Commagene

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The province of Commagene, highlighted in the administrative subdivision of the Roman Empire in 120.

Commagene or Kommagene (Greek:η Kομμαγηνή or Kommagênê, meaning community of genes) is an ancient city which is located in modern south eastern Turkey on the border with Syria. Commagene is also on the border of the upper Euphrates River. Its peak is 2000 metres above sea level.

Commagene was always inhabited by people from the Persian Empire. Kurdish people also live there. Commagene is stilled used by the local residents as kind of self-identification as Cormange and they can also known as Commagenians.

1 History
2 Nemrut National Park
3 External links
4 See Also
5 Sources:

[edit] History

The valley was always a crossroads for several major trade routes leading into the Taurus Mountains or Toros Daglaril. Commagene was founded by the Hittites Kingdom which lasted from 1000 BC-708 BC.

The city was a site used for the mining of silver, copper and lead by the early civilisations of Mesopotamia. Archaeologists have found ancient furnaces and iron slag in Commagene and they think that a form of iron was first forged in Commagene.

In 708 BC King of Assyria Sargon II, had annexed Commagene as a province of the Assyria, which was an ally of the kingdom. According to Assyrian texts, Commagene was known as Kummuhu.

Map showing Commagene as a province of the Armenian Empire under Tigranes the Great.

Monument at Commagene's shrine on Mount Nemrut.

Two civilizations had conquered and overran Commagene which shaped and developed the tiny state: the Persian Empire in the 6th century BC and Greek Macedonian King Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Commagene was a state and province in the Greek Syrian Seleucid Empire.

When the Satrap (Governor), Ptolemaeus of Commagene or Ptolemy in 163 BC, had revolted against the disintegrating Seleucid Empire and made Commagene an independent kingdom. Ptolemy was in fact a relative of King Mithridates I of Parthia and a descendant of King Darius I of Persia. Commagene’s capital was Samosata.

Ptolemy’s descendant King Mithridates I Callinicus (reigned 109 BC-70 BC) had embraced the Greek culture and married the Syrian Greek Princess Laodice VII Thea whom Mithridates had married as apart of a peace alliance between their kingdoms. From this point on, the kingdom of Commagene became more Greek then Persian.

Mithridates and Laodice’s son was king Antiochus I Theos of Commagene (reigned 70 BC-38 BC). Antiochus was an ally to Roman general Pompey against the Parthians in 64 BC. Through skilled diplomacy, Antiochus was able to keep Commagene independent from the Romans. After the death of Antiochus, Commagene’s prosperity didn’t last and his descendants followed a pro-Roman policy which resulted in 72, when Commagene was annexed by the Roman Empire and became apart of the Roman province of Syria. Influential Greek satirist Lucian (c. 125) was born in Samosata.

The descendants of Antiochus lived prosperously in Greece and Italy. In Athens, a local benefactor and descendant of Antiochus’ Philopappos lived there and a monument is dedicated to him in Athens which is still there.

When the Romans conquered Commagene, Mount Nemrut was abandoned. The Romans looted the tumulus and the XVIth Roman legion had built and dedicated a bridge. The surrounding thick forests, were cut down and cleared by the Romans who their need for wood, timber and charcoal. The clearing of the surrounding forests have caused much erosion to the area.

In Commagene, there is a column topped by an eagle, which has earned the mound name Karakush or The Black Bird. An inscription there indicates, there is a royal tomb that housed three women. Unfortunately, the vault of that tomb has also been looted.

Antiochus I Theos of Commagene, shaking hands with Heracles 70 BC-38 BC British Museum .

[edit] Nemrut National Park

Mount Nemrut is an enormous religious sanctuary on a mountain-top founded by Antiochus featuring giant statues of the king (whose epithet means God), surrounded by gods. The location of Antiochus' tomb is one of the mysteries of archaeology and recent research has revealed that on the peak of Mount Nemrut close to the mausoleum there are some cavities that could hold the tomb of the king. Nemrut is a testament to Greek syncretism at its peak, each god being a synthesis of classical Greek and Persian gods (e.g. Apollo-Mithras-Helios) and was meant to be no less than the "home of the gods", making Commagene and its kings a spiritual centre for the Middle East. The statues were destroyed by the Romans, however, and the sanctuary fell into oblivion, being rediscovered only in the 19th century. The site is now of utmost interest for archaeologists and a World Heritage Site.

The king of Commagene under the Roman Empire Antiochus IV of Commagene, tried to a make strong connection between his dynasty and the Persian Sun God Mithras. Historian and researcher Roger Beck, in late 1996, suggested that a group of Commagenean military commanders and elites were instrumental in the formation and spread of the later Roman Mystery Cult known as Mithraism.

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Commagene

[edit] See Also

[edit] Sources:

Article: Nimrud Dagh - A Sacred Mountain in Anatolia pgs 194-197, by Roger Campbell-Scott. Reader’s Digest., Vanish Civilisations, Reader’s Digest Services P/L, Hong Kong, 1988.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.cliolamuse.com/spip.php%3Frubrique65&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DcOMMAGENE%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN
http://www.anatolia.luwo.be/index.htm?Nemrot.htm&1

v • d • e UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Turkey
Archaeological Site of Troy · Historic Areas of Istanbul · Göreme and Rock Sites of Cappadocia · Great Mosque and Hospital of Divriği · Hittite Capital of Hattusa · Hierapolis-Pamukkale · Mount Nemrut in Commagene · Safranbolu · Xanthos-Letoon