Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (''
polis'') in
Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now
Urfa or Şanlıurfa,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. It was founded during the
Hellenistic period
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
by
Macedonian general and self proclaimed king
Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the
Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient
Macedonian capital. The
Greek name (''Édessa'') means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the
Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of
Osroene. In
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
, it became a prominent center of
Christian learning and seat of the
Catechetical School of Edessa. During the
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
, it was the capital of the
County of Edessa.
The city was situated on the banks of the
Daysan River (; ; ), a tributary of the
Khabur, and was defended by
Şanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel.
Ancient Edessa is the predecessor of modern
Urfa (; ; ; ), in
Şanlıurfa Province,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. Modern names of the city are likely derived from Urhay or Orhay (), the site's
Syriac name before the re-foundation of the settlement by
Seleucus I Nicator. After the defeat of the Seleucids in the
Seleucid–Parthian Wars, Edessa became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, with a mixed Syriac and Hellenistic culture. The origin of the name of
Osroene itself is probably related to Orhay.
The
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
began exercising political influence over the Kingdom of Osroene and its capital Edessa from 69 BC. It became a
Roman ''colonia'' in 212 or 213, though there continued to be local kings of Osroene until 243 or 248. In
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
, Edessa was an important city on the Roman
–Persian frontier with the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
. It resisted the attack of
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...
() in his third invasion of Roman territory. The 260
Battle of Edessa
The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Valerian (emperor), Valerian and the Sasanian Empire under Shapur I, in Edessa, Mesopotamia, Edessa (now the Turkish city of Urfa) in 260. The ...
saw Shapur defeat the Roman emperor
Valerian () and capture him alive, an unprecedented disaster for the Roman state. The Late Antique ''
Laterculus Veronensis'' names Edessa as the capital of the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
of
Osroene. The Roman soldier and Latin historian
Ammianus Marcellinus described the city's formidable fortifications and how in 359 it successfully resisted the attack of
Shapur II ().
The city was a centre of Greek and Syriac theological and philosophical thought, hosting the famed
School of Edessa. Edessa remained in Roman hands until its
capture by the Persians during the
Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, an event recorded by the Greek ''
Chronicon Paschale'' as occurring in 609. Roman control was restored by the 627 and 628 victories of
Heraclius () in the Byzantine–Sasanian War, but the city was lost by the Romans again in 638, to the
Rashidun Caliphate during the
Muslim conquest of the Levant. It did not return to the Romans' control until the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
temporarily recovered the city in the mid-10th century after a number of failed attempts.
The
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
regained control in 1031, though it did not remain under their rule long and changed hands several times before the end of the century. The
County of Edessa, one of the
Crusader states set up after the success of the
First Crusade, was centred on the city, the crusaders having seized the city from the
Seljuks. The county survived until the 1144
Siege of Edessa, in which
Imad al-Din Zengi, founder of the
Zengid dynasty, captured the city and, according to
Matthew of Edessa, killed many of the Edessenes. The Turkic
Zengid dynasty's lands were eventually absorbed by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
in 1517 after the 1514
Battle of Chaldiran.
Names

The earliest name of the city was ''Admaʾ''(also written ''Adme'', ''Admi'', ''Admum''; ), recorded in
Assyrian cuneiform in the
Old Assyrian period. It is recorded in Syriac as ܐܕܡܐ ''Adme.''
The ancient town was refounded as a
Hellenistic
In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...
military settlement by
Seleucus I Nicator in BC, and named ''Edessa'' after the
ancient capital of
Macedonia, perhaps due to its abundant water, just like its Macedonian namesake. It was later renamed ''Callirrhoe'' or ''Antiochia on the Callirhoe'' (; ) in the 2nd century BC (found on Edessan coins struck by
Antiochus IV Epiphanes, r. 175–164 BC).
After Antiochus IV's reign, the name of the city reverted to Edessa, in Greek, and also appears in
Armenian as ''Urha'' or ''Ourha'' (), in Aramaic (
Syriac) as ''Urhay'' or ''Orhay'' (), in local Neo-Aramaic (
Turoyo) as ''Urhoy'', in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
as ''ar-Ruhā'' (), in the
Kurdish languages as , Latinized as ''Rohais'', and finally adopted into
Turkish as ''Urfa'' or ''Şanlıurfa'' ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name. This originally Aramaic and Syriac name for the city may have been derived from the
Persian name ''
Khosrow''.
