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'''Edessa''' ({{lang-grc|Ἔδεσσα}}; {{lang-syr|ܐܘܪܗܝ}}; {{lang-hy|Եդեսիա}}) is the Greek name of an Aramaic<ref name="Drijvers">{{Cite journal | url = http://books.google.com/?id=_eNmC35CN90C&printsec=frontcover&dq=syriac+edessa#v=onepage&q&f=false | title = The old Syriac inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene | isbn = 9789004112841 | author1 = Drijvers | first1 = H. J. W | last2 = Healey | first2 = John F | date = 1999-01}}</ref><ref></ref> town in northern ], as refounded by ]. For the modern history of the city, see ]. '''Edessa''' ({{lang-grc|Ἔδεσσα}}; {{lang-syr|ܐܘܪܗܝ}}; {{lang-hy|Եդեսիա}}) is the historical name of an ]<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite journal | url = http://books.google.com/?id=_eNmC35CN90C&printsec=frontcover&dq=syriac+edessa#v=onepage&q&f=false | title = The old Syriac inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene | isbn = 9789004112841 | author1 = Drijvers | first1 = H. J. W | last2 = Healey | first2 = John F | date = 1999-01}}</ref><ref name="books.google.com"/><ref></ref> town in northern ], refounded on an ancient site by ]. For the modern history of the city, see ].


==Names== ==Names==
⚫ The name under which Edessa figures in cuneiform inscriptions is unknown. In early Greek texts, the city is called Ορρα or Ορροα, transliterated '''Orrha''' or '''Orrhoa''' respectively, as the capital of the Kingdom of '''Osroe''', named after its legendary founder Osroe, the ] form for ]. The later native name was Edessa, which became in ] ܐܘܪܗܝ, ] '''Orhāy''' or '''Ourhoï''', in it is ] Ուռհա , transliterated '''Urha''' or '''Ourha''', in ] it is {{lang|ar|الرُّهَا}}, transliterated as '''Er Roha''' or '''Ar-Ruha''', commonly '''Orfa''', ] '''Urfa''', '''Ourfa''', '''Sanli Urfa''', or ] ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name. Islam connects Edessa with ]. ], when he refounded the town as a military colony in 303 BC, mixing Greeks with its eastern population, called it '''Edessa''', in memory of ] the ancient capital of ]. The name is also recorded as '''Callirrhoe''', and under ] the town was called '''Antiochia on the Callirhoe''' (Greek: Αντιόχεια η επί Καλλιρρόης) by colonists from Syrian ] (modern ], Turkey) who had settled there. During ] rule it was named '''Justinopolis'''. Its ] name is '''Riha'''.
The town of Adme is known from cuneiform texts as existing along the banks of the ] tributary, called in Greek "Skirtos".<ref>{{cite journal | author=Harrak | year=1992 | title=The Ancient Name of Edessa | journal=JNES | volume=51 | pages=209-14}}</ref>

⚫ In early Greek texts, the city is called Ορρα or Ορροα, transliterated '''Orrha''' or '''Orrhoa''' respectively, as the capital of the Kingdom of '''Osroe''', named after its legendary founder Osroe, the ] form for ]. The later native name was Edessa, which became in ] ܐܘܪܗܝ, ] '''Orhāy''' or '''Ourhoï''', in it is ] Ուռհա , transliterated '''Urha''' or '''Ourha''', in ] it is {{lang|ar|الرُّهَا}}, transliterated as '''Er Roha''' or '''Ar-Ruha''', commonly '''Orfa''', ] '''Urfa''', '''Ourfa''', '''Sanli Urfa''', or ] ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name. Islam connects Edessa with ]. ], when he refounded the town as a military colony in 303 BC, mixing Greeks with its eastern population, called it '''Edessa''', in memory of ] the ancient capital of ]. The name is also recorded as '''Callirrhoe''', and under ] the town was called '''Antiochia on the Callirhoe''' (Greek: Αντιόχεια η επί Καλλιρρόης) by colonists from Syrian ] (modern ], Turkey) who had settled there. During ] rule it was named '''Justinopolis'''. Its ] name is '''Riha'''.


