The author is Iakob Tsurtaveli (Jacob of Tsurtavi), a contemporary and participant in the events described in this hagiographic novel.
The manuscript describes the martyrdom of Saint Shushanik, an Armenian noblewoman, at the hand of her spouse, bidaxshe (high prince) Varsken, who had renounced Christianity and embraced Zoroastrianism.
Shushanik, whose father was Vardan Mamikonyan, the sparapet (military leader) of the Christians in Armenia, refused to follow him, and died as a martyr after years of imprisonment and torture.
It has been translated into Russian, French, English, German, Spanish, Hungarian and Icelandic.
In 1979, UNESCO marked the 1,500th anniversary of the Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik.