Sanesan
Udi · mortal · Udi traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Sanesan is the pagan antagonist of the Albanian conversion narrative. An Arsacid ruler over the Mazkut (Massagetae) and allied Hun and Alan tribes along the Caspian, he received the young bishop Grigoris but, when the bishop denounced the worship of idols, had him bound to a wild horse and dragged to his death on the plain of Vatnean. Faustus of Byzantium goes on to describe Sanesan's subsequent invasion of Armenia. In the sacred history of the Albanian church he embodies the idolatrous power that the martyr's blood ultimately overcomes.
Domains
- kingship
- persecution
Powers
- leads the nomad host of the Mazkut
- puts the boy-bishop to death
Relations
- enemy: GrigorisKilled the missionary bishop Grigoris.Pʿawstos Buzand, The Epic Histories, Book III.6, trans. N. G. Garsoïan (Harvard University Press, 1989) (primary)
Sources
- Sanesan, Arsacid king of the Mazkut, martyred the bishop Grigoris and afterward invaded Armenia at the head of the northern nomads.: Pʿawstos Buzand, The Epic Histories, Book III.6-7, trans. N. G. Garsoïan (Harvard University Press, 1989) (primary); Movses Dasxurantsi, The History of the Caucasian Albanians, Book I.14, trans. C.J.F. Dowsett (Oxford University Press, 1961) (primary)