Commagene

This is a short extract (introduction) of my article in L. Picht - K. Schmidt - G. Schmitz - L. Wiggering, The Limits of Change. Was ist der Wert der beständigen Dinge? (Berlin: Neofelis 2015), 83 - 102. For more information, take a look here: https://neofelis-verlag.de/verlagsprogramm/geschichte/899/the-limits-of-change

In Making Mesopotamia: Geography and Empire in a Romano-Iranian
Borderland, Hamish Cameron examines the representation of the
Mesopotamian Borderland in the geographical writing of Strabo, Pliny
the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy, the anonymous Expositio Totius Mundi,
and Ammianus Marcellinus. This inter-imperial borderland between
the Roman Empire and the Arsacid and Sasanid Empires provided
fertile ground for Roman geographical writers to articulate their ideas
about space, boundaries, and imperial power. By examining these
geographical descriptions, Hamish Cameron shows how each author
constructed an image of Mesopotamia in keeping with the goals and
context of their own work, while collectively creating a vision of
Mesopotamia as a borderland space of movement, inter-imperial
tension, and global engagement.

Dynastic marriages in the Hellenistic world were an important diplomatic tool that provided distinct political benefi ts to one or both of the parties involved. The Parthian rulers from the Arsacid dynasty also engaged in such unions with other ruling houses. Surviving sources contain information on such marriages with the members of the Seleucid family, the Artaxiad dynasty, which ruled in Armenia, but also ruling houses in Commagene and Media Atropatene. Not all of these links resulted from a bilateral agreement, however; some were the result of imposition of the Arsacids’ will. The author attempts to demonstrate the circumstances in which each of the known dynastic marriages of the rulers of Parthia came about, as well as the objectives they hoped to
achieve as a result.

This is the sixth chapter of 'Images of Mithra', a collaborative work written by members of the 'Empires of Faith Project' (2013-18, British Museum / University of Oxford). This chapter looks at the construction of a god by Antiochus I Theos, king of Commagene, in the first century BC.

Rolf Strootman, ‘Orontid kingship in its Hellenistic context: The Seleucid connections of Antiochos I of Commagene’, in: M. Blömer, S. Riedel, M. J. Versluys, and E. Winter eds., Common Dwelling Place of all the Gods: Commagene in its Local, Regional and Global Hellenistic Context. Oriens et Occidens 34 (Stuttgart : Franz Steiner Verlag, 2021) 295–317.

The dynastic representation created by Antiochos I of Kommagene continues to puzzle historians and archaeologist. Its meaning usually is considered either in the light of the Achaemenid past that Antiochos so emphatically refers to on Nemrut Dağı, or from the perspective of Roman history. In the first case, Antiochos is seen as an "eastern" monarch and his royal and religious imagery is accordingly decoded as ancient Persian traditions in Greek disguise. In the second case, Antiochos is seen as a client king whose main political aim was to position his small kingdom in a world dominated by Rome.

But for an alleged client king, Antiochos referred remarkably little to Rome in his self-presentation. Moreover, in the mid-1st century BCE, Roman dominance in the Near East was not a foregone conclusion: when Antiochos succeeded to the throne of Commagene the greatest power in the Near East was the Armenian Empire of Tigranes the Great; after Tigranes’ fall, the Parthian Empire successfully challenged Roman supremacy in the region. Moreover, for a local ruler, Antiochos made remarkably grand political statements: he adopted the imperial title of Great King, claimed to be a descendant of Alexander the Great and a successor to both the Seleucid and the Achaemenid empires.

This contribution aims to understand Antiochos’ kingship from neither the Persian past nor the Roman future. Instead, it considers Antiochos' monarchy in its contemporary late-Hellenistic context. It shows that Antiochus' royal representation overwhelmingly refers to the Seleucids (and only rarely to the Achaemenids). It argues that the alleged idiosyncratic imagery and rhetoric found on Nemrud Dağ and elsewhere in Commagene can be understood as part of a wider movement among local rulers in the Near East in response to Seleucid collapse.

R. Strootman, ‘The Great Kings of Asia: Universalistic titulature in the Seleukid and post-Seleukid East’, forthcoming in: R. Oetjen and F. X. Ryan eds., Seleukeia: Studies in Seleucid History, Archaeology and Numismatics in Honor of Getzel M. Cohen (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2019 [in press]).

