The Kingdom of Sophene (Armenian: Ծոփք, romanized: Tsop’k’, Ancient Greek: Σωφηνή, romanized: Sōphēnḗ),[4] was a Hellenistic-era political entity situated between ancient Armenia and Syria.[5] Ruled by the Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed with Greek, Armenian, Iranian, Syrian, Anatolian and Roman influences.[4] 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.[6] Sophene laid near medieval Kharput, which is present day Elazığ.[7]
Kingdom of Sophene | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd century BC–95 BC | |||||||||||
.svg) 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 | ||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||
• c. 260 BC | Sames I | ||||||||||
• c. 95 BC | Artanes | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Hellenistic Age | ||||||||||
• Established | 3rd century BC | ||||||||||
• Conquered by Tigranes the Great | 95 BC | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Name
editThe name Sophene is thought to derive from the ethnonym Ṣuppani, a people who lived in the region in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE and appear in Hittite and Assyrian sources.[4] According to historian Nicholas Adontz, the Ancient Greek Sōphēnḗ was coined after the Armenian Tsop’k’, which stems directly from Ṣuppani.[4]
History
editThe Kingdom of Sophene was ruled by the Orontids, a dynasty of Iranian origin.[8] They were descended from Orontes I, a Bactrian nobleman who was the son-in-law of the Achaemenid King of Kings Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BC).[9] According to the Greek writer Strabo (died 24 AD) in his Geographica, Sophene first emerged as a distinct kingdom under Zariadres (fl. 190 BC), who was installed as its ruler by the Seleucid king Antiochus III the Great (r. 222–187 BC). He further adds that following the defeat of Antiochus III against the Romans, Zariadres declared independence.[10] However this report is strongly contradicted by epigraphic and numismatic evidence.[9][11]
Sophene most likely emerged as distinct kingdom in the 3rd-century BC, during the gradual decline of Seleucid influence in the Near East and the split of the Orontid dynasty into several branches. Three rulers belonging to a different Orontid branch, Sames I, Arsames I and Xerxes ruled the western part of Greater Armenia, perhaps from Commagene to Arzanene.[12] Following the death of Zariadres, his son Artaxias I claimed the right to rule over Sophene based on his succession rights (primogeniture). However, the younger line in Sophene managed to preserve the independence of their kingdom, due to their diplomatic (and possibly dynastic) link with Cappadocia. Three known successors of Zariadres are known, which were Mithrobouzanes, Arkathias, and Arsakes.[13]
The kingdom's capital was Carcathiocerta, identified as the now abandoned town-site of Eğil 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.[14]
Sophene was autonomous for the majority of the 2nd century BC. Change first occurred with the arrival of the Parthian Empire, who under the King of Kings Mithridates II (r. 124–91 BC) forced Sophene to recognize their suzerainty.[15] 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.[16] 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.[16] It is debated whether after 66 BCE Sophene came back under Greater Armenian control or became a part of Cappadocia.[13] Around 54 CE, the Romans installed Sohaemus of Emesa as King of Sophene.[17] After this, Sophene reverted to Armenian control and was ruled as an Armenian province.[18] Armenian Branches of the Orontid dynasty continued to rule parts of Sophene after it was annexed by Greater Armenia.[18]
Religion and culture
editThe 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 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.[19] The Orontids were involved or revived certain local practices of their Persian satrapal descendants to make their small realm stand out.[20] 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. This included names such as Xerxes and Arsames, common amongst the Achaemenid dynasty and the Persian elite. The name of "Sames" is possibly derived from the Avestan name Sāma, the father of the Avestan hero Garshasp, which would indicate some sort of custom of Iranian religious or epic lore amongst the Orontids.[20]
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.[21] Anahita was highly popular in the country, with animals such as cows and horses being regularly sacrificed in her name.[22] The coins minted in Sophene depicted several figures, such as Herakles, winged thunderbolts and eagles. The iconography of Herakles may have been used as a representation of the Zoroastrian gods Verethragna or Ahura Mazda, similar to the Parthian Empire.[23]
Architecture
editThe Orontids founded cities such as Samosata and Arsamosata. They were named the "joy of" or "happiness of" their founders, which was a Orontid (and later Artaxiad) practice that recalled the Achaemenid royal discourse.[24] Although the settlements founded by the Orontids demonstrate their Persian cultural and dynastic connection, they did not reuse Achaemenid or Seleucid sites.[24]
The royal tombs erected by the Orontids played a role in the evolution of several Middle Iranian traditions. They created them in the style of a rock-cut tomb, thus greatly stressing their Persian royal connection, as well as recalling the stories of the Achaemenid necropolis near Persepolis.[25]
Coinage
editSimilar to the early Arsacids of Parthia and Frataraka of Persis, the Orontids of Sophene experimented with images of Iranian royal power. On his coins, Sames I (fl. 260 BC) is shown as clean-shaven and wearing the kyrbasia,[26] a type of headgear originally worn by the satraps of the Achaemenid Empire.[27] The tip of Sames' kyrbasia is more prominent, similar to that of the headgear worn by the early Ariarathids of Cappadocia.[26] On the coins of Xerxes (fl. 220 BC), he is shown bearded and wearing a diademed kyrbasia, which represented a new imagery of Iranian royal power.[28]
Language
editArmenian 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
edit- Sames I (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 65 BCE
References
edit- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 117–118.
- ^ a b c Chaumont 1986, pp. 418–438.
- ^ a b Boyce & Grenet 1991, p. 320.
- ^ a b c d Marciak 2017, p. 77.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 61.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 95.
- ^ Lacey 2016, p. 109.
- ^ Facella 2021; Sartre 2005, p. 23; Strootman 2020, pp. 205, 210; Michels 2021, p. 485; Toumanoff 1963, p. 278; Garsoian 2005; Gaggero 2016, p. 79; Russell 1986, pp. 438–444; Drower et al. 2021; Olbrycht 2021, p. 38; Ball 2002, pp. 31, 436; Canepa 2015, p. 80
- ^ a b Facella 2021.
- ^ Marciak 2017, pp. 113, 117.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 123.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 157.
- ^ a b Marciak 2017, p. 158.
- ^ Sinclair 1989, pp. 112, 196, 358.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 128.
- ^ a b Marciak 2017, p. 130.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 159.
- ^ a b Toumanoff 1963, p. 166-167.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 112.
- ^ a b Canepa 2018, p. 109.
- ^ Marciak 2017, pp. 97–98, 111.
- ^ Marciak 2017, pp. 57, 97–98, 111.
- ^ Canepa 2021, p. 88.
- ^ a b Canepa 2021, p. 82.
- ^ Canepa 2018, p. 227.
- ^ a b Canepa 2017, p. 207.
- ^ Canepa 2018, p. 252.
- ^ Canepa 2017, pp. 207–208.
Sources
edit- Adrych, Philippa; Bracey, Robert; Dalglish, Dominic; Lenk, Stefanie; Wood, Rachel (2017). Elsner, Jaś (ed.). Images of Mithra. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192511119.
- 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.
- Ball, Warwick (2002). Rome in the East: The Transformation of an Empire. Routledge. ISBN 9781134823871.
- 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. (2015). "Dynastic Sanctuaries and the Transformation of Iranian Kingship between Alexander and Islam". In Babaie, Sussan; Grigor, Talinn (eds.). Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis. I.B.Tauris. pp. 1–288. ISBN 9780857734778.
- Canepa, Matthew (2018). The Iranian Expanse: Transforming Royal Identity Through Architecture, Landscape, and the Built Environment, 550 BCE–642 CE. Oakland: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520379206.
- Canepa, Matthew P. (2017). "Rival Images of Iranian Kingship and Persian Identity in Post-Achaemenid Western Asia". In Strootman, Rolf; Versluys, Miguel John (eds.). Persianism in Antiquity. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 201–223. ISBN 978-3515113823.
- Canepa, Matthew (2021). "Commagene Before and Beyond Antiochos I". Common Dwelling Place of all the Gods: Commagene in its Local, Regional, and Global Context. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 71–103. ISBN 978-3515129251.
- Chaumont, M. L. (1986). "Armenia Iran ii. The pre-Islamic period". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume II/4: Architecture IV–Armenia and Iran IV. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 418–438. ISBN 978-0-71009-104-8.
- Drower, M; Grey, E.; Sherwin-White, S.; Wiesehöfer, J. (2021). "Armenia". Oxford Classical Dictionary. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.777. ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
- 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.
- Facella, Margherita (2021). "Orontids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Online Edition. Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
- Gaggero, Gianfranco (2016). "Armenians in Xenophon". Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach. De Gruyter.
The above mentioned Orontids..[..]..but also because the two satraps who were contemporaries of Xenophon's are explicitly stated to be Persian.
- Garsoian, Nina (2005). "Tigran II". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- Ghafurov, Bobojon (1971). История иранского государства и культуры [History of the Iranian State and Culture] (PDF) (in Russian). Moscow: Nauka: Chief Editorial Office of Eastern Literature. OCLC 8240688.
- 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 978-90-04-35072-4.
- Michels, Christoph (2021). "'Achaemenid' and 'Hellenistic' Strands of Representation in the Minor Kingdoms of Asia Minor". Common Dwelling Place of all the Gods: Commagene in its Local, Regional, and Global Context. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 475–496. ISBN 978-3515129251.
- Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2021). Early Arsakid Parthia (ca. 250-165 B.C.). Brill. ISBN 978-9004460751.
- Panossian, Razmik (2006). The Armenians From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars. United Kingdom: Columbia University Press. pp. 35. ISBN 9781850657880.
It is not known whether the Yervandunis were ethnically Armenian. They probably had marriage links to the rulers of Persia and other leading noble houses in Armenia.
- Russell, J. R. (1986). "Armenia and Iran iii. Armenian Religion". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 4. pp. 438–444.
- 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.
- Strootman, Rolf (2020). "Hellenism and Persianism in Iran". Dabir. 7: 201–227. doi:10.1163/29497833-00701016. hdl:1874/408015.
- Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). Studies in Christian Caucasian History. Georgetown University Press.