Osroene

Historical Arab states and dynasties
Ancient Arab States Kingdom of Qedar 800 BC–300 BC kingdom of Ma'in 600 BC–150 BC Kingdom of Lihyan 600 BC–100 BC Nabataean Kingdom 400 BC–106 AD Qatabān kingdom 400 BC–200 AD Kingdom of Awsan 230s BC–115s BC Kingdom of Kindah 200 BC–633 AD Kingdom of Osroene 132 BC–244 AD Himyarite Kingdom 110 BC-525 AD Emesan dynasty 64 BC–300s AD Kingdom of Hatra 100s–241 AD Tanukhids 196–1100 AD Ghassanids 220–638 AD Salihids 300s–500s AD Lakhmids 300s–602 AD
Arab Empires Rashidun 632–661 Umayyads 661–750 Abbasids 750–1258 Fatimids 909–1171
Eastern Dynasties Emirate of Armenia 654–884 Emirate of Tbilisi 736–1122 Emirate of Crete 824–961 Dulafids 840–897 Habbarids 854–1011 Kaysites 860–964 Shirvanshah 861-1538 Alavids 864–928 Hamdanids 890–1004 Rawadids 955–1071 Mazyadids 961–1150 Jarrahids 970–1107 Uqaylids 990–1096 Numayrids 990–1081 Mirdasids 1024–1080 Munqidhites 1025–1157 Ma'anids 1517–1697 Shihabids 1697–1842
Western Dynasties Emirate of Córdoba 756–929 Muhallabids 771–793 Idrisids 788–974 Aghlabids 800–909 Sulaymanids 814–922 Emirate of Sicily 831–1091 Caliphate of Córdoba 929–1031 Kanzids 1004–1412 Bakrids 1012–1051 Tujibids 1013–1039 Amirids 1020–1086 Abbadids 1023–1091 Yahsubids 1023–1062 Hammudids 1026–1057 Muzaynids 1027–1063 Jawharids 1031–1091 Hudids 1039–1110 Sumadihids 1041–1091 Tahirids 1049–1078 Nasrids 1230–1492 Saadids 1554–1659 Senussids 1837–1969
Arabian Peninsula Imamate of Oman 751–1970 Ziyadids 819–1138 Yufirids 847–997 Ukhaidhirds 865–1066 Rassids 897–1962 Qarmatians 899–1077 Wajihids 926–965 Sharifate of Mecca 968–1925 Sulayhids 1047–1138 Sulaymanids 1063–1174 Uyunids 1076–1253 Zurayids 1083–1174 Nabhanids 1154–1624 Mahdids 1159–1174 Rasulids 1229–1454 Usfurids 1253–1320 Jarwanids 1305–1487 Kathirids 1395–1967 Tahirids 1454–1526 Jabrids 1463–1521 Qasimids 1597–1872 Ya'arubids 1624–1742 Upper Yafa 1800–1967 Muscat and Oman 1820–1970 Rashidids 1836–1921 Qu'aitids 1858–1967 Emirate of Beihan 1903–1967 Idrisids 1906–1934 Mutawakkilite Kingdom 1926–1970
East Africa Makhzumi dynasty (Shewa) 896–1279 Nabahani dynasty (Pate Island) 1203–1894 Mahdali dynasty (Kilwa) 1277–1495 Mazrui dynasty (Mombasa) 1746–1828 Nabahani dynasty (Wituland) 1858–1895 Sultanate of Zanzibar 1856–1964 Tippu Tip's State 1860–1887
Current monarchies Alaouites (Morocco) 1631–present Al Qasimi (Ras al Khaymah) 1727–present Al Qasimi (Sharjah) 1727–present Al Saud (Saudi Arabia) 1744–present Al Said (Oman) 1749–present Al Sabah (Kuwait) 1752–present Al Nahyan (Abu Dhabi) 1761–present Al Nuaim (Ajman ) 1810–present Al Mu'alla (Umm al-Quwain) 1775–present Al Khalifa (Bahrain) 1783–present Al Maktoum (Dubai) 1833–present Al Thani (Qatar) 1868–present Al Sharqi (Fujairah) 1900–present Hashemites (Jordan) 1921–present

Roman dependencies, including of Osroene (as of 31 BCE)

Anatolia in the early 1st century AD with Osroëne as a client state of the Parthian Empire

Kingdom of Osroene (gray shade) and the surrounding regions during the 1st century AD

Osroene, or Edessa, was one of several states that acquired independence from the collapsing Seleucid Empire through a dynasty of the nomadic Nabataean Arab tribe from Southern Canaan and North Arabia, the Osrhoeni, from 136 BC. Osroene's name either derives from the name of this tribe, or from Orhay (Urhay), the original Aramaic name of Edessa.[11] Arab influence had been strong in the region.[8]

Osroene endured for four centuries, with twenty-eight rulers occasionally named "king" on their coins. Most of the kings of Osroene were called Abgar or Manu and settled in urban centers.[12]

Osroene was generally allied with the Parthian Empire.[1][8] After a period under the rule of the Parthian Empire, it was absorbed into the Roman Empire in 114 as a semiautonomous vassal state, and incorporated as a simple Roman province in 214. There is an apocryphal legend that Osroene was the first state to have accepted Christianity as state religion,[13][14] but there is not enough evidence to support that claim.[15][16][17]

Ancient mosaic from Edessa (2nd century CE) with inscriptions in Aramaic language

Though most of Osroene's rulers were from the Abgarid dynasty of Arab origin, the kingdom's population was mainly Aramean, with a Greek and Parthian admixture.[18] In addition, though Arab cults were attested at Edessa (the twins Monimos and Azizos), its cultural setting was fundamentally Aramaic, alongside strong Parthian influences.[8][10] Thus, according to Maurice Sartre: "It would hence be absurd to regard Edessa as solely an Arab city, for its culture owed very little to the nomadic Arabs of the region".[10] Later, within the Roman Empire, Edessa was the most important center of Syriac Christianity.[19] Under the Nabataean dynasties, Osroëne became increasingly influenced by Syriac Christianity,[20] and was a centre of local reaction against Hellenism.

In his writings, Pliny the Elder refers to the natives of Osroene and the Kingdom of Commagene as Arabs and the region as Arabia.[21] Abgar II is called "an Arab phylarch" by Plutarch,[22] while Abgar V is described as "king of the Arabs" by Tacitus.[23]

The Edessene onomastic contains many Arabic names.[24] The most common one in the ruling dynasty of Edessa being Abgar, a well-attested name among Arabic groups of antiquity.[25] Some members of the dynasty bore Iranian names, while others had Arab names.[1] Judah Segal notes that the names ending in "-u" are "undoubtedly Nabatean".[1] The Abgarid dynasts spoke "a form of Aramaic".[1]

It was in the region in which the legend of Abgar V originated.

The area of the kingdom was perhaps roughly coterminous with that of the Roman province of Osrhoene. The great loop of the Euphrates was a natural frontier to the north and west. In the south Batnae was capital of the semi-autonomous principality of Anthemusia until its annexation by Rome, in AD 115. The eastern boundary is uncertain; it may have extended to Nisibis or even to Adiabene in the first century AD. Ḥarrān, however, only 40 km south of Edessa, always maintained its independent status as a Roman colonia.[1]

Edessa, the capital of the ancient kingdom, was a fortress of considerable strength and a staging post both large and nearest to the Euphrates. It was an important road junction; an ancient highway, along which caravans carried merchandise from China and India to the West, met there a north-south road connecting the Armenian Highlands with Antioch. Inevitably, Edessa figured prominently on the international stage.[1]

In 64 BC, as Pompey waged war on the Parthian Empire, Abgar II of Osrhoene had sided with the Romans when Lucius Afranius occupied Upper Mesopotamia. The king was initially an ally of the Roman general Marcus Licinius Crassus in his campaign against the Parthians in 53 BC, but Roman historians allege that he betrayed Crassus by leading him to deviate from his safe route along the river and instead into an open desert, where the troops suffered from the barrenness and thus were vulnerable to cavalry attack. Abgar is said to have met with Surenas, the Parthian general, and informed him of the Roman movements. The enormous and infamous Battle of Carrhae followed and destroyed the entire Roman army. Just prior to the battle, Abgar made a pretext to ride away. However, modern historians have questioned whether Abgar intended to betray the Romans and instead may have simply been leading them along an old Arab trade route.[26] According to a Syriac source, Abgar died later that year.[1]

In the early 2nd century AD, King Abgar VII joined the Emperor Trajan's campaign into Mesopotamia and entertained him at court. The king later rebelled against the Romans, however, which led to the Roman general Lucius Quietus sacking Edessa and putting an end to Osrhoene's independence in 116. In 123, during the reign of Hadrian, the Abgarid dynasty was restored with the installation of Ma'nu VII, and Osroene was established as a client kingdom of the Empire.[27] After the Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 under Marcus Aurelius, forts were built and a Roman garrison was stationed in Nisibis (now Nusaybin. In 195, following a civil war in which the kingdom had supported his rival Pescennius Niger, Septimius Severus mounted an invasion and annexed the territory as a new province, making Nisibis the capital.[28] However, the emperor did allow the king, Abgar XI, to retain the city of Edessa and a small territory surrounding it.[29] In 213, the reigning king was deposed by Caracalla, and the remaining territory was incorporated into the Roman province of Osroene.[30]

According to legends (without historical justification), by 201 AD or earlier, under King Abgar the Great, Osroene became the first Christian state.[31][32] It is believed that the Gospel of Thomas emanated from Edessa around 140. Prominent early Christian figures have lived in and emerged from the region such as Tatian the Assyrian, who came to Edessa from Hadiab (Adiabene). He made a trip to Rome and returned to Edessa around 172-173. Tatian was the editor of the Diatessaron, which was the primary sacred text of Syriac-speaking Christianity until in the 5th century the bishops Rabbula and Theodoret suppressed it and substituted a revision of the Old Syriac Canonical Gospels (as in the Syriac Sinaiticus and Curetonian Gospels).[33]

Then, Edessa was again brought under Roman control by Decius and it was made a center of Roman operations against the Sasanian Empire. Amru, possibly a descendant of Abgar, is mentioned as king in the Paikuli inscription, recording the victory of Narseh in the Sassanid civil war of 293. Historians identify that Amru as Amru ibn Adi, the fourth king of the Lakhmids, which was then still based in Harran, not yet moved to al-Hirah in southern Mesopotamia.[34]

Many centuries later, Dagalaiphus and Secundinus duke of Osrhoene, accompanied Julian in his war against the Sasanian emperor, Shapur II, in the 4th century.[35]

Roman province of Osroene, highlighted within the Roman Empire

Map showing the Eastern Roman provinces, including Osroene, in the 5th century

The independence of the state ended probably in c. 214; during Caracalla's reign the monarchy was abolished by the Roman Empire and Osroene was incorporated it as a province (colonia).[1] It was a frontier province, lying close to the Persian empires with which the Romans were repeatedly at war, and was taken and retaken several times. As it was on the frontier it had a Roman legion stationed there. Legio III Parthica and its Castrum (homebase) may have been Rhesaina, but that is uncertain.

Following Emperor Diocletian's tetrarchy reform during his reign (284-305), it was part of the diocese of the East, in the praetorian prefecture of the same name.

According to the late-4th-century Notitia Dignitatum, it was headed by a governor of the rank of praeses, and it was also the seat of the dux Mesopotamiae, who ranked as vir illustris and commanded (c. 400) the following army units:

• Equites Dalmatae Illyriciani, garrisoned at Ganaba.
• Equites Promoti Illyriciani, Callinicum.
• Equites Mauri Illyriciani, Dabana.
• Equites Promoti indigenae, Banasam
• Equites Promoti indigenae, Sina Iudaeorum.
• Equites Sagittarii indigenae, Oraba.
• Equites Sagittarii indigenae, Thillazamana.
• Equites Sagittarii indigenae Medianenses, Mediana.
• Equites Primi Osrhoeni, Rasin.
• Praefectus legionis quartae Parthicae, Circesium.
• (an illegible command, possibly Legio III Parthica), Apatna.

as well as, 'on the minor roll', apparently auxiliaries:

• Ala Septima Valeria Praelectorum, Thillacama.
• Ala Prima Victoriae, Tovia -contra Bintha.
• Ala Secunda Paflagonum, Thillafica.
• Ala Prima Parthorum, Resaia.
• Ala Prima nova Diocletiana, inter Thannurin et Horobam.
• Cohors Prima Gaetulorum, Thillaamana.
• Cohors Prima Eufratensis, Maratha.
• Ala Prima Salutaria, Duodecimo constituta.

According to Sozomen's Ecclesiastical History, "there were some very learned men who formerly flourished in Osroene, as for instance Bardaisan, who devised a heresy designated by his name, and his son Harmonius. It is related that this latter was deeply versed in Grecian erudition, and was the first to subdue his native tongue to meters and musical laws; these verses he delivered to the choirs" and that Arianism, a more successful heresy, met with opposition there.

Coin of king Abgar, who ruled in Osroene during the reign of Roman emperor Septimius Severus (193-211)

Coin of king Abgar, who ruled in Osroene during the reign of Roman emperor Gordianus III (238-244)

• Aryu (132–127 BC)
• Abdu bar Maz'ur (127–120 BC)
• Fradhasht bar Gebar'u (120–115 BC)
• Bakru I bar Fradhasht (115–112 BC)
• Bakru II bar Bakru (112–94 BC)
• Ma'nu I (94 BC)
• Abgar I Piqa (94–68 BC)
• Abgar II bar Abgar (68–52 BC)
• Ma'nu II (52–34 BC)
• Paqor (34–29 BC)
• Abgar III (29–26 BC)
• Abgar IV Sumaqa (26–23 BC)
• Ma'nu III Saphul (23–4 BC)
• Abgar V Ukkama bar Ma'nu (Abgarus of Edessa) (4 BC–AD 7)
• Ma'nu IV bar Ma'nu (AD 7–13)
• Abgar V Ukkama bar Ma'nu (AD 13–50)
• Ma'nu V bar Abgar (AD 50–57)
• Ma'nu VI bar Abgar (AD 57–71)
• Abgar VI bar Ma'nu (AD 71–91)
• Sanatruk (AD 91–109)
• Abgar VII bar Ezad (AD 109–116)
• Roman interregnum (AD 116–118)
• Yalur (AD 118–122, co-ruler with Parthamaspates)
• Parthamaspates (AD 118–123)
• Ma'nu VII bar Ezad (AD 123–139)
• Ma'nu VIII bar Ma'nu (AD 139–163)
• Wa'il bar Sahru (AD 163–165)
• Ma'nu VIII bar Ma'nu (AD 165–167)
• Abgar VIII (AD 167–177)
• Abgar IX (the Great) (AD 177–212)
• Abgar X Severus bar Ma'nu (AD 212–214)
• Abgar (X) Severus Bar Abgar (IX) Rabo (AD 214–216)
• Ma’nu (IX) Bar Abgar (X) Severus (AD 216–242)
• Abgar (XI) Farhat Bar Ma’nu (IX) (AD 242–244)

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Osroene.

• Edessa
• Arameans
• Aramaic language
• Syriac language
• Syria (region)
• Diocese of the Orient

• Notitia dignitatum