Martyropolis

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the titular archbishopric of the same name, see Titular Archbishopric Martyropolis .

Coordinates: 38 ° 9 ′  N , 41 ° 0 ′  E

Martyropolis​

Turkey

Martyropolis is an ancient city in the Arzanene and is located in the Turkish province of Diyarbakır . The current name is Silvan .

Surname

In Armenian and Roman times the city was called Tigranocerta ( Armenian Տիգրանակերտ Tigranakert , ancient Greek Τιγρανόκερτα Tigranόkerta ) in Aramaic Mîyâfâriqîn / Maipherqat / Maiferkat, in Byzantine times Tagrith temporarily Justinianopolis and from the 5th century. Martyropolis .

history

The city is already known from inscriptions from the time of the Akkadian king Naram-Sin (2260–2223). The Niḫirija ( ^URU ni-ḫi-ri-a-ni) of the Hittite , Assyrian and Urartian sources is usually equated with Martyropolis. However, it was also proposed to Eğil on the Upper Tigris .

Tigranes II decided to develop the settlement next to Artaxata on the Araxes into the capital. To do this , he deported the citizens of twelve Cappadocian cities, including Mazaka , here. Before the construction work was completed, however, the city was closed in 69 BC. Conquered by Lucullus in BC and the Greek aristocrats returned to their Cappadocian hometowns.

The Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo conquered the city in 58 and set Tigranes VI. as King of Armenia instead of Trdat I. a.

After the city was conquered by Shapur II , the inhabitants who did not want to convert to Zoroastrianism suffered martyrdom.

Bishop Maruthas of Sophene and Tagrith was the emperor Theodosius I as an envoy to the court of the Persian king Yazdegerd I. sent. There he supposedly cast out an evil spirit from a daughter of Yazdegerd. A magnificent basilica was built for the Martyrs of Tagrith under Maruthas, and the city took the name Martyropolis.

The city was magnificently expanded by Theodosius II . It fell under Anastasios I to the Persians and under Justinian I again to the Romans. They were conquered by the Arabs in the early 8th century . In the 10th century it became an independent bishopric and adhered to Monophysitism . After the battle of Manzikert it was the seat of a Seljuk emir.

Famous citizens

• Maruthas († 422), bishop and saint
• Basilius, bishop in the 9th century

Titular bishopric

Martyropolis is now a titular archbishopric as a suffragan of Amida ( Diyarbakır ) in Mesopotamia. At the moment the title of bishop is not granted. The last incumbent was João Rezende Costa from 1957 to November 15, 1967.

literature

• Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin : Tigranokerta. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 5, Stuttgart 1975, Col. 828 f.
• M. Salvini: The historical Geography of the Sevan Region in the Urartian period. In: Raffaele Biscione, Simon Hmayakyan Neda Parmegiani (Ed.): The North-Eastern frontier Urartians and non-Urartians in the Sevan Lake basin. CNR, Istituto di studi sulle civiltà dell'Egeo e del Vicino Oriente, Rome 2002.

Web links

• Catholic Encyclopedia (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ M. Salvini: The historical Geography of the Sevan Region in the Urartian period. In: Raffaele Biscione, Simon Hmayakyan Neda Parmegiani (Ed.): The North-Eastern frontier Urartians and non-Urartians in the Sevan Lake basin. Rome, CNR, Istituto di studi sulle civiltà dell'Egeo e del Vicino Oriente, 2002, 47