The Nicene Age · AD 313–400
King Tiridates III of Armenia
d. c. 330 · King of Armenia · First Christian monarch · Vagharshapat, Armenia
The Nicene Age
Who King Tiridates III of Armenia was
The king who tortured Gregory the Illuminator and kept him thirteen years in the pit of Khor Virap — and then, healed by his prisoner of a madness the tradition describes with lurid frankness, was baptized by him around 301 and made Armenia the first Christian state, a decade before Constantine’s cross appeared over the Milvian Bridge. With Gregory he toppled the temples and built Etchmiadzin. The persecutor-king become the first royal patron of an established national church.
Common questions
When did King Tiridates III die?
King Tiridates III of Armenia is dated d. c. 330 in the archive, which places King Tiridates III in the Nicene Age (AD 313–400). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.
Which early sources mention King Tiridates III?
King Tiridates III of Armenia is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Agathangelos (Armenian tradition) and P'awstos Buzand. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
Where was King Tiridates III from?
The archive associates King Tiridates III of Armenia with Vagharshapat, Armenia. The sources record more than one location, so the places are listed in the order the record moves through them.
Who were King Tiridates III’s contemporaries?
The archive links King Tiridates III of Armenia to 6 other figures, including Gregory the Illuminator, Constantine the Great, Agathangelos and Hripsimē. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.
Primary-source mentions (2)
Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.
History of the Armenians
c. AD 470Then king Trdat, with all his host and the multitude of the land, was baptized by saint Gregory in the Euphrates; and the land of Armenia was converted to the fear of God.Agathangelos (Armenian tradition) · source text
P'awstos Buzand, History of the Armenians III (the king in the national memory)
c. AD 470Connected in the archive
People
Named alongside King Tiridates III in the sources
This figure is placed with King Tiridates III by the record — in a council roll, a martyr-act, a letter or a history — without King Tiridates III naming them in return.
Events in this lifetime
- AD 260 · Gallienus’ edict of toleration, AD 260
- AD 268 · Antioch deposes Paul of Samosata, AD 268
- AD 272 · Aurelian awards the Antioch church, AD 272
- AD 301 · Hripsime and her company, AD 301
- AD 303 · The Great Persecution begins, AD 303
- AD 303 · The search of the church at Cirta, AD 303
- AD 306 · The Council of Elvira, AD 306
- AD 311 · Galerius’ edict of Serdica, AD 311
- AD 313 · The Edict of Milan, AD 313
- AD 314 · The Council of Arles, AD 314
- AD 320 · Silvanus tried before Zenophilus, AD 320
- AD 325 · The Council of Nicaea, AD 325
Place
Places served
The 2 places the sources put King Tiridates III, in the order the record moves through them. This is what the sources attest, not a reconstructed route.
- 1Vagharshapat
- 2Armeniaprovince only