Moxoene

The name Moxoene only appears in ancient sources in the early fourth century. In later centuries, Armenian sources used the name Mokkʿ. The ancient name is preserved in modern times with the local Kurds using the name Miks for the main town of the area.[3][4] Attempts have been made to find the pre-Armenian attestations of Moxoene and some ethnonyms have been suggested including Μύκοι by Herodotus, Muški from Assyrian sources and τῶν Μοσχικῶν ὄρη or Μοξιανοί by Ptolemy as attested by him in Geography. However, none of these fit the geographical and linguistic criteria.[5]

In 198, Moxoene was emerged into Corduene.[6]

During the Battle of Samarra in 363, Roman soldiers likely marched through Moxoene under generals Procopius and Sebastianus to join Arshak II.[7] During the territorial negotiations that same year, the Sasanian Empire demanded the area of Moxoene. After the war, Moxoene emerged as a new political entity part of the Sasanian Empire.[6] The diocese of Moxoene belonged to Nestorianism.[8]

The settlement was known in Roman times as Moxos, after the 8th century as Mokks or Moks, and after the 18th century as Mukus. Moxoene may have been named after the Bronze Age Mushki people, who according to Assyrian sources, settled in the region.[9][10]

• Kossian, Aram (1997), The Mushki Problem Reconsidered (PDF)
• Leezenberg, Michiel (2014), "Elî Teremaxî and the Vernacularization of Medrese Learning in Kurdistan", Iranian Studies, 47 (5): 713–733, doi:10.1080/00210862.2014.934150, ISSN 0021-0862, S2CID 162201041
• Marciak, Michał (2017), Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West, Brill Publishers