[1] When the Persian king Shapur II invaded Armenia in the 360s, Meruzhan, his brother-in-law Vahan Mamikonian, and several other Armenian lords renounced Christianity for Zoroastrianism and defected to Persia.
[1] Meruzhan helped Shapur's army capture Tigranocerta and raid the districts of Arzanene, Ingilene, Mzur in Upper Armenia, Sophene and Acilisene, where they captured Ani-Kamakh and desecrated the graves of the Armenian Arsacid kings.
[1][2] The Armenian king Arshak II fled west to Asia Minor, while sparapet (generalissimo) Vasak Mamikonian was left to defend the central province of Ayrarat alone.
[4] According to Moses of Chorene, Meruzhan was put to death by Smbat Bagratuni in Kogovit following the Battle of Bagavan in 371, where the Roman-Armenian army defeated the Persians.
[1][2] Faustus of Byzantium, however, reports that Meruzhan was killed several years later by Manuel Mamikonian's men after attacking Armenia with an Iranian army.