- Sophene
"For the kingdom, please see
Kingdom of Sophene ."[
Armenian Empire under Tigranes the Great .] Sophene ( _hy. Ծոփք - "Tsopk") was a province of theArmenian Kingdom and of theRoman Empire , located in the south-west of the kingdom. It currently lies in the in modern-day southeasternTurkey . [The History of Rome By Theodor Mommsen, William Purdie Dickson]According to
Anania Shirakatsi 's "Ashkharatsuyts" ("World Atlas," 7th century), Tsopk was the 2nd among the 15 provinces ofGreater Armenia . It consisted of 8 cantons ("gavars"): Khordzyan, Hashtyank, Paghnatun, Balahovit, Tsopk (Shahunyats), Andzit, Degiq, and Gavreq (Goreq). [Anania Shirakatsi, Geography]Tsopk was part of the kingdom of
Urartu in the 8th-7th cc BC. After unifying the region with his kingdom in the early 700s BC, kingArgishtis I of Urartu resettled many of its inhabitants to his newly built city ofErebuni (modern day Armenian capitalYerevan ). Around 600 BC, Tsopk became part of the newly emerged ancientArmenian Kingdom of Orontids. AfterAlexander the Great 's campaigns in 330s BC and the subsequent collapse of theAchaemenid Empire , Tsopk remained part of the newly independent kingdom of Greater Armenia. In the early 200s BC, at the instigation of the Seleucid Empire, which was trying to weaken the Armenian kingdom, Sophene, split from Greater Armenia, forming theKingdom of Sophene . The kingdom was ruled by a branch of the Armenian royal dynasty of Orontids. Tsopk later split from the Tsopk-Commagene kingdom as well, forming an independent kingdom.Commagene was part of Sophene at this time.Around 200 BC, in his attempt to finally subjugate Armenia, Seleucian king Antiochus III conquered both Greater Armenia and
Tsopk , installing Armenian generalsArtaxias I andZariadres as governors-strategoses respectively in each kingdom. Following Antiochus' defeat by Romans at the battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, both Zareh and Artashes declared themselves independent kings. Zareh and his descendants ruled the kingdom of Tsopk until it was reunified with Greater Armenia byTigranes the Great in the 80s BC.Pompey gave Sophene toTigranes , after defeating his fatherTigranes the Great . [Richardson, Peter, "Univ of South Carolina Press", 1996, p. 96] Sophene later become part of the Roman Empire, and was made into a province of theRoman Empire . The capital wasAmida (modernDiyarbakır ). Around54 , the province was ruled by Gaius Julius Sohaemus. [Swain, Simon, "Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, Ad 50-250", Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 304.] In 530, Sophene was included into the province of Armenia. [Joshua, "The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite", Liverpool University Press, 2001, p. 54]See also
*
Kingdom of Sophene References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
