Sohaemus of Emesa

Who is Sohaemus of Emesa?

Gaius Julius Sohaemus Philocaesar Philorhomaeus, also known as Sohaemus of Emesa and Sohaemus of Sophene was a prince and a Roman Client Priest King from Syria who lived in the 1st century.

Sohaemus was a member of the Royal family of Emesa. He was the second born son and a child to Priest King Sampsiceramus II who ruled the Emesene Kingdom from 14 until 42 and Queen Iotapa. He had an elder brother called Gaius Julius Azizus, who was the first husband of the Herodian Princess Drusilla and had two sisters: Iotapa who married the Herodian Prince Aristobulus Minor and Mamaea. Sohaemus was born, raised in Emesa and was of Assyrian, Armenian, Greek and Median ancestry. His paternal grandfather was the former Emesene Priest King Iamblichus II, while his maternal grandparents were the former Commagenean Monarchs Mithridates III of Commagene and his cousin-wife Iotapa.

Azizus had died in 54 and Sohaemus succeeded his brother as Priest King. He ruled from 54 until his death in 73 and was the priest of the Syrian Sun God, known in Aramaic as El-Gebal. At an unknown date in his reign, Sohaemus became the patron of the Roman colony of Heliopolis. In honor of his patronage to Heliopolis, a statue of him with an accompanied honorific inscription was dedicated to him in the city. The honorary Latin inscription reads: