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(Ἀπάμεια; Apámeia). [German version] [1] City in  Bithynia This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Pergamum | Education / Culture City in  Bithynia, 1 km south-east of present-day Mudanya on the Sea of Marmara; founded by Colophon; originally Brylleion; from shortly after 330 BC Myrleia. From 433/32 BC attested as belonging to the  Delian League; at the end of the 4th cent. BC under the rule of Mithridates II of Cius; for a time in the 3rd cent. BC a member of the koinon of Athena Ilias. In 202 BC conquered by Philip V and delivered to Prusias I; newly founded as A…

[German version] (Μεσήνη, Hebr. Mēšān, Syr. Maišān, Mid. Pers. Mēšūn, Arab. Maysān). A designation for southernmost Mesopotamia, attested since Hyspaosines and used into Islamic times (corresponding approximately to the ‘Sealand’ of the older period, that is, the 2nd and 1st millenium BC). It is also used to form an ethnic term for the inhabitants of the region. The precise extent of the area, located in the region of the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates, varies in the sources (Str. 2,1,31; 16,1,8; 16,3,3; Plin. HN 6,129; 131f.; Steph. Byz. s.v. Mesene; cf. also Maisanítēs kólpos, Ptol. 6,7,19 [1]) and cannot be precisely determined. The term M. is often used as synonymous with (the political entity) Characene. Its linguistic origin is unclear (Iran. ‘Land of the buffalo’? [6. 1095]; mê šanû, attested in cuneiform inscriptions [4. 216f., 278f., 282f.], gives the impression of a popular etymology: ‘other = further? water’). According to Palmyrene inscriptions, Forat, together with Charax Spasin(o)u, was an important center in M. for trade with India via the Arabian-Persian Gulf [2. 113f.].…

(Akkadian Nabû-kudurri-uṣur). [German version] [1] King of the Second Dynasty of Isin Most eminent king (1124-1103 BC) of the so-called Second Dynasty of Isin, who is still present in the later tradition. In addition to military successes (campaigns to Elam and against Assyria) there are religious and literary activities. It is probably in the context of the retrieval of the statue of Marduk from Elam that Marduk was placed at the head of the Babylonian pantheon. It is also about this time that the Babylonian creation poem Enūma Eliš originated. Oelsner, Joachim (Leipzig) Bibliography J.…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Commerce | Hellenistic states | India, trade with Important mercantile centre in southernmost Mesopotamia, and capital of  Characene; now convincingly located near Ǧabal Ḫay…

[German version] Fortified Sassanid city on the Euphrates. The name means ‘storeroom’ and refers to the use as a supply centre at the edge of the fertile Mesopotamian alluvial plain in a strategically f…

[German version] First king (625-605 BC) of the neo-Babylonian (Chaldaean) dynasty (Chaldaei), Akkadian Nabû-apla-uṣur, graecised as Ναβουπολάσσαρος ( Naboupolássaros). N., according to Berossus, formerly an Assyrian general (according to a cuneiform tablet there was also a king of the Sealand of the same name [2. 46 no. 107]), managed to exploit a power vacuum arising after t…

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[German version] [1] Caucasian landscape Caucasian landscape on the middle to lower  Cyrus (Kura) (Str. 11,4; Ptol. 5,11). The main city was Cabavla (Plin. HN 6,29 Cabalaca, Mount Kalak's name today is a reminder). The Ἀλβάνιαι πύλαι ( Albániai pýlai; Ptol. 5,9,15; 12,6) are presumably identical to the eastern Caucasian pass of Khacmȃz. Cabala and other cities in Albania have been excavated. A rock inscription on the Kobysta…

[German version] (Νηριγλίσαρος/ Nēriglísaros; Akkad. Nergal-šarra-uṣur). King of Babylon (559-556 BC), son-in-law of Nebuchadnezzar II, at whose court he held an important position. He descended from an influential aristocratic family (extensive land ownership). If he is identical with Nergal-Sharezer in Jer 39:3; 13, he also held a senior military function. According to Berossus, he had his brother-in-law Amēl-Marduk (561-560; 2 Kg 25:27; Jer 52:31: Ewil-Merodach) murdered, and succeeded him on th…

[German version] (Greek Ὑσπαοσίνης/ Hyspaosínēs, Σπασίνης/ Spasínēs, Πασίνης/ Pasínēs; Latin Spaosines, cuneiform Aspasine, name of Iranian origin). Son of Sagdo(do)nacus, founder of a dynasty of independent local rulers in the  Characene, according to Pliny (HN 6,139) king ( rex) of the Arabs, who were indeed mentioned in the cuneiform texts of his time but not in connection with him. In c. 165 BC appointed by Antiochus IV as administrator of Eparchia on the Red Sea, he succeeded, in conjunction with the passing of control of southern Mesopotamia from the Seleucids to the Arsacids (141 BC), in achieving full independence (royal title). His minting of coins begins about this time and from 138/7 [1. 168-171…