The Red Apple Tree: the Tree of Life
Analysis and interpretation of Greek and Turkish legends relating to the Holy Tree and its Eschatological, Messianic Role and Importance (in Greek)
First published on 27th January 2018 here: https://profmegalommatistextsingreek.wordpress.com/2018/01/27/η-κόκκινη-μηλιά-δέντρο-μυστικό-του-παρ/

This book is the first-ever comprehensive study of the history and culture of these three little-known countries of Northern Mesopotamia (3rd century BCE – 7th century CE). The book gives an overview of the historical geography, material culture, and political history of each of these countries. Furthermore, the summary offers a regional perspective by describing the history of this area as a subject of the political and cultural competition of great powers.
This book answers both a recent growth of interest in ancient Mesopotamia as the frontier area, as well as the urgent need for documentation of the cultural heritage of a region that has recently become subject to the destructive influence of sectarian violence.

The Hellenistic kingdom of Commagene exerted an outsized influence on the volatile world of post-Seleucid Western Asia given its small size and relatively recent independence. While Commagene is now starting to find a place within the Hellenistic Mediterranean, it is only beginning to be fully and meaningfully integrated into the history of the Iranian world. Building on recent work, this chapter thus offers an inquiry into the origins of Commagene’s Persian royal legacy and Iranian religious traditions under Antiochos I, and the cultural and geopolitical contexts that informed their development. Its primary goal is to provide historical nuance for the ‘Persian traditions’ that scholarship has frequently treated as a complete invention or the outgrowth of a monolithic and essentialized Zoroastrianism. It considers the extent to which these traditions grew from an Iranian constituency in place within Commagene since the Achaemenid period or, more likely, arose from a more restricted courtly or dynastic milieu. In so doing, it analyses the dynastic legacy of the Orontids of Sophene and Armenia and the techniques by which they crafted their royal identity and the nature of their impact on Commagene. In particular, it seeks to strike a balance between the epigraphic and archaeological evidence offered by the Antiochos I’s monuments, which
provide the most abundant evidence, and what we can descry about the region’s and the dynasty’s earlier traditions from the archaeological record and fragmentary textual sources.

A Kingdom Between East and West: Commagene
This study refers to the relations between Rome, Parthian  and the Commagene. In addition, the social and cultural textures of the Commagene have been mentioned in this study. I would like to thank the authors for their work on commagene.

The international balance of power that materialized in the middle of the first century BCE was a bipolar system between Rome and Parthia.  The kingdom of Commagene was a player within this system, albeit a minor one.  It was precisely the strategic position of Commagene along the middle Euphrates and its location on the periphery of both Rome and Parthia that gave the kings of Commagene their source of power and shifting autonomy, especially Antiochus I.  Although the kingdom generally submitted to the will of the Roman state and served as a Roman client throughout the majority of its relationship with Rome, Commagene was no petty puppet principality during Antiochus I’s reign.  Rome saw the value and strength of this kingdom as a potential asset and threat.  It is too easy to disregard the important position that Commagene played in the Roman development of the Near East.  This work demonstrates that Antiochus I exercised a good deal of agency and commanded considerable respect in the Near East.  The aim of this work is to examine the intense, harsh struggle for power, security, and survival for the Kingdom of Commagene during the reign of Antiochus I.  I shall endeavor to illustrate the fine balance struck between the personal ambition of Antiochus in his pursuit of autonomy and power-maximizing policies and his compliance to Roman wishes and demands.

American Historical Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., January 2014.

From the conquests of Seleukos Nikator, Seleukid rulers presented themselves as heirs to the age-old Near Eastern ideal of universal monarchy. But since their power had started to decline in the 2nd century BC, new claims to 'Great Kingship' were made by the Parthian Arsakids, the Mithradatids of Pontos, the Ptolemies, and conspicuously by Antiochos I of Kommagene, whose house had been bound to the imperial centre by ties of intermarriage and kinship. The same Antiochos famously displayed his royal ancestors in the sanctuary on Nemrut Dağı. While such dynastic expressions are predominantly viewed as fictitious Persian revivalism, it will be argued that the idea of universal monarchy had always been pivotal to Seleukid rule and that with the demise of the Seleukid patriline new claims to empire were based on matrilineal descent. This was possible due to the importance of Seleukid women as transmitters of inheritance and royalty.

MUSIC IN URFA AND ITS AROUND IN THE LIGHT OF TODAY
                                              ARCHEOLOGICAL DATA

          The Euphrates and with view of the plains on the hills of Şanlıurfa, the traces of the people's enthusiasm are based on ten thousand years ago. The first description of people dancing with the music rhythm is seen in Nevali Çori in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Age.
The figure is seen in Tell Halaf Culture in Fıstıklı Höyük. In the Bronze Age, Lidar, Gre Virike, Harran and Sumatar are accompaning the rhytm with the rattle and whistles.

