Sohaemus of Armenia
Encyclopedia
Gaius Julius Sohaemus, also known as Sohaemus of Armenia and Sohaemo ' onMouseout='HidePop("42868")' href="/topics/Arabic_language">is Arabic
for little dagger, flourished 2nd century) was an Emesene Aristocrat
from Syria
who served as a Roman Client King of Armenia.
Sohaemus was a prominent person in the Roman Empire in the 2nd century from the Syrian Roman Client Emesene Dynasty
. He was an aristocrat of Assyrian
, Greek
, Armenian, Medes
and possibly of Berber
, Roman ancestry
. The novelist of the 2nd century, his contemporary Iamblichus
claims Sohaemus has his fellow-countryman. Iamblichus calls Sohaemus as an Arsacid
and Achaemenid
, in his lineage and was a descendant of the Median Princess Iotapa
, who was once betrothed to the Ptolemaic Prince
Alexander Helios
. Little is known on Sohaemus’ family and early life prior to becoming King of Armenia. Before becoming King, Sohaemus had been a Roman Senator
and served as a Consul in Rome at an unknown date.
In the year 144, Sohaemus succeeded Aurelius Pacorus as King of Armenia. The circumstances leading to his appointment to the Armenian throne is unknown. Sohaemus was a contemporary to the rule of the Roman Emperor
s: Antoninus Pius
, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus
and Commodus
of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. In the first reign, he ruled from the years from 144 until 161. Not much is known of about his first reign. The novelist Iamblichus living in Armenia at the time of his rule describes his reign as ‘in succession to his ancestors’. This statement can also refer to his former ancestor Sohaemus of Emesa
who lived in the 1st century.
In 161 Vologases IV of Parthia
, son of the legitimate King Mithridates IV of Parthia
, dispatched his troops to seize Armenia and eradicated the Roman legions stationed in the country under the legatus
Gaius Severianus. Encouraged by the Spahbod
Osroes, Parthian troops marched further West into Roman Syria. After Armenia was seized by the Parthians, Sohaemus became a former ruling monarch living in political exile, possibly living in Rome
. Sohaemus was well known in Rome and there were rumors in some quarters that he was not the right man in the right place.
On Roman terms, Parthia had made peace with Rome, Sohaemus was installed as King of Armenia by Lucius Verus in either 163 or 164. The ceremony for Sohaemus in becoming Armenian King for the second time, may have took place in Antioch
or Ephesus
. In 164, Latin coinage were struck in Armenia with the inscription L. Verus. Aug. Armeniacus and on the reverse Rex Armen(ii)s datus.
The time of his second reign is unknown. Sohaemus reigned from 163 perhaps up to 186. Sometime during his reign, Sohaemus was expelled by elements favorable to Parthia. Sohaemus was expelled because a man called Tiridates
stirred up trouble in Armenia who had murdered the King of the Osroene
s and had thrust his sword in the face of Publius Martius Verus, the Roman Governor of Cappadocia
when he rebuked for it. Tiridates only punishment for his crimes was to be exiled to Roman Britain
, by Marcus Aurelius.
As a result of Sohaemus’ second expulsion from Armenia; Roman forces went to war with Parthian soldiers. Parthia retook most of their lost territory in 166, as Sohaemus from his expulsion retreated to Syria. After Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and the Parthian rulers intervened in the conflict, the son of Vologases I of Armenia, Vologases II
assumed the Armenian throne in 186.
It has been suggested that the Garni Temple
in Armenia, may have been the tomb probably belonging to Sohaemus, based on the construction date as the temple was probably built in 175. Sohaemus is played by Omar Sharif
in the 1964 film The Fall of the Roman Empire
.
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
for little dagger, flourished 2nd century) was an Emesene Aristocrat
Royal family of Emesa
The royal family of Emesa, also known as the Emesani Dynasty or the Sempsigerami of Emesa , sometimes known as The Sampsiceramids were a ruling Roman client dynasty of priest-kings in Emesa, Syria Province...
from Syria
History of Syria
The history of Syria:*Prehistory and Ancient Near East: see Pre-history of the Southern Levant, Fertile Crescent, Ebla, Mitanni*Antiquity: see Syro-Hittite states, Greater Syria, Roman Syria...
who served as a Roman Client King of Armenia.
Sohaemus was a prominent person in the Roman Empire in the 2nd century from the Syrian Roman Client Emesene Dynasty
Royal family of Emesa
The royal family of Emesa, also known as the Emesani Dynasty or the Sempsigerami of Emesa , sometimes known as The Sampsiceramids were a ruling Roman client dynasty of priest-kings in Emesa, Syria Province...
