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[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Limes (Νικηφόριον). Stadt an der Mündung des Baliḥ in den Euphrat, Nachfolgesiedlung des altoriental. Tuttul (Tall Bīa) und Vorläufer des arab. ar-Raqqa. Als Gründer werden Seleukos I. (App. Syr. 298), Alexander d.Gr. (Plin. nat. 6,119; Isidoros von Charax, Mansiones parthicae 1 GGM 1, 248) und in syr. Quellen auch Seleukos II. genannt. Ab der Mitte des 3. Jh.n.Chr. in Kallinikos (Καλλίνικος, lat. Callinicum), kurze Zeit auch in Constantina und Leontopolis umbenannt, wurde die bed. Handelsstadt …

[English version] Nur Curtius Rufus (5,1,16) berichtet, daß Alexandros [4] d.Gr. auf dem Weg von Arbela [1] nach Babylon nach vier Tagen die Stadt M. erreichte. Bei ihr soll sich aus einer Höhle eine starke Naphtaquelle ergossen haben. Mit dem Asphalt aus M. war angeblich die Stadtmauer von Babylon erbaut worden. M. lag wohl in der Erdölregion von Kirkūk. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography F.H. Weissbach, s.v. Mennis, RE 15, 896.

[English version] Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Christentum | Coloniae | Mesopotamien Siedlung 40 km sö von Edessa, altorient. Ḫarrān(u), griech. Κάρραι, lat. Carrhae, aram. Ḥrn, mod. Harran, wichtiges Handelszentrum und bedeutender Kultort des Mondgottes Sin; belegt seit Mitte des 3. Jt. v.Chr., assyr. Provinzhauptort und 611/10 v.Chr. Residenz des letzten neuassyr. Königs; Tempelneubau unter Nabonid (Stelenfunde). In biblischer Trad. war Ḥ. Aufenthaltsort Abrahams (Gn 11,31). Maked. Siedl…

[English version] (Κοίλη Συρία). Der bei ant. Autoren geogr. oft vage verwendete Begriff K.S. (das “hohle” Syrien; aram. kōl “ganz”?) dürfte urspr. das gesamte westeuphratische Syrien gemeint haben; andere sehen nach Strabon 16,15,4 enger das Gebiet der Biqa zwischen Libanon und Antilibanon. Zuerst bei Ps.-Skyl. erwähnt (GGM I 15-96, bes. S. 78 c. 104), umfaßt K.S. häufiger auch nur Süd-Syrien, gelegentlich unter Einschluß von Teilen oder ganz Phönikiens. Zumeist ausgeschlossen ist das Ostjordanland. K.S. und Phönikien bilden eine pers. Satrapie (2 Makk 3,5; 4,4 u.ö.). Als K.S. …

[English version] [1] Stadt im östl. Assyrien Dieser Ort ist auf folgenden Karten verzeichnet: Handel | Limes | Pompeius | Sāsāniden | Syrien | Xenophon | Zenobia Stadt im östl. Assyrien, am Verbindungsweg zum iran. Hochland, belegt seit Ende des 3. Jt. v. Chr. (Urbilum), assyr. Arbail(u), griech. Ἄρβηλα bzw. Region Ἀρβηλῖτις (Ptol. 6,1, 2; Plin. nat. 6, 41), h. Erbīl. A. war Zentrum eines Ištar-Kultes und mittel- und neuassyr. Statthaltersitz. Unter den Sargoniden (7. Jh. v. Chr.) wurde der Tempel in A. bes. gefördert. E…

[German version] Fortified location in the hills on the road from Mardin to Amida (Diyarbakır). Amm. Marc. 18,6,6 describes the location of M. in a forested region with winegrowing and orchards. According to Amm. Marc. 18,10,1 Šābuhr moved before the siege of Amida in AD 359 from Horre (Horren) via M. to Carcha (Kerh). Not. Dign. Or. 36,36 names the Cohors XIV Valeria Zabdenorum as occupation force. The name M. means ‘cold water in Aramaic. M. can not be localized exactly yet, but should probably be searched for near modern Ceyhan. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography L. Dillemann,…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Xenophon (Καιναί; Kainaí). Settlement on the western bank of the Tigris close to the confluence of the Lower Zab; according to Xen. An. 2,4,28 a large, flourishing polis; cf. also Κάναι in Steph. Byz.; its identity with the Neo-Assyrian Kannu near Assur is doubtful, see [1]. In the Bible it is attested as Kannē(h) (Ez 27,23) and located near Tekrit [2]. Its etymology is unclear; perhaps it is related to Aramaic gannā, ‘wall’. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography 1 F. R. Weissbach, s.v. Καιναί, RE 10, 1508 2 R. D. Barne…

