Edessa (/əˈdɛsə/;Ancient Greek:Ἔδεσσα,romanized: Édessa) was an ancient city (polis) inUpper Mesopotamia, in what is nowUrfa or Şanlıurfa,Turkey. It was founded during theHellenistic period byMacedonian general and self proclaimed kingSeleucus I Nicator (r. 305–281 BC), founder of theSeleucid Empire. He named it after an ancientMacedonian capital. TheGreek nameἜδεσσα (Édessa) means "tower in the water". It later became capital of theKingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province ofOsroene. InLate Antiquity, it became a prominent center ofChristian learning and seat of theCatechetical School of Edessa. During theCrusades, it was the capital of theCounty of Edessa.
The city was situated on the banks of theDaysan River (Ancient Greek:Σκίρτος;Latin:Scirtus;Turkish:Kara Koyun), a tributary of theKhabur, and was defended byŞanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel.
Ancient Edessa is the predecessor of modernUrfa (Turkish:Şanlıurfa;Kurdish:Riha;Arabic:الرُّهَا,romanized: ar-Ruhā;Armenian:Ուռհա,romanized: Urha), inŞanlıurfa Province,Turkey. Modern names of the city are likely derived fromUrhay orOrhay (Classical Syriac:ܐܘܪܗܝ,romanized: ʾŪrhāy / ʾŌrhāy), the site'sSyriac name before the re-foundation of the settlement bySeleucus I Nicator. After the defeat of the Seleucids in theSeleucid–Parthian Wars, Edessa became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, with a mixed Syriac and Hellenistic culture. The origin of the name ofOsroene itself is probably related to Orhay.[1][2]
TheRoman Republic began exercising political influence over the Kingdom of Osroene and its capital Edessa from 69 BC. It became aRomancolonia in 212 or 213, though there continued to be local kings of Osroene until 243 or 248. InLate Antiquity, Edessa was an important city on the Roman–Persian frontier with theSasanian Empire. It resisted the attack ofShapur I (r. 240–270) in his third invasion of Roman territory. The 260Battle of Edessa saw Shapur defeat the Roman emperorValerian (r. 253–260) and capture him alive, an unprecedented disaster for the Roman state. The Late AntiqueLaterculus Veronensis names Edessa as the capital of theRoman province ofOsroene. The Roman soldier and Latin historianAmmianus Marcellinus described the city's formidable fortifications and how in 359 it successfully resisted the attack ofShapur II (r. 309–379).[3]
The city was a centre of Greek and Syriac theological and philosophical thought, hosting the famedSchool of Edessa. Edessa remained in Roman hands until itscapture by the Persians during theByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, an event recorded by the GreekChronicon Paschale as occurring in 609. Roman control was restored by the 627 and 628 victories ofHeraclius (r. 610–641) in the Byzantine–Sasanian War, but the city was lost by the Romans again in 638, to theRashidun Caliphate during theMuslim conquest of the Levant. It did not return to the Romans' control until theByzantine Empire temporarily recovered the city in the mid-10th century after a number of failed attempts.[3]
TheByzantine Empire regained control in 1031, though it did not remain under their rule long and changed hands several times before the end of the century. TheCounty of Edessa, one of theCrusader states set up after the success of theFirst Crusade, was centred on the city, the crusaders having seized the city from theSeljuks. The county survived until the 1144Siege of Edessa, in whichImad al-Din Zengi, founder of theZengid dynasty, captured the city and, according toMatthew of Edessa, killed many of the Edessenes. The TurkicZengid dynasty's lands were eventually absorbed by theOttoman Empire in 1517 after the 1514Battle of Chaldiran.
The earliest name of the city wasAdmaʾ(also writtenAdme,Admi,Admum;Imperial Aramaic:אדמא), recorded inAssyrian cuneiform in theOld Assyrian period.[4] It is recorded in Syriac as ܐܕܡܐAdme.
The ancient town was refounded as aHellenistic military settlement bySeleucus I Nicator inc. 303 BC, and namedEdessa after theancient capital ofMacedonia, perhaps due to its abundant water, just like its Macedonian namesake.[5][6][7][8] It was later renamedCallirrhoe orAntiochia on the Callirhoe (Ancient Greek:Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Καλλιρρόης;Latin:Antiochia ad Callirhoem) in the 2nd century BC (found on Edessan coins struck byAntiochus IV Epiphanes, r. 175–164 BC).[9][6][7]
After Antiochus IV's reign, the name of the city reverted to Edessa, in Greek,[6] and also appears inArmenian asUrha orOurha (Ուռհա), in Aramaic (Syriac) asUrhay orOrhay (Classical Syriac:ܐܘܪܗܝ,romanized: ʾŪrhāy / ʾŌrhāy), in local Neo-Aramaic (Turoyo) asUrhoy, inArabic asar-Ruhā (الرُّهَا), in theKurdish languages asRiha, Latinized asRohais, and finally adopted intoTurkish asUrfa orŞanlıurfa ("Glorious Urfa"), its present name.[1] This originally Aramaic and Syriac name for the city may have been derived from thePersian nameKhosrow.[6]
It was re-namedJustinopolis during the Byzantine period in the early 6th century. According to some Jewish and Muslim traditions, it is the location ofUr of the Chaldees, the birthplace ofAbraham.
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.[6][7] The ridge in turn was an extension ofMount Masius, part of theTaurus Mountains of southernAsia Minor.[6] The city was located at a crossroads; the east–west highway fromZeugma on theEuphrates to theTigris, and the north–south route fromSamosata (modern-daySamsat) to the Euphrates via Carrhae (modern-day Harran) met at the ridge where Edessa was located.[6]
In the second half of the second century BC, as theSeleucid Empire disintegrated during wars withParthia (145–129 BC), Edessa became the capital of theAbgarid dynasty, who founded the kingdom ofOsroene (also known as Edessa). This kingdom was established byArabs from the northernArabian Peninsula 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 theParthians, then ofTigranes ofArmenia, Edessa wasArmenian Mesopotamia's capital city, then from the time ofPompey under theRoman Empire. Following its capture and sack byTrajan, the Romans even occupied Edessa from 116 to 118, although its sympathies towards the Parthians led toLucius Verus pillaging the city later in the 2nd century.
Christianity is attested in Edessa in the 2nd century; the gnosticBardaisan was a native of the city and a philosopher at its court.[3] From 212 to 214 the kingdom was aRoman province.
The Roman emperorCaracalla was assassinated on the road from Edessa to Carrhae (nowHarran) 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 theSasanian Empire. TheBattle of Edessa took place between the Roman armies under the command of the emperorValerian and the Sasanian forces under emperorShapur I in 260.[6] 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 wasAramaic, from whichSyriac developed.[10] Traces of Hellenistic culture were soon overwhelmed in Edessa, which employed Syriac legends on coinage, with the exception of theclient kingAbgar IX (179–214), and there is a corresponding lack of Greek public inscriptions.[11]
According to theChronicle of Edessa, a Syriac chronicle written after 540, the cathedral church of Edessa was founded immediately after the end of theDiocletianic Persecution and the 313Letter of Licinius, which ended the general persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. The cathedral church was dedicated to theHoly 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 hisChurch 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.[3]
Eusebius also claimed to quote theLetter of Abgar to Jesus and theLetter of Jesus to Abgar in the state archives of Edessa, foundational texts of theAbgar Legend.[12][3]
Egeria, a high-status Roman lady and author, visited Edessa in 384 on her way toJerusalem; she saw amartyrium ofThomas the Apostle and the text of theLetter of Jesus inscribed on the city walls, said to protect the city.[3] She saw a longer version of theLetters than she was previously familiar with, and was assured that the holy words had repelled a Persian assault on the city.[12] According to theChronicle of Edessa, in 394 the relics of Saint Thomas weretranslated 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 bishopGregory 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 andflies disappeared. According toJoshua the Stylite, a shrine to some martyred saints was built outside the city walls in 346 or 347.[3]