          The temples had an important place in the music. There were also music choirs and singer priests in the Harran Temple of the Moon God of Sin, also known as the Joy Temple "E Hulhul". Every year the Akitu festival organized for the honor of Sin was held in music accompaniment. In the cult of Atargatis (Tarata-Venus) has symbol of pigeon and fish, dances were performed with music accompanied by flutes and bells, and songs were sung.

          It is observed that the religious, official and entertainment music in the vicinity of Urfa developed immediately on the Euphrates line. The late Hittite period reliefs of Charcamish, which was founded on the banks of the Euphrates, depict musicians playing percussion, blowing and stringed instruments. It is stated that the rights of the musicians should be preserved on Antiochus I's Sacred Law, written on the holy terrace of Mount Nemrut in the Kingdom of Commagene. Zeugma was also the center of entertainments with artists in the Roman period. Its artists were sent till to Duro-Europos. In Zeugma mosaics, figures who play percussive and blown instruments, stamps and ring stones are decorated with stringed instruments.

          In the palace of the Osrhoene kings, dancing made music accompanied by food in honor of the Roman emperors were magnificent to guests. It was Bardaysan's poetry and music, describing Edessa, Orhay, love. Sometimes on the colorful mosaics Orpheus plays lyre, sometimes the figurs were seen seated on the rocks and they are playing the long-handled musical instrument. Edessa (Orhay) Syriac Church developed the religious music and women's choir was founded in the 4th century AD.

The music, blended with the melodies from the past, influenced the culture of Urfa, it was spread into city, streets and till to the plaster of the houses. The roots of today row night cultures extend for thousands of years. The sweet tunes of the palace music around Balıklıgöl, like living in the rhythmic mood of today's row night.

Key Words: Music, Urfa, Edessa, Osrhoene, Nevali Cori, Harran, Charcamish, Zeugma, Commagene, Guzana.

        GÜNÜMÜZ ARKEOLOJİK VERİLER IŞIĞINDA URFA VE
                              YAKIN ÇEVRESİNDE  MÜZİK

Fırat nehri ve ova manzaralı tepeliklerinde insanların gönül coşkusunun izleri Şanlıurfa’da on bin yıl önceye dayanır. Müziğin ritmiyle kendinden geçip dans eden insanların ilk betimleri Çanak Çömleksiz Neolitik Çağ’da Nevali Çori’de, Halaf Kültürü’nde Fıstıklı Höyük’de görülür. Tunç Çağı’nda Lidar, Gre Virike, Harran ve Soğmatar çıngırak ve düdüklerle ritimlere eşlik eder.

Tapınaklarda müziğin önemli bir yeri vardı. Neşe Tapınağı “E Hulhul” olarak da adlandırılan Harran Ay Tanrısı Sin Tapınağı’nda müzik koroları ve şarkıcı rahipler de  mevcuttu. Her yıl Sin onuruna düzenlenen akitu festivali müzik eşliğinde yapılırdı. Güvercin ve balık sembolü olan Atargatis (Tarata-Venus) kültünde flüt ve çıngıraklar eşliğinde müzikle  dans yapılır, şarkılar söylenirdi.

Urfa çevresinde de dini, resmi ve eğlence müziğinin hemen Fırat çizgisinde geliştiği izlenir. Fırat nehri kıyısında kurulmuş olan Karkamış’ın Geç Hitit Dönemi kabartmalarında vurmalı, üflemeli ve telli çalgılar çalan müzisyenler betimlenmiştir. Kommagene Krallığı’nın Nemrut Dağı’nda kutsal terasındaki Grekçe yazılan I.Antiokhos’un Kutsal Yasası’nda müzisyenlerin haklarının korunması ve onlara değer verilmesi gerektiği belirtilir. Zeugma, Roma Dönemi’nde sanatçı guruplarıyla eğlence merkeziydi. Sanatçılarını Duro-Europos’a kadar göndermekteydi.  Zeugma mozaiklerinde vurmalı ve üflemeli çalgılar çalan figürler, mühür ve yüzük taşlarında ise telli müzik aletleri işlenmiştir.
Osrhoene krallarının sarayında, Roma İmparatorları onuruna verilen yemeklerde müzik eşliğinde dans büyülerdi konukları. Bardaysan’ın şiir ve müzikleriydi Edessa’yı, Orhay’ı sevgiyi anlatan. Bazen rengarenk mozaiklerde ozan Orfeus lir çalarken, bazen kayalıklara oturup  uzun saplı sazıyla dağı taşı ağlatırken görülür figürler. Edessa (Orhoy) Süryani Kilisesi M.S. 4. yüzyılda ilahiler söyleyen kadınlar korosu kuracak kadar dini müziği geliştirmişti.

