History
Osroene was one of several kingdoms arising from the dissolution of the Seleucid Empire. The kingdom occupied an area on what is now the border between Syria and Turkey.This kingdom was established by The Nabataeans or Arab tribes from North Arabia, and lasted nearly four centuries (c. 132 BC to 214 AD), under twenty-eight rulers, who sometimes called themselves "king" on their coinage
It was in this region that the "legend of Abgar" originated, for which see Abgarus of Edessa.
Osroene was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 114 as a semi-autonomous vassal state, after a period under Arsacid (Parthian) rule, incorporated as a simple Roman province in 214. Osroene was arguably the first state to have a Christian king when Abgar IX is thought to have accepted Christianity under the guidance of Bardaisan. The independence of the state ended in 244 when it was incorporated in the Roman Empire.
Since Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform c. 300, it was part of the diocese of Oriens, in the praetorian prefecture of the same name. According to the late 4th-century Notitia Dignitatum, it was headed by a governor of the rank of praeses, and was also the seat of the dux Mesopotamiae, who ranked as vir spectabilis and commanded (c. 400) the following troops:
- Equites Dalmatae Illyriciani, garrisoned at Ganaba.
- Equites promoti Illyriciani, Callinico.
- Equites Mauri Illyriciani, Dabana.
- Equites promoti indigenae, Banasam
- Equites promoti indigenae, Sina Iudaeorum.
- Equites sagittarii indigenae, Oraba.
- Equites sagittarii indigenae, Thillazamana.
- Equites sagittarii indigenae Medianenses, Mediana.
- Equites primi Osrhoeni, Rasin.
- Praefectus legionis quartae Parthicae, Circesio.
- (an illegible command, possibly Legio III Parthica), Apatna.
as well as, 'on the minor roll', apparently auxiliaries:
- Ala septima Valeria praelectorum, Thillacama.
- Ala prima Victoriae, Tovia -contra Bintha.
- Ala secunda Paflagonum, Thillafica.
- Ala prima Parthorum, Resaia.
- Ala prima nova Diocletiana, inter Thannurin et Horobam.
- Cohors prima Gaetulorum, Thillaamana.
- Cohors prima Eufratensis, Maratha.
- Ala prima salutaria, Duodecimo constituta.
According to Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, "there were some very learned men who formerly flourished in Osroene, as for instance Bardasanes, who devised a heresy designated by his name, and his son Harmonius. It is related that this latter was deeply versed in Grecian erudition, and was the first to subdue his native tongue to meters and musical laws; these verses he delivered to the choirs" and that Arianism —a more successful heresy— met with opposition there.
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