According to the De administrando imperio of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), in his youth he visited Constantinople and received the title of protospatharios, an event dated by the historian and genealogist Cyril Toumanoff to c. 900.
[1] After Grigor I's death (sometime between 923 and 936),[2] Ashot and his half-brother Bagrat assumed the rulership, but their power was limited to only part of Taron: about a half was controlled by their cousin Tornikes, the son of their uncle Abu Ghanim, who also held the title of patrikios.
The Arab historian Ibn Zafir records that Sayf al-Dawla devastated Taron and besieged its capital, Mush.
Eventually Ashot—whom Ibn Zafir calls the "King of Armenia and Georgia"—was compelled to do him homage, surrender the towns of Sasun and Qulb, and acknowledge his suzerainty at Tadvan near Lake Van.
[1] Ashot continued to rule over Taron until his death in late summer or early fall of 967 (dated by some earlier historians to 966).