Satenik
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Satenik (Old Armenian: Սաթենիկ, romanized: Satʻenik; also spelled Սաթինիկ Satʻinik) was an Alanian princess who, according to Armenian tradition, married Artashes, the king of Armenia. The Artashes in the tradition is identified with the 2nd-century BC king Artaxias I, although it is generally believed that the real historical basis for the story came from the invasion of Armenia by the Alans in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiridates I. The story of Artashes and Satenik forms a part of the ancient Armenian epic known as Vipasankʻ, fragments of which are presented by the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi in his History of Armenia. Movses notes that the story, which he directly quotes from, was a well-known epic during his time among the common people of Armenia, one which was told by traveling storytellers and minstrels.[1] The name and character of Satenik are connected with Satana, a figure in the folklore of the Ossetians and other peoples of the North Caucasus.
The name Satenik or Satinik (both versions appear in different manuscripts of Movses Khorenatsi's history)[2] has the same ending as the Armenian feminine names like Varsenik and Nazenik. Hrachia Acharian tentatively suggests a derivation from the Armenian word satʻ 'amber'.[3] D. Lavrov was the first scholar to note the similarity between the names of Satenik and Satana, the heroine of the North Caucasian Nart sagas.[4] Variants of the name Satana exist in various Caucasian languages. Harold W. Bailey compared the name with Avestan sātar- 'ruling woman'.[5] Others have compared it with the Scytho-Sarmatian name Satti(o)nos.[6][a] Sonja Fritz and Jost Gippert propose a connection with the Scythian name Xarthanos, which is thought to derive from the Iranian word *xšathra- 'rule'. Satana, however, cannot be the inherited Ossetian form of a name deriving from *xšathra- because of phonological rules; it must have been re-borrowed from another language where the cluster -rt- was replaced with -t-. According to this theory, the older form of the name is reflected in the form Sartʻenik, which appears in one manuscript of Khorenatsi, and the Shapsug Adyghe name for Satana, Sərtənay. Armenian Sa(r)tʻenik can be derived from a variation of a name with the root *xšathra- (with a suffix, *xšathriĭān), leading to *sa(r)tean-, which is appended with the Armenian diminutive suffix -ik to produce Sa(r)tʻenik.[7]
Historicity
Khorenatsi describes Satenik as a historical figure but notes the existence of popular myths about her. Manuk Abeghian considers the stories about Satenik and Artashes to be part of the Armenian folk epic called Vipasankʻ. Vasily Abaev postulates the existence of an Armeno-Alanian epic cycle, of which Satenik was one of the characters. Georges Dumézil thought the legends about Satenik to be an entirely fictional cycle of an ancient Armenian epic. It has been suggested that the Alans who settled in the Artaz district of Armenia contributed to the creation of the character of Satenik.[8]
Different historical Armenian kings are often conflated with one another in the Armenian epic tradition. The Artashes in the story of Artashes and Satenik is identified with Artaxias I (r. 189–159 BC), who built the capital of Artaxata and founded the Artaxiad dynasty.[9] However, it is generally accepted that the real historical archetype for the character of Artashes in the legend of Artashes and Satenik was the later, 1st-century Armenian king Tiridates I.[10] An invasion of Armenia by the Alans in the 1st century AD is recorded by Josephus, who writes that the Armenian king Tiridates narrowly escaped capture by the Alans in battle. The epic cycle regarding Artashes and Satenik may have been composed on the basis of this historical event, with the earlier Armenian king Artashes being substituted for Tiridates in the epic.[11]
Scholars also note the similarities between Satenik and another Alanian princess who married an Armenian king, Ashkhen, who was the wife of the 4th-century king Tiridates III. In Khorenatsi's history, both Artashes and Tiridates send a man named Smbat to bring the Alanian princess to them.[b] The name Ashkhen is thought to derive from the Ossetian noun æxsin 'lady'. The Ossetian Satana is often referred to by the epithet æxsīn(æ). It has been suggested that Khorenatsi was drawing from the same information when writing about the two princesses,[13] or that the royal couples of Artashes/Tiridates I–Satenik and Tiridates III–Ashkhen were conflated in the legends.[10] Fritz and Gippert conclude that the historical nucleus of the information on Satenik in the Armenian sources is "[c]ertainly not much more than the legendary tradition about a young Alan lady named Satʿenik and/or Ašxēn who was married, under unusual circumstances, to an Armenian king named Tiridates/Trdat."[14]
Parallels with Caucasian Satana
Scholars have noted numerous parallels between the legend of Artashes and Satenik and the traditions regarding the North Caucasian heroine Satana. Variants of Satana's name appear in nearly all of the epic traditions of the peoples of the Caucasus, except for Dagestan.[8] Scholars believe Satana to have been the main goddess of the Alans.[15] Both Satenik and Satana appear in stories in which they are subjected to bride-kidnapping: Satenik by Artashes, and Satana by her brother-husband Uryzmaeg. Both characters are involved in stories of adultery: Satenik with Artashes' rival Argavan, and Satana with Safa. In the Armenian epic, Artavazd, the son of Artashes and Satenik, fights Argavan, who was plotting to lure Artashes using a feast; in the Nart sagas, the Narts plot to kill Uryzmaeg at a feast, but he is saved by his nephew on Satana's orders.[16] In one widespread story from the Nart sagas, a shepherd sees Satana from across a river and falls in love with her. Unable to cross the river, he leaves his semen on a nearby rock. Satenik realizes this and later returns to open the stone, finding her son Soslan-Sosruko. This is reminiscent of the story of Artashes seeing Satenik from across a river and being enchanted by her beauty.[17]