page_title: Roman Armenia
section_title: Roman province of Armenia (114–118 AD)
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Armenia / History / Roman province of Armenia (114–118 AD)
caption_attribution_description: Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Sestertius (30mm, 26.62 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck circa AD 141-143. ANTONINVS AVG PI-VS P P TR P COS III Laureate head right REX ARMENIIS DATVS, Pius standing left, holding roll and placing hand on head of Armenian king, who raises hand to adjust tiara. RIC III 619; Banti 322. Good VF, brown patina, old cleaning scratches in fields. As Rome and Parthia (and, later, the Sasanians) vied with one another for control of the border territories in eastern Anatolia and northrn Syria, the kingdom of Armenia became a crucial prize for both. With a client-king installed on its throne, Armenia could serve as an important buffer for either empire. Thus, the appointment of a new ruler to the Armenian throne was an important event. Given that this sestertius was struck during the third consulship of Pius (AD 140-144), the only possible candidate for the new Armenian king represented here is Sohemo (first reign, circa AD 140/44-161).
context_page_description: Roman Armenia refers to the rule of parts of Greater Armenia by the Roman Empire, from the 1st century AD to the end of Late Antiquity. While Armenia Minor had become a client state and incorporated into the Roman Empire proper during the 1st century AD, Greater Armenia remained an independent kingdom under the Arsacid dynasty. Throughout this period, Armenia remained a bone of contention between Rome and the Parthian Empire, as well as the Sasanian Empire that succeeded the latter, and the casus belli for several of the Roman–Persian Wars. Only in 114–118 was Emperor Trajan able to conquer and incorporate it as a short-lived province.
  In the late 4th century, Armenia was divided between Rome and the Sasanians, who took control of the larger part of the Armenian Kingdom and in the mid-5th century abolished the Armenian monarchy. In the 6th and 7th centuries, Armenia once again became a battleground between the East Romans and the Sasanians, until both powers were defeated and replaced by the Muslim Caliphate in the mid-7th century.
context_section_description: In 114, Emperor Trajan incorporated Armenia into the Empire, making it a full Roman province.
  “From Antioch the emperor (Trajan) marched to the Euphrates and farther northward as far as the most northerly legion-camp Satala in Lesser Armenia, whence he advanced into Armenia and took the direction of Artaxata... Trajan was resolved to make this vassal-state a province, and a shift to eastern frontier of the (Roman) empire generally... Armenia yielded to its fate and became a Roman governorship... Trajan thereupon advanced and occupied Mesopotamia...and, like Armenia, Mesopotamia became a Roman province.”
  In 113, Trajan invaded the Parthian Empire because he wanted to reinstate a vassal king in Armenia (a few years before fallen under Parthian control). In 114, Trajan from Antiochia in Syria marched on Armenia and conquered the capital Artaxata. Trajan then deposed the Armenian king Parthamasiris and ordered the annexation of Armenia to the Roman Empire as a new province.
  The new province reached the shores of the Caspian Sea and bordered to the north with the Caucasian Iberia and Albania, two vassal states of Rome. 
  As a Roman province Armenia was administered along with Cappadocia by Catilius Severus of the gens Claudia.
  The Roman Senate issued coins on this occasion bearing the following inscription: ARMENIA ET MESOPOTAMIA IN POTESTATEM P.R. REDACTAE, thus solidifying Armenia's position as the newest Roman province. A rebellion by the Parthian pretender Sanatruces was put down, though sporadic resistance continued and Vologases III of Parthia managed to secure an area of south-eastern Armenia just before Trajan's death in August 117.
caption: Roman coin of 141, showing emperor Antoninus Pius holding a crown on the Armenia King's head
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