Carcathiocerta
Carcathiocerta was a city in Armenian Sophene near the Tigris, identified with the modern town of Eğil.
Variants
- Carcathiocerta (Pliny.vi.10)
- Carcathiocerta (Armenian: Կարկաթիոկերտ)
- Karkatiokert (Արկաթիակերտ)
- Arkatiakert
- Ancient Greek: Καρκαθιόκερτα, Karkathiokerta
- Artagigarta
- Baras
- Basileon
- Phrourion
- Ingila
Jat Gotras Namesake
Mention by Pliny
Pliny[1] mentions The Rivers Cyrus and Araxes....The more famous towns in Lesser Armenia are Cæsarea3, Aza4, and Nicopolis5; in the Greater Arsamosata6, which lies near the Euphrates, Carcathiocerta7 upon the Tigris, Tigranocerta8 which stands on an elevated site, and, on a plain adjoining the river Araxes, Artaxata.9
3 Hardouin thinks that this is Neo-Cæsarea, mentioned as having been built on the banks of the Euphrates.
4 Now called Ezaz, according to D'Anville. Parisot suggests that it ought to be Gaza or Gazaca, probably a colony of Median Gaza, now Tauris.
5 Originally called Tephrice. It stood on the river Lycus, and not far from the sources of the Halys, having been founded by Pompey, where he gained his first victory over Mithridates, whence its name, the "City of Victory." The modern Enderez or Devrigni, probably marks its site.
6 Ritter places it in Sophene, the modern Kharpat, and considers that it may be represented by the modern Sert, the Tigranocerta of D'Anville.
7 The capital of Sophene, one of the districts of Armenia. St. Martin thinks that this was the ancient heathen name of the city of Martyropolis, but Ritter shows that such cannot be the case. It was called by the Syrians Kortbest; its present name is Kharput.
8 Generally supposed, by D'Anville and other modern geographers, to be represented by the ruins seen at Sert. It was the later capital of Armenia, built by Tigranes.
9 The ancient capital of Armenia. Hannibal, who took refuge at the court of Artaxias when Antiochus was no longer able to afford him protection, superintended the building of it. Some ruins, called Takt Tiridate, or Throne of Tiridates, near the junction of the Aras and the Zengue, were formerly supposed to represent Artaxata, but Colonel Monteith has fixed the site at a bend in the river lower down, at the bottom of which were the ruins of a bridge of Greek or Roman architecture.
History
It was the first capital of Sophene until Arsames I founded the new capital Arshamshat around 230 BCE. The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes renamed the city into Epiphania. Strabo in his Geography, calls it "The royal city of Sophene".[2] It was assigned to the late Roman province of Mesopotamia.[3] It also bore the names Artagigarta, Baras, Basileon Phrourion, and Ingila.[4]Under the name Ingila, it became a bishopric; no longer the seat of a residential bishop, it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church.[5]
Its site is located at Eğil in Asiatic Turkey.[6][7]
References
- ↑ Natural History by Pliny Book VI/Chapter 10
- ↑ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 11.14.2. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ↑ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ↑ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 89, and directory notes accompanying.
- ↑ Catholic Hierarchy
- ↑ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 89, and directory notes accompanying.
- ↑ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
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