The Lost Greco-Iranian Kingdom

Commagene was an ancient Hellenistic kingdom located in modern-day Turkey. Established around the 2nd century B.C., Commagene was ruled by a branch of the Orontid dynasty that combined Iranian and Greek cultural influences. Today, Commagene is mostly known due to the famous monument on the peak of mount Nemrut, built by Antiochus I. In this video we will talk about the history of Commagene, beggining with its independence from the Seleucid empire and concluding with the annexation of the kingdom by the Roman Empire. We will also analyze the magnificent monument of mount Nemrut.
00:00 - 02:24 Introduction
02:25 - 04:03 Landscape and Culture
04:04 - 07:44 Chronological History: Part 1
07:45 - 15:21 Mount Nemrut Monument
15:23 - 23:34 Chronological History: Part 2
Music kindly provided by:
Stefanos Krasopoulis/Στέφανος Κρασοπούλης: @stefanoskrasopoulis
A Big Thank You to my Patreon members: Robert G Ferrick
You can follow me on Patreon if you want: / historicaladventure
Sources:
- Stefan R Hauser, ‘Hellenized Iranians? Antiochos I and the Power of Image’
- Matthew P Canepa, 'Commagene Before and Beyond Antiochos I. Dynastic Identity, Topographies of Power and Persian Spectacular Religion'
- Anna Collar, 'Time, Echoes and Experience. Perceiving the Landscape in Commagene'
- William Aylward, 'The Rescue Excavations at Zeugma in 2000'
- www.worldhistory.org/Commagene/
- www.iranicaonline.org/article...
- CIMRM 32 - Inscriptions on throne-backs, Nemrud Dag
- Lucius Cassius Dio, 'Roman History'
#documentary #history #greece #iran

[@laurachapple6795]

I've been to Mount Nemrut! It's an amazing place with an absolutely stunning view.

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

As a writer and admirer of the Greek civilization, I am so glad I discovered your channel 🧿🧿

[@BaltimoresBerzerker]

How'd you get an emoji of the Greek eye dude?

[@ravensthatflywiththenightm7319]

@@BaltimoresBerzerker Click the emoji icon and type "amulet"

[@MarcusAgrippa390]

As much as I love Greco-Roman history how have I never heard of those statues at the beginning of the video? Awesome content as always my friend! P.S. Love the Duduk music

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you my friend! There are a lot of underrated monuments and artworks of the Hellenistic period from the Near East all the way to modern Afghanistan. We tend to focus more toward those from the Aegean and Egypt. The instrument in the song is actually an ancient Greek monaulos, played masterfully by the musician Stefanos Krasopoulis. There is a link to his channel in the description in case you want to check out more of his music.

[@MarcusAgrippa390]

@@historicaladventurevideos Thank you for the link! And I am eagerly waiting to learn much more from you about the history and culture of those areas, as they do not get enough thorough coverage. Cheers!

[@kalixkatt]

Awesome channel

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you!

[@DesertAres]

Excellent video! I have visted the statues on Mt. Nemrut back in 1987 and am still amazed at how massive and tall they are. Thank you!

[@mercianthane2503]

I read the thumbnail as: "God kings of Comanche" and my reaction was: *Excuse me, amigo?" Thank you. This is one kingdom I knew it once existed, but the whole story was not completely known to me. I once believed it was created by some hellenized folks and that was it.

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Haha don't worry I haven't lost it. Yes, today, it is a relatively forgotten kingdom, and most people who know about it are aware of it because of the Nemrut monument. There are actually very few sources of information about Commagene.

[@enderman_666]

god kings of come again?

[@LittleK1ng]

This is a great channel & video got me hooked at the start and watched all the way through, liked and subscribed thanks for the great history lesson in a fun and entertaining video!

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you, and welcome to the adventure!

[@salmabaig9508]

great videos! you are so underrated

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you!

[@user-kq4bg7hn4w]

Splendid content. ❤

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you!

[@veronicalogotheti1162]

Thank you

[@na.hambaryan]

One of the statues on mount Nemrut obviously wears the tiara of the Armenian Artashessian dynasty, which descends from the Orontids. I've been there, climbing mount Nemrut at dawn is difficult, but then you are rewarded with a majestic view of the sunrise.

