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

Arab clan and the head of the clan rather than to the Greek political apparatus (132ff.). Thus, according to Arrian (Parth. frag. 42 = Suda s.v. “Phylarches” = FGrH 156 F171), Abgar, the king of Edessa at the time of Trajan, was known as a phylarches because his districts were called phylai (ξυμβάλλει τᾦ Τραιανᾦ περὶ Αὐγάρου, ὃς ἦν ’Oσροήνης χώρας δυνάστης, οὕσπερ φυλάρχας ὀνομάζουσιν οἱ ἐκείνῃ, ὅτι καὶ τὰ χωρία αὐτῶν φυλαὶ ὀνομάζονται). On the other hand, two of the Edessan officials mentioned in the prescript are called strategoi, an obvious recollection of Greek titulature.

      10. For the possibility of the ethnic ’Εδεσση[νóς] referring to Macedonian Edessa on a fragment of an inscription see P. Petsas, Makedonika 9 (1969) 176; and J. Robert and L. Robert, BE (1970) no. 362. See also Fraser, Terminology 332. However, in a private communication Kent Rigsby suggests the more likely reading is ἐξ ’Eδέσση[ς, as in IG XII.9 1135.

      11. For the founding of the kingdom of Edessa see, for example, Ps.-Dionysios of Tel Mahre Chronicon p. 50 (40, ed. Chabot); and Jacob of Edessa (in Michael the Syrian [77 = 1:119, trans. Chabot]); see also Gutschmid, Osroëne 3–10 (the king list in Dionysios); Duval, Edesse 20–31; Babelon, Mélanges 2:213–16; Kirten, RAC s.v. “Edessa” 554f.; Segal, Edessa 16.

      12. On the appearance of the names Seleukos and Antiochos in later generations at Edessa see, for example, Bellinger and Welles, YCS 5 (1935) 96; and Segal, Edessa 16f., 28 n. 4, and 42 n. 3.

      13. For Nebo and Bel see, for example, Jacob of Sarug, The Fall of the Idols (p. 131 in P. Martin, ZDMG 29 [1875] 107–47, French translation on 130–44); see also Drijvers, Edessa 4 off.; and A. Bounni, LIMC s.v. “Nabu.”

      For Atargatis at Edessa see, for example, The Doctrine of Addai, the Apostle, 24 and note c (ed. G. Phillips), which explicitly connects the worship of Atargatis at Edessa with the great goddess of HIERAPOLIS Bambyke; see also Drijvers, Edessa 76ff. According to Drijvers, the worship of Hierapolitan Atargatis at Edessa was so strong that Strabo (erroneously; see above and HIERAPOLIS Bambyke, n. 12) identified Edessa and Hierapolis (ἡΒαμβύκη, ἣν καὶ ’′Εδεσσαν καὶ ‘Iερὰν πóλιν καλοῦσιν, ἐν ᾗ τιμῶσι τν Συρίαν Θεòν τὴν ’Aταργάτιν, 16.1.27).

      14. For the location and site of Edessa see, for example, Segal, Edessa 5ff. (map, plans, and photographs at end). For the location of Edessa on various overland routes see K. Regling, Klio 1 (1901) 1–34.

      ICHNAI

      According to Isidore of Charax (1), Ichnai was located between ALAGMA and NIKEPHORION. Isidore describes it as a “Greek polis” and a Μακεδóνων κτίσμα located on the Balicha (Balikh) River. The toponym Ichnai is found in both Thessaly and Macedonia.¹ Presumably Mesopotamian Ichnai was named for one of the Macedonian towns. In 54 B.C. Crassus defeated the Parthian governor Silakes at Ichnai (Cass. Dio 40.12.2).² We do not know the precise location of Ichnai.³

      * * * *

      In general see Weissbach, RE s.v. “Ichnai 2”; Tcherikover, HS 86; Kessler, BNP s.v. “Ichnae”; Bousdroukis, Recherches 111–18.

      1. On Thessalian and Macedonian Ichnai see Strabo 9.5.14 and Herodotus 7.123. On Macedonian Ichnai see also Papazoglou, Villes 154–56; and Bousdroukis, Recherches 109–11.

      2. On Crassus’s operations in Mesopotamia see, for example, A. Garzetti, Athenaeum 22–23 (1944–45) 40–45; and B. A. Marshall, Crassus 151.

      3. The attempt to equate Ichnai with modern Chnez (see, for example, Kiepert, FOA Karte V, p. 5 (7); K. Regling, Klio 1 [1901] 465 n. 3; Weissbach, RE s.v. “Ichnai 2”; Garzetti, Athenaeum 22–23 [1944–45] 40) has not met with general acceptance; see, for example, Dillemann, Mésopotamie 183 n. 3; Kessler, BNP s.v. “Ichnae.”