==History== ==History==
In the second half of the 2nd century BC, as the Seleucid monarchy disintegrated in the wars with ] (145 &ndash;129), Edessa became the capital of the Abgar dynasty, who founded the Kingdom of ] (also known in history as Kingdom of Edessa). This kingdom was established by ]n or ] tribes from North ], and lasted nearly four centuries (c.132 BC to 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 ]ns, then of ] of ], then from the time of ] under the ]. Following its capture and sack by ], the Romans even occupied Edessa from 116 to 118, although its sympathies towards the Parthians led to ] pillaging the city later in the 2nd century. In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood.<ref name=Edessenum>''Chronicon Edessenum'', ad. an. 201.</ref> From 212 to 214 the kingdom was a Roman province. ] was assassinated in Edessa in 217. Edessa was ]'s capital city. In the second half of the 2nd century BC, as the Seleucid monarchy disintegrated in the wars with ] (145 &ndash;129), Edessa became the capital of the Abgar dynasty, who founded the Kingdom of ] (also known in history as Kingdom of Edessa). This kingdom was established by ]n or ] tribes from North ], and lasted nearly four centuries (c.132 BC to 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 ]ns, then of ] of ], then from the time of ] under the ]. Following its capture and sack by ], the Romans even occupied Edessa from 116 to 118, although its sympathies towards the Parthians led to ] pillaging the city later in the 2nd century. From 212 to 214 the kingdom was a Roman province. ] was assassinated in Edessa in 217. Edessa was ]'s capital city.


The literary language of the tribes which had founded this kingdom, was ], whence came the ]. Traces of Hellenistic culture were soon overwhelmed in Edessa, whose dynasty employs Syriac legends on their coinage, with the exception of the Syriac ] ] (179-214), and there is a corresponding lack of Greek public inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Walter |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity |origyear=1934 |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/bauer01.htm |accessdate= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1991 |month= |publisher= |location= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |pages= |chapter=1 "Edessa" |chapterurl= }}</ref> The literary language of the tribes which had founded this kingdom, was ], whence came the ]. Traces of Hellenistic culture were soon overwhelmed in Edessa, whose dynasty employs Syriac legends on their coinage, with the exception of the Syriac ] ] (179-214), and there is a corresponding lack of Greek public inscriptions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bauer |first=Walter |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity |origyear=1934 |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Bauer/bauer01.htm |accessdate= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1991 |month= |publisher= |location= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |pages= |chapter=1 "Edessa" |chapterurl= }}</ref>


Rebuilt by ], and called after him Justinopolis,<ref>], ''Hist. Eccl.'', IV, viii</ref> Edessa was taken in 609 by the ], soon retaken by ], but lost to the Muslim army under ] during the ] in 638 CE. The city maintained a Syriac and Christian identity for centuries. Rebuilt by ], and called after him Justinopolis,<ref>], ''Hist. Eccl.'', IV, viii</ref> Edessa was taken in 609 by the ], soon retaken by ], but lost to the Muslim army under ] during the ] in 638 A.D. The Byzantines often tried to retake Edessa, especially under ], who obtained from the inhabitants the "]", or ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly transferred it to ], August 16, 944. This was the final great achievement of Romanus' reign. This venerable and famous image, which was certainly at Edessa in 544, and of which there is an ancient copy in the ] Library, was brought to the West by the ] in 1207 following the ]. The city was ruled shortly by ].

The amir ] stayed at Edessa while he fought ] in the 30s / 650s.<ref>Agapius 2.2, as a flashback from Muawiya's 17th year. Translated Roger Pearse.</ref> Edessa suffered a flood in 667 CE in the late autumn.<ref>AG 979 = year 26 of Constans = year 8 of Mu`awiya . Acc. {{cite book | author=Palmer | year=1987 | title=The Seventh-Century in the West-Syrian Chronicles | page=193 | publisher=Liverpool University Press}}</ref> In 679 CE, Edessa suffered an earthquake.<ref>Palmer, 60, 77-8, 195</ref>

The Byzantines often tried to retake Edessa, especially under ], who obtained from the inhabitants the "]", or ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly transferred it to ], August 16, 944. This was the final great achievement of Romanus' reign. This venerable and famous image, which was certainly at Edessa in 544, and of which there is an ancient copy in the ] Library, was brought to the West by the ] in 1207 following the ]. The city was ruled shortly by ].


