Adiabene
Adiabene | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
c. 164 BC–c. 379 AD | |||||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
King | |||||||||||
• around 15 CE | Izates I | ||||||||||
• 20s? – c. 36[1] | Monobaz I | ||||||||||
• c. 36 – c. 55/59 AD | Izates II[2] | ||||||||||
• c. 55/59 AD[1] – late 60s/mid-70s- - - - - - - - - - - - | Monobaz II | ||||||||||
• ? – 116 | Meharaspes | ||||||||||
Historical era | Antiquity | ||||||||||
• Established | c. 164 BC | ||||||||||
• Transformed into a Sasanian province | c. 379 AD | ||||||||||
|
Adiabene (
The formation of the kingdom is obscure. The first instance of a recorded Adiabenian ruler is in 69 BCE, when an unnamed king of Adiabene participated in the
Adiabenian rulers converted to
The Parthians were overthrown by the Sasanian Empire in 224, who by the time of Shapur I (r. 240–270) had established their rule in Adiabene.[5] Ardashir II is the last figure to be recorded as king of Adiabene, which implies that the kingdom was after his tenure in c. 379 transformed into a province (shahr), governed by a non-royal delegate (marzban or shahrab) of the Sasanian king.[15]
Etymology
The name of the state entered English from the Ancient Greek Ἀδιαβηνή, which was derived from ܚܕܝܐܒ, Ḥaḏy’aḇ or Ḥḏay’aḇ, in Syriac. The state was also known as Nōdšīragān or Nōd-Ardaxšīragān in Middle Persian,[16][17] Նոր Շիրական, Nor Shirakan, in Armenian, and חַדְיָב, Ḥaḏyāḇ, in Hebrew.
Location
Adiabene occupied a district in Median Empire between the
In Kiddushin 72a the Biblical Habor is identified with Adiabene,[22] but in Jerusalem Talmud, Megillah i. 71b with Riphath.[23] In the Targum Jonathan on Jeremiah li. 27, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz are paraphrased by Kordu, Harmini, and Hadayab, i.e., Corduene, Armenia, and Adiabene; while in Ezekiel xxvii. 23 Harran, Caneh, and Eden are interpreted by the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic translator as "Harwan, Nisibis, and Adiabene."
Population
Adiabene had a mixed population of Assyrians, Arabs, Arameans, Greeks, and Iranians.[24][25] Adiabene was a major-speaking Syriac language kingdom. According to Pliny, four tribes inhabited the region of Adiabene: Orontes, Alani, Azones and Silices.[26] The account of Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews shows that there was a substantial Jewish population in the kingdom. The difficult mixing of cultures can be seen in the story of the martyrdom of Mahanuš, a prominent Iranian Zoroastrian who converted to Christianity.[27] In later times Adiabene became an archbishopric, with the seat of the metropolitan at Arbela.[28]
Based on names of the Adiabenian rulers, Ernst Herzfeld suggested a Sakan or Scythian origin for the royal house of the kingdom;[29][30] however, later progress in Iranian linguistic studies showed that these names were common west middle Iranian names.[31] It has been suggested that the royal house of Adiabene, after fleeing Trajan's invasion, established the later Amatuni dynasty which ruled the area between the lakes Urmia and Van.[32][33]
Adiabene was a district in Mesopotamia between upper and lower Zab and was a part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and inhabited by Assyrians even after the fall of Nineveh. It was an integral part of Asoristan (Achaemenid and Sasanian Assyria).[34][35] The region was later made a part of the Roman province of Assyria after the invasion by Trajan in 116.[36]
History
Achaemenid Persian Empire
Under the
Queen Helena's conversion to Judaism