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Yes you are correct. In many of the dexiosis stelae Antiochos is depicted wearing the exact same crown that Tigranes the Great wore.

[@sergef4776]

And that same Antichos is the son in law of king of Armenia Tigran II. Iranians had nothing to do there. Where do you get all this fake infarmation? ​@@historicaladventurevideos

[@StoicHistorian]

Great video, I’d like to think the Kurds and Armenians also had a big impact on certain parts of this kingdom. On a side note would you like to do some sort of collab?

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Thank you! I'm sorry, but I tend to work alone, especially on KZbin. I have so much other work to balance alongside my KZbin channel, and I'm currently working on 3-4 different projects that I decided to post in the next months. However, I do enjoy your channel! Your content is very detailed, and I appreciate the wide range of subjects you cover.

[@StoicHistorian]

@@historicaladventurevideos thanks man I appreciate those words, your channel is excellent as well! If you ever wanna collab in the future I’m open anytime. (We could also give each a shoutout on a community post if that’s something you’d be comfortable with)

[@blabla-kk8bl]

There was no kurds that time but armenians were already in region with several kingdoms.

[@sergef4776]

​@@blabla-kk8blAbsolutely! There has been a concerted effort to whitewash history of Armenia by a group who feels threatened by revelations that can shatter illusions of aspired imagined greatness.

[@DAlienzombie]

Nice research. Doesn' t look pulled. Watcher.

[@Roust7]

The Commagenes kingdom sounds very similar to Kurmanji which is the name of Kurdish dialect of the people who live there. Is this real connection?

[@historicaladventurevideos]

Commagene is the English version of the ancient Greek Κομμαγηνή. In earlier times the region was called Kummuh or Kummaha by the Luwians/Neo-Hittites, according to the Assyrians, which means something like 'land of the mountains'. The Assyrians later displaced the Luwians/Neo-Hittites in the region and established Mesopotamians who spoke a Semitic language in the region. It was probably at that time that the region's name changed to something that resembled the Greek term. I doubt there is a connection with the name of the Kurdish dialect but my knowledge is rather limited in linguistics and I am most certainly not an expert on the Kurdish language so I can't tell with certainty.

[@blabla-kk8bl]

No kurds were not on this region that time they were living in deep iranian regions called kermanshah. Kurmanji comes from kermansahi.Kurd come to region with sunni arabic conquers as converted muslims in the islamin army.

[@Roust7]

Please note Mithradates is greek form of Mehrdad . The name means given by Mithra. Does the king divine claim refers back to Mithra persian diety? Later evolution of Mithraism?

[@historicaladventurevideos]

I think the Old Persian version is Mithradata while the modern version is Mehrdad. There were many Iranian-speaking rulers with that name, as early as the 4th century B.C. The Commagenian dynasty was Greco-Iranian so this was just the case of adopting Greek and Iranian names.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

The cone-head statues remind me of the Gutians.

[@theshamanarchist5441]

They look like the Saka.

[@therealestg9]

@@theshamanarchist5441they were descended from Saka

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

In Ancient Greek, the G is always pronounced as G as in Got, never J as in Just. In Classical Latin, too. So, Commagene is pronounced Ko-ma-ge-nee.

[@Occupied.Kurdistan-Hamjon]

Unfortunately, there is wrong information regarding the history of Anatolia, the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, the Zagros Mountains, and the Taurus. Why do you not mention the history of the indigenous peoples of those regions, who are the Kurdish people?

[@hanonomiri]

The status are much older than the history you talking about man.... FACT

[@redsamson5185]

💚❤️🩵

[@Wayzor_]

Stop with the voice thing. It sounds really lame.

[@historicaladventurevideos]

What voice thing?

[@twanabaiz9516]

What fun Iranian peoples keeps making fakes history’s that kingdom was Kurdish- Greek even the name of kingdom is Kurdish komma it mean in both sorani-kramnji dialects gather up gene genein in Krmanji dialect mean debate so stop making theories if you not own anything and the land of this kingdom is north Kurdistan

[@delaramsalmassi4063]

We Kurds are an Iranian people and I am myself an Iranian Kurd and a Yazidi Kurd!

