Nisibis
Nisibis ( Akkadian Naṣībīna, in Hellenism temporarily Antioch in Mygdonien, Syro -Aramaic ܨ ܘ ܒ ܐ, soba, Armenian Medzpine, is an ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia now in the district Nusaybin the Turkish province of Mardin on the Turkish- Syrian border. The modern name is Nusaybin ( the modern history qv).
History
The city of Nisibis is occupied BC since the 10th century. 901 BC drew the Assyrian king Adad - nirari II against the Temaniten Nūr -Adad of Nisibis to the field. From the middle of the 9th century BC to 612 BC, it is assigned as Assyrian provincial capital. The Mygdonier lived according to Strabo in the area of Nisibis. According to Strabo Nisibis lay at the foot of the Mons Masius.
Under the Seleucids Nisibis was called Antioch in Mygdonia, but came back out of use when the city from 141 BC first part of the under Parthian suzerainty Kingdom of Adiabene was, then came to Armenia. From about 36/38 AD, Nisibis was part of the Parthian Empire.
The town was in the Parthian war of Septimius Severus end of the 2nd century AD under Roman rule and was in late antiquity due to their strategic location and economic and military significance between Rome and the Sassanid Empire fiercely contested. The town changed repeatedly the owner. 298 were in the Peace of Nisibis important parts of northern Mesopotamia roman, including Nisibis, and the city was designated as one of three places in which to take place, trade between the two great powers. From 309-338 was Jacob of Nisibis Bishop of the Christians of Nisibis. He had built the church which was later named after him and in whose ruin his grave is. The Persian King Shapur II besieged the city in the fourth century in vain three times ( 338, 346, and 350), but after the failed campaign of Emperor Julian Persie his successor Jovian Nisibis in the subsequent peace treaty of 363 had to leave the Sassanids. Most Roman citizens had to leave the city, including the Doctor of the Church, Ephrem the Syrian, and were replaced by Persian families who were settled in Nisibis; this disgrace was very long forgotten in Rome. Even more than 120 years later, the East Romans should demand the return of the resort, and in the 6th century imperial troops tried at least twice ( 543 and 572) in vain to conquer Nisibis. The location was very close to the Roman territory, represented one of the strongest, largest and most important Persian fortresses and home to a several thousand -strong crew. To the threat posed by Nisibis to be able to meet, the East Romans built in the 6th century near the town situated on the other side of the border town Dara - Anastasiupolis to counter fort and stationed there also strong troops. By the Treaty of Nisibis 591 then passed back under Roman control and was at the time Chosraus II again hard fought.
Nisibis was already in the early 5th century seat of the metropolitans; this was later Nestorian. Nestorian Christians, and other persecuted in the Roman Empire, religious minorities settled in large numbers in Nisibis to. The city was therefore a very important religious and - since the relocation of the famous school of Edessa after Nisibis in 489 (see School of Nisibis ) - academic center. It was probably 639/640 captured during the Islamic expansion by the Arabs and apart in the aftermath of some short episodes, controlled by Muslims.
Probably Nisibis was one of the places where the knowledge of Greco-Roman antiquity was passed especially hard on the Arab conquerors. Since a major earthquake in the year 717, the city lost, which had already suffered from the loss of border trade between Romans and Persians, much more important. From 1515 the Ottomans ruled the city (see Nusaybin ).
Sons and daughters of the town
- Ephrem the Syrian, Doctor of the Church
- Elias of Nisibis (975-1046) Bishop