It was re-named ''Justinopolis'' during the Byzantine period in the early 6th century. According to some Jewish and Muslim traditions, it is the location of
Ur of the Chaldees
Ur Kasdim (), commonly translated as Ur of the Chaldees, is a city mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the birthplace of Abraham, the Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Israelites and the Ishmaelites. In 1862, Sir Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baronet, Hen ...
, the birthplace of
Abraham.
Geography
Edessa was situated on a ridge in the middle of a ring of hills surrounded by a fertile plain, and was therefore considered to be favourably situated. The ridge in turn was an extension of
Mount Masius, part of the
Taurus Mountains of southern
Asia Minor. The city was located at a crossroads; the east–west highway from
Zeugma on the
Euphrates
The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
to the
Tigris
The Tigris ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the eastern of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian Desert, Syrian and Arabia ...
, and the north–south route from
Samosata (modern-day
Samsat) to the Euphrates via Carrhae (modern-day Harran) met at the ridge where Edessa was located.
History
Antiquity
In the second half of the second century BC, as the
Seleucid Empire disintegrated during wars with
Parthia
Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...
(145–129 BC), Edessa became the capital of the
Abgarid dynasty, who founded the kingdom of
Osroene (also known as Edessa). This kingdom was established by
Arabs
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...
from the northern
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
and lasted nearly four centuries (c. 132 BC to A.D. 214), under twenty-eight rulers, who sometimes called themselves "king" on their coinage. Edessa was at first more or less under the protectorate of the
Parthia
Parthia ( ''Parθava''; ''Parθaw''; ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Medes during the 7th century BC, was incorporated into the subsequent Achaemeni ...
ns, then of
Tigranes of
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
, Edessa was
Armenian Mesopotamia's capital city, then from the time of
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey ( ) or Pompey the Great, was a Roman general and statesman who was prominent in the last decades of the Roman Republic. ...
under the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
. Following its capture and sack by
Trajan, the Romans even occupied Edessa from 116 to 118, although its sympathies towards the Parthians led to
Lucius Verus pillaging the city later in the 2nd century.
Christianity is attested in Edessa in the 2nd century; the gnostic
Bardaisan was a native of the city and a philosopher at its court. From 212 to 214 the kingdom was a
Roman province
The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
.

The Roman emperor
Caracalla
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname Caracalla (; ), was Roman emperor from 198 to 217 AD, first serving as nominal co-emperor under his father and then r ...
was assassinated on the road from Edessa to Carrhae (now
Harran) by one of his guards in 217. Edessa became one of the frontier cities of the province of Osroene and lay close to the border of the
Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...
. The
Battle of Edessa
The Battle of Edessa took place between the armies of the Roman Empire under the command of Emperor Valerian (emperor), Valerian and the Sasanian Empire under Shapur I, in Edessa, Mesopotamia, Edessa (now the Turkish city of Urfa) in 260. The ...
took place between the Roman armies under the command of the emperor
Valerian and the Sasanian forces under emperor
Shapur I
Shapur I (also spelled Shabuhr I; ) was the second Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran. The precise dating of his reign is disputed, but it is generally agreed that he ruled from 240 to 270, with his father Ardashir I as co-regent u ...
in 260. The Roman army was defeated and captured in its entirety by the Persian forces, including Valerian himself, an event which had never previously happened.
The literary language of the tribes that had founded this kingdom was
Aramaic, from which
Syriac developed. Traces of Hellenistic culture were soon overwhelmed in Edessa, which employed Syriac legends on coinage, with the exception of the
client king Abgar IX (179–214), and there is a corresponding lack of Greek public inscriptions.
Late Antiquity
According to the ''
Chronicle of Edessa'', a Syriac chronicle written after 540, the cathedral church of Edessa was founded immediately after the end of the
Diocletianic Persecution and the 313 ''
Letter of Licinius'', which ended the general persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. The cathedral church was dedicated to the
Holy Wisdom. Around 23 different monasteries and churches are known to have existed in the city, with at least as many again just outside town; these attracted many pilgrims.