I. General [German version] A. Name The name M., i.e. ‘[land] between the rivers [ Euphrates [2] and Tigris]’, f…

[German version] In its lexical meaning, the term B., as used by Greek and Latin writers, (also expanded by γῆ, gê, μοῖρα, moîra or rather χώρα, chṓra…

[German version] (Ἀμπη; Ámpē). According to Hdt. 6,20, a settlement ( …

(Ὦπις/ Ôpis, Οὖπις/ Oûpis). [German version] [1] Epithet of Artemis In Ephesus an epithet of Artemis, derived in antiquity from her companion O. [2] (Callim. H. 3,204 with scholia; Antimachus fr. 99 Matthews [1]; Macrob. Sat. 5,22; different in Cic. Nat. D. 3,58). Ambühl, Annemarie (Groningen) …

Name of two Babylonian kings. [German version] [1] M. I. Kassite king Antepenultimate king of the dynasty of the Kassites (1171-1159 BC; Cossaei). Oelsner, Joachim (Leipzig) [German version] [2] M. II. King of the Chaldaeans (721-710 BC and 703) from the Chaldaean tribe ( Chaldaei) of the Bīt Jakīn; the Merodachbaladan of the OT (in Ptolemy: Μαρδοκέμπαδος/ Mardokémpados). As King of the Sealand he paid a tribute to the Assyrian Tiglatpilesar III in 729, and subsequently in 721 he succeeded as the leader of an anti-Assyrian coalition in Babylon (in the…

[German version] Used in the strictest sense, C. is the Greek, or respectively, Latin name for the extreme south of Mesopotamia and also the region around the Persian Gulf (also Χαλδαῖα χώρα; Chaldaîa chṓra, ‘Chaldaean land’); its extent -- at least partially -- coincides with the coastal land mentioned in early old oriental sources. The name is derived from the Semitic tribal group of the Chaldaeans -- probably to be distinguished from the Arameans -- who have been evident in the south of Mesopotamia from the early 1st millennium BC. Accad. …

(Ἀρδέρικκα; Ardérikka). [German version] [1] Village on the Euphrates According to Hdt. 1,185, ‘Assyrian’ κώμη ( kṓmē) on the Euphrates above Babylon, otherwise not mentioned. The river was supposedly artificially redirected to form three rings around the city.…

[German version] (Ὠάννης/ Ōánnēs, probably the short form of Sumerian u4-an-na-a-da-pà). Babylonian mythical creature (half human, half fish; Monsters), who is said to have imparted the foundations of civilisation to mankind. O. is part of the seven antediluvian wise men (Sumerian abgal, Akkadian apkallu). The written tradition in Berosus (FGrH 3C1, 680, F 1) is augmented by references to him in cuneiform, mainly on a tablet from Hellenic Uruk, where he is named as the first of the wise men [1. 44-52]. On account of the spelling u4-ma-a-dnúm, which points to a pronunciation * uwaan( um)…

[German version] Term derived from the city of Charax ( Charax Spasinou), and describing the territory at the confluence of the Euphrates and the Tigris and on the northern margin of the Persian Gulf (Plin. HN 6,136, on  Susiana; Ptol. Geogr. 6,3,3, on  Elymaeis); as a geographical term roughly corresponding to  Mesene (original form in oriental sources: Maišan), although the exact relationship between the two terms is unknown. Once power had passed from the Seleucids to the Parthians (141 BC), the local rulers were able to establish and assert themselves as vassal kings on the Parthians' behalf. Founder of the dynasty was Hyspaosines, of Iranian origin judging by his name, and at first appointed administrator of the Seleucid eparchy on the Red Sea by Antiochus IV (166/165 BC). He was briefly able to extend his rule as far as Babylon (127 BC attested as ruler in cuneiform texts from there). Twenty-three rulers can be identified up to the end of the Parthian period (mostly with Iranian or Babylonian/Aramaic names); the last of them, Abinergaos III, falling in AD 222 to the Sassanid  Ardashir [1] I. The most important source is the various mintings of coins, which had wide currency, having also been found outside the territory (e.g. in Susa). In disputes between the Parthians and Rome C. repeatedly came down on the side of Rome. The wealth of the region rested on its maritime position, affording the port of Charax Spasinou a key trading position between the Middle East and the Orient (India). The most famous individual from C. is the geographical writer  Isidorus of Charax (late 1st cent…