| Eber-Nari | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Satrapy of theAchaemenid Empire | |||||||||
| c. 539 BC–c. 332 BC | |||||||||
 Standard ofCyrus the Great | |||||||||
| Historical era | Axial Age | ||||||||
| c. 539 BC | |||||||||
| c. 332 BC | |||||||||
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Eber-Nari (Akkadian), also calledAbar-Nahara (Aramaic) orAber Nahra (Syriac), was a region of theancient Near East. Translated as "Beyond the River" or "Across the River" in both the Akkadian and Aramaic languages, it referred to the land on the opposite side of theEuphrates from the perspective ofMesopotamia andPersia. In this context, the region is further known to modern scholars asTranseuphratea (New Latin:Transeuphrat(a)ea;[1][2][3][4][5] or more rarelyTranseuphratena;[6]French:Transeuphratène). Functioning as asatrapy, it was originally administered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire before being absorbed by theNeo-Babylonian Empire and then by theAchaemenid Empire. During theGreek conquest of Persia, Eber-Nari was, like the rest of the Achaemenid Empire, annexed by theMacedonian Empire ofAlexander the Great. It was later dissolved by theSeleucid Empire, which incorporated it intoSyria, along withAssyria.
In the "DSf"Achaemenid royal inscription, the Akkadian Eber-Nari is referred to asAthura or Athuriya inOld Persian and asAššur inElamite.[7][8] TheTargum Onkelos, an Aramaic translation of theTorah, listsNineveh,Calah,Reheboth, andResen as being in the Athura jurisdiction.
The province is also mentioned extensively in the Biblical books ofEzra andNehemiah as עבר הנהר ('Ever Hannahar' inmodern pronunciation). Additionally, sharing the same root meaning,Eber (pronounced Evver) was also a character in the Hebrew Bible from which the term Hebrew was widely believed to have been derived (see:Eber), thus the Hebrews were inferred to have been the people who crossed into Canaan across the (Euphrates or the Jordan) river.
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The term was established during theNeo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) in reference to itsLevantine colonies, and thetoponym appears in an inscription of the 7th century BCAssyrian kingEsarhaddon. The region remained an integral part of the Assyrian empire until its fall in 612 BC, with some northern regions remaining in the hands of the remnants of the Assyrian army and administration until at least 605 BC, and possibly as late as 599 BC.[16]
Subsequent to this Eber-Nari was fought over by theNeo-Babylonian Empire (612–539 BC) andEgypt, the latter of which had entered the region in a belated attempt to aid its former Assyrian overlords. The Babylonians and their allies eventually defeated the Egyptians (and remnants of the Assyrian army) and assumed control of the region, which they continued to call Eber-Nari.
The Babylonians were overthrown by thePersianAchaemenid Empire (539–332 BC), and the Persians assumed control of the region. Having themselves spent centuries under Assyrian rule, the Achaemenid Persians retained the Imperial Aramaic and Imperial organisational structures of their Assyrian predecessors.
In 535 BC the Persian kingCyrus the Great organized some of the newly conquered territories of the formerNeo-Babylonian Empire as a single satrapy; "Babylonia and Eber-Nari", encompassing southern Mesopotamia and the bulk of the Levant. Northern Mesopotamia, the north east of modern Syria and south eastAnatolia remaining asAthura (Assyria) (Achaemenid Assyria).[17]
The satrap of Eber-Nari resided inBabylon and there were subgovernors in Eber-Nari, one of which wasTattenai, mentioned in both theBible and Babyloniancuneiform documents.[18] This organization remained untouched until at least 486 BC (Xerxes I's reign), but before c. 450 BC the "mega-satrapy" was split into two—Babylonia and Eber-Nari.[19]
Herodotus' description of theAchaemenid tax districtnumber V fits with Eber-Nari. It comprisedAramea,Phoenicia, andCyprus (which was also included in the satrapy[20]). Herodotus did not include in the tax list theArabian tribes of theArabian Peninsula, identified with theQedarites,[21] that did not pay taxes but contributed with a tax-like gift offrankincense.
Eber-Nari was dissolved during theGreekSeleucid Empire (312–150 BC), the Greeks incorporating both this region andAssyria inUpper Mesopotamia intoSeleucid Syria during the 3rd century BC.Syria was originally a 9th-centuryIndo-Anatolian derivation ofAssyria and was used for centuries only in specific reference to Assyria and the Assyrians(seeName of Syria), a land which in modern terms actually encompassed only the northern half ofIraq, north eastSyria and south eastTurkey and not the bulk ofGreco-Roman,Byzantine or modern nation ofSyria. However, from this point the termsSyrian andSyriac were used generically and often without distinction to describe both Assyria proper and Eber-Nari/Aram, and their respectiveAssyrian andAramean/Phoenician populations.
In the Babylonian version of the text the transportation to Babylon is credited to the people of eber nari, showing that to the scribe or scribes of these inscriptions the Babylonian equivalent of Old Persian Athura was eber nari...
Moreover, in a bilingual building inscription of Darius at Susa, the Old Persian kara hya Athuriya ("people of the Assyrians") is rendered in Akkadian as sabe sa eber nari ("people of eber nari")...
Eber nāri (geo) the region west of the Euphrates, Syria—NA, NB, LB.
The region of Ebir-nari (Transeuphrates, calledAvarnaharā' in Aramaic and Ēver-ha-Nāhār in Hebrew)
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See alsoTaxation districts of the Achaemenid Empire(according toHerodotus) | ||
