Last modified September 25, 2018. In 1031 Edessa was given up to the Byzantines under George Maniakes by its Arab governor. County of Edessa 1135.jpg 817 × 626; 69 KB. Edessa itself had about 10 000 inhabitants, but the rest of the county consisted mostly of fortresses. Later, the Ilkhanate sent troops to Edessa in 1260 at which point the town voluntarily submitted to them. It is not clear whether Baldwin issued any coins during his reign as count of Edessa, which lasted until 1100 when he became the king of Jerusalem. [3], The city was a centre of Greek and Aramaic (Syriac) theological and philosophical thought, hosting the famed School of Edessa. County Of Edessa Objectives Kill Enemy Lord ‘March the enemy eastwards and reinforce Bira. 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. 16 Jan 2021. Between 638 and 641 CE, it was a different story and Edessa fell under Arab control; it would not return to Byzantine rule until the Byzantine general John Kourkouas took it back in 944 CE. Western Christians were killed or sold into slavery while eastern Christians were permitted to remain. The cathedral of Edessa was described by the 10th-century CE Arab scholar al-Maqdidis as "a wonder of the world" (Bagnall, 2306). [11], 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. Zangi encircled the city and had his men undermine one of the defensive walls, which consequently collapsed. Modern names of the city are likely derived from Urhay or Orhay (Classical Syriac: ܐܘܪܗܝ‎, romanized: ʾŪrhāy / ʾŌrhāy), the site's Aramaic name before the re-foundation of the settlement by Seleucus I Nicator. [citation needed]. Thank you! Joscelin was captured a second time in 1122, and although Edessa recovered … There are some portions of the city’s fortification walls still in situ and many tombs and mosaics from Late Antiquity and early-medieval Edessa. Map County of Edessa 1098-1131-es.svg 779 × 575; 261 KB. [The Jews] called [the Arabs] to their aid and familiarized them with the relationship they had through the books of the [Old] Testament. The religion practised in Osroene was pagan, but much closer to that of Parthia than Rome. The Siege of Edessa in October–November 1146 marked the permanent end of the rule of the Frankish Counts of Edessa in the city on the eve of the Second Crusade.It was the second siege the city had suffered in as many years, the first siege having ended in December 1144. During the Crusades, it was the capital of the County of Edessa. The Byzantine Empire 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, August 16, 944. As the power of Rome grew, Osroene became a dependency within the Roman Empire, with Pompey the Great (106-48 BCE) notably granting King Abgar II (r. 68-53 BCE) an enlarged territory. Crusader States (1135)-ka.png 955 × 1,315; 269 KB. Zebra Whisperer: Haleplibahce Mosaics of Edessaby Ronnie Jones III (CC BY-NC-SA). Expand signature. The victory entrenched Zengi as leader of the Muslims in the Holy Land, a mantle that would be taken up by his son Nur ad-Din and then by Saladin. 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. It existed from 1098 to 1146. Remarkably Preserved 1,800-Year-Old Mosaic Depicting the Dead Is Unearthed in Turkey, The earliest record of a Christian church at, According to Theophanes, a Jewish merchant transports the pieces of the fallen, The Emirs of Mayyafariqin and Harran attack the, The Muslim Seljuk Turks, led by Imad ad-Din Zangi, capture, Astrological Works of Theophilus of Edessa. Although Baldwin had, in effect, usurped power from the ruling Christian Armenians, he did promote a mixing of Western and Armenian nobility through marriages, making the County of Edessa the most integrated of the four Crusader-created states. According to Joshua the Stylite, a shrine to some martyred saints was built outside the city walls in 346 or 347. Unlike the other Crusader states, the County was landlocked; it was remote from the other states and was not on particularly good terms with its closest neighbor, the Principality of Antioch. In the second half of the second century BC, as the Seleucid Empire disintegrated during wars with Parthia (145–129 BC), Edessa became the capital of the Abgarid dynasty, who founded the kingdom of Osroene (also known as Edessa). 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. The ancient citadel of Edessa (Urfa) in south-east Turkey. The young Joscelin was ransomed for Baldwin II, king of Jerusalem in 1124. Web. [25] Michel Le Quien mentions thirty-five bishops of Edessa, but his list is incomplete.[26]. The columns were once topped with statues of Abgar VIII and his queen but date to the 3rd-4th century CE as indicated by a Syriac inscription on one of the bases. The Roman emperor Caracalla was assassinated on the road from Edessa to Carrhae (now Harran) by one of his guards in 217. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. During Ayyubid rule, Edessa had a population of approximately 24,000. Still a major C… The city was situated on the banks of the Daysan River (Latin: Scirtus; Turkish: Kara Koyun), a tributary of the Khabur, and was defended by Şanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel. 