In 1031 Edessa was given up to the Byzantines under ] by its Arab governor. It was retaken by the Arabs, and then successively held by the Greeks, the Armenians, the ] (1087), the ]rs (1099), who established there the ] and kept the city until 1144, when it was again captured by the Turk ], and most of its inhabitants were slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop (see ]). These events are known to us chiefly through the Armenian historian ], who had been born at Edessa. In 1144 the city had 47000 Armenian population. Since the 12th century, the city has successively belonged to the Sultans of ] (]), ], the ], the ], the ], the ] and from 1517 to 1918 to the ]. In 1914 Edessa had an Armenian population numbering 35000. In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, Edessa's Armenian population fought the Turkish army (numbering 18000) for 25 days. In 1031 Edessa was given up to the Byzantines under ] by its Arab governor. It was retaken by the Arabs, and then successively held by the Greeks, the Armenians, the ] (1087), the ]rs (1099), who established there the ] and kept the city until 1144, when it was again captured by the Turk ], and most of its inhabitants were slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop (see ]). These events are known to us chiefly through the Armenian historian ], who had been born at Edessa. In 1144 the city had 47000 Armenian population. Since the 12th century, the city has successively belonged to the Sultans of ] (]), ], the ], the ], the ], the ] and from 1517 to 1918 to the ]. In 1914 Edessa had an Armenian population numbering 35000. In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, Edessa's Armenian population fought the Turkish army (numbering 18000) for 25 days.
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The precise date of the introduction of ] 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 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church.<ref name="vonHarnack">{{cite book |title=The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries |last=von Harnack |first=Adolph |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1905 |publisher=Williams & Norgate |location= |isbn= |pages=293 |quote=there is no doubt that even before AD 190 Christianity had spread vigorously within Edessa and its surroundings and that (shortly after 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church}}</ref> According to a legend first reported by ] in the 4th century, Armenian King ] was converted by ],<ref name="herbermann">{{cite book |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |last=Herbermann |first=Charles George |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1913 |publisher=Encyclopedia Press |location= |isbn= |pages=282}}</ref> who was one of the ], sent to him by ].{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}. Yet various sources confirm that the Abgar who embraced the Christian faith was Abgar IX.<ref name="cheetham">{{cite book |title=A History of the Christian Church During the First Six Centuries |last=Cheetham |first=Samuel |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1905 |publisher=] |location= |isbn= |pages=58 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=von Gutschmid |first=A. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1887 |month=7 |title=Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Könligliches Osroëne |journal=Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages= |url=|location = St. Petersburg, Russia }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Rome and the Arabs |last=Shahid |first=Irfan |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1984 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |location= |isbn= |pages=109–112 }}</ref> Under him Christianity became the official religion of the kingdom.<ref name="Lockyer">{{cite book |title=All the Apostles of the Bible |last=Lockyer |first=Herbert |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1988 |publisher=] |location= |isbn=0310280117 |pages=260 }}</ref> As for Addai, he was neither one of the seventy-two disciples as the legend asserts, nor was sent by Apostle Thomas, as ] says,<ref>'']'', I, xiii.</ref> but a missionary from ] who evangelized Mesopotamia about the middle of the 2nd century, and became the first bishop of Edessa. {{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} He was succeeded by ], then by Palout (]) who was ordained about 200 by ]. Thence came to us in the 2nd century the famous '']'', or Syriac translation of the Old Testament; also ]'s '']'', which was compiled about 172 and in common use until St. ], Bishop of Edessa (412-435), forbade its use. Among the illustrious disciples of the School of Edessa ] (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. The precise date of the introduction of ] 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 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church.<ref name="vonHarnack">{{cite book |title=The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries |last=von Harnack |first=Adolph |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1905 |publisher=Williams & Norgate |location= |isbn= |pages=293 |quote=there is no doubt that even before AD 190 Christianity had spread vigorously within Edessa and its surroundings and that (shortly after 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church}}</ref> According to a legend first reported by ] in the 4th century, Armenian King ] was converted by ],<ref name="herbermann">{{cite book |title=The Catholic Encyclopedia |last=Herbermann |first=Charles George |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1913 |publisher=Encyclopedia Press |location= |isbn= |pages=282}}</ref> who was one of the ], sent to him by ].{{Citation needed|date=December 2007}}. Yet various sources confirm that the Abgar who embraced the Christian faith was Abgar IX.<ref name="cheetham">{{cite book |title=A History of the Christian Church During the First Six Centuries |last=Cheetham |first=Samuel |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1905 |publisher=] |location= |isbn= |pages=58 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=von Gutschmid |first=A. |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1887 |month=7 |title=Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Könligliches Osroëne |journal=Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages= |url=|location = St. Petersburg, Russia }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Rome and the Arabs |last=Shahid |first=Irfan |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1984 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |location= |isbn= |pages=109–112 }}</ref> Under him Christianity became the official religion of the kingdom.<ref name="Lockyer">{{cite book |title=All the Apostles of the Bible |last=Lockyer |first=Herbert |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1988 |publisher=] |location= |isbn=0310280117 |pages=260 }}</ref> As for Addai, he was neither one of the seventy-two disciples as the legend asserts, nor was sent by Apostle Thomas, as ] says,<ref>'']'', I, xiii.</ref> but a missionary from ] who evangelized Mesopotamia about the middle of the 2nd century, and became the first bishop of Edessa. {{Citation needed|date=May 2009}} He was succeeded by ], then by Palout (]) who was ordained about 200 by ]. Thence came to us in the 2nd century the famous '']'', or Syriac translation of the Old Testament; also ]'s '']'', which was compiled about 172 and in common use until St. ], Bishop of Edessa (412-435), forbade its use. Among the illustrious disciples of the School of Edessa ] (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.<ref>], ''Historia ecclesiastica'', V, 23.</ref> In the flood of 201 the Christian church was destroyed.<ref name=Edessenum /> In 232 the relics of the apostle ] were brought from ], ], on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination many martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under ]; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under ]. In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa had evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and ], and established the first Churches in the kingdom of the ]s. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the ] (325). The ''Peregrinatio Silviae'' (or Etheriae)<ref>Ed. ], Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.</ref> gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388. A Christian council was held at Edessa as early as 197.<ref>], ''Historia ecclesiastica'', V, 23.</ref> In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed.<ref>''Chronicon Edessenum'', ad. an. 201.</ref> In 232 the relics of the apostle ] were brought from ], ], on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination many martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under ]; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, Habib, and others under ]. In the meanwhile Christian priests from Edessa had evangelized Eastern Mesopotamia and ], and established the first Churches in the kingdom of the ]s. Atillâtiâ, Bishop of Edessa, assisted at the ] (325). The ''Peregrinatio Silviae'' (or Etheriae)<ref>Ed. ], Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.</ref> gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.


