Kingdom of Commagene: Map & History

History

Commagene was originally a small Syro-Hittite kingdom, located in modern south-central Turkey, with its capital at Samosata (modern Samsat, near the Euphrates). It was first mentioned in Assyrian texts as Kummuhu, which was normally an ally of Assyria, but eventually annexed as a province in 708 BC under Sargon II. The Achaemenid Empire then conquered Commagene in the 6th century BC and Alexander the Great conquered the territory in the 4th century BC. After the breakup of the Empire of Alexander the Great, the region became part of the Hellenistic Seleucids, and Commagene emerged in about 163 BC as a state and province in the Greco-Syrian Seleucid Empire.

Geography

Commagene extended from the right bank of the Euphrates to the Taurus and Amanus Mountains. Strabo, who counts Commagene as part of Syria, notes the kingdom's fertility. Its capital and chief city was Samosata (now submerged under the Atatürk Reservoir).

The boundaries of Commagene fluctuated over time. Under Antiochus Theos, the Kingdom of Commagene controlled a particularly large area. Doliche was under Commagenian rule "for about 35 years"; after being governed by Antiochus Theos, it might have been incorporated into the Roman province of Syria as early as 31 BC. Germanicea declared itself a Commagenian city in Roman times, although originally it was not.