ARSAK II (Arsace). – King of Armenia (350–67), he lived in the most critical period, when supremacy in Asia Minor was disputed between the Persians and the Romans, for whom he took sides. He compelled Narsete (Ciunak), his chamberlain, to ascend the patriarchal see. Subsequently he attempted to create the unity of the nation by ridding himself of the feudal magnates, who were often rebellious, but ended by stirring up the princes and the patriarch himself against him; the latter was deposed by him. After the treaty of Gioviano, A., abandoned by everyone, had to go to Sapore II, who, despite the oaths he had sworn, shut him up in a castle, where he died tragically.
BIBL.: M. Lauer, Des Faustus von Byzanz Geschichte Armeniens, Colonia 1879; E. Muratcan, Storia criticae di A. II, Alessandria 1900 (in Armenian); Fausto di Bisanzio, Storia Armena, IV, Venezia 1933. Giacomo Ciantian