. He was an aristocrat of Assyrian
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
, Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, Armenian, Medes
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...
and possibly of Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
, Roman ancestry
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. The novelist of the 2nd century, his contemporary Iamblichus
Iamblichus (novelist)
Iamblichus was an Ancient Syrian Greek novelist.Iamblichus was an Emesene that achieved wide prominence in the 2nd century. He describes himself on being having ‘descended from the ancient dynasts’, including the Priest Kings of the Emesani Dynasty...
claims Sohaemus has his fellow-countryman. Iamblichus calls Sohaemus as an Arsacid
Arsacid Dynasty of Armenia
The Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty...
and Achaemenid
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire , sometimes known as First Persian Empire and/or Persian Empire, was founded in the 6th century BCE by Cyrus the Great who overthrew the Median confederation...
, in his lineage and was a descendant of the Median Princess Iotapa
Iotapa
Iotapa or Iotape also known as Iotapi was the name of various queens and princesses who lived in between the 2nd century BC, 1st century BC, 1st century and 2nd century. The name Iotapa or Iotape originally derives from the name Jotapa or Jotape, which was a name of Persian origin...
, who was once betrothed to the Ptolemaic Prince
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty, was a Macedonian Greek royal family which ruled the Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt during the Hellenistic period. Their rule lasted for 275 years, from 305 BC to 30 BC...
Alexander Helios
Alexander Helios
Alexander Helios was a Ptolemaic prince and was the eldest son of Greek Ptolemaic queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and Roman triumvir Mark Antony. His twin was Cleopatra Selene II. He was of Greek and Roman heritage. Cleopatra named him Alexander in honour of her Macedonian heritage, and after her...
. Little is known on Sohaemus’ family and early life prior to becoming King of Armenia. Before becoming King, Sohaemus had been a Roman Senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and served as a Consul in Rome at an unknown date.
In the year 144, Sohaemus succeeded Aurelius Pacorus as King of Armenia. The circumstances leading to his appointment to the Armenian throne is unknown. Sohaemus was a contemporary to the rule of the Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
s: Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus
Lucius Verus
Lucius Verus , was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:Lucius Verus was the first born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian . He was born and raised in Rome...
and Commodus
Commodus
Commodus , was Roman Emperor from 180 to 192. He also ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180. His name changed throughout his reign; see changes of name for earlier and later forms. His accession as emperor was the first time a son had succeeded...
of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. In the first reign, he ruled from the years from 144 until 161. Not much is known of about his first reign. The novelist Iamblichus living in Armenia at the time of his rule describes his reign as ‘in succession to his ancestors’. This statement can also refer to his former ancestor Sohaemus of Emesa
Sohaemus of Emesa
Gaius Julius Sohaemus, also known as Sohaemus of Emesa and Sohaemus of Sophene , was a prince and a Roman Client Priest King from Syria who lived in the 1st century....
who lived in the 1st century.
In 161 Vologases IV of Parthia
Vologases IV of Parthia
Vologases IV of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 147 to 191. The son of Mithridates IV of Parthia , he united the two halves of the empire which had been split between his father and Vologases III of Parthia...
, son of the legitimate King Mithridates IV of Parthia
Mithridates IV of Parthia
Mithridates IV of Parthia ruled the western Parthian Empire from 129 to 140. He was the brother of Osroes I of Parthia . He was the youngest son of the Parthian King Vonones II. During the invasion of Mesopotamia by the Roman emperor Trajan in 116 he and his son Sanatruces II took up the diadem...
, dispatched his troops to seize Armenia and eradicated the Roman legions stationed in the country under the legatus
Legatus
A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...
Gaius Severianus. Encouraged by the Spahbod
Spahbod
Spahbod or Spahbed , is derived from the words Spah and bod ; or "Aspah'Paeity" , and means commander of cavaliers/ knights; alternatively Spah Salar was a rank used in the Parthian empire and more widely in the Sassanid Empire of Persia...
Osroes, Parthian troops marched further West into Roman Syria. After Armenia was seized by the Parthians, Sohaemus became a former ruling monarch living in political exile, possibly living in Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. Sohaemus was well known in Rome and there were rumors in some quarters that he was not the right man in the right place.
On Roman terms, Parthia had made peace with Rome, Sohaemus was installed as King of Armenia by Lucius Verus in either 163 or 164. The ceremony for Sohaemus in becoming Armenian King for the second time, may have took place in Antioch
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes was an ancient city on the eastern side of the Orontes River. It is near the modern city of Antakya, Turkey.Founded near the end of the 4th century BC by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, Antioch eventually rivaled Alexandria as the chief city of the...
or Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...
