The Hellenistic Settlements in the East from Armenia and Mesopotamia to Bactria and India. Getzel M. Cohen

continuous habitation at the site prior to the Hellenistic period (J. G. Fuesanta et al., KST 23.1 [2002] 136; Abadie-Reynal in L’Orient méditerranéen [Nantes] 357–58).

      4. For the plan of the town and the fortification walls see, for example Desreumaux et al., CRAI (1999) 79–82 (plan on p. 80); Leriche and Gaborit in L’Orient méditerranéen (Nantes) 378–79. For the city blocks see Desreumaux et al., CRAI (1999) 83 (105 × 38 m); Leriche and Gaborit in L’Orient méditerranéen (Nantes) 379–80 (107 × 38 m). Cf., for example, the city blocks at ANTIOCH near Daphne (112 × 58 m), LAODIKEIA by the Sea (112 × 57 m), APAMEIA on the Axios (c. 107 × 54 m), and ALEXANDREIA near Egypt, n. 13.

      5. For the necropolis see Wagner, Seleukeia 79–82; A. Desreumaux et al., CRAI (1999) 84–103; G. Algaze, Anatolica 20 (1994) 20.

      6. Abadie-Reynal (in L’Orient méditerranéen [Nantes] 358) suggested that despite the absence of a citadel, the river and the fortification walls would have played a role in protecting the settlement. Leriche and Gaborit (in L’Orient méditerranéen [Nantes] 378) suggested that SELEUKEIA/Zeugma served as an acropolis for Apameia.

      DARA/DORA

      Evagrius (Hist. Eccl. 3.37) says that Dara was so named because Alexander the Great defeated Darius there. According to Malalas (16.10, CFHB 35.327; see also Chronicon Paschale 609, CSHB 4.1), the name Dora in Mesopotamia was given to it by Alexander because he struck Darius with a sword (dorati) and captured him at this place (chorion).¹ In any event, the attribution to Alexander is more fanciful than plausible. One thinks of the charming — but unconvincing—etymology of PARAITONION. Dara/Dora was renamed Anastasiopolis and fortified by Anastasios I in 505–507 A.D.² It was located approximately 26 kilometers northwest of Nisibis (ANTIOCH in Mygdonia).

      * * * *

      1. Droysen (Hist. 2:669) and M. Whitby (The Ecclesiastical History of Evagrius Scholasticus [Liverpool, 2000] 182 n. 142) correctly dismissed both etymologies (i.e., Dara and Dora).

      2. For similar accounts of Anastasios’s activity in other late authors see also, for example, Procop. Pers. 1.10.9; Etym. Magnum s.v. “Daras”; Evagrius Hist. Eccl. 3.37 (ed. Bidez and Parmentier); Theophanes Chron. 150 (ed. De Boor); John of Nikiu 89.32 (trans. Charles); Theodore Anagnostes 558 (ed. Hansen).

      

      On Dara see Mango, ODB s.v. “Dara” and references cited there; for the location see map in B. Croke and J. Crow, JRS 73 (1983) 149.

      DIOSPAGE

      According to Pliny (NH 6.118–19), southeast of the Sitrae was the town of Azochis and nearby (“mox in campestribus oppida”) were the towns of Diospage, POLYTELEIA, STRATONIKEIA, and ANTHEMOUS.¹ We know nothing else about this town.² The name, at least, suggests a Greek or Macedonian settlement.

      * * * *

      In general see Tcherikover, HS 85; and Dillemann, Mésopotamie 100f.

      1. See further STRATONIKEIA in Mesopotamia and ANTHEMOUSIAS.

      2. Markwart suggested that Diospage was Ras el ‘Aïn (Südarmenien 427; ain in Arabic means “spring” or “sources,” and pege/paga means “stream” or “source” in Greek). This is a reasonable suggestion, but speculative.

      EDESSA/ANTIOCH ON THE KALLIRHOE

      According to Stephanos (s.v. “Edessa”), Edessa was a city of Syria that was named for the Macedonian city “because of the flow/rush of the waters.”¹ It was established by Seleukos I Nikator, who was possibly refounding the native town of Adme.² At some later point, probably under Antiochos IV Epiphanes, it was renamed Antioch on the Kallirhoe.³ Kallirhoe was undoubtedly a reference to the Skirtos (Daisan) River, which flowed through the city, as well as to the two pools in the city that, like the pond at HIERAPOLIS Bambyke, contained the sacred fish.⁴ In the later, Syriac texts the city name was usually given as Orhay (the modern name Urfa is derived from this).⁵