Eusebius of Caesarea even claimed in his
''Church History'' that "the whole city" was "devoted to the name of Christ" in the early 4th century; in fact the city had at least some pagan inhabitants into the early 5th century, as well as Jewish ones.
Eusebius also claimed to quote the ''Letter of Abgar to Jesus'' and the ''Letter of Jesus to Abgar'' in the state archives of Edessa, foundational texts of the
Abgar Legend.
Egeria, a high-status Roman lady and author, visited Edessa in 384 on her way to
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
; she saw a ''
martyrium'' of
Thomas the Apostle
Thomas the Apostle (; , meaning 'the Twin'), also known as Didymus ( 'twin'), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Thomas is commonly known as "doubting Thomas" because he initially doubted the resurrection of ...
and the text of the ''Letter of Jesus'' inscribed on the city walls, said to protect the city. She saw a longer version of the ''Letters'' than she was previously familiar with, and was assured that the holy words had repelled a Persian assault on the city.
According to the ''Chronicle of Edessa'', in 394 the relics of Saint Thomas were
translated into the great Church of St Thomas and in 442 they were encased in a silver casket. According to the late-6th-century Frankish hagiographer and bishop
Gregory of Tours, the relics had themselves been brought from India, while in Edessa an annual fair (and alleviation of customs duties) was held at the church in July in the saint's honour (the feast of St Thomas was observed on 3 July) during which, Gregory alleged, water would appear in shallow wells and
flies
Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwin ...
disappeared. According to
Joshua the Stylite, a shrine to some martyred saints was built outside the city walls in 346 or 347.
A more elaborate version of the Abgar Legend is recorded in the early 5th-century Syriac ''
Doctrine of Addai'', purportedly based on the state archives of Edessa, and including both a pseudepigraphal letter from
Abgar V to
Tiberius () and the emperor's supposed reply.
This text is the earliest to allege that a painting (or
icon) of
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
was enclosed with the reply to Abgar and that the city of Edessa was prophesied never to fall.
According to this text, Edessenes were early adopters of Christianity; the inhabitants of the neighbouring city of Carrhae (
Harran), by contrast, were pagans. According to the ''Chronicle of Edessa'', the early 5th-century theologian and bishop
Rabbula built a church dedicated to
Saint Stephen
Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity.["St ...]
in a building that had been a
synagogue. The city was a site of major unrest in 449 due to an attempt to depose its bishop,
Ibas.
When Nisibis (
Nusaybin) was ceded to the Sasanian Empire along with
Arzanene,
Moxoene,
Zabdicene, Rehimena and
Corduene in 363,
Ephrem the Syrian left his native town for Edessa, where he founded the celebrated
School of Edessa. This school, largely attended by the Christian youth of Persia, and closely watched by
Rabbula, the friend of
Cyril of Alexandria, on account of its
Nestorian tendencies, reached its highest development under bishop
Ibas, famous through the
Three-Chapter Controversy, was temporarily closed in 457, and finally in 489, by command of Emperor
Zeno
Zeno may refer to:
People
* Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name
* Zeno (surname)
Philosophers
* Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes
* Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...
and Bishop Cyrus, when the teachers and students of the School of Edessa repaired to Nisibis and became chief writers of the
Church of the East.
Miaphysitism prospered at Edessa after the Arab conquest.
Under the Sassanian emperor
Kavad I
Kavad I ( ; 473 – 13 September 531) was the Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 488 to 531, with a two or three-year interruption. A son of Peroz I (), he was crowned by the nobles to replace his deposed and unpopular uncle Balash ().
Inheri ...
(), the Sasanids attacked Edessa. According to Joshua the Stylite the shrine outside the walls set up in the 340s was burnt by his troops.
Edessa was rebuilt by
Justin I (), and renamed Justinopolis after him. The Greek historian
Procopius, in his ''Persian Wars'', describes the inscription of the ''Letter of Jesus''
's text on the city gates of Edessa, which he stated made the defences impregnable.
An unsuccessful
Sasanian siege occurred in 544. The city was taken in 609 by the Sasanian Empire, and retaken by
Heraclius, but lost to the Muslim army under the
Rashidun Caliphate during the
Muslim conquest of the Levant in 638.
