Khosrov III the Small (Khosrov III Kotak; Kotak means "little, short, small") was the king of Arsacid Armenia .
Khosrov was the son and successor of King Tiridates III. Khosrov received the epithet Kotak because he was a man of short stature. He was the namesake of his paternal grandfather Khosrov II of Armenia, and the Parthian and Armenian monarchs of this name (see Khosrau).
Armenia fell into chaos after the death of Tiridates III. An Arsacid prince named Sanatruk (whom Faustus of Byzantium calls Sanesan, king of Maskut, and identifies as Khosrov's brother) raised a rebellion to take the throne. In the southwest, the bdeashkh of Arzanene Bakur revolted against the Arsacid monarchy with the support of the Sasanian king Shapur II. The anti-Persian faction in Armenia led by Patriarch Vrtanes I crowned Khosrov king with the help of Constantine the Great. Khosrov crushed Bakur's rebellion and retook Arzanene and Armenian Mesopotamia. He then made peace with Sasanian Iran by agreeing to pay a yearly tribute to the Persians. Khosrov also exterminated two feuding princely houses in Armenia, the Ordunis and the Manavazians, and seized their lands.
After the departure of the Roman legions from Armenia, Sanatruk invaded Armenia at the incitement of Shapur II with an army of various Caucasian mercenaries and invaded Ayrarat, the central province of the kingdom. Sanatruk took the city of Vagharshapat and forced Khosrov and Vrtanes to flee westward to Kogovit. Forces loyal to Khosrov rallied under Sparapet Vache Mamikonian and destroyed Sanatruk's army in a surprise attack, killing the pretender in a battle near Oshakan. Khosrov rewarded his top generals Vache Mamikonian and Vahan Amatuni and the other nakharars that had remained loyal to him with land and other lavish gifts. After this, the country enjoyed a period of peace, and Khosrov occupied himself with building his new capital city of Dvin. He also founded two large hunting grounds in Ayrarat called Khosrovakert and Tachar Mayri. The Khosrov Forest State Reserve in modern-day Armenia is named after him.
In 337, Shapur II's army laid siege to Nisibis, while one of his generals marched against central Armenia. A nakharar named Databe Bznuni was tasked with organizing the defense, but instead passed over to the Sasanian side. Vache Mamikonian and Vahan Amatuni led the Armenian army to victory against the Persian invaders in a battle near the southeastern coast of Lake Van. Databe Bznuni was executed; his house was annihilated and their holdings were seized by the king. After this, Khosrov decreed that all nakharars with a force larger than 1,000 soldiers were obligated to live at the royal court, where the king could exercise control over them. Khosrov broke off relations with Sasanian Iran and moved Armenia closer to the Roman Empire. Shapur soon invaded Armenia again but was repulsed at great cost to the Armenian defenders. Sparapet Vache Mamikonian and many other great lords were killed in battle. Khosrov died in 338/339 in Dvin. His remains were interred in the Arsacid royal mausoleum in Ani. He was succeeded by his son, Tiran.
Khosrov KotakâÂÂs wife was Chakhrukhi. Historian Hayk Khachatryan notes that at the time of the marriage, the tallest Armenian maidens from different regions of Greater Armenia were invited to the royal court. According to legend, one of themâÂÂthe tallest, from the city of Daruynk, named ChakhrukhiâÂÂbecame the kingâÂÂs wife. Later, people at the Armenian court jokingly said that after marrying Chakhrukhi, Kotak âÂÂtook flightâ and grew a little taller.
Khosrov had three children: a son, Tiran, who succeeded him as king; a daughter, Varazdukht, who married Pap, the son of Patriarch Husik; and another daughter, Bambishn, who married the second son of Husik, Atanagenes, with whom she had Nerses, the future Patriarch of Armenia.
Khosrov died in 338 or 339 in Dvin. His remains were buried in the royal mausoleum of the Arsacids in Ani. He was succeeded by his son Tiran.
Bound by the 40-year Peace Treaty of Nisibis and the Armenian-Roman alliance, Persia encouraged the centrifugal tendencies of certain Armenian nakharars and managed to use various Caucasian tribes to launch attacks against Greater ArmeniaFaustus of Byzantium writes that while Khosrov was occupied with planting cedar trees, sudden news reached him from the regions of Her and Zaravand that Persian forces were preparing to march against him. King Khosrov ordered Databen, the nakharar of the Bznuni family, to gather troops, advance against the enemy, resist them, and block their advance. Databen marched with a large Armenian force to confront the Persians. However, upon reaching them, he betrayed the Armenian king and joined the enemy. He even assisted them in defeating his own army and handed over the Armenian forces. In a sudden and unexpected attack, the Persians slaughtered forty thousand Armenian soldiers, while the survivors fled. The traitor Databen then took command under the Persians and advanced against the Armenian king.
The surviving soldiers reached the king before Databen and informed him of the betrayal.
Upon learning this, King Khosrov gathered an army of 30,000 men and, under the leadership of Vache Mamikonian and Vahan Amatuni, marched against the Persian forces. The armies met in the village of Arest, where the Armenian forces achieved victory. Databen was captured by Sparapet Vache and Vahan Amatuni and brought before the king, after which he was executed by stoning. In the fortress of the Rshtuni princes on the island of Akhtamar were DatabenâÂÂs wife and son. Vache seized the fortress and put DatabenâÂÂs entire family to death.
In the same year, the Persians launched another attack, which was quickly repelled.
After these events, Khosrov Kotak ordered that the great nobles, nakharars, and all those princes who commanded troops remain loyal to the king and not abandon him, as he feared further acts of treachery.