Kingdom of Sophene

Kingdom of Sophene
3rd century BC–95 BC
Map of Sophene as a vassal state of the Kingdom of Armenia
Capital	Karkathiokerta Arsamosata
Common languages	Imperial Aramaic (government, court)[1][2] Armenian (lingua franca)[2]
Religion	Zoroastrianism[3]
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Hellenistic Age
• Established	3rd century BC
• Conquered by Tigranes the Great	95 BC
Preceded by Succeeded by Satrapy of Armenia Kingdom of Armenia (Antiquity) Kingdom of Commagene
Today part of	Turkey

The Kingdom of Sophene (Armenian: Ծոփք, romanized: Tsopʻkʻ, Ancient Greek: Σωφηνή, romanized: Sōphēnē),^[4] was a Hellenistic-era political entity situated between ancient Armenia and Syria.^[5] Ruled by the Armenian Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed with Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Syrian, Anatolian and Roman influences.^[6] Founded around the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom maintained independence until c. 95 BCE when the Artaxiad king Tigranes the Great conquered the territories as part of his empire.^[7] Attempts to restore the kingdom were briefly made in 66 BCE and 54 CE.^[8] Sophene laid near medieval Kharput, which is present day Elazig.^[9]

Etymology[]

The etymology of the name Sophene dates back to the ethnonym Suppani, a people who lived in the region dating back to the 1st millennium BCE. The Ancient Greek: Σωφηνή, was coined after the Armenian Tsopʻkʻ, which stems from Suppani.^[10]

History[]

Sophene was part of the kingdom of Urartu in the 8th–7th centuries BCE. After unifying the region with his kingdom in the early 8th century BC, king Argishti I of Urartu resettled many of its inhabitants to his newly built city of Erebuni.^{[citation needed]}

After Alexander the Great's campaigns in 330s BCE and the subsequent collapse of the Achaemenid Empire, it became one of the first regions of Armenia to be exposed to Greek influence and adopted some aspects of Greek culture. Sophene remained part of the newly independent kingdom of Greater Armenia. Around the 3rd century BCE, the Seleucid Empire forced Sophene to split from Greater Armenia, giving rise to the Kingdom of Sophene. The kingdom was ruled by a branch of the Orontids. According to Strabo, Sophene and Greater Armenia were conquered by the Seleucid king Antiochus III, who installed Zariadres (likely also a member of the Orontid dynasty) as governor of Sophene.^[11] Zariadres declared himself an independent ruler of Sophene after Antiochus' defeat at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BCE.^[11]

The kingdom's capital was Carcathiocerta, identified as the now abandoned town-site of Egil on the Tigris river north of Diyarbakir. However, its largest settlement and only true city was Arsamosata, located further to the north. Arsamosata was founded in the 3rd century BCE and survived in a contracted state until perhaps the early 13th century CE.^[12]

Sophene was conquered by the King of Greater Armenia, Tigranes II the Great c. 95 BCE, but Tigranes lost control over Sophene c. 69 BCE during his war with Rome.^[13] After Tigranes II was defeated by the Romans, Pompey installed Tigranes' son Tigranes the Younger as ruler of Sophene, then ceded the kingdom to Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia.^[13] It is debated whether after 66 BCE Sophene came back under Greater Armenian control or became a part of Cappadocia.^[14] Around 54 CE, the Romans installed Sohaemus of Emesa as King of Sophene.^[15] After this, Sophene reverted to Armenian control and was ruled as an Armenian province.^[16] Branches of the Orontid dynasty continued to rule parts of Sophene after it was annexed by Greater Armenia.^[16]

Religion[]

The Orontid dynasty in Sophene practiced Zoroastrianism.^[3] According to modern historian Michał Marciak, the well-attested existence of Iranian culture in Sophene could be understood as a derivation of Arsacid Armenia, which came from Greater Armenia and indirectly from Iran. However, he also adds that the strong existence of Iranian culture might have influenced Roman and Greek writers to regard the region as Armenian.^[17] The Orontids were involved or revived certain local practices of their Persian satrapal descendants to make their small realm stand out.^[18] Furthermore, with the names of the royal members of the family including the names of their newfound cities, the Orontids emphasized their Achaemenid and Orontid royal dynastic aspirations, and also their Iranian cultural background.^[18]

Iranian cults were popular in Sophene amongst the nobility, who gave themselves theophoric Iranian names, and the peasantry, who sacrificed horses in the name of the goddess Anahita.^[19] Anahita was highly popular in the country, with animals such as cows and horses being regularly sacrificed in her name.^[20]

Language[]

Armenian was the common language spoken by the people of Sophene. However, Imperial Aramaic (with a fairly strong admixture of Persian terms), was used in governmental and court proceedings, which was rooted in Achaemenid practices from Armenia.^[2]

Kings of Sophene[]

• Sames (ca. 260 BCE)
• Arsames I (ca. 240 BCE)
• Xerxes (ca. 220 BCE)
• Zariadres (ca. 190 BCE)
• Mithrobouzanes (ca. 188 BCE–163 BCE)
• Arkathias (second half of the 2nd century BCE)
• Artanes (or Arsakes) (reign ended ca. 95 BCE)
• Tigranes the Younger (ca. 65 BCE)
• Sohaemus (ca. 54 CE)

References[]

Sources[]

• Babaie, Sussan; Grigor, Talinn (2015). Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–288. ISBN 9780857734778.
• Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991). Beck, Roger (ed.). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004293915.
• Canepa, Matthew P. (2018). "Rival Visions and New Royal Identities in Post- Achaemenid Anatolia and the Caucasus". The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE. University of California Press. pp. 95–121. ISBN 9780520964365.
• Chaumont, M.L. (2005). "armenia ii". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Erskine, Andrew; Llewellyn-Jones, Lloyd; Wallace, Shane (2017). The Hellenistic Court: Monarchic Power and Elite Society from Alexander to Cleopatra. The Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 978-1910589625.
• Garsoian, Nina (2005). "Tigran II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
• Lacey, James (2016). Great Strategic Rivalries: From the Classical World to the Cold War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9789004350724.
• Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. BRILL. ISBN 9789004350724.
• Sartre, Maurice (2005). The Middle East Under Rome. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674016835.
• Sinclair, T. A. (1989). Eastern Turkey, an Architectural and Archaeological survey. Vol.3. The Pindar Press. |volume= has extra text (help)
• Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press.