User:HistoryofIran/Gordyene

Gordyene (Կորճայք; Κορδυηνή; )

The Carduchii later expanded their authority beyond the Botan river in the south, eventually gaining the possession of an area adjoining the northern part of the Tigris River and located between the Batman and Khabur rivers. During the Hellenistic period, the Carduchii established the independent kingdom of Gordyene between 165–95 BC, seemingly as a result of the power vacuum that took place following the weakening of the Greek Seleucid Empire (312 BC – 63 BC).

The Gordyaean mountains were usually thought to be a part of the Armenian Taurus Mountains from a geographic perspective.

There is little information available on Gordyene's historical cultural landscape. The ceramic assemblage discovered there suggests that Gordyene may have started as a cultural and political outpost with a strong sense of identity during the late Iron Age.

According to the modern historian Michał Marciak; "Despite common perceptions (based on the alleged similarity of the names), the ancient root Qardū is not akin to the root Kurd-. Therefore, ancient Gordyene and its people cannot be held as ancestors of the modern Kurds."