Alexander the Great first experienced the strength of Armenian shields in the battle on the River Halys.* There, the cavalry of Sparapet* Vahe Yervanduni crushed the left wing of his infantry, forcing the Greeks to retreat toward Palestine. During that battle, King Vahe rode before the ranks of the Armenian warriors on his swift horse, inspiring everyone with courage.

The following summer, the Greco-Macedonian army met the forces of the Persian king Darius in a decisive battle. Against two hundred thousand trained Greek soldiers, hardened by long campaigns, stood the even larger combined army of Asia. Yet Darius’s enormous and diverse force was poorly coordinated and ultimately doomed. Traitors repeatedly defected to Alexander’s side.

It was in this battle that Vahe Yervanduni, fighting under the banners of the Aryan alliance as part of the united army, was killed. He fell to a treacherous arrow shot into his back.

The enemies rushed to capture the king’s stallion. But the faithful horse abandoned the battlefield, crossed the river, and galloped toward Armavir. Two days later, it reached the gates of the capital.

There, standing by the road and anxiously searching the horizon, was the Sparapet’s wife, Queen Tsovinar. The moment she saw the riderless horse, she understood everything.

She lowered her head into her hands and said nothing.

Then a small vial of poison appeared in her hand. A servant tried to stop her, but the queen looked at her sternly and said:

“Do you mean to say that my loyalty is less than the devotion of his horse?”

The Greco-Macedonian army won an overwhelming victory. The war ended with the collapse of the Aryan alliance, which was destroyed and never restored.

Alexander the Great continued his conquests and created a vast empire. Yet the Armenian kingdom alone preserved its independence.

It is said that the stories of King Vahe’s courage, the devotion of his horse, and the loyalty of his wife, Queen Tsovinar, only strengthened Alexander’s belief that this was a people with whom one should live in peace and friendship.