According to Jewish tradition, Helena, the Queen of Adiabene converted to Judaism from paganism in the 1st century.[38] Queen Helena of Adiabene (known in Jewish sources as Heleni HaMalka) moved to Jerusalem where she built palaces for herself and her sons, Izates bar Monobaz and Monobaz II at the northern part of the city of David, south of the Temple Mount, and aided Jews in their war with Rome. Queen Helena's sarcophagus was discovered in 1863. A pair of inscriptions on the sarcophagus, "tzaddan malka" and "tzadda malkata," is believed to be a reference to the provisions (tzeda in Hebrew) that Helena supplied to Jerusalem's poor and to the Jewish kingdom in general. According to Josephus, the queen converted to Judaism together with her son Monobaz II, under the influence of two Jews. Another tradition has it that she met a Jewish jewelry merchant in Adiabene by the name of Hananiah (Ananias) or Eliezer, who told her about the people of Israel and persuaded her to join them.[39] All historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene ended around 115 CE, but these stories made huge impact on rabbinic literature and Talmud.[40] Nominally Zoroastrian, the people of Adiabene were tolerant toward Judaism, and permitted the establishment of Jewish communities there, The Jews of Edessa, Nisibis, and Adiabene repaid them by being among the most vigorous opponents of Trajan. In late second century Christianity rapidly spread among Zoroastrians and those formerly professing Judaism. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire under Constantine, the position of Adiabenian Christians was naturally exacerbated, since they were seen as potentially disaffected by the zealously Zoroastrian Sasanians.[41]
Hellenistic period
The little kingdom may have had a series of native rulers nominally vassal to the
Parthian Empire
It later became one of the client kingdoms of the Parthian empire. During the 1st century BCE[
Roman intermezzo (117–118)
The chief opponent of
In the summer of 195
Sasanian rule
Despite the overthrow of the Parthians by the Sasanians in 224 CE, the feudatory dynasties remained loyal to the Parthians, and resisted Sasanian advance into Adiabene and Atropatene. Due to this, and religious differences, Adiabene was never regarded as an integral part of Iran, even though the Sasanians controlled it for several centuries.
After the Roman Empire gradually made
The region was recorded as Nod-Ardadkhshiragan or Nod-Ardashiragan in Sasanian period.
Bishops
Between the 5th and the 14th centuries
- Pkidha (104–114)
- Semsoun (120–123)
- Isaac (135–148)
- Abraham (148–163)
- Noh (163–179)
- Habel (183–190)
- Abedhmiha (190–225)
- Hiran of Adiabene (225–258)
- Saloupha (258–273)
- Ahadabuhi (273–291)
- Sri'a (291–317)
- Iohannon (317–346)
- Abraham (346–347)
- Maran-zkha (347–376)
- Soubhaliso (376–407)
- Daniel (407–431)
- Rhima (431–450)
- Abbousta (450–499)
- Joseph (499–511)
- Huana (511–?)
See also
- Adiabene (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)
- Asoristan
- Assyria (Roman province)
- Osroene
- Sinharib
- Nor Shirakan
- List of kings of Adiabene
Notes
- JSTOR 3264908.
References
- ^ a b (Frankfurt/Main), Bringmann, Klaus (October 2006). "Monobazus". brillonline.com. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Nimmo, Douglas John. "Izates II King of Adiabene's Tree". June 8, 2011. geni.com. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
- ^ Kia 2016, p. 54.
- ^ Marciak 2017, pp. 269–270, 447.
- ^ a b Frye 1984, p. 279.
- ^ Sellwood 1983, pp. 456–459.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 270.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 269.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 345.
- ^ Marciak 2017, pp. 347, 422.
- ^ Marciak & Wójcikowski 2016, pp. 79–101.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 347.
- Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
- JSTOR 3264908.
- ^ Marciak 2017, p. 412.
- ŠKZ
- ^ Frye 1984, p. 222.
- ^ "Hist." xviii., vii. 1
- ^ Geogr. xvi, 1, 1
- ^ Hist. Nat. vi, 16, 42
- ^ Yaqut, Geographisches Wörterbuch, ii. 263; Payne-Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus, under "Hadyab"; Hoffmann, Auszüge aus Syrischen Akten, pp. 241, 243.
- Yebamot16b et seq., Yalqut Daniel 1064
- Genesis Rabbaxxxvii.
