Sophene ( hy, Ծոփք, translit=Tsopkʻ, grc, Σωφηνή, translit=Sōphēnē or hy, Չորրորդ Հայք, lit=Fourth Armenia) was a province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, located in the south-west of the kingdom, and of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

. The region lies in what is now southeastern

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. The region that was to become Sophene was part of the kingdom of Ararat (Urartu) in the 8th-7th centuries BC. After unifying the region with his kingdom in the early 8th century BC, king

Argishtis I of Urartu Argishti I (), was the sixth known king of Urartu, reigning from 786 BC to 764 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan. Alternate transliterations of the name include ''Argishtis'', ''Ar ...

resettled many of its inhabitants in his newly built city of Erebuni (modern day Armenian capital

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

). Around 600 BC, Sophene became part of the newly emerged ancient

Armenian Kingdom The Kingdom of Armenia, also the Kingdom of Greater Armenia, or simply Greater Armenia ( hy, Մեծ Հայք '; la, Armenia Maior), sometimes referred to as the Armenian Empire, was a monarchy in the Ancient Near East which existed from 331 BC ...

of the

Orontids The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after th ...

. This dynasty acted as satraps of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

first under the Median Empire, later under the Achaemenid Empire. Historical regions of Greater Armenia

After

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

's campaigns in 330s BC and the subsequent collapse of the Achaemenid Empire, Sophene remained part of the newly independent kingdom of Greater Armenia. In the early 3rd century BC, at the instigation of the Seleucid Empire, which was trying to weaken the Armenian kingdom, Sophene, split from Greater Armenia, forming the

Kingdom of Sophene The Kingdom of Sophene ( hy, Ծոփք, translit=Tsopʻkʻ, grc, Σωφηνή, translit=Sōphēnḗ), was a Hellenistic-era political entity situated between ancient Armenia and Syria. Ruled by the Orontid dynasty, the kingdom was culturally mixed ...

. The kingdom was ruled by a branch of the Armenian royal dynasty of Orontids. Sophene later split from the Sophene-Commagene kingdom as well, forming an independent kingdom.

Commagene Commagene ( grc-gre, Κομμαγηνή) was an ancient Greco-Iranian kingdom ruled by a Hellenized branch of the Iranian Orontid dynasty that had ruled over Armenia. The kingdom was located in and around the ancient city of Samosata, which s ...

was part of Sophene at this time. Around 200 BC, in his attempt to finally subjugate Armenia, Seleucid king

Antiochus III Antiochus III the Great (; grc-gre, Ἀντίoχoς Μέγας ; c. 2413 July 187 BC) was a Greek Hellenistic king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire, reigning from 222 to 187 BC. He ruled over the region of Syria and large parts of the r ...

conquered both Greater Armenia and Sophene, installing Armenian generals

Artaxias I Artaxias I (from gr, Άρταξίας; in hy, Արտաշէս, translit=Artašēs) was the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia, ruling from 189 BC to 160 BC. Artaxias was a member of a branch of the Orontid dynasty, the earlier ruling d ...

(Artashes) and

Zariadres Zariadres was an Orontid ruler of Sophene. Name ''Zariadres'' () is the Greek transliteration of an Iranian name, attested as ZRYTR (ZRYHR) in the Aramaic engravings in Sevan and Siwnik, and as ''Zareh'' in Armenian sources. The name is deriv ...

(Zareh) as governors-strategoi in the respective kingdoms. Following Antiochus' defeat by the Romans at the Battle of Magnesia in 190 BC, both Zariadres and Artaxias declared themselves independent kings. Zariadres and his descendants ruled the Kingdom of Sophene until it was reunified with Greater Armenia by

Tigranes the Great Tigranes II, more commonly known as Tigranes the Great ( hy, Տիգրան Մեծ, ''Tigran Mets''; grc, Τιγράνης ὁ Μέγας ''Tigránes ho Mégas''; la, Tigranes Magnus) (140 – 55 BC) was King of Armenia under whom the ...

in the 80s BC. Branches of the Orontid dynasty continued to rule parts of Sophene after it was annexed by Greater Armenia.

Cyril Toumanoff Cyril Leo Toumanoff (russian: Кирилл Львович Туманов; 13 October 1913 – 4 February 1997) was a Russian-born Georgian historian and genealogist who mostly specialized in the history and genealogies of medieval Georgia, Armenia, ...

identifies Sophene as the domain of one of the four ''bdeshkhs'' of the Kingdom of Armenia. The ''bdeshkhs'' were high-ranking nobles responsible for defending the borders of the Kingdom of Armenia. Sophene was detached by Rome from Greater Armenia several times.

Pompey Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

gave Sophene to

Tigranes the Younger Tigranes the Younger was an Artaxiad prince, who briefly ruled the Kingdom of Sophene in 65 BC. Biography Tigranes the Younger was the son and heir of the Artaxiad king of Armenia, Tigranes the Elder (). His mother was Cleopatra of Pontus, ...

in 66 BCE after defeating his father Tigranes the Great, then transferred it to

Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia Ariobarzanes I ( grc, Ἀριοβαρζάνης), surnamed Philoromaios ( grc, Φιλορωμαίος, Philorōmaíos, "Friend to the Romans"), was the first Ariobarzanid king of Cappadocia from 95 BC to 63/62 BC. Ariobarzanes I was a Cappadocian ...

. Around 54, the Romans installed

Sohaemus of Emesa Gaius Julius Sohaemus Philocaesar Philorhomaeus ( el, Γάιος Ιούλιος Σόαιμος Φιλοκαίσαρ Φιλορωμαίος, ''Gaius Julius Sohaemus, lover of Caesar, lover of Rome'') also known as Sohaemus of Emesa and Sohaemus o ...

as King of Sophene. After this, Sophene reverted to Armenian control, but definitively came under Roman control again in 298. Sophene eventually became a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the

. Its capital was Amida (modern

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

). In 530, Sophene was included into the province of ''Armenia IV''. The local Armenian population remained until the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

of 1915.Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia

References

{{Coord missing, Armenia Roman provinces in Asia States and territories established in the 3rd century BC 90 BC 1st-century BC disestablishments Provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity) Near East in classical antiquity

See also

References