A more elaborate version of the Abgar Legend is recorded in the early 5th-century SyriacDoctrine of Addai, purportedly based on the state archives of Edessa, and including both a pseudepigraphal letter fromAbgar V toTiberius (r. 14–37) and the emperor's supposed reply.[12] This text is the earliest to allege that a painting (oricon) ofJesus was enclosed with the reply to Abgar and that the city of Edessa was prophesied never to fall.[12] 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 theChronicle of Edessa, the early 5th-century theologian and bishopRabbula built a church dedicated toSaint Stephen in a building that had been asynagogue.[3] The city was a site of major unrest in 449 due to an attempt to depose its bishop,Ibas.[13]
When Nisibis (Nusaybin) was ceded to the Sasanian Empire along withArzanene,Moxoene,Zabdicene, Rehimena andCorduene in 363,[14]Ephrem the Syrian left his native town for Edessa, where he founded the celebratedSchool of Edessa. This school, largely attended by the Christian youth of Persia, and closely watched byRabbula, the friend ofCyril of Alexandria, on account of itsNestorian tendencies, reached its highest development under bishopIbas, famous through theThree-Chapter Controversy, was temporarily closed in 457, and finally in 489, by command of EmperorZeno and Bishop Cyrus, when the teachers and students of the School of Edessa repaired to Nisibis and became chief writers of theChurch of the East.[15]Miaphysitism prospered at Edessa after the Arab conquest.
Under the Sassanian emperorKavad I (r. 488–531), the Sasanids attacked Edessa. According to Joshua the Stylite the shrine outside the walls set up in the 340s was burnt by his troops.[3]
Edessa was rebuilt byJustin I (r. 518–527), and renamed Justinopolis after him.[16] The Greek historianProcopius, in hisPersian Wars, describes the inscription of theLetter of Jesus's text on the city gates of Edessa, which he stated made the defences impregnable.[12]
An unsuccessfulSasanian siege occurred in 544. The city was taken in 609 by the Sasanian Empire, and retaken byHeraclius, but lost to the Muslim army under theRashidun Caliphate during theMuslim conquest of the Levant in 638.
The precise date of the introduction ofChristianity 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.[17][better source needed]
According to a legend first reported byEusebius in the fourth century, KingAbgar V was converted byThaddeus of Edessa (Addai),[18][better source needed] who was one of theseventy-two disciples, sent to him by"Judas, who is also called Thomas".[19] However, various sources[which?] confirm that the Abgar who embraced the Christian faith wasAbgar IX.[20][21][22] Under him Christianity became the official religion of the kingdom.[23]
Addai was succeeded byAggai, then bySaint Mari, who was ordained about 200 bySerapion of Antioch. Thence came to us in the second century the famousPeshitta, or Syriac translation of theOld Testament; alsoTatian'sDiatessaron, which was compiled about 172 and in common use untilRabbula, 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.[citation needed]
A Christian council was held at Edessa as early as 197.[24][better source needed] In 201 the city was devastated by a great flood, and the Christian church was destroyed.[25] In 232 the relics of the apostle Thomas were brought fromMylapore,India, on which occasion his Syriac Acts were written. Under Roman domination many martyrs suffered at Edessa:Sharbel andBarsamya, underDecius; Sts. Gûrja, Shâmôna, Habib, and others underDiocletian. 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 theFirst Council of Nicaea (325). ThePeregrinatio Silviae (or Etheriae)[26] gives an account of the many sanctuaries at Edessa about 388.
As metropolis of Osroene, Edessa had elevensuffragan sees.[27]Michel Le Quien mentions thirty-five bishops of Edessa, but his list is incomplete.[28]
TheEastern Orthodox episcopate seems to have disappeared after the 11th century. Of itsJacobite bishops, twenty-nine are mentioned by Le Quien (II, 1429 sqq.), many others in theRevue de l'Orient chrétien (VI, 195), some inZeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft (1899), 261 sqq. Moreover, Nestorian bishops are said to have resided at Edessa as early as the 6th century.