[German version] (Sumerian Idigna, Assyrian/Babylonian Idiqlat, Greek Τίγρης/ Tígrēs (Hdt. 1,189; 1,193; 2,150; 5,52; 6,20), Latin Tigris (Plin. HN 6,129 f. et passim), Arabic Diǧla, Turkish Dicle), at about 1850 km the second longest river of the Near East. The Euphrates [2] and the T. enclose the 'land between two rivers' called Mesopotamia. In Antiquity unclear ideas on the sources of the T. circulated. Assyrian inscriptions at the source cave of the Sebene locate its origin there. Plin. HN 6,127 f., who cites the etymology from Iranian tigri-, 'arrow', mentions a partly su…

[German version] (Μάσκας; Máskas). Xen. An. 1,5,4 locates the River M. south of the confluence of the Chabora ( Ḫabur) and the Euphrates and describes it as encircling the city of Corsote in the desert. It may well have been only a canal. Etymologically, it is perhaps connected with the Akkadian mašqû, ‘watering hole/place’. There was a Neo-Assyrian town called Mašqite in the north of Anatolia. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography R. D. Barnett, Xenophon and the Wall of Media, in: JHS 73, 1963, 4f. F. H. Weissbach, s.v. M., RE 14, 2069f.

[German version] Founder of a Babylonian family enterprise, often characterised as a firm. M.'s activities began under Darius [1] I. Evidence is provided by more than 830 cuneiform tablets from an archive in Nippur, which are dated between 454 and 404 BC. Most of them concern the enterprises of Ellil-šum-iddin und Rīmūt-Inurta, son and grandson of M. The family was involved in agriculture in the region of Nippur, e.g., in tenancy and subletting of land plots, leasing, tax collection, short-term mo…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Xenophon (Κορσωτή, Korsōtḗ). Xen. An. 1,5,4 mentions C. as a large city situated in the desert south of the confluence of the Chaboras ( Habur) and the Euphrates. He describes it as being surrounded by the river  Mascas, probably more of a canal. Attempts to locate it near Bāġūẓ or Hirbat ad-Dīnīya are dubious. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography R. D. Barnett, Xenophon and the Wall of Media, in: JHS 73, 1963, 3-5.

[German version] In Neo-Assyrian sources from the 9th cent. BC onwards, I. is a centre of viticulture, the mountainous area between  Ḥarran,  Amida (modern Diyarbakır) and Mardin in north-eastern Mesopotamia. In Babylonian the toponym is also still used later. Darius I defeated (Old Persian Izalā, Elamite Izzila) the Armenians in I. (TUAT 1, 433 § 29,53). In AD 359, the mons Izala (Amm. Marc. 18,6,12; 19,9,4) was the scene of Roman battles against the Persians. In Syrian and Byzantine texts (Bar Hebraeus; Theophylaktes Simocatta: Ἰζάλας/ Izáles) I. can also include the Mardin…

[German version] (Νάαρδα/ Náarda, also Νέερδα/ Néerda). Mesopotamian town on the Euphrates close to Sippar, exact location as yet unknown (Arr. FGrH 2,861 fr. 42; Ptol. Geog. 5,17,10); mainly inhabited by Jews, the Nehardea of the Talmud. The brothers Anilaeus and Asinaeus established their own Jewish rule in Mesopotamia from N. c. AD 20-35 (Jos. Ant. Iud. 18,9,1ff.). In the 2nd/3rd cents., N. was the seat of an important Jewish academy, whose most important representative was Samuel. N. was destroyed (by Odaenathus?) in AD 260, and gradually dwindled in importance. Kessler, Karlhein…

