Ashot II the Iron (; r. 914–929) was an Armenian king of the royal Bagratuni line. He was the son and successor of King Smbat I. His reign was filled with rebellions by vassals and pretenders to the throne, as well as foreign invasions, which Ashot fought off successfully, for which he is remembered by the epithet Yerkat (Երկաթ), or the Iron. Reign Ashot II succeeded his father Smbat I upon the latter's death in 914. Smbat had fought off an invasion launched by the Emir of Atropatene, Yusuf Ibn Abi'l-Saj, but when Smbat surrendered he was tortured and beheaded by Yusuf in Yernjak. Having taken control of the central lands of Armenia, Yusuf installed a pretender also named Ashot, son of Shapuh and first cousin of Ashot II, in Dvin as the "anti-king" of Bagratid Armenia. Harried by Yusuf's forces, Ashot II visited Constantinople to receive aid from Empress Zoe Karbonopsina. Ashot II was well received, and a Byzantine force was assembled to assist Armenia in defeating the Arabs. The force, accompanying Ashot II and led by the Domestic of the Schools Leo Phokas the Elder, moved out the next year and marched along Upper Euphrates, entering Taron, meeting scant opposition from the Arabs. Ashot the pretender and Yusuf's armies were unable to stop the Byzantine advance, which stopped short of capturing Dvin due to the onset of winter. Nevertheless, the force had returned Ashot II to a powerful position in Armenia and managed to inflict heavy casualties against the Arabs. This still left Ashot II the king in control of Dvin and civil war raged on from 918 to 920, when the pretender finally conceded defeat. Numerous other rebellions in Armenia also took place but Ashot II was able to defeat each one of them. In 919, Yusuf instigated a failed rebellion against the Caliph and was replaced by a far more well-disposed Arab governor, Subuk. In 922 Ashot II was recognized as the ruler of Armenia by the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad and Subuk recognized him as shahanshah, or "king of kings". The Byzantines were distressed with Ashot II's close relations with the Arabs and dispatched a new force under the Domestic of the Schools John Kourkouas, also of Armenian descent, to disrupt Ashot II's position as king and to support the rebels fighting him. In 922, Kourkouas reached Dvin in an unsuccessful attempt to capture a