5000 Dram Vardan Mamikonian

Vardan Mamikonian led the Armenian rebellion against Sasanian Persia at the Battle of Avarayr in 451 AD — a military defeat by any tactical measure, yet one that effectively secured Armenian Christian identity when Persia eventually abandoned forced Zoroastrianization a generation later. He was canonized by the Armenian Apostolic Church, an unusual distinction for a military commander whose defining engagement ended in his death on the field.