When ] was ceded to the Persians in 363, ] left his native town for Edessa, where he founded the celebrated School of the Persians. This school, largely attended by the Christian youth of Persia, and closely watched by Rabbula, the friend of ], on account of its ] tendencies, reached its highest development under Bishop ], famous through the ], was temporarily closed in 457, and finally in 489, by command of Emperor ] and Bishop Cyrus, when the teachers and students of the School of Edessa repaired to Nisibis and became the founders and chief writers of the Nestorian Church in Persia.<ref>Labourt, ''Le christianisme dans l'empire perse'', Paris, 1904, 130-141.</ref> ] prospered at Edessa, even after the Arab conquest. When ] was ceded to the Persians in 363, ] left his native town for Edessa, where he founded the celebrated School of the Persians. This school, largely attended by the Christian youth of Persia, and closely watched by Rabbula, the friend of ], on account of its ] tendencies, reached its highest development under Bishop ], famous through the ], was temporarily closed in 457, and finally in 489, by command of Emperor ] and Bishop Cyrus, when the teachers and students of the School of Edessa repaired to Nisibis and became the founders and chief writers of the Nestorian Church in Persia.<ref>Labourt, ''Le christianisme dans l'empire perse'', Paris, 1904, 130-141.</ref> ] prospered at Edessa, even after the Arab conquest.


Under ] rule, as metropolis of Osroene, it had eleven suffragan sees.<ref>''Echos d'Orient'', 1907, 145.</ref> ]<ref>''Oriens christianus'' II, 953 sqq.</ref> mentions thirty-five Bishops of Edessa; yet his list is incomplete. The ] episcopate seems to have disappeared after the 11th century. Of its ] bishops twenty-nine are mentioned by Lequien (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. Under ] rule, as metropolis of Osroene, it had eleven suffragan sees.<ref>''Echos d'Orient'', 1907, 145.</ref> ]<ref>''Oriens christianus'' II, 953 sqq.</ref> mentions thirty-five Bishops of Edessa; yet his list is incomplete. The ] episcopate seems to have disappeared after the 11th century. Of its ] bishops twenty-nine are mentioned by Lequien (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.

A side of the church in Edessa collapsed in the 679 earthquake. Muawiyah rebuilt it.<ref>Palmer, 195</ref>


==Cultural== ==Cultural==

Revision as of 15:40, 23 December 2011

For the Greek city in Macedonia, see Edessa, Greece.
The heritage of Roman Edessa survives today in these columns at the site of Urfa Castle, dominating the skyline of the modern city of Şanlı Urfa.
Shows the location of Edessa within modern Turkey.

