View source for Sophene

{{Short description|Province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia}}
{{For|the kingdom|Kingdom of Sophene}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name = Ծոփք <br/>{{aut|Provincia Sophene}}
|conventional_long_name = Sophene
|common_name = Fourth Armenia
|image_map = Arshakuni_Armenia_150-en.svg 
|image_map_caption = Sophene in the south-west of the Kingdom of Armenia (spelled "Dzopk" in the [[Western Armenian]] dialect).
|era       = <!-- [[Antiquity]], [[Middle Ages]]-->
|subdivision  = Province
|nation     = [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|the ancient kingdom of Armenia]]
|year_start  = 189 BC
|year_end    = 530 AD
|capital     = [[Carcathiocerta]] ([[Eğil]]), later [[Arsamosata|Arshamashat]] ([[Elazığ]])
|event_start = [[Artaxias I]] declaring himself independent
|event_end   = Included in the province of Armenia
}}

'''Sophene''' ({{langx|hy|[[wikt:Ծոփք|Ծոփք]]|translit=Tsopkʻ}} or {{lang|hy|Չորրորդ Հայք}}, {{lit|fourth Armenia}}; {{langx|grc|[[wikt:Σωφηνή|Σωφηνή]]|translit=Sōphēnē}}) was a province of the [[Armenian Kingdom|ancient kingdom of Armenia]], located in the south-west of the kingdom, and of the [[Roman Empire]]. The region lies in what is now southeastern [[Turkey]].<ref>The History of Rome By Theodor Mommsen, William Purdie Dickson.</ref>

==History==
The region that was to become Sophene was part of the kingdom of [[Urartu|Ararat]] (Urartu) in the 8th and 7th centuries BC. After unifying the region with his kingdom in the early 8th century BC, king [[Argishtis I of Urartu]] resettled many of its inhabitants in his newly built city of [[Erebuni Fortress|Erebuni]] (modern day Armenian capital [[Yerevan]]). Around 600 BC, Sophene became part of the newly emerged ancient [[Armenian Kingdom]] of the [[Orontid Dynasty|Orontids]]. This dynasty acted as satraps of [[Persia]] first under the [[Median Empire]], later under the [[Achaemenid Empire]].

After [[Alexander the Great]]'s campaigns in the 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 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]] was part of Sophene at this time.

Around 200 BC, in his attempt to finally subjugate Armenia, Seleucid king [[Antiochus III]] conquered both Greater Armenia and Sophene, installing Armenian generals [[Artaxias I]] (Artashes) and [[Zariadres]] (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]] in the 80s BC. Branches of the Orontid dynasty continued to rule parts of Sophene after it was annexed by Greater Armenia.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Toumanoff|first=Cyril|title=Studies in Christian Caucasian History|date=1963|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=|pages=166–167}}</ref> 

[[Cyril Toumanoff]] identifies Sophene as the domain of one of the four ''[[Bidaxsh|bdeshkhs]]'' of the Kingdom of Armenia.<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0" /> [[Pompey]] gave Sophene to [[Tigranes the Younger]] in 66 BCE after defeating his father Tigranes the Great, then transferred it to [[Ariobarzanes I of Cappadocia]].<ref>Richardson, Peter, ''Univ of South Carolina Press'', 1996, p. 96.</ref><ref name=":0" />
Around 54, the Romans installed [[Sohaemus of Emesa]] as King of Sophene.<ref>Swain, Simon, ''Hellenism and Empire: Language, Classicism, and Power in the Greek World, Ad 50-250'', Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 304.</ref> After this, Sophene reverted to Armenian control, but definitively came under Roman control again in 298.<ref name=":0" /> Sophene eventually became a [[Roman province|province]] of the [[Roman Empire]]. Its capital was [[Amida (Roman city)|Amida]] (modern [[Diyarbakır]]). In 530, Sophene was included into the [[Roman Armenia#Eastern Roman Armenia|province of ''Armenia IV'']].<ref>Joshua, ''The Chronicle of Pseudo-Joshua the Stylite'', Liverpool University Press, 2001, p. 54.</ref>

The local Armenian population remained until the [[Armenian genocide]] of 1915.<ref>Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia</ref>

<gallery>
Image:Map of the Armenian Empire of Tigranes (English).svg|Map showing Sophene right as it became a province of the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|ancient kingdom of Armenia]] under [[Tigranes the Great]]
File:Historical regions of Greater Armenia.png|Sophene and the other provinces of the ancient kingdom of Armenia
File:Asia Minor in the early 1st century AD - general map - provinces, client states and main settlements - bleached - English legend.jpg|[[Anatolia]] in the early 1st century AD with [[Commagene]] as a [[Roman client state]]
File:Map of Roman dependency of Sophene, Corduene, Commagene, and Osrhoene as of 31 BC.png|Roman dependency of Sophene (as of 31 BC)
Image:Sophene.png|Roman province of Sophene in the year 120
</gallery>

== See also ==
*[[Degik]]
*[[Kingdom of Sophene]]
*[[Nakh languages#Tsov|Tsov language]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Historical regions of Armenia}}
{{Roman provinces AD 117}}
{{Late Roman Provinces}}
{{Authority control}}

{{Coord missing|Armenia}}

[[Category:Sophene| ]]
[[Category:Roman provinces in Asia]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 3rd century BC]]
[[Category:90 BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 1st century BC]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)]]
[[Category:Near East in classical antiquity]]