Buzandaran Patmutiwnk

Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnkʻ ("Epic Histories", Armenian: Բուզանդարան Պատմութիւնք) is a history of 4th-century Armenia, presumably composed in the 470s. The author of the work is unknown. Until recently it had been assumed that it was written by a certain Faustus (also Faustus the Byzantine, Armenian: Փաւստոս Բուզանդ, romanized: P'awstos Buzand); however, his existence is now disputed. Nina Garsoïan argues that the author was an anonymous cleric who was sympathetic to the nobility and had some competence in preaching. The book starts with the death of Gregory the Illuminator in 331 and concludes with the partition of Armenia between Iran and Rome in 387.

While pro-Christian in content, it is written in the style of the oral Armenian epics associated with pre-Christian culture and drew from such oral sources. Scholars have identified three main parallel strands in Buzandaran Patmut‘iwnk‘: a royal history, focusing on the reigns of the last Arsacid kings of Armenia; an ecclesiastical history, giving an account of the hereditary succession of Patriarchs of Armenia from the house of Gregory the Illuminator; and the Mamikonian history, telling the story of the hereditary sparapets (generals-in-chief) of Armenia from that noble house. Faustus portrays the Mamikonians as the great defenders of Armenia, who show undying loyalty to the unworthy Arsacid kings.

Along with the Patmutʻiwn Hayotsʻ ("History of Armenia") of Movses Khorenatsi (5th century or later), the Buzandaran Patmutʻiwnk‘ has been referred to as one of the best Armenian sources in Parthian and Sasanian-related studies. It has been noted by both Garsoïan and James R. Russell for its numerous reflections of Iranian, particularly Parthian, traditions.