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[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] (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…

[German version] (Γύνδης; Gýndēs). According to Herodotus (1,189; 202; 5,52) a Mesopotamian river name. The Persian king Cyrus is said, before the capture of Babylon in 539 BC, to have diverted the water of the G. into 360 canals. Herodotus describes the  Araxes that was geographically untenable as the source area of the G. as well as describing the Persian region  Matiane. Because of the direction in which Cyrus marched, a link with the Diyālā (Babylonian Turan/ Turnat; Latin Tornadotus, Plin. HN 6,132) and the canal system between Diyālā and  Tigris is the most probable. Kessler, Karlhe…

[German version] (Greek forms i.a. Σημεία /Sēmeía, Σημέα /Sēméa, Σίμα /Síma, Aramaic smy), in the past often interpreted as a Syrian goddess, is the deified divine standard of ancient Oriental origin, usually with a crescent moon at the top, often assimilated to Roman signa. The etymology could be Aramaic [1] but the word was linked to Greek σημεῖον/ sēmeîon (sign, standard) early on. Lucianus (De Syria Dea 33) describes the Sēmḗion of Hierapolis [2]/Bambyce, where it is placed, as in Dura-Europus, between Atargatis (Syria Dea) and Hadad (relief, coins). S. is identified ( i.a.) with …

[German version] Name of an Aramaic river or canal in central Babylonia, corresponding to Akkadian nār šarri, Greek Naarsárēs (Νααρσάρης, Ptol. 5,19,2; 6) and Latin Marses (Amm. Marc. 23,6,25) and glossed in Greek ( basíleios potamós etc., see Str. 16,1,27; Ptol. 5,17,5; Zos. 3,19,3) and Latin translation ( regium flumen etc., see Plin HN 5,21,90; Amm. Marc. 24,2,7) as ‘Royal River’. Several canals of this name are known from Assyriological sources. The various names are often confused by ancient authors. It is doubtful whether the N. mentione…

[German version] Only Curtius Rufus (5,1,16) reports that Alexander [4] the Great reached the city M. after four days on the road from Arbela [1] to Babylon. A strong spring of naphtha was said to gush forth from a cave nearby. The city wall of Babylon was said to have been built of asphalt from M., which was probably located in the petroleum region of Kirkūk. Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography F. H. Weissbach, s.v. Mennis, RE 15, 896.

[German version] (Ἴχναι; Ichnai). Fortified settlement on the Balissus (Balīḫ̣); according to  Isidorus of Charax, situated between Alagma and  Nicephorium (Isidorus of Charax 1 Schoff; Plut. Crassus 25,17; Cass. Dio 40,12,2). Supposedly a Macedonian foundation; despite a similarity to Greek place names, the name may be identical with the old Babylonian Aḫūnā [1. 6].  Licinius Crassus won a skirmish near I. in 54 BC against the Parthian satrap Silaces. Publius, the son of Crassus, was advised to fl…

[German version] (Καλαχηνή; Kalachēnḗ). Region bordered by the  Tigris and the Great Zab around the earlier Neo-Assyrian capital  Kalḫu (now Nimrūd), east of the Tigris, north of the  Adiabene (Str. 11,4,8; 11,14,12; 16,1,1; Ptol. 6,1,2) Kessler, Karlheinz (Emskirchen) Bibliography F. H. Weissbach, s.v. K., RE 10, 1530.

[German version] (Κεντρίτης, Kentrítēs, Xen. An. 4,3,1; Diod. Sic. 14,27,7); according to the route description in Xenophon, the same as the eastern confluent of the Tigris Bohtan Su (province of Siirt), Byzantine Zirmas, Arabic Zarm. Accordingly, the C. formed the boundary between the region of the  Carduchi and Armenia, or rather the Armenian satrapy of  Tiribazus. In the winter of 401/400 BC the Greeks crossed the C. at a widening of the valley with settlements on river terraces, possibly c. 15 km north of the confluence with the Tigris, near the mouth of the Zorova Su. Kessler, Karlhe…

[German version] From the 9th century BC, RR are recorded in the Neo-Assyrian Empire. They constituted clearly defined links between the royal residence and provincial governors, which were paved only in cities to some extent. They were secured by road stations, which accommodated travellers by order of the king, supplied teams of mules and were responsible for the conveyance of mail (for Palestine cf. also Nm. 20:17; 21:22; Dt. 2:27). In the Babylonian Chaldean Empire new RR were built. The similarly structured Achaemenid RR, admired by the Greeks as a purportedly perfect…

[German version] (Κοίλη Συρία; Koílē Syría). Originally, the geographical term Coele Syria (CS), often used vaguely by authors in antiquity (the ‘hollow’ Syria; Aramaic kōl ‘whole’?), may have referred to the entire part of  Syria west of the Euphrates; others, based on Strabo 16,15,4, see it in a more limited fashion as the area of Biqa* between Lebanon and Antilebanon. First mentioned by Ps.-Scyl. (GGM I 15-96, especially p. 78 c. 104), CS more often only includes South Syria, sometimes incorporating parts or the whole of Phoenicia. Usually excluded is the land east of the Jordan. CS and…

[German version] Assyrian king (680-669 BC). Assyrian Aššur-aḫu-iddina, biblical Asarhaddon, younger son of  Sanherib and Zakûtu (Aramaic Naqia), father of  Assurbanipal and Šamaš-šumu-ukīn. The murder of his father by a brother and the circumstances of his seizing power are mentioned in the Bible (2 Kg 19.37; Jes 37.38). Under A. Egypt was conquered. Even Cypriot minor states recognized Assyrian rulership. In the Iranian highlands Medes and  Cimmerian or  Scythian incursions constituted the great…