        Geçmişten gelen melodilerle harmanlanan müzik, Urfa kültürünü etkileyip, kente, sokaklara ve evlerin sıvasına kadar işledi. Günümüz sıra geceleri kültürünün kökleri binlerce yıl öncesine uzanır. Balıklıgöl etrafındaki saray müziğinin tatlı nağmeleri, günümüz sıra gecelerinin ritmik havasında yaşıyor gibi.

Anahtar Kelime: Müzik, Urfa,Edessa, Osrhoene, Nevali Cori, Harran, Karkamış, Zeugma, Kommagene, Guzana.

This study explores one the major new developments in Iranian culture that emerged during this chaotic yet creative period between Alexander and Islam. During this era, several Iranian-speaking or Iranian-influenced dynasties, from Anatolia to South Asia, established sanctuaries that honoured the sovereign, his relatives and ancestors (both actual and mythological) in conjunction with cult rendered to the gods and, in some cases, funerary monuments. While it is useful to describe the phenomenon’s basic outlines, it is important methodologically to resist the temptation to posit and look for a uniformly replicated ‘system’ informed by the best-documented sites. The goal of this study, therefore, is comparative rather than reconstructive. Idiosyncratic local concerns, artistic and architectural technique, as well as non-Iranian global forces impacted the individual development of each sanctuary just as much as their patrons’ engagement with the developing forms of Middle Iranian kingship.

Hybrid conference at Münster, January 20-21, 2022.
Not much attention has been paid to the material culture of the vast regions of East and South-East Anatolia, Armenia, North-Western Iran and Northern Iraq in the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial/Middle Parthian period. Most importantly, these territories have rarely been considered together, even though they apparently were closely entangled and shared a repertoire of characteristics. This becomes manifest in intertwined material cultures, religious traditions, and elite modes of representation. Peer polity interaction at various levels as well as economic ties fostered the transmission of ideas and the emergence of comparable and compatible symbolic systems. Moreover, rulers and elites shared a referential framework that heavily relied on the Achaemenid past, but was also intertwined with contemporary fashions and customs that pervaded the neighbouring regions. Nevertheless, modern borders and political preoccupations frequently stood in the way of a holistic approach to the region. As a consequence, it has been fragmented into rather small entities that are scrutinized by specialists from different fields. In some areas, most notably Eastern Anatolia and the Upper Tigris valley, the occupation of the Hellenistic and Roman Imperial/Middle Parthian period has barely attracted attention at all. Another general issue is that the region is usually perceived as being on the receiving end of cultural influences, either from the East or from West. For the eastern part of the territories under scrutiny, emphasis is put on the adoption of Persian/Parthian culture, religion, and customs, while Hellenization and Romanisation play a major role in the perception of territories further west. Closely related is the problem of retrospective explanations: The alleged binary opposition between east and west that supersedes much of the later history of the region has frequently been projected onto the Hellenistic period, too. While the territories of Greater Armenia, Sophene, Gordyene, Adiabene, Osrhoene, Hatra and Commagene – to mention the most important political entities that emerged in the region in the Hellenistic period – were certainly very closely connected to the wider world (in all directions), the traditional perspective has limited the extent to which we are able to discern trends that developed locally and regionally. Closely related is the problem of retrospective explanations: The alleged binary opposition between east and west that superseded much of the later history of the region has frequently been projected onto the Hellenistic period, too. Building on this new perspective and defying political boundaries, the conference aims to pave the path for a new and unbiased perception of the region not as a peripheral and marginal zone, but rather as a central hub in the networks of ancient Eurasia.

Ένας χώρος ορίου και πέρατος υπάρχει εδώ, ιδιαίτερα ανάλογος της γεωμορφικής διάπλασης. Βρισκόμαστε στο τέλος των υψιπέδων και των οροσειρών. Μετά, λίγο πιο κάτω, αρχίζει η μεγάλη, αχανής πεδιάδα της βόρειας Μεσοποταμίας: εκεί είναι ένας άλλος "κόσμος"!

