The Diocese of the East, also called the Diocese of Oriens, (; ) was a

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

of the later

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, incorporating the provinces of the western

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

, between the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

. During

late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, it was one of the major commercial, agricultural, religious and intellectual areas of the empire, and its strategic location facing the

Sassanid Empire The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

and the nomadic tribes gave it exceptional military importance.

History

The capital of the diocese was at

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

, and its governor had the special title of '' comes Orientis'' ("Count of the East", of the rank ''vir spectabilis'' and later '' vir gloriosus'') instead of the ordinary "''

vicarius ''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "vicar". History Originally, in ancient Rome, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in " deputy"), used as part of th ...

''". The diocese was established after the reforms of

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

(r. 284–305), and was subordinate to the

praetorian prefecture of the East The praetorian prefecture of the East, or of the Orient (, ) was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Later Roman Empire, Late Roman Empire was divided. As it comprised the larger part of the Eastern Roman Empire, and its seat w ...

. The diocese included originally all Middle Eastern provinces of the Empire:

Isauria Isauria ( or ; ), in ancient geography, is a rugged, isolated district in the interior of Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya P ...

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

Euphratensis Euphratensis (Latin for "Euphrates, Euphratean"; , ''Euphratēsía''), fully Augusta Euphratensis, was a late Roman and then Byzantine province in Syria (region), Syrian region, part of the Byzantine Diocese of the East. History Sometime between ...

Osroene Osroene or Osrhoene (; ) was an ancient kingdom and region in Upper Mesopotamia. The ''Kingdom of Osroene'', also known as the "Kingdom of Edessa" ( / "Kingdom of Urhay"), according to the name of its capital city (now Urfa, Şanlıurfa, Turkey), ...

, Syria Coele,

Phoenice Phoenice or Phoenike () was an ancient Greek city in Epirus and capital of the Chaonians.: "To the north the Chaonians had expelled the Corcyraeans from their holdings on the mainland and built fortifications at Buthrotum, Kalivo and Kara-Ali- ...

Syria Palaestina Syria Palaestina ( ) was the renamed Roman province formerly known as Judaea, following the Roman suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt, in what then became known as the Palestine region between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. The pr ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

, and the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

provinces

Aegyptus In Greek mythology, Aegyptus or Ægyptus (; ) was a legendary king of ancient Egypt. He was a descendant of the princess Io through his father Belus, and of the river-god Nilus as both the father of Achiroe, his mother and as a great, great-g ...

Augustamnica ''Augustamnica'' (Latin) or ''Augoustamnike'' (Greek language, Greek) was a Roman Empire, Roman Roman province, province of Egypt created during the 4th century and was part of the Diocese of Oriens first and then of the Diocese of Egypt (Late Ant ...

, Thebais,

Libya Superior Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

and Libya Inferior, which were grouped into the separate

Diocese of Egypt The Diocese of Egypt (; ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire (from 395 the Eastern Roman Empire), incorporating the provinces of Egypt and Cyrenaica. Its capital was at Alexandria, and its governor had the unique title of '' praefectus au ...

under

Valens Valens (; ; 328 – 9 August 378) was Roman emperor from 364 to 378. Following a largely unremarkable military career, he was named co-emperor by his elder brother Valentinian I, who gave him the Byzantine Empire, eastern half of the Roman Em ...

(r. 364–378). During the course of the 4th century, several provinces were split, resulting in the new provinces of Cilicia I and Cilicia II, Syria I and Syria II Salutaris, Phoenice I and Phoenice II Libanensis (east of Mt. Lebanon), Palaestina I, Palaestina II and Palaestina Salutaris (or Palaestina III). The last creation of a new province dated in the reign of

Justinian I Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

(r. 527–565), when Theodorias, the region around Laodicea, was split off from Syria I. At about the same time, Cyprus was split off and became part of a new super-province, the '' quaestura exercitus''. In 535, as part of his administrative reforms, Justinian I abolished the diocese, and the ''comes Orientis'' became the provincial governor of Syria I, while retaining his previous rank of ''

vir spectabilis The title ''vir illustris'' () is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople. All senators had the title ''vir clarissimus'' (); but from the mid fourth ce ...

'' and his salary. The entire area of the former diocese came under

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

n occupation in the 610s and 620s, during the Byzantine–Sassanid War of 602–628. Shortly after the Byzantine victory in the war and the recovery of the region, it was again lost, this time permanently, to the

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, with the exception of

and most of the Levantine coasts later reconquered: by the 640s, Cilicia formed the border ( Al-Awasim) between Byzantium and the new Arab

Rashidun Caliphate The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...

and its successors, while

became a

disputed territory A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of territories (land, water or airspace) between two or more political entities. Context and definitions Territorial disputes are often related to the ...

. From the old provinces of the Diocese of the East, only

and parts of the two Cilicias remained under Byzantine rule, grouped under the new Anatolic Theme.

List of ''Comites Orientis''

* Quintus Flavius Maesius Egnatius Lollianus (330–336) * Felicianus (335–?) * Nebridius (354–358) * Domitius Modestus (358–362) * Iulianus (362–363) * Aradius Rufinus (363–364) * Eutolmius Tatianus (c. 370) * Tuscianus (381) * Philagrius (382) * Proculus (383–384) * Icarius (c. 384) * Irenaeus (431–435) * Ephraim of Amida (c. 522–c. 525) * Asterius (587–588) * Bacchus (588–589) * Bonosus (c. 609–610)

References

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East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Late Roman Syria Byzantine Syria Praetorian prefecture of the East 314 establishments States and territories established in the 310s 535 disestablishments States and territories disestablished in the 530s Ancient Antioch