100 Dram Sahak Partev

Sahak Partev — known in Western sources as Isaac the Great — served as Catholicos of Armenia in the early fifth century and was the principal ecclesiastical sponsor of the Armenian alphabet project, working alongside Mesrop Mashtots to give the language its written form around 405 AD. The 2005 issue falls within Armenia's sustained commemorative program honoring the architects of Armenian literary and religious culture, a series that gained particular momentum after independence as the central bank used coinage to reinforce national historical identity.

Sahak was also responsible for the first Armenian translation of the Bible, completed from Greek and Syriac sources.