Amatuni

[1] The Amatuni who was of Caspio-Median or Matianian-Mannaean[2] origin, is given a specious Jewish ancestry from descendants of Samson by the early Armenian tradition (Moses of Chorene 2.57).

During the wars, the Amatuni sent their Suzerain (overlord), the king of Armenia, 500 horses and cavalry soldiers, which shows the political weight and military potential of this grand princely family.

[7] After the Sassanids of Iran abolished the Arsacid monarchy in Armenia in 428, Vahan (II) Amatuni was appointed by the Great King as assistant governor to the Iranian marzpan.

[10][circular reference] while the branch which ruled Hamamshen was overthrown in the 15th century after the Ottomans invaded the empire of Trebizond and exiled its last prince Baron David II to Ispir.

The children and grandchildren of one of the sons, Peter Azarbekyan Amatuni, moved to the city of Tiflis, where on January 1, 1784, King Irakli II confirmed Sarkis (Sergey) Petrovich Azaryan-Amatuni with his sons Stepan, Karapet, Gregory and his nephew Yakov Ivanovich Amatuni, they were in charge of the dignity of their ancestors, "who were at the time of the Armenian kings, the resplendent princes."

[12] The Princes Amatuni were a Caspio-Median, or Mannaean, dynastic house from Artaz, with the city of Shawarshan (later Maku, in northeastern Vaspurakan), situated between lakes Van and Urmia (Mantiane), which subsequently ruled a State in Aragatsotn, in Ayrarat, centered in the castle of Oshakan.