During the excavations in Armenia’s Aghtsk village, stone sarcophagi with relics have been found in the sepulcher of the Armenian kings of Arsacid dynasty, dating from 4th century AD.

Deputy Director of the Scientific Research Center of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Armenian Ministry of Culture, archaeologist Hakob Simonyan told the aforementioned to journalists on Thursday.

According to the Armenian historians Faustus of Byzantium and Movses Khorenatsi, at the instigation of his priests, Persian king Shapuh II stole the relics of the ancient Armenian kings from Ani-Kamakh (capital of Armenia Minor located on the shore of Euphrates, center of nomadic Armenia) to conquest Armenia. However, the Armenian troops battered the Persians and returned the relics of the Armenian kings, which according to the legend, were reburied in sepulcher in Aghtsk.

In the archaeologist’s words, no human relics were found during the excavations carried out in the territory of Aghtsk earlier and the story about the stolen relics of the ancient kings was considered as a myth.

In 2015, new expedition started working here, and stone sarcophagi with relics were found under the altar of the chapel and stone slabs. The scientists first thought that the sarcophagi related to the Hellenistic Age, but one of them has a cross inscribed on it. Considering that only clean bones were found in the sarcophagi, the scientist supposed that these were the relics of the reburied Armenian kings which were once stolen by the Persians.