User:TagaworShah/Commagene



"Nemrud in southeastern Anatolia, built by an Armenian king of the Commagene dynasty during the first century bce"



"He was a man of Orontid Armenian descent, a family that traced their line back to the fifthcentury BC emperor Darius I, thus claiming both Armenian and Persian Achaemenid origins."

Brijder, Herman A.G. (ed.) (2014), Nemrud Dağı: Recent Archaeological Research and Conservation Activities in the Tomb Sanctuary on Mount Nemrud. Walter de Gruyter, Boston/Berlin, ISBN 978-1-61451-713-9.

"The composed Greek and Persian names of the deities are intentionally chosen by Antiochus, just like the mixed lineage of Persian-Achaemenid/Armenian, on the one hand, and Macedonian/Seleucid ancestors, on the other."

"it should be noted that King Antiochus himself followed the b2 type of Armenian kings in his images…"

"….they [Kings of Commagene] claimed descent from an Armenian satrapal and royal family called the Orontids and, by extension, the Persian Achaemenids. They also framed themselves as legitimate monarchs by adopting, adapting, and interweaving idioms of Greek, Persian, Armenian, and Syro-Hittite origin. Antiochus especially did so. As king, he even wore both an Armenian tiara and (subsequently) a Greek diadem."

"Greek, Persian, and Armenian ancestry[Synthesis of above quote provided on page 397]"

"He is best known from the great burial ground which he built on the summit of Nimrud Dagh embellished by giant marble statues of seated gods and heroes. Inscriptions discovered there opened up an important era of Armenian history since Ervand-Orontes I; showing also the Armenian-Achaemenid origin of Antiochus of Commagene himself"

"…family also produced the kings of several of the smaller Armenian kingdoms (Sophene, Commagene)."

"Antiochus was the son of a Greek mother and a Zoroastrian father of Armenian descent. He brought Greek and Persian deities together in one pantheon, represented in the colossal effigies on Mount Nemrut (Nemrud Dagı)."

"…epigraphic sources allows us insight into the syncretic religion of an Iranian-Armenian dynasty.[In reference to Antiochus and Nemrut]"

"It is also to be remembered that Antiochus I of Commagene, proud of his Perso-Armenian ancestry and traditions…"

"…the first traces his [Antiochus’] ancestry through Commagenian kings and Armenian satraps to the Achaemenid dynasty…"

"The Armenian Orontids controlled Commagene as part of their holdings until it became a separate administrative unit or kingdom within the Seleucid Empire"

"…he [Antiochus] emphasized his fortunate roots among the Achaemenids and Seleucids as well his claims to the Armenian royal legacy"

"Antiochus looked to contemporary Parthian and, especially, Armenian traditions to design his pantheon and reinvigorate his ancestral  religion."

"Sophene and Commagene often featured as buffer states between Parthia and Armenia on the one hand, and Syria and Rome on the other. Their royal houses had strong dynastic links with the Armenian Orontid house."

"In the first century BC the Orontid king, Antiochus of Commagene, a cousin of the Armenian royal house…"

"…Commagene, where a branch of the family managed to establish itself, although presumably at first tributary to their Armenian kinsmen"