Ο φιλέλλην βασιλιάς Αντίοχος Β' (62-34) έκτισε στην κορυφή του Νέμρουντ Νταγ (όρους Νιμρούντ), σε 2.150 μ. υψόμετρο, πολυσύνθετο ιερο κορυφής αποτελούμενο από τρεις (ανατολική – βόρεια – δυτική) εξέδρες κατάλληλα διαμορφωμένες, 30 μ. χαμηλότερα από την επιβλητική κορυφή, η οποία ελέγχει την περιοχή μέχρι τον Ευφράτη. Στην κάθε εξέδρα υπήρχαν ανάγλυφα και μια σειρά (σε όλες τις εξέδρες η ίδια) 5 επιβλητικών (12 μ. ύψους) αγαλμάτων, τα οποία αναπαριστούσαν από δεξιά προς αριστερά τον ίδιο τον ηγεμόνα και τις θεότητες: Ηρακλής – Αρτάγνης (συγκερασμός με την περσική θεότητα Βεραθράγνα), Δίας – Ωρομάζδης (συγχώνευση του Αχούρα Μαζντά με την ανάλογη ελληνική θεότητα), Τύχη –Κομμαγηνή ("τύχη" και "χώρα" είναι ένα!) και Απόλλων – Μίθρας – Ερμής – Ήλιος (πολλαπλός θρησκευτικός συγκρητισμός). Μετά τη ρωμαϊκή κατάληψη, το Ιερό Κορυφής έχασε τη μεγάλη σημασία του και αργότερα μισοκαταστράφηκε από τους χριστιανούς, οι οποίοι απέθεσαν τα κεφάλια των αγαλμάτων κατά γης.
Αρχικά δημοσιευμένο στο Ανεξήγητο, στη σειρά Το Βυζάντιο στην Ανατολή, Δ’ άρθρο, Αύγουστος 1986, σελ. 236-237
Πρόσφατα επαναδημοσιευμένο στο μπλογκ:
http://www.technova.gr/technova/index.php/2012-06-21-03-15-38/istoria/1905-byzantio-stin-anatoli?showall=&start=3

The paper surveys all available evidence concerning the cultural landscape of Sophene from the Hellenistic to early Byzantine times. The survey includes literary texts, onomastic data, papyrological and epigraphic evidence, and finally archaeological data. Available data shows that the culture of Sophene included many distinct cultural elements: local Anatolian, Iranian, Greek-Hellenistic, Roman, Armenian, and Syrian-Mesopotamian. What is more, from the fourth century CE on, Sophene became heavily infiltrated by Syriac Christianity, which replaced its ancient religions (especially Iranian cults).

Published in Greek, in 1994 (DOMOS Publishing House, Athens - Greece), 240 p., the book consists in a really atypical itinerary linking historical moments, topics of History of Religions, and the description of monuments and archeological places with personal traveler experience, as well as with transcendental, spiritual contacts the author seems to have had while traveling in, studying and exploring the area of today’s South-Eastern Turkey in the middle and late 80s.

This unusual and odd travel ‘guide’ book presents six cities and/or provinces of Eastern Turkey, namely Urfa (Edessa of Osrhoene), Commagene, Amida (Diyarbakir), Mardin (Margdis), Nisibis (Nusaybin), and Thospitis (Van), at two levels, present time (middle to late 80s to be precise) and Antiquity, covering the real, daily and physical, as well as the transcendental levels of existence, of understanding and of events, in all aspects of human achievement carried out in that area, from architecture to government to faith; parts of the narrative describe activities and works of several Grand Masters of the Intuition and the Initiation. Reference is also made to part of works and activities that seem to have taken place under the surface of the Earth, which is presumably inhabited in its inner parts, according to the author.
First published online in Buzzle: 12th August 2005
Excerpts from the book's six chapters have been turned into videos, one per chapter (Osrhoene, Commagene, Amida / Diyarbakir, Margdis / Mardin, Nisibis / Nusaybin, Thospitis / Van):
(gathered in a playlist)
http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x4dwui_Megalommatis_%CE%AD%CE%BE%CE%B9-%CE%AC%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AE%CF%82-the-six-stars-of-the-orient/1#video=x3yw6tx
and also here separately:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA9LtFhRydg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-CtNLcvWac
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmECqQnUm0U
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn3CXRtOchE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTUAJGC7Ons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjC-ubvkflg

The integral text of the book can be found here:
https://6astratisanatolis.wordpress.com/

https://6astratisanatolis.wordpress.com/category/%CE%B5%CE%BE%CF%8E%CF%86%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%BF-%CE%B1%CF%86%CE%B9%CE%AD%CF%81%CF%89%CF%83%CE%B7-%CF%80%CF%81%CF%8C%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%B3%CE%BF%CF%82/

https://6astratisanatolis.wordpress.com/category/%CE%BA%CE%B5%CF%86%CE%AC%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CE%B1-%CE%BF%CF%83%CF%81%CE%BF%CE%B7%CE%BD%CE%AE/

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