[German version] (Σωφηνή/ Sōphēnḗ; Byzantine also Τζοφηνή/ Tzophēnḗ). Region to the east of the Euphrates, opposite the Melitene and to the north of Commagene, Urartian Ṣūpā, Assyrian Ṣuppu; Syrian and Armenian documentation. S. was often administratively linked with Sophanene to the east. Geographically S. was usually considered part of Armenia. Kings of S. are documented from the 2nd cent. BC until 54 AD (Tac. Ann. 13,7). Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography L. Dillemann, Haute Mésopotamie Orientale et pays adjacents, 1962, 116-124  F. H. Weissbach, s. v. S., RE …

[German version] The name Assyria goes back to Assyrian māt-Aššur ‘land (of the city of)  Assur’. In the narrower sense, understood as the heartland of the Assyrian empire to the west and, above all, to the east of the Tigris (today approximately northern Iraq); in post-Assyrian times the term is often used in a wider sense. The Medes may have already taken over A. as the name of the conquered non-Babylonian regions of the former Assyrian empire. The Achaemenid inscriptions use Old Persian Aθurā (Accad. Aššur, Aramaic twr), partly more comprehensive…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Sassanids | Syria | Byzantium | Urarṭu | Christianity | Xenophon | Zenobia | | Commerce | Ḫattusa | Asia Minor | Asia Minor | Legio | Limes | Limes | Mesopotamia | Pompeius (Μελιτηνή/ Melitēnḗ; Lat. Melitene). Name of a town and region in eastern Cappadocia. M. controlled the access to Elbistan and the near-by Euphrates crossing at Tomisa. Remains of the ancient town are found in the ruin field of Eski Malatya, while the Ancient Oriental settlement (inhabited from the Chalcolithic…

(Τηλεβόας; Tēlebóas). [German version] [1] Mythical people in western Acarnania See Teleboae. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) [German version] [2] Greek name of a river in Armenia Greek name for a river in Armenia described in Xen. An. 4,4,3 as beautiful but small. It is usually identified with the Karasu, an eastern tributary of the Euphrates in the Muh region. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography F. H. Weissbach, s. v. T. (3), RE 5 A, 313.

[German version] (Μυλίσσα/ Mylíssa, Μυλίττα/ Mylítta). Hdt. 1,131 reports on prostitution in Babylon in conjunction with the cult of M., the Babylonian Aphrodite, in which every unmarried Babylonian woman supposedly had to participate. This was the cult of the Babylonian goddess Mulliltu/Mullittu (Assyrian Mulissu; Aramaic mlsṯ; older reading Ninlil), the wife of Enlil (see [2] for earlier evidence from Babylonia). Hsch. also cites M. In Nicolaus of Damascus (FGrH 2, 332 F 4) she is encountered as Molís (Μολίς). In late antique Mandaic incantations she appears as Mulit. Kessler, Ka…

[German version] (Ὀσροηνή/ Osroēnḗ). Territory in northern Mesopotamia, perhaps also a Parthian administrative district, also called Osdroene, Orrhoene (Ὀσδροηνή/ Osdroēnḗ, Ὀρροηνή/ Orrhoēnḗ) among others; possibly derived from the Iranian personal name Osroes. O. included the region around Edessa [2] and at times eastern territories up to the Euphrates, which bordered on the region of Adiabene. Plin. HN 6,9,25; 31,129 described its inhabitants as Arabs. Inscriptions for AD 195 and 212 attest to the procurator Augusti of a Roman province of Osrhoena that bordered the …

[German version] Tributary of the Tigris rising in the Iranian uplands, mentioned in Plin. HN 6,132, modern Diyālā. Its name is recorded from the 2nd millennium BC, Akkadian Turan/ Turnat, and as late as in mediaeval Arabic sources as Tāmarrā. The main route to Babylonia from the eastern Tigris region and the Iranian uplands ran along the lower reaches of the T. From the lower T. numerous canals branched off towards the southeast to the Tigris; these may have been identical with rivers mentioned in Graeco-Roman sources, such as Phy…