Edessa (Template:Lang-grc; Template:Lang-syr; Template:Lang-hy) is the historical name of an Assyrian/Syriac town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.

Names

The name under which Edessa figures in cuneiform inscriptions is unknown. In early Greek texts, the city is called Ορρα or Ορροα, transliterated Orrha or Orrhoa respectively, as the capital of the Kingdom of Osroe, named after its legendary founder Osroe, the Armenian form for Chosroes. The later native name was Edessa, which became in Syriac ܐܘܪܗܝ, transliterated Orhāy or Ourhoï, in it is Armenian Ուռհա , transliterated Urha or Ourha, in Arabic it is الرُّهَا, transliterated as Er Roha or Ar-Ruha, commonly Orfa, Turkish Urfa, Ourfa, Sanli Urfa, or Şanlıurfa ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name. Islam connects Edessa with Ur as the abode of Abraham. Seleucus I Nicator, when he refounded the town as a military colony in 303 BC, mixing Greeks with its eastern population, called it Edessa, in memory of Edessa the ancient capital of Macedon. The name is also recorded as Callirrhoe, and under Antiochus IV Epiphanes the town was called Antiochia on the Callirhoe (Greek: Αντιόχεια η επί Καλλιρρόης) by colonists from Syrian Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey) who had settled there. During Byzantine rule it was named Justinopolis. Its Kurdish name is Riha.

History

In the second half of the 2nd century BC, as the Seleucid monarchy disintegrated in the wars with Parthia (145 –129), Edessa became the capital of the Abgar dynasty, who founded the Kingdom of Osroene (also known in history as Kingdom of Edessa). This kingdom was established by Nabataean or Arab tribes from North Arabia, and lasted nearly four centuries (c.132 BC to 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 Parthians, then of Tigranes of Armenia, then from the time of Pompey under the Romans. 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. From 212 to 214 the kingdom was a Roman province. Caracalla was assassinated in Edessa in 217. Edessa was Armenian Mesopotamia's capital city.

The literary language of the tribes which had founded this kingdom, was Aramaic, whence came the Syriac. Traces of Hellenistic culture were soon overwhelmed in Edessa, whose dynasty employs Syriac legends on their coinage, with the exception of the Syriac client king Abgar IX (179-214), and there is a corresponding lack of Greek public inscriptions.

Rebuilt by Emperor Justin, and called after him Justinopolis, Edessa was taken in 609 by the Sassanid Persia, soon retaken by Heraclius, but lost to the Muslim army under Rashidun Caliphate during the Islamic conquest of Levant in 638 A.D. The Byzantines often tried to retake Edessa, especially under Romanus Lacapenus, who obtained from the inhabitants the "Holy Mandylion", or ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly transferred it to Constantinople, August 16, 944. This was the final great achievement of Romanus' 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 brought to the West by the Venetians in 1207 following the Fourth Crusade. The city was ruled shortly 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 Greeks, the Armenians, the Seljuk Turks (1087), the Crusaders (1099), who established there the County of Edessa and kept the city until 1144, when it was again captured by the Turk Zengi, and most of its inhabitants were slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop (see Siege of Edessa). These events are known to us chiefly through the Armenian historian Matthew, who had been born at Edessa. In 1144 the city had 47000 Armenian population. Since the 12th century, the city has successively belonged to the Sultans of Aleppo (Ayyubids), Sultanate of Rum, the Mongols, the Mameluks, the Akkoyunlu, the Safavids and from 1517 to 1918 to the Ottoman Empire. In 1914 Edessa had an Armenian population numbering 35000. In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, Edessa's Armenian population fought the Turkish army (numbering 18000) for 25 days.

