The Turco-Mongol Invasions and the Lords of Armenia in the 13 ...

invasions, bad been clients of the Iwane-Awagids, yet
from Step'annoe' account it appears that the Orbeleana
(with Mongol approval) bad expanded tbeir holdings at
Awagid expense, at the time of the conquest itself. Enmity
over the Orbelan expansion may have accounted for
Elikum's death, as Step'annos suggested , and enmity
marked Zak'arid-Orbelean relations for some decades to
follow. Elikum was succeeded by bis polyglot brother
Smbat.
...But after ElikumC's. death] the tun(House)
of Awag treated the Orbelean tun with great
jealousy, and enmity especially Awag's wife.
They wanted to disperse and persecute the, or
to destroy the surviving children, Smbat and
his brothers. They [the.Awagids] seized their
patrimony while [the Orbeleana] wandered about
in concealment, here and there until the compassionate
love of the_Creator willed to restore
and strengthen the Orbelean tun through Smbat... .2.
The significance of the underlined "especially Awag's
wife" appears to have escaped modern scholars. Curiously,
it appears that the line of Gone'a, daughter of the
duke Kaxaberi of RaS , descended from a Georgian branch
of the Orbeleans . Consequently, Gone V; enmity toward
kingdom of Georgia by force, and absolutely ruled everywhere"
(SO pp. 149-50).
1 SO p. 150 suggests that Elikum was murdered by physicians
at the command of Awag.
2 SO p. 151.
3 Toumanoff, Studies, p. 211 n. 238.
268