- ^ Sweeney, Emmet, 2007, The Ramessides, Medes, and Persians, p. 176
- ISBN 978-0-19-938113-5.
- ^ Pliny the Elder, The natural history, book VI, chap. 30
- ^ Fiey, J. M. (1965). Assyrie chrétienne I. Beirut: Imprimerie catholique.
- ^ Hoffmann, "Akten," pp. 259 et seq.
- ^ Ernst Herzfeld, 1947, Zoroaster and his world, Volume 1, p. 148, Princeton university press, University of Michigan, 851 pages
- ^ Ernst Herzfeld, Gerold Walser, 1968, The Persian Empire: Studies in geography and ethnography of the ancient Near East, p. 23, University of Michigan, 392 pages
- ISBN 3882261560/9783882261561
- ^ Jacob Neusner, 1969, A History of the Jews in Babylonia, Volume 2, p. 352-353, Brill, 462 pages
- ^ Jacob Neusner, 1990, Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism in Talmudic Babylonia, Volym 204, p. 103-104, University of Michigan, Scholars Press, 228 pages
- ^ Whinston, William. Translator. The Works of Josephus. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers Inc. 1999
- ^ Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. David Womersley, ed. Penguin Books, 2000
- ^ "Adiabene". JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2011-09-19.
- ^ Nöldeke, Geschichte der Perser, p. 70.
- ^ "Helena". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ Shapira, Ran (1 October 2010). "A Royal Return". Haaretz. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ The Other Zions: The Lost Histories of Jewish Nations By Eric Maroney P:97
- ^ electricpulp.com. "ADIABENE – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ electricpulp.com. "Encyclopædia Iranica - Home". www.iranica.com. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- ^ Mingana, A. (1907). The Chronicle of Arbela. Press of the Dominican Fathers at Mosul. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
Sources
- Kia, Mehrdad (2016). The Persian Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. ISBN 978-1610693912. (2 volumes)
- Frye, R. N. (1983). "The political history of Iran under the Sasanians". In ISBN 0-521-20092-X.
- ISBN 9783406093975.
false.
- Grabowski, Maciej (2011). "Abdissares of Adiabene and the Batas-Herir relief". Warszawa. IX: 117–140.
- Hansman, J. F. (1986). "Arbela". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 3. pp. 277–278.
- Marciak, Michał; Wójcikowski, R. (2016). "Images of Kings of Adiabene: Numismatic and Scultpural Evidence". Iraq. IX. Cambridge University Press: 79–101. .
- Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. ISBN 9789004350724.
- Sellwood, D. (1983). "Adiabene". Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 5. pp. 456–459.
- Brauer, E., The Jews of Kurdistan, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1993.
- Solomon Grayzel, A History of the Jews,New York: Mentor, 1968.
- Gottheil, Richard. "Adiabene". Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906.; which cites:
- Jewish Antiquitiesxx. 2, § 4;
- idem, Wars of the Jews. ii. 19, § 2; iv. 9, § 11; v. 2, § 2; 3, § 3; 4, § 2; 6, § 1, noting that Josephus probably got his information from Adiabenian Jews in Jerusalem (Von Gutschmid, Kleine Schriften, iii. 4).
- idem,
- Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, v. 66, vi. 44 et seq.
- Ammianus, History, xviii. 7, § 1; xxiii. 6, § 21
- Strabo, Geography, xvi. 745 et seq.
- Brüll, Adiabene, in Jahrbuch i. 58 et seq.
- Grätz, Heinrich, in Monatsschrift, 1877, xxvi. 241 et seq., 289 et seq.
- Von Gutschmid, Gesch. Irans, pp. 140 et seq.
- Schürer, Gesch. ii. 562.
External links
- Bishops of Adiabene
- History of Aramaic (includes references to Adiabene)
- The forced conversion of the Jewish community of Persia and the beginnings of the Kurds
- "Assyria" at Livius.org Archived 2014-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
- "Arbela" at Livius.org Archived 2013-05-02 at the Wayback Machine
- Adiabene, Jewish Kingdom of Mesopotamia (different page see above)
- Info from Jewish Encyclopedia