Melitene

MELITE´NE (ἡ Μελιτηνή, Ptol. 6.3.3), the name given by Ptolemy to that part of Susiana which lay along the banks of the Tigris.

MELITE´NE (Μελιτηνή: Eth. Μελιτηνός), a city in the easternmost part of Cappadocia, and the capital of the district, called Melitene. It appears that iii the time of Strabo (12. p. 537) neither this nor any other town existed in that district. Pliny (Plin. Nat. 6.3), on the other hand, speaks of Melitene as a town built by the fabulous queen Semiramis of Assyria; both accounts may be reconciled by the supposition that the site of the town was formerly occupied by some castle or fort, such as we know to have existed in that country from early times. (Strab. 12. p. 537.) The town was situated on the banks of a small tributary of the Euphrates, which was not far distant from Melitene, and in a very salubrious district. During the first century of the Christian era, the town was not of much importance (Tac. Ann. 15.26); but Trajan raised it to the rank of a great city (Procop. de Aedif. 3.4), and thenceforth it became a central point to which several roads converged. (It. Ant. pp. 157, 209, 211, 215.) The emperors Anastasius and Justinian also embellished the place and surrounded it with new walls. Ever since the reign of Titus, Melitene had been the station of the famous Christian Legio xii. fulminata; and after the division of Armenia into two provinces, it became the capital of Armenia Secunda. (Hierocl. p. 703; comp. Ptol. 5.7.5, 8.17.39; Dio Cass.; Steph. B. s. v.;Plin. Nat. 5.20; Procop. de Bell. Pers. 1.17; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. 5.5.) In A.D. 577, the Romans gained a great victory over the Persian Chosroes I. near Melitene; and the place is frequently mentioned by the Byzantine writers. But at present it is in ruins, though it still bears its ancient name in the form of Malatia.

(Μελιτηνή). A city and district of Armenia Minor, between the Anti-Taurus and the Euphrates. It was known for its fruit, oil, and wine, and under the Roman Empire was the station of a legion and the capital of the province. Here the Romans defeated the Persians in A.D. 577.

Chief town of the strategia of the same name, formerly part of a Seleucid satrapy, annexed to the kingdom by Ariarathes III. In A.D. 70 Legio XII Fulminata was stationed permanently on this sector of limes (Joseph. BJ 7.1.3-18: Not. Dig. or. 38.14). In A.D. 114 Trajan gave it the rank of city. Under Justinian the walls, which survive, were built. No trace of a Hellenistic/Roman town or fortress has yet been found although Procopius (De aed., 3.4.15-20) implies they were on the same site.