Corduene

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60 BC Kingdom of Corduene

This article is part of the Kurdish history series
Early ancestors
Hurrian Guti Mitanni Mannaeans Median
Ancient history
Corduene Adiabene Kayusid
Medieval history
Sharazor Shaddadid Rawadid Hasanwayhid Annazid Marwanid Hadhabani Ayyubid Badlis Ardalan Badinan Soran Mukriyan Baban
Modern history
Kingdom of Kurdistan Republic of Ararat Republic of Mahabad KRG Iranian Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan Kurds in Turkey Kurds in Syria

Corduene (also known as Cordyene, Cardyene, Gordyene, Gordyaea, Korduene, Korchayk and Girdiyan) was an ancient region located in northern Mesopotamia. For most of its history, it was a province of the Roman Empire. Corduene was situated to the east of Tigranocerta ^[1] (i.e., to the east and south of present-day Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey) and northeast of Hakkari ^[2]. According to the Britannica, Gordyene is the ancient name for the region of Bohtan (Şırnak Province)^[3]. It is mentioned as Beth Qardu in Syriac sources and is described as a small vassal state between Armenia and Persia in the mountainous area south of Lake Van in modern Turkey ^[4] Corduene was a fertile and friendly province, which acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome^[5] It has been cited as a Kingdom to the east of the Tigris and as the country of the Carduchians (now Bohtan), a mountainous district, rich in pasturage, south of Armenia ^[6] (For a map of the region in which this Kingdom was located see ^[7]). Corduene must also be sought on the left bank of the Tigris. From 189 to 90 BC it enjoyed a period of independence.

1 Origins and Etymology
2 Corduene in Roman Sources
3 Pompey and Corduene
4 Diocletian and Corduene
5 Shapur's campaign against Corduene
6 Corduene, Carduchi and modern Kurds
7 List of kings
8 Timeline of the history of Corduene (Gordyene)
9 Notes
10 External links

[edit] Origins and Etymology

The term Corduene is derived from the Greek word Karduchoi (Kaρδoυχoι) used by Xenophon in The Retreat of Ten Thousand. In the classical and Roman periods, the name became Corduene. There were numerous other forms of this name, due to the difficulty of representing kh in Latin. The name Karduchoi is itself probably borrowed from Armenian, since the termination -choi represents the Armenian language plural suffix -kh^[8]. Carduchi spoke an Iranic language ^[9] and possibly were descendants of the ancient Medes ^[10].

[edit] Corduene in Roman Sources

According to the Roman historian Strabo, the region of Corduene (Γορδυηνη:Gordyene, or Γoρδυαια oρη:Gordyaea) referred to the mountains between Diyarbakır and Muş ^[11]^[12]. He recorded its main cities as Sareisa (Shareisha or Shereshe; north of Diyarbakır, around Ergani), Satalca (located west of Sareisa) and Pinaca (Bezabde), and considered its inhabitants (Gordyaeans) as descendants of the ancient Carduchians. According to him, the inhabitants had an exceptional repute as master-builders and as experts in the construction of siege engines and for this reason Tigranes used them in such work^[13]. Ammianus Marcellinus visited this region while on a diplomatic visit to the satrap of Corduene^[14].

[edit] Pompey and Corduene

Both Phraates III and Tigranes the Great laid claim to this province. However, it was conquered by the Roman troops under Pompey. The local population (called Gordyeni) did not defend the Armenian rule since according to Plutarch, Tigranes had demolished their native cities and had forced them into exile in Tigranocerta^[15]. In 69 BC, Zarbienus, the king of Corduene, was secretly planning for a revolt against Tigranes. He was negotiating with Appius Claudius for Roman help. However the plan was revealed and he was killed by Tigranes. After this, Lucullus raised a monument to Zarbienus and then he took over the region of Corduene ^[16]. He took part in the funeral of Zarbienus, offered royal robes, gold and the spoils (taken from Tigranes), and called him his companion and confederate of the Romans^[17].

After Pompey's success in subjugating Armenia and part of Pontus, and the Roman advance across the Euphrates, Phraates was anxious to have a truce with the Romans. However, Pompey held him in contempt and demanded back the territory of Corduene. He sent envoys, but after receiving no answer, he sent Afranius into the territory and occupied it without a battle. The Parthians who were found in possession were driven beyond the frontier and pursued even as far as Arbela in Adiabene^[18]. According to an inscription dedicated to the temple of Venus, Pompey gave protection to the newly acquired territory of Gordyene^[19].

[edit] Diocletian and Corduene

Corduene was conquered again by Diocletian in the 3rd century and the Roman presence in the region was formally recognized in a peace treaty signed between Diocletian and the Persians.

The name of the province appears again in the account of the battle between the Persians lead by Shapur II and the Romans lead by Julian the Apostate (and after Julian's death, lead by Jovian). It is documented to be a mountaineous region in the north of the Assyrian plains^[20]. The Romans started to retreat through Corduene after they could not besiege Ctesiphon^[21].

Following the defeat of Narseh, the Sassanid King, at the hands of the Romans in 296, a peace treaty was signed between the two sides, according to which the steppes of northern Mesopotamia, with Singara and the hill country on the left bank of the Tigris as far as Gordyene (Corduene), were also ceded to the victors (Romans)^[22].

