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Province, 117 CE

Armenia and Mesopotamia

Imperial province, consular legateCapital: not formally establishedRoman since 116 CE
HELD ONLY 114–117 CE — ALREADY BEING ABANDONED

Trajan's biggest gamble — three brand-new provinces (Armenia, Mesopotamia and Assyria) carved out of the Parthian war of 114–116, with Ctesiphon itself captured and a Parthian client king installed on the throne. By the exact week this map is frozen on, the gamble is already failing: revolts across the new territory and Trajan's own fatal illness are forcing the retreat Hadrian will make official within days of taking power, abandoning all three east of the Euphrates.

Trajan formally organized Armenia and Mesopotamia as provinces in early 116 CE, commemorated on his own coinage; a third province, Assyria, is claimed by ancient sources but has no confirming coin issue, so modern historians debate whether it was ever fully organized. All were held only from 114/116 to 117 CE: within months of this map's snapshot, Hadrian ordered Assyria evacuated (118) and abandoned Armenia and Mesopotamia the same year.

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Sources

  • Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.26–33
  • Eutropius, Breviarium 8.3
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyria_(Roman_province)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia_(Roman_province)

Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →