Shushanik (Armenian: Շուշանիկ, Georgian: შუშანიკი, Church Slavonic: Шушаника (Shushanika)[1]), born Vardeni Mamikonian (c. 440 – 475) was a Christian Armenian woman who was tortured to death by her husband Varsken in the town of Tsurtavi, Georgia. Since she died defending her right to profess Christianity, she is regarded as a martyr. Her martyrdom is described in her confessor Jacob’s hagiographic work, the oldest extant work of Georgian language literature. The hagiography details Shushanik's extensive resistance to imprisonment, isolation, torture and cruelty.
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