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Province of Mesopotamia (Byzantium)

Συγγραφή : IBR , Giftopoulou Sofia (31/12/2003)
Μετάφραση : Chrysanthopoulos Dimitrios (19/9/2008)

Για παραπομπή: IBR , Giftopoulou Sofia, "Province of Mesopotamia (Byzantium)", 2008,
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7987>
Μεσοποταμίας Επαρχία (Βυζάντιο) (2/6/2008 v.1) Province of Mesopotamia (Byzantium) (15/2/2006 v.1) 
 

1. Political geography

The roman/early byzantine province of Mesopotamia occupied the fertile lands of the homonymic region in the Near East, demarcated in the east by the river Tigres and in the west by the river Euphrates. It was established at the end of the 3rd cent. AD, most probably in 298 AD, by Diocletian (284-305 AD), after the Romans had consolidated their dominance in the Near East, and came under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Oriens in 314 AD, the year when the dioceses of the Roman Empire were established.

It occupied the land south of the eastern branch of the river Euphrates called Arsanias, and west/southwest of the river Tigres, northeast of the province of Oshroene. It bordered in the east with the Parthian and subsequently the Persian Empire and in the north with the autonomous armenian satrapies. At the time of Jovian (363-364 AD), the borders between the Byzantine and the Persian Empire were stabilized. At the time of Valens (364-378 AD) or, most probably, according to modern research, in 387 AD, at the time of Theodosius I (378-395 AD), the northern borders of Mesopotamia were reestablished under the provisions of the agreement on the partition of Armenia.1

2. Political and ecclesiastical administration

Mesopotamia was governed by a praeses.2 Amida, the only city mentioned during the 1st quarter of the 6th cent. AD,3 was the political metropolis of the province of Mesopotamia. Amida and Daras were the ecclesiastical metropolises. The city Constantina was the seat of the dux of the province, who was in charge of the military command of the province prior to the middle of the 4th cent. AD.4 In the records of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, no less than five bishoprics are mentioned in the province of Mesopotamia, among which are Nisibis, an important city which fell into persian hands in 363 AD, and Edessa, the metropolis of the province of Oshroene. According to the notitia episcopatuum of the Patriarchate of Antioch, Amida was responsible for eight bishoprics during the 6th cent. AD and Daras for three or four.5 In the work of George of Cyprus, written in the 4th quarter of the 6th cent. AD, no less than 25 cities have been recorded in the province of Mesopotamia.6

At the time of Justinian I (527-565 AD), the province of Mesopotamia was divided into three separate provinces under the provisions of the treaty of 532 AD: Armenia IV/New Justiniane, a consular province with Martyropolis as its political metropolis, Mesopotamia, with Amida as its political and ecclesiastical metropolis, and South Mesopotamia, with Daras as its political and ecclesiastical metropolis. After 591 AD, the northern province was also named Upper Mesopotamia, according to the administrative reforms of Maurice (582-602 AD).7

3. History

The Persians claimed the lands of the province of Mesopotamia throughout the Late Antiquity. A part of the conquest of the Roman Empire during the years 296-299 AD was lost in 363 AD. At the beginning of the 6th cent. AD, the Persians consolidated their presence in Mesopotamia, but they were forced to retreat during the fourth decade of the century. They came back in the southern part of the province, in the entire region of Daras, in 573 AD, but retreated again in 591 AD. Mesopotamia fell again into persian hands in 602 AD. Between 623 and 628 AD, the province of Mesopotamia and the entire region of Nisibis, the part which was lost in 363 AD, were recaptured by Herakleios (610-641 AD). Later on, between 633 and 640 AD, Mesopotamia fell into Arab hands.8

1. See Chrysos, E., “Some Aspects of Roman-Persian Legal Relations”, Κληρονομία 8 (1976), p. 40ff; Garsoian, G. N., “Αρμενία Μεγάλη και επαρχία Μεσοποταμίας”, in Ευψυχία, Melanges offerts a Helene Ahrweiler I (Byzantina Sorbonensia 16, Paris 1998), p. 239 and note nr. 1.

2. Honigmann, E. (ed.), Le Synecdemos d’ Hierocles et l’ opuscule geographique de Georges de Chypre (Brussels 1939), Synecdemos 40.715.3.

3. Honigmann, E. (ed.), Le Synecdemos d’ Hierocles et l’ opuscule geographique de Georges de Chypre (Brussels 1939), Synecdemos 40.715.3; see also George of Cyprus 64.894.

4. Brandes, W., “Uberlegungen zur Vorgeschichte des Thema Mesopotamien”, Byzantinoslavica 44 (1983), p. 172.

5. Honigmann, E. (ed.), “Studien zur Notitia Antiochena”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 25 (1925), p. 75; Honigmann, E. (ed.), “La liste originale des peres de Nicee (Apropos de l’ eveche de Sodoma: en Arabie)”, Byzantion 14 (1939).

6. Honigmann, E. (ed.), Le Synecdemos d’ Hierocles et l’ opuscule geographique de Georges de Chypre (Brussels 1939), George of Cyprus 63-64. See the lengthy commentary on this information by Howard-Johnston, J. D., “Byzantine Anzitene”, in Mitchell, St. (ed.), Armies and Frontiers in Roman and Byzantine Anatolia. Proceedings of a colloquium held at University College (Swansea April 1981) (British Archaeological Reports, International Series, nr. 156, British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara Monograph 5, Oxford 1983), p. 286, note 115.

7. ODB II s.v. Mesopotamia (Mango, M. M.); DMA s.v. Armenia, geography (Garsoian, N. G.).

8. The Byzantines attacked the fortresses since the middle of the 10th cent. AD and established short-lived themes in the entire region, but they failed to regain the roman/early byzantine Mesopotamia; see Oikonomides, N., “L’ organisation de la frontiere orientale de Byzance aux Xe-XIe siecles et le Taktikon d’ Escorial”, in Berza, M. – Stanescu, E. (eds), Actes du XIVe Congres International des Etudes Byzantines, Rapports I (Bucarest 1974), pp. 291, 292: the fortresses of Hasanra, Zermion, Erkne, Mouzarion. The homonymous theme extended in the north/northwest of the old province of Mesopotamia and occupied the lands of Upper Mesopotamia/Armenia IV. During the 11th cent. AD, the Seljuks consolidated their presence in this region.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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