Assyria () was a short-lived Roman province in Mesopotamia that was created by Trajan in 116 during his campaign against the Parthian Empire. After Trajan's death, the newly proclaimed emperor Hadrian ordered the evacuation of Assyria in 118. History According to Eutropius and Festus, two historians who wrote under the direction of the Emperor Valens in the second half of the 4th century, at a time when the Roman emperor Trajan was perceived as "a valuable paradigm for contemporary events and figures", Assyria was one of three provinces (with Armenia and Mesopotamia) created by Trajan in AD 116 following a successful military campaign against Parthia that in that year saw him cross the River Tigris from Mesopotamia and take possession, in spite of resistance, of the territory of Adiabene and then march south to the Parthian capital of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and to Babylon. There is numismatic evidence for the Trajanic provinces of Armenia and Mesopotamia, but none for that of Assyria, whose existence is questioned by C.S. Lightfoot and F. Miller. Despite Rome's military victory, Trajan's 116 conquest was plagued with difficulties. From the start, a Parthian prince named Santruces organized an armed revolt by the native peoples, during which Roman garrisons were driven from their posts and a Roman general was killed as his troops tried to stop the rebellion. Trajan overcame the revolt, capturing and burning Seleucia and Edessa, and even setting up a puppet Parthian king; but then, on his journey homeward in triumph, he fell sick and died on 8 August 117. Trajan's successor, Hadrian, implemented a new policy with respect to the recently acquired territories in the east. Believing that they overextended the Empire, he withdrew to the more easily defensible borders. He left unfinished the work of overcoming the Parthians, which he saw would require an excessive increase in military spending. He sent the puppet Parthian king elsewhere and restored to the former ruler the lands east of the Euphrates, together with his daughter who had been captured, preferring to live with him in peace and friendship. Location The fourth-century historians Eutropius and Festus assume that the supposed Roman province of Assyria was situated "east of the Tigris and usually identified with Adiabene". But some modern scholars argue that the Assyria Provincia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in present-day central Iraq, a location that is corroborated by the text of the 4th-century