Theodore or Theodoros Rshtuni (Old Armenian: Թէոդորոս Ռշտունի, romanized: T῾ēodoros Ṙštuni, Armenian pronunciation: [tʰɛodoɾos ərəʃtuni]; AD 590–655 or 656), equated with Pasagnathes (Πασαγνάθης), the "patrikios of the Armenians" from the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, was an Armenian nakharar (magnate), famous for resisting the first Arab invasions of Armenia. After the previous ishkhan (prince) David Saharuni was overthrown by other nakharars in 638 or 640, Theodore Rshtuni became the leading prince of Byzantine Armenia under the same title as his predecessor, "Prince of Armenia" (ishkhan hayots’).
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Theodore Rshtuni in the context of Muslim conquest of Armenia
The Muslim conquest of Armenia occurred in the mid-7th century, with the first Arab raids into the country occurring in 639/640. At that time, the Byzantine and Sasanian parts of Armenia had just been united under the Byzantine-aligned Armenian prince Theodore Rshtuni. Several Arab attacks and Byzantine-Armenian counterattacks occurred in the 640s. In 652, facing a renewed Arab assault, Rshtuni broke with the Byzantines and made an agreement with Mu'awiya, who was then governor of Syria, and accepted Muslim rule. Rshtuni's death in 654 and Arab internal conflicts after 656 temporarily weakened Arab control over Armenia, but Arab rule was decisively reasserted after Mu'awiya's accession as caliph in 661.