The Daysan River or Daisan River was the name of the river that flowed through

Urfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ex ...

, a tributary of the Khabur. Historically known as the Scirtus ( grc, Σκίρτος),

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, ''de Aed.'' 2.7

describes it as a river of Mesopotamia, a western tributary of the

Chaboras The Khabur River is the largest perennial tributary to the Euphrates in Syria. Although the Khabur originates in Turkey, the karstic springs around Ras al-Ayn are the river's main source of water. Several important wadis join the Khabur north of ...

(modern Khabur). It flowed from 25 sources, and ran past Edessa. (''Chron. Edess.'' in Asseman, ''Bibl. Or.'' i. p. 388.) Its name, which signifies the skipping or jumping (from σκιρτάω), is said to have been derived from its rapid course and its frequent overflowings; and its present name of Daysan or Daisan means the same thing. The river has flooded Edessa numerous times, including in 204, 305, and 415 CE. The Syriac writer

Bardaisan Bardaisan (11 July 154 – 222 AD; syr, ܒܪ ܕܝܨܢ, ''Bardaiṣān''), known in Arabic as Ibn Daisan (ابن ديصان) and in Latin as Bardesanes, was a Syriac-speaking Assyrian or ParthianProds Oktor Skjaervo. ''Bardesanes''. Encyclopædia ...

takes his name from the river.

References

* Rivers of Turkey Edessa Tributaries of the Khabur (Euphrates) {{Turkey-river-stub