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. Count Baldwin II and future count Joscelin of Courtenay were taken captive after their defeat at the Battle of Harran in 1104. The Arab sources give a rather different view, such as the following note by Ibn al-Athir (1160-1232 CE): When Zangi inspected the city he liked it and realized that it would not be sound policy to reduce the place to ruins…The city was restored to its former state, and Zangi installed a garrison to defend it. Ancient History Encyclopedia. Gûrja, Shâmôna, Habib, and others under Diocletian. The Turkic Zengid dynasty's lands were eventually absorbed by the Ottoman Empire in 1517 after the 1514 Battle of Chaldiran. Edessa, then known as Adme, was an ancient settlement, chosen for its advantageous position on a fertile plain with abundant water from a nearby branch of the Euphrates River while also being protected by a ring of hills to the south. For its modern successor, see, Ancient city in upper Mesopotamia, modern day Urfa, Southeast Turkey, {Eusebius Pamphilius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine, Book 1 Chapter 13, Early centers of Christianity § Mesopotamia and the Parthian Empire, 10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-11, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.vi.xiii.html}, "Jacob the Annotator: Jacob's Annotations to His Revised Translation of Severus' Cathedral Homilies", "La linguistique syriaque selon Jacques d'Édesse", "Ephraem, the Deacon of Edessa, and the Church of the Empire", "Christianity in Edessa and the Syriac-Speaking World: Mani, Bar Daysan, and Ephraem, the Struggle for Allegiance on the Aramean Frontier", "The Edessan Milieu and the Birth of Syriac", "Greek and Syriac in Edessa: From Ephrem to Rabbula (CE 363-435)", "Greek and Syriac in Fifth-Century Edessa: The Case of Bishop Hibas", Chelae on the Asian coast of the Bosphorus, Chelae on the European coast of the Bosphorus, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edessa&oldid=1000596642, Populated places established in the 4th century BC, Ancient Greek archaeological sites in Turkey, Archaeological sites in Southeastern Anatolia, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text, Articles containing Turkish-language text, Articles containing Kurdish-language text, Articles containing Armenian-language text, Articles containing Classical Syriac-language text, Articles containing Aramaic-language text, Articles lacking reliable references from December 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2013, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 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, Schulz, Mathias, "Wegweiser ins Paradies,", This page was last edited on 15 January 2021, at 20:24. County of Edessa - why not duchy? The 260 Battle of Edessa saw Shapur defeat the Roman emperor Valerian (r. 253–260) and capture him alive, an unprecedented disaster for the Roman state. Edessa was to be handed over as part of the peace deal between the Seljuks and the captured Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (r. 1068-1071 CE), but, in the event, the Byzantines held on to it; such was its strategic importance. [31], Under the Ottomans in 1518, the population of Edessa was estimated at a mere 5,500; likely due to the Ottoman–Persian Wars. The officers (or great officers) of the County of Edessa were the appointed officials in charge of various aspects of the government of the county. It did not return to the Romans' control until the Byzantine Empire temporarily recovered the city in the mid-10th century after a number of failed attempts.[3]. 309–379). After the defeat of the Seleucids in the Seleucid–Parthian Wars, Edessa became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, with a mixed Hellenistic and Semitic civilization. Map County of Edessa 1098-1131-fr.svg 787 × 581; 241 KB. This area had previously been controlled by Christian Armenians, and although Baldwin had usurped political rule, there was, through many intermarriages, a mix of Frankish and Armenian nobility, making the County of Edessa the most integrated of the four Crusader-created states the region. 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. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. There are, unfortunately, precious few monumental remains from Edessa’s long and eventful history still visible today. So they departed, taking the road through the desert to Tachkastan to the sons of Ishmael. The Mandylion icon was actually a scarf or shroud which was considered to have on it the image of Jesus Christ. Ancient History Encyclopedia Limited is a non-profit company registered in the United Kingdom. The offices they held pertained to the management of the count's household and the military defence of the county. Seleucus gave it the new name of Edessa, after the original name of the ancient capital of Macedonia. The populace of Edessa were thus saved from being massacred by the Mongols. It became a Roman colonia in 212 or 213, though there continued to be local kings of Osroene until 243 or 248. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The realm rejoices as Paradox Interactive announces the launch of Crusader Kings III, the latest entry in the publisher’s grand strategy role-playing game franchise. 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