Christianity

See also: Early centers of Christianity § Mesopotamia and the Parthian Empire

The precise date of the introduction of Christianity 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 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church. According to a legend first reported by Eusebius in the 4th century, Armenian King Abgar V Ukāmā was converted by Addai, who was one of the seventy-two disciples, sent to him by "Judas, who is also called Thomas".. Yet various sources confirm that the Abgar who embraced the Christian faith was Abgar IX. Under him Christianity became the official religion of the kingdom. As for Addai, he was neither one of the seventy-two disciples as the legend asserts, nor was sent by Apostle Thomas, as Eusebius says, but a missionary from Judea who evangelized Mesopotamia about the middle of the 2nd century, and became the first bishop of Edessa. He was succeeded by Aggai, then by Palout (Palut) who was ordained about 200 by Serapion of Antioch. Thence came to us in the 2nd century the famous Peshitta, or Syriac translation of the Old Testament; also Tatian's Diatessaron, which was compiled about 172 and in common use until St. Rabbula, Bishop of Edessa (412-435), forbade its use. Among the illustrious disciples of the School of Edessa Bardesanes (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, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination many martyrs suffered at Edessa: Sts. Scharbîl and Barsamya, under Decius; Sts. Gûrja, Schâmôna, 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 kingdom of the Sassanids. 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.

When Nisibis was ceded to the Persians in 363, Ephrem the Syrian left his native town for Edessa, where he founded the celebrated School of the Persians. 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 controversy of the Three Chapters, was temporarily closed in 457, and finally in 489, by command of Emperor Zeno and Bishop Cyrus, when the teachers and students of the School of Edessa repaired to Nisibis and became the founders and chief writers of the Nestorian Church in Persia. Miaphysitism prospered at Edessa, even after the Arab conquest.

Under Byzantine rule, as metropolis of Osroene, it had eleven suffragan sees. Lequien mentions thirty-five Bishops of Edessa; yet his list is incomplete. The Eastern Orthodox episcopate seems to have disappeared after the 11th century. Of its Jacobite bishops twenty-nine are mentioned by Lequien (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.

Cultural

Famous individuals connected with Edessa include: Jacob Baradaeus, the real chief of the Syriac Miaphysites known after him as Jacobites; Stephen Bar Sudaïli, monk and pantheist, to whom was owing, in Palestine, the last crisis of Origenism in the 6th century; Jacob, Bishop of Edessa, a fertile writer (d. 708); Theophilus the Maronite, an astronomer, who translated into Syriac verse Homer's Iliad and Odyssey; the anonymous author of the Chronicon Edessenum (Chronicle of Edessa), compiled in 540; the 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). The oldest known dated Syriac manuscripts (AD 411 and 462), containing Greek patristic texts, come from Edessa.

See also

References

  1. ^ Drijvers, H. J. W; Healey, John F (1999-01). "The old Syriac inscriptions of Edessa and Osrhoene". ISBN 9789004112841. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Aramaic (Assyrian/Syriac) Dictionary - s. 206, by Nicolas Awde.
  3. Bauer, Walter (1991) . "1 "Edessa"". Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |month=, |chapterurl=, and |coauthors= (help)
  4. Evagrius, Hist. Eccl., IV, viii
  5. von Harnack, Adolph (1905). The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries. Williams & Norgate. p. 293. there is no doubt that even before AD 190 Christianity had spread vigorously within Edessa and its surroundings and that (shortly after 201 or even earlier?) the royal house joined the church {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. Herbermann, Charles George (1913). The Catholic Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia Press. p. 282. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. Cheetham, Samuel (1905). A History of the Christian Church During the First Six Centuries. Macmillan and Company. p. 58. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. von Gutschmid, A. (1887). "Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Könligliches Osroëne". Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg. 35 (1). St. Petersburg, Russia. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  9. Shahid, Irfan (1984). Rome and the Arabs. Dumbarton Oaks. pp. 109–112. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. Lockyer, Herbert (1988). All the Apostles of the Bible. Zondervan. p. 260. ISBN 0310280117. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. Historia Ecclesiastica, I, xiii.
  12. Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica, V, 23.
  13. Chronicon Edessenum, ad. an. 201.
  14. Ed. Gian Francesco Gamurrini, Rome, 1887, 62 sqq.
  15. Labourt, Le christianisme dans l'empire perse, Paris, 1904, 130-141.
  16. Echos d'Orient, 1907, 145.
  17. Oriens christianus II, 953 sqq.

Further reading

  • Walter Bauer 1971. Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, 1934, (in English 1971): Chapter 1 "Edessa" (On-line text)
  • A. von Gutschmid, Untersuchungen über die Geschichte des Könligliches Osroëne, in series Mémoires de l'Académie impériale des Sciences de S. Petersbourg, series 7, vol. 35.1 (St. Petersburg, 1887)
  • J. B. Segal, Edessa: The Blessed City (Oxford and New York: University Press, 1970)
  • Schulz, Mathias, "Wegweiser ins Paradies," Der Spiegel 2372006, Pp. 158–170.
  • This entry uses text from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1909.

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