[@blabla-kk8bl]

Kurds are foreginers to anatolia to kommagene and to all current kurdish cities. Kurmanji comes from kermanjahi which is mean from kermanshah fron deep iranian afgan steps.Kurmanci refers to kurds who comes from iranian kermanshah to the anatolia. They come anatolia with islamic conquers so they are mostly sunni muslims and they always a mercenary poer to the islamic jihad expention. So they always co-operated with ottoman turks , muslim arabs to kill armenians and assyrians and occupy their land with islamic support.

[@Tamara-nn1wr]

Anither clip misrepresenting/ignoring Armenian histiry. That area was called Armenian Highlands/Armenian Mingdom. Who is paying you to falsify the Armenianbhistory there.

[@zazazazizizi6276]

WRONG !!!!!!! This is the Macedonian-Iranian Kingdom : Antiochos 1st was MACEDONIAN !!!!! and Orontid dynasty was Armenian !!! Where are greeks ???? You still spreading that wrong idea dating from 1840, by Johann Droysen and its theory about Hellenism and corrupted by greeks shollars and western power .... I know, it's hard to admit that Macedonian ended Greek culture, the so-called historical roots of Europa... It does not fit with the ideological-historical naration !! So they encompass Macedonia history and culture and Macedonian people in a so-called "greekness" and retrieve the Greatness of Macedonian empire.... That's how they annexed the Aegean Macedonia (now in neo-constructed "greece") in 1913. They expell Macedonian and replaced them in 1923 by 650 000 greeks from turkish coast in 1923 (Treaty of Lausanne 1923). P.S : Eumene de Carda was a Greek satrap. All others were Macedonians

[@winterwolf34]

Did you even watch the video? Antiochos I himself says: ''Persians and Greeks - the fortunate roots of my ancestry.'' Macedonians ended Greek culture? What a joke. Macedonians were part of the Ancient Greek world, they spoke a Greek dialect, had Greek names, worshipped Greek gods, had the Greek alphabet and later spread the Greek culture to the corners of the world. There is no such thing as 'Aegean Macedonia', because this is the only Macedonia there is. Can you read any of the ancient texts of the Macedonians? No, because it is in Macedonian Greek and you speak a dialect of Bulgarian. The territory of the modern nation of the so-called ''North Macedonia'' is on the land which was called Paeonia in ancient times and was inhabited by Thracian tribes, not Macedonians. The origin of the ancient Macedonians is in Pieria, the southernmost part of Macedonia in Greece. There was no such thing as a 'Macedonian' in 1913, the census clearly speak of Bulgarians, Turks, Greeks, Jews and Gypsies. In Macedonia in 1821, it was the Greeks from the regions of Naousa and Halcidike that revolted against the Turks, the slavic people then were still more subservient to them. In the early 20th century, there were many fights and battles between the Bulgarians and Greeks and Turks and Greece managed to take Macedonia from the Ottomans, just like the Bulgarians managed to take Thrace from the Ottomans. After this, Bulgarians were expelled from the Greek territories and Greeks were expelled from the Bulgarian territories. For example, in Monastiri, which is called Bitola in the Bulgarian language there was a majority of Greek people. The slavic people of the modern nation of 'North Macedonia' started identifying as 'Macedonians' in the mid 20th century and beyond. Yes, many Greeks from Anatolia and eastern Thrace after the Greek genocide came and established themselves in Macedonia and Attica, in places where there had once been Turkish and Bulgarian people, but there were many local Greek Macedonians still in numerous places like Naousa, Roumlouki, Kastoria, Pieria, Veroia, the whole of Halcidike etc. You should focus more on developing your country then engaging in common Balkan ultranationalist pseudo-history theories.

