Year: 2021
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: The area known as ˝ūr 'Abdīn is located in the south of presentday Turkey, near the Syrian border.It is a plateau covering an area of approxi mately 9,000 square kilometres between the city of Cizre (Gzirto) in the east and Mardin in the west.On its southern border lies the city of Nusaybin (Íōbā, Nisibis), famous for its academy that significantly contributed to the early history of Oriental Christianity.The northern most edges of this region, where the city of Hasankef on the river Tigris stands today, used to be marked by the splendid Óesnō dKīfā castle. 1 In medieval works by Arab geographers modern Assyrian place names, together with descriptions of churches and monasteries, can be found.2 In time, however, most of these names had been replaced with Arabic, 1 At some point a city grew around Óesnō dKīfo, becoming periodically the capital of ˝ūr 'Abdīn and the Assyrian province of Gharzān.Immediately before the pacification on 5 June 1915, the city was administered by Assyrians, only one of whom managed to escape.The massacre of more than 500 Assyrian families of the city is described in a poem by Asmar elKhūrī.Óennō, S., Gunªē d-Suryōyē d-˝ūr 'Abdīn, pp.153-4; Gōrgīs, A. K. alQ, Ǧirāª fī tārīkh as-Syriān pp.15-20, 83-93. 2 They are widely quoted by the Syrian Orthodox patriarch Ighnā †iyyos Aphrem I Bar‚ōm, Maktbōnūtō d-'āl atrō d-˝ūr 'Abdīn, pp.198-9.xxiv | sayfo -an account of the assyrian genocide Map 1 General Map of the region Map 2 Inset of ˝ūr 'Abdīn and its environs background of the region | xxv Turkish or Kurdish toponyms, occasionally preserving the original Assyrian root. 3Located on the border between Persia and the Byzantine Empire, ˝ūr 'Abdīn changed hands often.Its inhabitants started converting to Christianity as early as the first century.The region is said to have been on the route of the Magi (the Three Wise Men/Kings of Orient), who presented gifts to Jesus, and in the village of Óāª, where they stopped, according to the tradition, the first church in ˝ūr 'Abdīn was built.4 The Gospel was also preached here by Mōr Adday (St Thaddeus).By the year 120 of the Common Era (ce) an Assyrian bishop named Mazra resided in the village of Azakh/Bēt Zabdāy (Turkish, İdil).5 Mōr Ya'qūb (died 338 ce) worked in ˝ūr 'Abdīn at the turn of the 4th century ce and funded the abovementioned theological school in Nisibis, transformed by his disciple St Ephrem (died 373 ce) into the first Christian academy.6 Mōr Ya'qūb took part in the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325 ce.He loved Nisibis so ardently that before his death he asked for his remains to be placed in the city walls.After the city was transferred from the Byzantine Empire to Persia in 363 ce, St Ephrem moved his academy to Urhoy (Edessa, Urfa), devoting to Nisibis seventyseven homilies full of love and concern.Urhoy is also where the Western Aramaic script was developed and the final revision was made of the Assyrian New Testament, first trans lated as early as the 1st century ce.This translation, known as Peshitta, is still 3 Changes of toponyms are a common practice in the Middle East, especially in Turkey and Syria.It is worth noting that Atatürk's "Surname Law" (Soyadı Kanunu) of 1934 forced Assyrians (together with other ethnic minorities) to change their surnames to Turkish ones.4 For information about the origins of the Magi (Mghūshē in Syriac) and their role and place in Assyrian religious tradition see Abdalla, M., 'Z kręgu folkloru chrześcijańskich Asyryjczyków'(Literatura Ludowa, 1988); Kałużyński, S., Tradycje i legendy ludów tureckich (Warsaw: Iskry, 1986).Written Assyrian sources mention the church in Óāª from the 5th century.The village was the seat of bishops between 1050 and 1660.KeserKayaalp, E., 'Church Building in the ˝ūr 'Abdīn in the First Centuries of Islamic Rule,' in Authority and Control in the Countryside: From Antiquity to Islam in the Mediterranean and Near East (Sixth-Tenth Century), (Leiden:
Language: English
Topic: Ancient Near East History
Subfield: Archeology
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4285480606
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: