In this article an attempt is made on the basis of the Babylonian Chronicles and Armenian medieval historians Movses Khorenatsi and Sebeos to describe the political situation in the Armenian Highlands at the end of the 7th century BC. In his monumental work, Khorenatsi mainly preferred Greek sources, hence the Median version of the fall of the Assyrian state. But Khorenatsi clearly possessed other sources as well, according to which the fall of Assyria was considered from the point of view of Babylon. Moreover, Khorenatsi himself does not deny the existence of this fact – “For the deeds of the father Nabuchadnezzar were written down by the supervisors of their annals ...”. Here the conclusions are more than clear: there were two versions available to Khorenatsi according to which the first Armenian king was crowned not by Nabopalassar or Nebuchadnezzar, but by the Median king Varbakes-Cyaxares.

In the work of Sebeos we come across only the Babylonian version, where the above mentioned events are connected with Babylon. Sebeos notes: “This P’arnawaz submitted to the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar, and since then was ruled by the kings of the Babylonians and Medians before Alexander the Great.” Sebeos reports that the possession of P’arnawaz were located in the southwestern regions of the Armenian Highland – in Ałdznik (Աղձնիք) or Sophene (Isuwa, Ծոփք), in particular in the region of Angełtun (Անգեղտուն) of the Armenian Geography. The name of P’arnawaz appears in the list of Armenian kings and patriarchs in Khorenatsi’s work. The records of Sebeos are similar to the Babylonian Chronicles. Of the latter, we know that during the Assyrian-Babylonian conflict (626-605 BC), the Babylonian army led by kings Nabopalassar and Nebuchadnezzar, the heir to the throne, appeared at least three times on the borders of the Armenian Highlands. Perhaps they moved further into the highlands – in 609 BC to the Izalla area, in 608 BC to Bet-Hanuniya and in 607 BC “to the district of Uraš/rtu” or “to the district of the sea” [in the basin of Lake Van or Lake Hazar (?)].