[@greektraditionalmusicchann5644]

".. do not forget Greece, Alexander ..It was for her sake that you launched your whole expedition, to add Asia to Greece .." Arrian [Anabasis of Alexander 4.11.7] "Your ancestors came to Macedonia and the rest of Hellas (Greece) and did us great harm, though we had done them no prior injury. I have been appointed LEADER OF THE GREEKS, and wanting to punish the Persians I have come to Asia, which I took from you..." Alexander's letter to Persian king Darius in response to a truce plea, as quoted in Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian; translated as Anabasis of Alexander by P. A. Brunt, for the "Loeb Edition" Book II 14, 4 Alexander’s speech before the battle of Issus: "...We Macedonians are to fight Medes and Persians, nations long steeped in luxury, while we have long been hardened by warlike toils and dangers; and above it will be a fight among free men and slaves. And so far as Greek will meet Greek, we shall not be fighting for like causes; those mercenaries with Dareius will risk their lives for pay, and poor pay too; we on the contrary shall fight for Greece and our hearts will be in it". Arrian, "Anabasis of Alexander" Book II, Ch.7, par.4,5 Cambridge, Massachussets, Harvard University Press "Ancient allegations that the Macedonians were non-Greek all had their origin in Athens at the time of the struggle with Philip II. Then as now, political struggle created the prejudice. The orator Aeschines once even found it necessary, to counteract the prejudice vigorously fomented by his opponents, to defend Philip on this issue and describe him at a meeting of the Athenian Popular Assembly as being 'entirely Greek'. Demosthenes' allegations were lent an appearance of credibility by the fact, apparent to every observer, that the life-style of the Macedonians, being determined by specific geographical and historical conditions, was different to that of a Greek city-state. This alien way of life was, however, common to western Greeks of Epirus, Akarnania and Aitolia, as well as to the Macedonians, and their fundamental Greek nationality was never doubted. Only as a consequence of the political disagreement with Macedonia was the issue raised at all." Errington, Malcolm (1994). A History of Macedonia. Barnes Noble, p.4 “Such was the end of Philip … He had ruled 24 years. He is known to fame as one who with but the slenderest resources to support his claim to a throne won for himself the greatest empire among the Hellenes, while the growth of his position was not due so much to his prowess in arms as to his adroitness and cordiality in diplomacy.” (Diodoros of Sicily 16.95.1-2) "The ancient Macedonians were Greek, their language was Greek to judge by their personal names, and by the names of the months of their calendar." George Cawkwell, Emeritus Fellow,University College Oxford "The native spoken language of the Macedonians was a dialect of Greek and that in the roughly 6,300 Macedonian-period inscriptions discovered by archaeologists about 99% were written in the Greek language, using the Greek alphabet". Anson, Edward M. (2010). "Why Study Ancient Macedonia and What This Companion is About". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Oxford, Chichester, & Malden: Wiley-Blackwell "This (i.e. Pella curse tablet) has been judged to be the most important ancient testimony to substantiate that Macedonian was a north-western Greek and mainly a Doric dialect". Roisman, Worthington, 2010, "A Companion to Ancient Macedonia", Chapter 5: Johannes Engels, "Macedonians and Greeks", p. 95

[@st-craftbeats8374]

The fact that western Bulgarians still think they are ''Ancient Macedonians'' is hilarious.

[@zazazazizizi6276]

@@st-craftbeats8374 The way how neo-constructed "greeks" still behave as Ancient Greeks is just ridiculous !!!! Arvanite ? Pontic ? Micrasiate ?Yunan (Turkish coast) ? Who really are you ?.......

[@st-craftbeats8374]

@@zazazazizizi6276 I am a Greek from Thessaly and Pieria in Macedonia and my ancestors have been speaking Greek for thousands of years. Out of all the people that you mentioned, the only ones that did not speak Greek were the Arvanites but decided to fight for the Greek nation. I know it may seems weird to you, because no one wants to fight for your nation. On the contrary, it seems like every decade, more people want to split from it, just like you split from the Bulgarians in the early 20th century. Oh and also, we don't behave like ancient Greeks, we are Greek orthodox and speak modern Greek but our grandparents are the ancient Greeks and our fathers are the Byzantines. I really don't understand what's wrong with accepting your Bulgarian heritage, Bulgarians have a very rich history.