| Provincia Mesopotamia ἐπαρχία Μεσοποταμίας | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of theRoman Empire | |||||||||
| 116–117 198–637 | |||||||||
.svg) Provincia Mesopotamia within the Roman Empire. | |||||||||
| Capital | Amida (Diyarbakır) /Dara (Oğuz) /Nisibis (Nusaybin) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||
• Established byTrajan | 116 | ||||||||
• Evacuated byHadrian | 117 | ||||||||
• Re-established bySeptimius Severus | 198 | ||||||||
| 637 | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Iraq Turkey Syria Kuwait | ||||||||
Mesopotamia was the name of aRoman province, initially a short-lived creation of theRoman emperorTrajan in 116–117 and then re-established by EmperorSeptimius Severus inc. 198. Control of the province was subsequently fought over between the Roman and theSassanian empires until theMuslim conquests of the 7th century.
In 113, the Roman emperorTrajan (r. 98–117)launched a war against Rome's long-time eastern rival, theParthian Empire. In 114, he conqueredArmenia, which was made into a province, and by the end of 115, he had conquered northernMesopotamia. This too was organized as a province in early 116, when coins were minted to celebrate the fact.[1]
Later in the same year, Trajan marched into central and southern Mesopotamia (enlarging and completing the province of Mesopotamia) and across the riverTigris toAdiabene, which he annexed into another Roman province,Assyria.[2] But he did not stop there. In the last months of 116, he captured the Persian city ofSusa and deposed the Parthian kingOsroes I, putting his own puppet rulerParthamaspates on the Parthian throne. Never again would the Roman Empire advance so far to the east.
As soon as Trajan died, however, his successorHadrian (r. 117–138) relinquished his conquests east of theEuphrates river, which became again theRoman Empire's eastern boundary.[3][4]
Northern Mesopotamia, includingOsroene, came again under Roman control in theexpedition ofLucius Verus in 161–166, but were not formally organized into provinces; instead, they were left under local vassal rulers, although Roman garrisons were maintained, notably atNisibis.
This control was threatened in 195, during the civil war betweenSeptimius Severus (r. 193–211) and the usurperPescennius Niger, when rebellions broke out in the area, and Nisibis was besieged. Severus quickly restored order and organized Osroene as a full province.[5][6]
Next, Severus embarked on a war against Parthia, which he concluded successfully with thesack of the Parthian capitalCtesiphon. In emulation of Trajan, he re-established a province of Mesopotamia in 198, with Nisibis, elevated to the status of a fullcolonia, as its capital.[7][8]
Unlike Trajan's province, which encompassed the whole of Roman-occupied Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the new province was limited between the province ofOsroene to the south, the Euphrates and Tigris to the north, and the river Chaboras (modernKhabur) to the east.[9]
For the remainder of its existence, the province would remain a bone of contention between the Romans and their eastern neighbors, suffering heavily in the recurrentRoman–Persian Wars. In the turmoil that followed theYear of the Six Emperors, in 239–243,Ardashir I (r. 224–241), the founder of the newSassanid Empire which replaced the moribund Parthians, attacked and overran the area, but it wasrecovered byTimesitheus before his death in 243.[10] In the 250s, the Persian shahShapur I (r. ca. 240–270) attacked Mesopotamia, and fought with the Roman emperorValerian (r. 253–260), whom hecaptured atEdessa in 260.[11] In the next year, however,Odaenathus ofPalmyra took a stand against Shapur, who eventually retreated.[12]
Under the reforms ofDiocletian (r. 284–305) andConstantine I (r. 306–337), it became part of theDiocese of the East, which in turn was subordinated to thepraetorian prefecture of the East.
Nisibis andSingara, along with the territory inAdiabene conquered by Diocletian were lost after the debacle ofJulian'sPersian expedition in 363, and the capital was transferred toAmida, while the seat of the military commander, thedux Mesopotamiae, was located atConstantina. Other cities includedMartyropolis andKephas.[9]
The attendance list of theFirst Council of Nicaea lists thebishops of Edessa,Nisibis,Rhesaina, Makedonopolis and Fars, whereas by the time of thecouncil of Constantinople in 381 the bishoprics included were those of Amida, Constantina and Amaria.[13]
After the troubles Roman forces faced in theAnastasian War of 502–506, the East Roman emperorAnastasius I (r. 491–518) built the fortress ofDara as a counter to Nisibis and as the new base of thedux Mesopotamiae.
During the reforms ofJustinian I (r. 527–565), the province was split up: the northern districts with Martyropolis went to the new province ofArmenia IV, while the remainder was divided into two civil and ecclesiastical districts, one (the region south of the Tigris) with capital at Amida and the other (the region ofTur Abdin) with capital at Dara.[9] The see of Amida was listed with eight suffragan bishoprics (Martyropolis, Iggilon, Bolebtina,Arsamosata, Beth Sophanaia, Qidarizon, Hesen Kepha, Zugmatos) while the see of Dara had only three (Reshaina, Tur Abdin, Menasobion) according to theNotitia Antiochena from the 580s.[13] The region around Tur Abdin became a monastic hotspot (including for instance themonastery of Qarṭmin) as well as the center of the Syrian Orthodox world for the coming centuries.[14]
The province suffered greatly during the near-constant wars with Persia in the 6th century. In 573, the Persians even took Dara, although the East Romans recovered it under the peace of 591. They lost it again to the Persians in thegreat war of 602–628, and regained it afterwards only to lose the entire region permanently to theMuslim conquests in 633–640.[9]
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