      Bousdroukis has suggested that Ichnai might have been located at the site of Tell as-Saman (which is near Chnez) on the upper Balikh River (Recherches 113–18 and map 3). For Tell as-Saman see, for example, P. M. M. G. Akkermans, Villages in the Steppe (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1993) 149 (“one of the largest mounds in the Balikh valley”). The Gazetteer to the Barrington Atlas notes “Ichnae = Tell al-Sadde(?)” without further comment; see map 89, B4.

      KALLINIKON

      According to the Chronicon Paschale (330, CSHB 4.1), Seleukos II Kallinikos (246–226/5 B.C.) founded the town of Kallinikon in the first year of the 134th Olympiad, i.e., 244 B.C. The same attribution is given by Bar Hebraeus (Chronography 38, trans. Wallis Budge), who dated the founding to the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 B.C.), by the Syriac Chronicon Maroniticum (40 [47]) and by Michael the Syrian (5.6 [78]). The last says: “Seleukos Kallinikos built cities on the banks of the Euphrates, he called one after his own name, Kallinikon, and another Carchis (i.e., KIRKESION)” (trans. Chabot). On the other hand Libanius (Ep. 21.5, ed. Förster), who refers to Kallinikon as a stathmos near the Euphrates, says the town was named to honor the Sophist Kallinikos of Petra, who lived in the third century A.D. and was murdered there.¹ Ammianus (23.3.7), who described Kallinikon as well fortified, also noted its importance as a commercial center.

      It is not clear whether or not Kallinikon was simply the renamed NIKEPHORION (Raqqah) or was a separate town.² In 1926 Tcherikover observed that the problem of Nikephorion-Kallinikon was insoluble but expressed the hope that archaeological or numismatic discoveries could some day throw further light on the question. No such evidence has yet appeared.

      In the mid-fifth century a.d. Kallinikon was briefly renamed Leontopolis.³

      * * * *

      In general see Droysen, Hist. 2:742f.; Chapot, Frontière 288f.; Tcherikover, HS 86f.; Weidner, RE s.v. “Nikephorion 2”; Ulbert in Archéologie 291–92.

      1. For the Chronicon Maroniticum see E. W. Brooks and J. B. Chabot, Chronica Minora II (CSCO 4, Scriptores Syri IV). For other literary references to Kallinikon see, for example, Procop. Arc. 3.31, Pers. 2.21.30, Aed. 2.7; Zosimus 3.13; Theophylact Simocatta 3.17 (ed. de Boor and Wirth); Theodoret Hist. Rel. 1276 (PG 82:1472); The Chronicle of Zuqnin (trans. Harrak), e.g., pp. 51, 114, 165, 192, 194, 195, 231, 233, and Harrak’s note.

      2. Droysen (Hist. 2:742f.) distinguished Kallinikon from Nikephorion. Chapot (Frontière 288f.) suggested they were identical; see also Weidner, RE s.v. “Nikephorion 2”; Brodersen, Komment. 162; and Ulbert in Archéologie 291. Tcherikover noted (HS 87) that the argument for identifying the two cities was based on the fact that (a) Nikephorion is not mentioned in the literature after the third century A.D., and (b) Kallinikon is not mentioned before the third century A.D. Hence it could be claimed that Nikephorion was simply renamed Kallinikon. However, as Droysen pointed out, the argument is ex silentio. Furthermore, although both cities are mentioned in connection with the Euphrates (Libanius [Ep. 21.5, ed. Förster] refers to Kallinikon as “near the Euphrates,” περὶ τòν Εvφράτην; Isidore describes Nikephorion as “by the Euphrates,” παρ’ Eὐφράτην; Pliny [NH 6.119] places it “in vicinia Euphratis”; the Chronicle of Zuqnîn 165 [trans. Harrak] says that “Hishâm the Caliph built a bridge over the Euphrates opposite Callinicum”), this does not demonstrate the two cities were identical. After all, it could simply mean there were two cities—Kallinikon and Nikephorion—that were on/near the Euphrates.

      Droysen also called attention to coinage from the reigns of Gordian and Gallienus with the legend ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΙΩΝ (Mionnet, Supplément 8:414f., nos. 72–73). He pointed out that the existence of coinage of Nikephorion from the time of Gallienus—when the Sophist Kallinikos was supposedly alive—demonstrated that the two cities were distinct (on Kallinikos see A. Stein, Hermes 58 [1923] 448–56). Nota bene, however, that the attribution of the coinage to the settlement at Raqqah has not been confirmed and is