in the region in the latter half of the fifth century, there are a wide range of local and broader factors — political developments, the administrative landscape, imperial ideology, and dynastic rivalries— that shaped this rebellion.
The two main text that describe the revolt present the causal sequence of the events thus (with variations): In 449 CE, Yazdgerd II issued a royal decree and summoned the chieftains of the Armenian, Caucasian Albanian, and Georgian noble houses to his court. There, he demanded that they adhere to the Mazdean ways/Zoroastrianism. Various traditions from different regions and communities from the empire likewise recount religious repression during the reigns of Yazdgerd II and Pēroz I.
According to Ghazar P‘arpets‘i, the nobles from the Armenian, Caucasian Albanian, and Georgian convened and decided to feign conversion so that they would be able to reassess their situation from home. This resulted in unrest and divided loyalties among the principalities of the Caucasus. In 450, the powerful and prestigious Mamikonean family, with their Kamsarakan alies, led an all out revolt with a coalition of other leading clans. Learning about the rebellion, some Caucasian Albanian princes sent letters of support and urged the Armenian clans to come and fight the Sasanian forces stationed in Albania. On the other hand, a powerful rival, the Siwni clan, whose chieftain — Vasak — was at the time the highest Sasanian official in Sasanian Armenia and had his sons kept as hostage by the king of kings, would form his own pro-Sasanian coalition.
Vardan, the chieftain of the Mamikoneans, directly led a segment of the rebelling forces to capture the Pass of Derbent, which oversaw traffic between Transcaucasia and the world of the steppes by way of the Caspian Gates. To the north were Hunnic forces and other mountaineer and steppe peoples. The nobility in the Caucasus dreaded fighting the ladder, which they did on various fronts. Vardan calculated that control of the pass would provide significant leverage in the form of mercenaries, as well as the fifth-century equivalent of a nuclear option: the devastation of towns and regions by steppe warriors.
As Vasak had informed Sasanian officials of Vardan’s advance toward Derbent, *Sebukht Nikhorakan, the Sasanian official in charge of northeastern Albania, set out to crush the rebelling force. The armies clashed in Albania by the Iberian frontier, near the village called Khalkhal by the Kura River. In what became known as the Battle of Khalkhal (spring, 450), Vardan managed to rout Sebukht’s forces despite a rash start by his Kamsarakan son-in-law, who charged his cavalry forces on the left flank into deep mud. The following passages from Ghazar P‘arpets‘i History and Eghishē’s treatise describe the violent assault on Derbent by an Armenian-Caucasian Albanian coalition after the Battle of Khalkhal and the alliances they formed with Hunnic forces and others who held sway north of the pass.
Passages
Ghazar P‘arpets‘i, History of the Armenians, II.36
my translation based on the 1904 Tiflis ed.
Having rested at that spot [by Khalkhal] for that day, the following day they marched forth, crossed over the great river called Kur [Kura] River, and arrived at the pass of the wall, which is between the dominions of the Albanians and of the Huns. Encountering the guards of the pass and many other Persian troops there, they put them to the sword and slew them. They placed the pass in the care of an Albanian of royal blood, whose name was Vahan, and dispatched him as ambassador to the Huns and to other garrisons in that area in order to persuade them to form a military alliance. With gusto and enthusiasm, they agreed to help and sealed it [the alliance] with an oath.
Eghishē, On Vardan and the Armenian War, iii
my translation based on the 1957 Erevan ed.
With no lack of vigor, they [Vardan’s troops] also launched attacks on the fortresses and towns which the Persians controlled in the land of the Albanians. Fighting fiercely, they set their mighty strongholds ablaze and [as for] the various hosts of the magi who had brought chaos to the country, wherever they found them in the numerous fortresses of the region, they put them to the sword and laid their corpses for the heavenly birds and earthly beasts. They cleansed the sites of all the impure sacrifices and rescued and liberated the churches from their unimaginable tribulation.
Many from among the Albanian nobility and from all [ranks] of the peasantry who on account of God’s name had scattered and vanished within the fortresses of the Caucasus mountains, upon witnessing the success of the undertaking which God had achieved by means of the Armenian army, they likewise came and mustered [their troops] and merged their forces [with Vardan’s army]. They marched on the pass of the Huns [Pass of Derbent], which the Persians held by force. They seized and destroyed the *pass-defenses and massacred the troops who had been stationed inside, and they handed over control of the pass to Vahan, who was from the royal family of Albania. And concerning [the execution] of all these valiant deeds, not a single one of them fell wounded, but for a blessed one, who perished heroically in the great battle.
Right then and there, they dispatched the man whom they had put in charge of the pass [Vahan] as ambassador to the land of the Huns and to various other barbarian nations which were allied to the Hunnic realm to negotiate terms with them and to make a pact that would indissolubly maintain the [desired] alliance. When they heard about all these [successes by the rebelling forces], promptly and hastily they arrived at that spot and bore witness to the feat of triumph. They did not put off to enter into a pact with an oath with respect to the protocol of their own customs. They also took the Christian oath to firmly maintain the alliance with them.
What happens next
Our sources mainly focus on Sasanian Armenia for the developments immediately following the capture of Derbent. Vasak Siwni’s treason became known and he took over strategic resources across Persarmenia. Vardan divides his forces and spends the winter of 451 CE trying to weaken Vasak by devastating his lands. That spring, a major Sasanian force, with the help of Vasak’s alliance, defeated the rebelling forces in what is known today as the Battle of Awarayr. Vardan and some of the most prominent chieftains in Sasanian Armenia died in that battle.
This was only the first of a series of anti-Sasanian revolts in the Caucasus in the latter half of the fifth century. Steppe warriors would feature in all of them. Vačē II of Caucasian Albania would let steppe warriors through the Derbent pass to unleash havoc on Sasanian forces. Pēroz I would in turn unleash Hunnic forces to devastate Caucasian Albania through the Darial Gorge. In 481 CE, Vahan Mamikonean, the fallen Vardan Mamikonean’s nephew, would join forces with Vakhtang Gorgasali of Iberia (east Georgia). Hunnic forces were to play a major role in this revolt, but, according to Ghazar P‘arpets‘i, Vakhtang did not send the Hunnic mercenaries to Vahan that he had promised. As the Sasanians needed the loyalty of their nobles — which made up the gist of the imperial cavalry — in the Caucasus in order to deal with the constant Hunnic threat and inner strife, Walakhsh would finally agree terms with the Mamikoneans and Kamsarakans in 484 CE. The region would go on to witness various other uprisings in the Sasanian period.