Early Christian centre
The precise date of the introduction of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
into Edessa is not known. However, there is no doubt that even before AD 190 Christianity had spread vigorously within Edessa and its surroundings and that shortly after the royal house joined the church.
According to a legend first reported by
Eusebius in the fourth century, King
Abgar V was converted by
Thaddeus of Edessa (
Addai),
who was one of the
seventy-two disciples, sent to him by
"Judas, who is also called Thomas". However, various sources confirm that the Abgar who embraced the Christian faith was
Abgar IX.
Under him Christianity became the official religion of the kingdom.
Addai was succeeded by
Aggai, then by
Saint Mari, who was ordained about 200 by
Serapion of Antioch
Serapion of Antioch was a Patriarch of Antioch ( Greek: Σεραπίων; 191–211). He is known primarily through his theological writings, although all but a few fragments of his works have perished. His feast day is celebrated on 30 October. ...
. Thence came to us in the second century the famous ''
Peshitta'', or Syriac translation of the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
; also
Tatian's ''
Diatessaron'', which was compiled about 172 and in common use until
Rabbula, Bishop of Edessa (412–435), forbade its use. Among the illustrious disciples of the School of Edessa,
Bardaisan (154–222), a schoolfellow of Abgar IX, deserves special mention for his role in creating Christian religious poetry, and whose teaching was continued by his son Harmonius and his disciples.
A Christian council was held at Edessa as early as 197. In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed. In 232 the relics of the apostle Thomas were brought from
Mylapore,
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination many martyrs suffered at Edessa:
Sharbel and
Barsamya, under
Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius ( 201June 251), known as Trajan Decius or simply Decius (), was Roman emperor from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was proclaimed emperor by his troops a ...
; Sts. Gûrja, Shâmôna, Habib, and others under
Diocletian. In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa had evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and Persia, and established the first Churches in the Sasanian Empire. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the
First Council of Nicaea (325). The ''Peregrinatio Silviae'' (or Etheriae) gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
As metropolis of Osroene, Edessa had eleven
suffragan sees.
Michel Le Quien
Michel Le Quien (8 October 1661, Boulogne-sur-Mer – 12 March 1733, Paris) was a French historian and theologian.
Biography
Le Quien studied at , Paris, and at twenty entered the Dominican convent in Faubourg Saint-Germain, where he made ...
mentions thirty-five bishops of Edessa, but his list is incomplete.
The
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
episcopate seems to have disappeared after the 11th century. Of its
Jacobite bishops, twenty-nine are mentioned by Le Quien (II, 1429 sqq.), many others in the ''Revue de l'Orient chrétien'' (VI, 195), some in ''Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft'' (1899), 261 sqq. Moreover, Nestorian bishops are said to have resided at Edessa as early as the 6th century.
Islamic rule
The Armenian chronicler
Sebeos, bishop of
Bagratid Armenia writing in the 660s, gives the earliest narrative accounts of
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
in any language today. Sebeos writes of a Jewish delegation going to an Arab city (possibly
Medina) after the Byzantines conquered Edessa:
Muslim tradition tells of a similar account, known as the
second pledge at al-Aqabah. Sebeos' account suggests that
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
was actually leading a joint venture toward
Palestine, instead of a Jewish-Arab alliance against the Meccan pagans toward the south.
Middle Ages
The
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
often tried to retake Edessa, especially under
Romanos I Lekapenos, who obtained from the inhabitants the "
Image of Edessa", an ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly transferred it to
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
, August 16, 944. This was the final great achievement of Romanus's reign. This venerable and famous image, which was certainly at Edessa in 544, and of which there is an ancient copy in the
Vatican Library, was looted and brought to the West by the
Republic of Venice in 1207 following the
Fourth Crusade. The city was ruled shortly thereafter by
Marwanids.
In 1031 Edessa was given up to the Byzantines under
George Maniakes by its Arab governor. It was retaken by the Arabs, and then successively held by the Romans, the Armenians, the
Seljuq dynasty (1087), an Armenian named
Thoros who gained independence from the Turks (1094), and the
Crusaders (1098), who established there the
County of Edessa and kept the city until 1144, when it was again captured by
Imad ad-Din Zengi, and most of its inhabitants
were allegedly slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop. These events are known to us chiefly through the Armenian historian
Matthew, who had been born at Edessa. In 1144 the city had an Armenian population of 47,000. In 1146, the city was briefly
recaptured by the crusaders and lost after a few days. In the words of
Steven Runciman, "the whole Christian population was driven into exile
nd te great city, which claimed to be the oldest Christian commonwealth in the world, was left empty and desolate, and has never recovered to this day."
