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"In light of the Kappadokian numismatic parallels, the coins once attributed to Morphilig in fact belong to the Kappadokian ruler, Ariarathes III, and there is no evidence whatsoever for the existence of the king of Sophene named Morphilig." - pp. 75-76, Marciak, Michał (2017). Sophene, Gordyene, and Adiabene: Three Regna Minora of Northern Mesopotamia Between East and West. Brill. HistoryofIran (talk) 12:12, 3 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
I concede in regards to the attribution of the "Morphilig coin" being that of Ariarathes III, I was unaware of Marciak's study regarding it and was curious why Kovacs didn't include it in his catalogue of Armenian Coins. Interestingly enough though, I came across a name "Morp'iwḷik" in Khorenatsi's "History of Armenia," who rebels against King Vaḷarshak while he was fighting the Macedonian army.(book 1, pg. 134)
The source used was published by the "State Educational and Pedagogical Publishing House of Armenia" (Հայաստանի պետական ուսումնական-մանկավարժական հրատարակչություն) and was "Authorized by the Committee of Higher and Secondary Vocational Education of the Soviet of Ministers of the Armenian SSR as a textbook for higher educational institutions," it was written by three authors, H. G. Zhamkochyan, A. G. Abrahamyan, and ST. T. Melik-Bakhshyan and was edited by V. A. Parsamyan. The book uses around 30 sources, however does not include any footnotes. Interestingly enough, (besides Zariadres and Mithrobouzanes) all other mentioned kings of Sophene have their Greek names. I also came across two other authors who also referred to Mithrobouzanes as "Meruzhan," but also reffered to all other kings of Sophene with their greek names. Artak Movsisyan (2019) and Gagik Sarkisyan (1997). Movsesyan sites Adonts, Alishan (1901), and Harutyun Asturyan (1947), however I haven't properly checked those sources.
I would be careful with using elder sources for this time period (or just generally Late Antique Middle Eastern history) as we have a lot more info today than back then. For example, Abdissares was once considered a king of Sophene, but today he is agreed to have ruled Adiabene. Khorenatsi, while he has some interesting info, is still a WP:PRIMARY source that has loads of inaccurate info (as is typical of these ancient works and hence why we have WP:PST), so we should be very careful with using him. --HistoryofIran (talk) 09:05, 4 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
