Sophene

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Sophene

For the kingdom, please see Kingdom of Sophene
Kingdom of Sophene

The Kingdom of Sophene was an ancient Armenian kingdom. Founded sometime around the 3rd century B.C. the kingdom maintained independence until 90's B.C....
.

Sophene was a province of the Armenian Kingdom and of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the Roman Republic phase of the Ancient Rome, characterised by an autocracy form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, located in the south-west of the kingdom. It currently lies in the in modern-day southeastern Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in southwest Asia and Thrace in the Balkans region of Southern Europe....
.

The region that was to become Sophene was part of the kingdom of Urartu

Urartu

Urartu was an Iron Age kingdom in Eastern Anatolia , rising to power in the mid 9th century BC, and finally conquered by Median Empire in the early 6th century BC....
in the 8th-7th centuries BC. After unifying the region with his kingdom in the early 700s BC, king Argishtis I of Urartu

Argishtis I of Urartu

Argishtis I was the sixth known king of the ancient country of Urartu from 785 BC to 763 BC. He founded the citadel of Erebuni fortress in 782 BC, which is the present capital of Armenia, Yerevan....
resettled many of its inhabitants to his newly built city of Erebuni

Erebuni

Erebuni may refer to:*Erebuni Fortress, an ancient Urartian fortress*Yerevan, capital of Armenia*Erebuni, Armenia, a district of Yerevan...
(modern day Armenian capital Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country....
).

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Roman Empire

Turkey

Urartu

Argishtis I of Urartu

Erebuni

Erebuni may refer to:*Erebuni Fortress, an ancient Urartian fortress*Yerevan, capital of Armenia*Erebuni, Armenia, a district of Yerevan...
(modern day Armenian capital Yerevan

Yerevan

Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia. It is situated on the Hrazdan River, and is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country....
). Around 600 BC, Sophene became part of the newly emerged ancient Armenian Kingdom of the Orontids

Orontid Dynasty

Anania Shirakatsi

Anania Shirakatsi was an Armenians mathematician, astronomer and geographer. His most famous works are Geography , and Cosmography ....
's Ashkharatsuyts ("World Atlas," 7th century), Tsopk (Sophene) was the 2nd among the 15 provinces of Greater Armenia

Greater Armenia

Greater Armenia may refer to:*Greater Armenia , a political goal of Armenian irredentists* Kingdom of Armenia, independent kingdom from 190 BC to 387 ?D...
. It consisted of 8 cantons (gavars): Khordzyan, Hashtyank, Paghnatun, Balahovit, Tsopk (Shahunyats), Andzit, Degiq, and Gavreq (Goreq).

After Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
's campaigns in 330s BC and the subsequent collapse of the Achaemenid Empire

Achaemenid Empire

The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenid Persian Empire was amongst the first Persian Empires that ruled over significant portions of Greater Iran, and followed the Ancient Iranian peoples Median Empire....
, Sophene 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 the Kingdom of Sophene

Kingdom of Sophene

The Kingdom of Sophene was an ancient Armenian kingdom. Founded sometime around the 3rd century B.C. the kingdom maintained independence until 90's B.C....
. The kingdom was ruled by a branch of the Armenian royal dynasty of Orontids

Orontid Dynasty

File:Yervanduni Armenia, IV-II BC.gifThe Orontid Dynasty was the first known List of Armenian kings dynasty. The Orontids established their supremacy over Armenia around the time of the Scythian and Medes invasion in the 6th century BC....
. Sophene later split from the Sophene-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 Sophene, installing Armenian generals Artaxias I

Artaxias I

Artaxias I was the founder of the Artaxiad Dynasty whose members ruled the Kingdom of Armenia for nearly two centuries.By the end of the 3rd century BC, Armenia was a kingdom made up of around 120 dynastic domains ruled by nakharars, loosely united under the Orontid Dynasty kings of Greater Armenia and Lesser Armenia....
and Zariadres

Zariadres

Zariadres was a Kingdom of SopheneIn 201 BC Antiochus III the Great conquers Greater Armenia and Sophene with his Armenian generals Artaxias I and Zariadres....
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 Sophene until it was reunified with Greater Armenia by Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great

This article is about a king of Armenia in the 1st century Common Era. For other historical figures with the same name see Tigranes.Tigranes the Great was a king of Kingdom of Armenia under whom the country became, for a short time, the strongest state east of the Roman Republic....
in the 80s BC.

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, commonly known as Pompey /'p?mpi/, Pompey the Great or Pompey the Triumvir , was a distinguished military and political leader of the late Roman Republic....
gave Sophene to Tigranes

Tigranes

Tigranes was the name of a number of historical figures, primarily kings of Armenia.The earliest Tigranes is mentioned in the Cyropaedia and in Armenian historical sources....
, after defeating his father Tigranes the Great

Tigranes the Great

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italia ....
of the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

Amida

Amida can mean:*Amitabha, an important Buddha in East Asian Buddhism*Amida , a beetle genus*Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish services...
(modern Diyarbakir

Diyarbakir

Diyarbakir is the largest city in southeastern Turkey. Situated on the banks of the River Tigris, it is the seat of Diyarbakir Province, and has a population of 2.5 million....
). Around 54

Year 54 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar....
, the province was ruled by Sohaemus of Emesa

Sohaemus of Emesa

Sohaemus of Emesa, sometimes known as Sohaemus of Sophene or to give his full name Gaius Julius Sohaemus was a prince and a Roman Empire from Syria who lived in the 1st century....
.

In 530, Sophene was included into the province of Armenia.

Sophene

See also