The
Ayyubid Sultanate's leader
Saladin acquired the town from the
Zengids in 1182. During Ayyubid rule, Edessa had a population of approximately 24,000. The
Sultanate of Rûm took Edessa in June 1234, but sometime in late 1234 or 1235, the Ayyubid sultan
Al-Kamil re-acquired it. After Edessa had been recaptured, Al-Kamil ordered the destruction of its Citadel.
Not long after, the
Mongols
Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...
had made their presence known in Edessa in 1244. Later, the
Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...
sent troops to Edessa in 1260 at which point the town voluntarily submitted to them. The populace of Edessa were thus saved from being massacred by the Mongols. Edessa was also held by the
Mamluk Sultanate, and the
Aq Qoyunlu.
Subsequent history
Edessa was subsequently controlled by the
Safavid dynasty, and from 1517 to 1918 the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
.
[''al-Ruha'', Suraiya Faroqhi, ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Vol. VIII, ed. C.E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, G. Lecomte, (Brill, 1995), 591–593.]
Under the Ottomans in 1518, the population of Edessa was estimated at a mere 5,500; likely due to the
Ottoman–Persian Wars. By 1566, though, the population had risen to an estimated 14,000 citizens. In 1890, the population of Edessa consisted of 55,000, of which the Muslim population made up 40,835.
Syriac literature
The oldest known dated Syriac manuscripts (AD 411 and 462), containing Greek
patristic texts, come from Edessa.
Following are some of the famous individuals connected with Edessa:
#
Jacob Baradaeus, an ardent Miaphysite who preserved the (Oriental) Orthodox church after the persecution subsequent to the Chalcedonian controversy
Jacobites
#
Jacob, Bishop of Edessa, a prolific writer (d. 708);
#
Theophilus, an astronomer, who translated into Syriac verse
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
'' and ''
Odyssey'';
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Stephen Bar Sudaïli, monk and pantheist, to whom was owing, in Palestine, the last crisis of
Origenism in the 6th century
# The anonymous author of the ''
Chronicon Edessenum'' (''Chronicle of Edessa''), compiled in 540
# The anonymous writer of the story of "The Man of God", in the 5th century, which gave rise to the legend of St. Alexius, also known as
Alexius of Rome (because exiled Eastern monks brought his cult and bones to Rome in the 10th century).
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Basil bar Shumna (d. c. 1170) bishop who wrote a chronicle of the city's history (now lost)
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Cyrus of Edessa, 6th century Syriac Christian writer
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John bar Aphtonia, a key figure in the transmission of Greek thought and literary culture into a Syriac milieu
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Thaddeus of Edessa, Christian saint and one of the seventy disciples of Jesus
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Maurelius of Voghenza, Syrian priest
See also
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List of ancient Greek cities
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Image of Edessa
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Knanaya
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List of bishops of Edessa
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Matthew of Edessa
References
Sources
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* Walter Bauer 1971. ''Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity'', 1934, (in English 1971): Chapter 1 "Edessa"
On-line text
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* A. von Gutschmid, ''Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Königliches Osroëne'', in series ''Mémoires de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg'', series 7, vol. 35.1 (St. Petersburg, 1887)
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External links
Old and new Images from EdessaRichard Stillwell, ed. ''Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites'', 1976:"Antioch by the Callirhoe, later Justinopolis (Edessa; Urfa) Turkey"
An essay on Egeria's escorted visit (April 384), and the bishop's tall tales
{{Authority control
300s BC establishments
Populated places established in the 4th century BC
Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey
Archaeological sites in Southeastern Anatolia
Crusade places
History of Şanlıurfa Province
Holy cities
Populated places in Osroene
Populated places in Şanlıurfa Province
Roman towns and cities in Turkey
Roman Syria
Seleucid colonies in Anatolia
Upper Mesopotamia
Ur of the Chaldees