The Armenian chroniclerSebeos, bishop ofBagratid Armenia writing in the 660s, gives the earliest narrative accounts ofIslam in any language today.[citation needed] Sebeos writes of a Jewish delegation going to an Arab city (possiblyMedina) after the Byzantines conquered Edessa:
Twelve peoples [representing] all the tribes of the Jews assembled at the city of Edessa. When they saw that the Iranian troops had departed ... Thus Heraclius, emperor of the Byzantines, gave the order to besiege it. (625) ... So they departed, taking the road through the desert toTachkastan to the sons of Ishmael. [The Jews] called [the Arabs] to their aid and familiarized them with the relationship they had through the books of the [Old] Testament. Although [the Arabs] were convinced of their close relationship, they were unable to get a consensus from their multitude, for they were divided from each other by religion. In that period a certain one of them, a man of the sons of Ishmael named Mahmet, a merchant, became prominent. A sermon about the Way of Truth, supposedly at God's command, was revealed to them... he ordered them all to assemble together and to unite in faith... He said: "God promised that country to Abraham and to his son after him, for eternity. And what had been promised was fulfilled during that time when [God] loved Israel. Now, however, you are the sons of Abraham, and God shall fulfill the promise made to Abraham and his son on you. Only love the God of Abraham, and go and take the country which God gave to your father, Abraham. No one can successfully resist you in war, since God is with you.
Muslim tradition tells of a similar account, known as thesecond pledge at al-Aqabah. Sebeos' account suggests thatMuhammad was actually leading a joint venture towardPalestine, instead of a Jewish-Arab alliance against the Meccan pagans toward the south.
TheByzantine Empire often tried to retake Edessa, especially underRomanos I Lekapenos, who obtained from the inhabitants the "Image of Edessa", an ancient portrait of Christ, and solemnly transferred it toConstantinople, 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 theVatican Library, was looted and brought to the West by theRepublic of Venice in 1207 following theFourth Crusade. The city was ruled shortly thereafter byMarwanids.
In 1031 Edessa was given up to the Byzantines underGeorge Maniakes by its Arab governor. It was retaken by the Arabs, and then successively held by the Romans, the Armenians, theSeljuq dynasty (1087), an Armenian namedThoros who gained independence from the Turks (1094), and theCrusaders (1098), who established there theCounty of Edessa and kept the city until 1144, when it was again captured byImad ad-Din Zengi, and most of its inhabitantswere allegedly slaughtered together with the Latin archbishop.[29] These events are known to us chiefly through the Armenian historianMatthew, who had been born at Edessa. In 1144 the city had an Armenian population of 47,000. In 1146, the city was brieflyrecaptured by the crusaders and lost after a few days. In the words ofSteven Runciman, "the whole Christian population was driven into exile [and t]he 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."[30]
TheAyyubid Sultanate's leaderSaladin acquired the town from theZengids in 1182. During Ayyubid rule, Edessa had a population of approximately 24,000.[31] TheSultanate of Rûm took Edessa in June 1234, but sometime in late 1234 or 1235, the Ayyubid sultanAl-Kamil re-acquired it. After Edessa had been recaptured, Al-Kamil ordered the destruction of its Citadel.[32] Not long after, theMongols had made their presence known in Edessa in 1244. Later, theIlkhanate 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 theMamluk Sultanate, and theAq Qoyunlu.
Edessa was subsequently controlled by theSafavid Iran, and from 1517 to 1918 theOttoman Empire.[33]
Under the Ottomans in 1518, the population of Edessa was estimated at a mere 5,500; likely due to theOttoman–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.[33]
The oldest known dated Syriac manuscripts (AD 411 and 462), containing Greekpatristic texts, come from Edessa.
Following are some of the famous individuals connected with Edessa:
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
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