In A.D. 359 Šāpūr II was joined by the king of Albania on his march on Amida; the Albanians were deployed to the north of the city (Ammianus Marcellinus Res gestae 18.2.3, 18.6.12). King Uṙnayr of Albania (the above, or his successor) was still an ally of the Sasanian ruler when the latter invaded Armenia in 372. The battle took place near Bagavan on the Arsanias, but Uṙnayr was wounded by the Armenian general Mušeł Mamikonian, who allowed him to flee (Pʿawstos Biwzand, History 5.4, in V. Langlois, Collection des historiens anciens et modernes de l’Arménie, 2 vols., Paris, 1877, I, p. 282). On his return to Albania Uṙnayr secretly informed Mušeł that Šāpūr was preparing to attack him (ibid., 5.5, in Langlois, Collection I, p. 283). The more or less self-interested loyalty of the Albanians explains why the Sasanians helped them to seize from the Armenians the provinces (or districts) of Uti (with the towns of Xałxał and Pʿartaw), Šakašēn, Kołṭʿ, Gardman, and Arcʿax (Pʿawstos Biwzand, History 5.12, 13, in Langlois, Collection I, p. 288; idem, Armenian Geography, tr. A. Soukry, Venice, 1881, p. 39; cf. Markwart, Ērānšahr, p. 118; H. S. Anassian, “Mise au point relative à l’Albanie caucasienne,” Revue des études arméniennes 6, 1969, pp. 306ff.). These territories were to remain in the possession of Albania; a reconquest by Mušeł (cf. Pʿawstos, ibid.) was unlikely.
