MAMIKONIAN. - Illustrious family of Armenian princes, entrusted with the protection of the crown.
It gave not only heroes to the fatherland but also great saints. Among the most illustrious: VACE; MUSCEL; MANUELS, regent; VARDAN, who is celebrated as defender of the Armenian Church against Persian paganism (451); VAHAN, continuer of the work of the former, who through tact and fortitude succeeded in obtaining from the Persians freedom of worship; the princess HAMASABUHI, martyred for the faith.
When the Arabs (642) invaded Armenia, they sought to destroy the suspect magnates, among whom the M. stood in the front rank. Many of the scattered members passed into Greek territory, where a branch of the M. family had already existed since 380. Subsequently the M. are encountered in high offices of the Byzantine Empire: among them the empress TEODORA, her brother VART (Bardas), and their grandfather MANUELE, general of the armies of the East.
BIVL.: M. Ciamcian, Storia (in Armenian), Venice 1784, passim; N. Andrikian, I M. di F. Byzant. (in Armenian), Venice 1904; Kervork Aslan, Etudes historiques sur le peuple arménien, Paris 1928, passim; Pasdermadjian, Histoire de l'Arménie, ibid. 1949, passim.