. In 164, Latin coinage were struck in Armenia with the inscription L. Verus. Aug. Armeniacus and on the reverse Rex Armen(ii)s datus.
The time of his second reign is unknown. Sohaemus reigned from 163 perhaps up to 186. Sometime during his reign, Sohaemus was expelled by elements favorable to Parthia. Sohaemus was expelled because a man called Tiridates
Tiridates
Tiridates may refer to:Parthia* Tiridates I of Parthia , brother of Arsaces I* Tiridates II of Parthia, ruled c. 30–26 BC* Tiridates III of Parthia ruled c. 35-36 ADArmenia* Tiridates I of Armenia, ruled c. 56-59 and 62-72...
stirred up trouble in Armenia who had murdered the King of the Osroene
Osroene
Osroene, also spelled Osrohene and Osrhoene and sometimes known by the name of its capital city, Edessa , was a historic Syriac kingdom located in Mesopotamia, which enjoyed semi-autonomy to complete independence from the years of 132 BC to AD 244.It was a Syriac-speaking kingdom.Osroene, or...
s and had thrust his sword in the face of Publius Martius Verus, the Roman Governor of Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
when he rebuked for it. Tiridates only punishment for his crimes was to be exiled to Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, by Marcus Aurelius.
As a result of Sohaemus’ second expulsion from Armenia; Roman forces went to war with Parthian soldiers. Parthia retook most of their lost territory in 166, as Sohaemus from his expulsion retreated to Syria. After Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus and the Parthian rulers intervened in the conflict, the son of Vologases I of Armenia, Vologases II
Vologases V of Parthia
Vologases V of Parthia ruled the Parthian Empire from 191 to 208. He was the son of Vologases IV . His succession was not uncontested; a rival King Osroes II had already set himself up in Media before the death of the previous ruler, but Vologases V appears to have quickly put him down.Vologases...
assumed the Armenian throne in 186.
It has been suggested that the Garni Temple
Garni Temple
Garni is a temple complex located in the Kotayk Province of Armenia, situated approximately 32 km southeast from Yerevan.The first traces of human occupation date back to the 3rd millennium BC and are concentrated in an easily defensible terrain at one of the bends of the Azat river. In the 8th...
in Armenia, may have been the tomb probably belonging to Sohaemus, based on the construction date as the temple was probably built in 175. Sohaemus is played by Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian actor who has starred in Hollywood films including Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and Funny Girl. He has been nominated for an Academy Award and has won two Golden Globe Awards.-Early life:...
in the 1964 film The Fall of the Roman Empire
The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)
The Fall of the Roman Empire is a 1964 English-language epic film produced by Samuel Bronston Productions and the Rank Organisation, and released by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston with Jaime Prades and Michal Waszynski as associate producers. The...
.
Sources
- Royal Ancient Egyptian Genealogy: Ptolemaic Dynasty
- A.R. Birley, Septimius Severus: the African emperor, Routledge, 1999
- A.R. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, Routledge, 2000
- A.K. Bowman, P. Garnsey & D. Rathbone, The High Empire, A.D. 70-192, Cambridge University Press, 2000
- A.E. Redgate, The Armenians, Blackwell Publishing, 2000
External links
See also
- Arsacid Dynasty of ArmeniaArsacid Dynasty of ArmeniaThe Arsacid dynasty or Arshakuni dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Armenia from 54 AD to 428 AD. Formerly a branch of the Iranian Parthian Arsacids, they became a distinctly Armenian dynasty. Arsacid Kings reigned intermittently throughout the chaotic years following the fall of the Artaxiad Dynasty...
- Garni TempleGarni TempleGarni is a temple complex located in the Kotayk Province of Armenia, situated approximately 32 km southeast from Yerevan.The first traces of human occupation date back to the 3rd millennium BC and are concentrated in an easily defensible terrain at one of the bends of the Azat river. In the 8th...
- Lucius VerusLucius VerusLucius Verus , was Roman co-emperor with Marcus Aurelius, from 161 until his death.-Early life and career:Lucius Verus was the first born son to Avidia Plautia and Lucius Aelius Verus Caesar, the first adopted son and heir of Roman Emperor Hadrian . He was born and raised in Rome...
- Marcus Aurelius
- Royal family of EmesaRoyal family of EmesaThe royal family of Emesa, also known as the Emesani Dynasty or the Sempsigerami of Emesa , sometimes known as The Sampsiceramids were a ruling Roman client dynasty of priest-kings in Emesa, Syria Province...