[edit] Shapur's campaign against Corduene

In the spring of 360, Shapur II staged a campaign to capture the city of Singara (probably modern Shingar or Sinjar northwest of Mosul). The town fell after a few days of siege. From Singara, Shapur directed his march almost due northwards, and leaving Nisibis unassailed upon his left, proceeded to attack the strong fort known indifferently as Pinaca (Phaenicha) or Bezabde. This was a position on the east bank of the Tigris, near the point where that river quits the mountains and debouches upon the plain; though not on the site, it may be considered the representative of the modern Jezireh (Cizre in southeastern Turkey), which commands the passes from the low country into the Kurdish mountains. It was much valued by Rome, was fortified in places with a double wall, and was guarded by three legions and a large body of Kurdish archers. Shapur sent a flag of truce to demand a surrender, joining with the messengers some prisoners of high rank taken at Singara, lest the enemy should open fire upon his envoys. The device was successful; but the garrison proved staunch, and determined on resisting to the last. After a long siege, the wall was at last breached, the city taken, and its defenders indiscriminately massacred^[23].

[edit] Corduene, Carduchi and modern Kurds

Map showing Kurdish-inhabited kingdoms of Corduene and Adiabene in the first centuries BC. The blue line shows the expedition and then retreat of the ten thousand through Corduene in 401 BC.

The words Corduene and Gordyene are no doubt the ancient representatives of the modern Kurdistan, and mean a country in which Kurds dwelt ^[24]^[25]. Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene ^[26]. The tract to this day known as Kurdistan, the high mountain region south and southeast of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia, was in the possession of Kurds from before the time of Xenophon, and was known as the country of the Carduchi, as Cardyene, and as Cordyene^[27].

The Greek General Xenophon tells in his book Anabasis of the retreat of the Greek army he was leading through Kurdistan in 401 BC after their unsuccessful expedition to Persia (Xenophon, 1949). When they reach Kurdish mountains, he asks their Persian guide about the people who live in the region. The Persian guide replies that they are a fierce warlike people called Karduchis who have never been subjected by any king. He adds that once the Persian king attempted to occupy their lands, but he failed after losing 100,000 soldiers. Xenophon decides to proceed with great caution, but his army immediately starts robbing and then burning Kurdish villages on its way. When the Kurds see this, they make fires on tops of mountains and hills to inform all regions that there is an invading army. Then they start a guerilla war against the invading forces. At last Xenophon after being bogged down for seven days decides to negotiate with the Kurds a safe pass through their mountains. He finds someone who speaks Kurdish to speak to them. He tells the translator to ask the Karduchis why they fight the Greek army. The Kurds say: "It is you who are fighting us. You are invading our country and burning our villages and houses". When Xenophon promises to stop burning their villages, they allow Xenophon and his men to pass safely without any further trouble.

[edit] List of kings

Zarbienus; early-mid 1st c. BC: A famous king of Cordyene, made overtures to Appius Claudius, when the latter was staying at Antiocheia, wishing to shake off the yoke of Tigranes. He was informed against, however, and was assassinated with his wife and children before the Romans entered Armenia. When Lucullus arrived he celebrated his funeral rites with great pomp, setting fire to the funeral pile with his own hand, and had a sumptuous monument erected to him.

Manisarus; 115 A.D. He took control over parts of Armenia and Mesopotamia, in the time of Trajan; therefor Osroes, the Parthian king, declared war against him; Manisarus sided with Romans. There are some coins extant, which are assigned to Manisarus.

[edit] Timeline of the history of Corduene (Gordyene)

To Urartu 800s-595 BC
To Persia 595-331 BC
To Alexander the Great 331-301 BC
To the Seleucid Empire 301-189 BC
Independent 189-90 BC
To Armenia 90-66 BC ^[28]
To the Roman Republic 66-27 BC
To the Roman Empire 27 BC-AD 37
To Persia 37-47
To the Roman Empire 47-252
To Persia 252-287
To the Roman Empire 287-384
To Armenia 384-428
To Persia 428-653
To the Caliphate thereafter ^[29].

[edit] Notes

^ [1]
^ [2]
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ [5]
^ [6]
^ [7]
^ [8]
^ [9]
^ M. Chahin, Before the Greeks, p. 109, James Clarke & Co., 1996, ISBN 0718829506
^ [10]
^ Kurds & Kurdistan, Encyclopaedia of Islam.
^ [11]
^ Ronals Syrme, Anatolica: Studies in Strabo, Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0198149433, p.30
^ The Life of Lucullus, in The Parallel Lives by Plutarch.
^ T. Frank, Two Suggestions on the Text of Cicero, The American Journal of Philology, pp.459-461, 1937.
^ Lives, Chapter 36, Plutarch.
^ [12]
^ G. Gilbert, The List of Names in Acts 2: Roman Propaganda and the Lukan Response, Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol.121, No.3, Autumn 2002, p.514.
^ [13]
^ [14]
^ [15]
^ [16]
^ [17]
^ Orbis Latinus, University of Columbia.
^ [18]
^ [19]
^ Kingdom of Snow: Roman rule and Greek culture in Cappadocia By Raymond Van Dam
^ [20]