Hashteank' (Հաշտեանք) was a historiccanton ofArmenia, in the province ofSophene. CalledAsthianene (Greek:Ἀσθιανήνη) by the Greeks and Romans, it consisted of what is now theBingöl plain, near the sources of theTigris.[1] The district ofKhordzean (Greco-RomanChorzene orChorzanene), centered onKiği (ArmenianKogoberd), was generally politically subordinate to Hashteank.[2] Hashteank was primarily a rural district, with larger towns at Bingöl andGenç.[2]
The Byzantine fortress ofCitharizum, which was of great strength and was built byJustinian, was in the province.[3]
In 387, along with that ofBalahovit the principality of Hashteank became aByzantine vassal, extending the Byzantine sphere of influence eastward, with the new border with theSasanian Empire being the hills east of the Bingöl plain.[2]
In either 528 or 529, the military administration of Byzantine Armenia was reorganized. Under the new system, the fortress ofKitharizon (modern Bingöl) in Hashteank became the seat of one of the two "dukes" of Byzantine Armenia, with the other ruling from Martyropolis (Silvan inSophene (both were subordinate to themagister militum ruling in Theodosiopolis, modernErzurum).[2]