      The Chronicon Anonymum ad Annum Christi 1234 Pertinens (p. 107; 84, trans. Chabot) tells the charming—if unlikely—story that Seleukos named the city after his oldest daughter and gave it to her as a dowry. The same chronicle (pp. 105–6) provides an idealized account of the building of Edessa; according to the account, Seleukos built a strong and high wall with towers, one of which still existed in the author’s time. There were also fortified citadels at the four corners of the city. The author also mentions palaces, temples, and markets and a water supply system.⁶

      Strabo’s claim (16.1.27) that Bambyke was known both as HIERAPOLIS and as Edessa is probably incorrect; in any event, there is no other extant evidence providing unequivocal support for this equation.⁷

      E. T. Newell suggested that Antiochos I Soter minted bronze coins at Edessa. Under Antiochos IV Epiphanes the city minted quasi-municipal coinage with a portrait of the king on the obverse and the ethnic ΑΝΤΙΟΧΕΩΝ ΤΩΝ ΕΠΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΡΟΗΙ on the reverse.⁸ We have no explicit information regarding the organization of Hellenistic Edessa.⁹ The city streets were laid out on north-south, east-west axes. According to Stephanos (s.v. “Edessa”) the ethnic was both ’Eδεσσηνóς (according to the egchorioi) and Eδεσσαĩος (which was the ethnic παρὰ δὲ τοĩς πλείοσιν [τῶν ἀρχαίων], i.e., of the Macedonian city).¹⁰

      The founding of the kingdom of Edessa in 132–131 B.C. marked the effective end of Seleucid rule in Edessa.¹¹ Despite the collapse of Seleucid rule the names Seleukos and, less so, Antiochos, remained popular at Edessa.¹² The primary gods of Edessa were Nebo (who was identified with Apollo) and Bel; in addition, Atargatis was one of the important divinities worshipped there.¹³

      Edessa was located 85 kilometers east of SELEUKEIA/Zeugma and 45 kilometers southeast of SAMOSATA at modern Urfa.¹⁴

      * * * *

      In general see E. Sachau, Reise 189–92; Duval, Edesse 3–24; Meyer, RE s.v. “Edessa”; Tcherikover, HS 88; Markwart, Provincial Capitals 62–65; Hayes, Edesse 16; Gabriel, Turquie orientale 277–86; Kirsten, RAC s.v. “Edessa”; Segal, Edessa 5f., 46ff. et passim; id., PECS s.v. “Antioch by the Callirhoe”; H. J. W. Drijvers, ANRW 2.8 (1977) 863–69; Brodersen, Komment. 152; Sinclair, Eastern Turkey 4:2–28; P. Bernard, Topoi 5 (1995) 388–93; Orth, Diadochenzeit 117–18; Ross, Roman Edessa 6–9; Bousdroukis, Recherches 48–75.

      For the Syriac and Arabic sources relating to Edessa see A. Harrak, JNES 51 (1992) 209 n. 2.

      1. Herodian described Edessa as an apoikia of the Macedonian city (Katholike Prosodia 11 in A. Lentz, Grammatici Graeci, vol. 3, Herodiani Technici Reliquae [Leipzig, 1867] 1:268). According to a fragment of the Chronicle of Jacob of Edessa (p. 281, ed. E. W. Brooks, CSCO Scriptores Syri III.4 Versio, Chronica Minora [211]), soldiers of Alexander the Great from Edessa in Macedonia founded Mesopotamian Edessa and named it for the Macedonian city; see also Jacob of Edessa in Michael the Syrian (77 = 1:119) and 639 (3:278, trans. Chabot) who said that the Macedonians named the city after the name of their own city in Macedonia (see also Bousdroukis, Recherches 74 n. 145). On Jacob of Edessa as a chronicler see A. Harrak in Studies on Jacob of Edessa 43–64. For Seleukos I Nikator as founder see below, n. 2. On the water at Macedonian and Mesopotamian Edessa see Papazoglou, Villes 128 and n. 20; Bernard, Topoi 5 (1995) 392 n. 89; Bousdroukis, Recherches 55–56.

      Stephanos’s reference to Edessa’s location in Syria is not necessarily an error. Although the eastern boundary of Syria in the Graeco-Roman period was normally understood to be the Euphrates, the term could be used in a wider sense to include adjacent areas beyond the Euphrates. Thus, Stephanos also included Anthemous in Syria; see also, for example, Strabo 16.1.1–2; Chronicon Anonymum ad Annum Christi 1234 Pertinens I, p. 112 (trans. Chabot, CSCO Scriptores Syri III.14 Versio [88–89]); and Honigmann, RE s.v. “Syria,” esp. 1718f.

      2.