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CHALKIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Chalcis Ad Belum. Pliny (v. 23. § 19) speaks of a city of this name
in the district Chalcidene, which he describes as the most fertile of all Syria.
The Chalcis, Chalkis of Strabo (xvi. p. 753), was a city and district subject
to Ptolemy, son of Mennaeus, who held besides the city of Heliopolis (Baalbec),
the plain of Marsyas, and the mountain region of Ituraea. Josephus expressly describes
it as under Mount Lebanon (Antiq. xiv. 7. § 4, B. J. i. 9. § 2). It has
been confounded with the Chalcis S. of Aleppo, but the statement of Josephus (comp.
Antiq. xiv. 3. § 2; Reland, Palaest. p. 315) shows that its
position must be sought for elsewhere. Ptolemy was succeeded by his son the first
Lysanias; whose possessions after his murder by Antony were farmed by Zenodorus.
(Joseph. Antiq. xv. 10. § 1, B. J. i. 20. § 4.) In A.D. 41 Claudius bestowed
Chalcis on Herod, a brother of the elder Herod Agrippa. On his death in A.D. 48
his kingdom went to his nephew, the younger Herod Agrippa (B. J. ii.
12. § 1). He held it four years, and was then transferred with the title of king
to the provinces of Batanaea, Trachonitis, Abilene, and others (Antiq.
xx. 7. § 1). Afterwards Aristobulus, son of Herod, king of Chaletis, obtained
his father's kingdom which had been taken from his cousin Agrippa II., and in
A.D. 73 was still dynast of the district (B. J. vii. 7. § 1). During
the reign of Domitian it appears to have become incorporated in the Roman province,
and the city to have received the additional name of Flavia. (Eckhel, vol. iii.
p. 263; Marquardt, Handbuch der Rom. Alter. p. 181; Noris. de
Epoch. Syro.-Mac. (c. ix. § 3.)
The town of Chaletis was therefore situated somewhere in the Bukaa,
probably S. of Baalbec. The valley has not yet been examined with reference
to the site of this city. It has been suggested that its position may be at or
near Zahle, in the neighbourhood of which at the village of Heusn
Nieha, are some remarkable remains (comp. Chesney, Exped. Euphrat.
vol. i. p. 472). Or perhaps at Majdel Anjar, where Abu-l-feda (Tab.
Syr. p. 20) speaks of great ruins of hewn stones. (Robinson, Biblioth.
Sacr. vol. v. p. 90).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
IERAPOLIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Hierapolis (Hiera polis), the Sacred City of Cyrrhestica in Syria,
situated on the high road from Antioch to Mesopotamia, 24 M. P. to the W. of the
Euphrates and 36 M. P. to the SW. of Zeugma (Pent. Tab.), 2 1/2 days' journey
from Beroea, and 5 days' from Antioch (Zosim. iii. 12).
Hierapolis, or Hieropolis as it is called always on coins and in Stephanus
of Byzantium, obtained its Hellenic name from Seleucus Nicator (Aelian, H. A.
xii. 2), owing to the circumstance of Bambyce (Bambuke), as it was called by the
natives, being the chief seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Astarte, or
personification of the passive powers of Nature. (Lucian, de Dea Syr. c. i.)
Bambycen quae alio nomine Hierapolis vocatur; Syris vero Magog. Ibi
prodigiosa Atargatis, Graecis autem Deeceto dicta, colitur, Plin. v. 19. Sillig
(ad loc.) has in his text Mabog, which is the correct reading, and appears in
the Oriental forms Munbedj (Jaubert, Geog. d'Edrise, vol. ii. pp. 138, 155), Manbesja,
Manbesjum (Schultens, Vita Salad.), Menba, Manba (Schultens, Index Geogr.), Manbegj
(Abu-l-feda, Tab. Syr. p. 128), and the modern name Kara Bambuche, or Buguk Munbedj.
Under the Seleucidae, from its central position be-tween Antioch and Seleuceia
on the delta of the Tigris, it became a great emporium. Strabo (xvi. p. 748) has
given an interesting account of the passage of the caravans from Syria to Seleuceia
and Babylon; the confusion of Edessa and Hierapolis is an error probably of the
transcriber (comp. Groskurd, ad loc.). Crassus plundered the rich temple of the
goddess, who presided over the elements of nature and the productive seeds of
things, and seized upon the treasures, which it took several days to weigh and
examine. And it was here that an ill omen befel him. (Plut. Crass. 17.)
Under Constantine, Hierapolis became the capital of the new province
Euphratensis. (Malal. Chron. xiii. p. 317.) Julian, in his Persian campaign, appointed
Hierapolis as the rendezvous for the Roman troops before their passage of the
Euphrates. He has given an account of his march to it, which took up five days,
in a letter to Libanius (Ep. xxvii.), and remained there three days, at the house
of Sopater, a distinguished pupil of Iamblichus. At Hierapolis one of those unlucky
signs which Ammianus (xxiii. 2. § 6) has so carefully recorded, took place at
his entrance into the town. (Comp. Gibbon, c. xxiv; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol.
iii. p. 58.)
With the establishment of Christianity, Hierapolis recovered its ancient,
indigenous Syrian name, but lost its splendour and magnificence by the downfall.
of the old worship (A.D. 540). Buzes, who commanded during the absence of Belisarius
in the East, concentrated his forces at Hierapolis, but it only escaped being
pillaged by Chosroes by the payment of tribute. (Procop. B. P. ii. 6; Gibbon,
c. xlii.; Le Beau, vol. ix. p. 12.)
A.D. 1068 it was captured by the emperor Romanus Diogenes, in his
valiant efforts to resist the progress of the Turks. (Zonar. vol. ii. p. 279;
Le Beau, vol. xiv. p. 472.)
It does not fall within the province of this article to trace the
connection between Bambyce = Bombycina urbs, Bombyciis copiis gaudens, and the
introduction of the silk-worm from the East; much curious information on this
point will be found in Ritter (Erdkunde, vol. x. pp. 1056-1062).
The ruins of this city were first discovered and described by Maundrell
(Journal, p. 204) and by Pococke (Trav. vol. ii. pt. i. p. 166). But it was not
till the period of Colonel Chesney's Expedition. that the position was accurately
fixed.
At a distance of 16 miles W. by S. of the passage of Kal‘--at-en-ejm,
at about 600 feet above the Euphrates, the ruins of Hierapolis occupy the centre
of a rocky plain, where, by its isolated position, the city must not only have
been deprived of running water, but likewise of every advantage which was likely
to create and preserve a place of importance.
Some ruined mosques and square Saracenic towers, with the remains
of its surrounding walls and ditches, mark the limits of the Muslim city, within
which are four large cisterns, a fine sarcophagus, and, among other ancient remains,
the scattered ruins of an acropolis and two temples.
Of the smaller, the inclosure and portions of seven columns remain;
but it seems to possess little interest compared with the larger, which may have
been that of the Syrian Queen of Heaven. Among the remains of the latter are some
fragments of massive architecture, not unlike the Aegyptian, and 11 arches form
one side of a square paved court, over which are scattered the shafts of columns
and capitals displaying the lotus.
A little way to the W. of the walls there is an extensive necropolis,
which contains many Turkish, with some Pagan, Seljukian, and Syriac tombs; the
last having some almost illegible inscriptions in the ancient character. (Chesney,
Exped. Euphrat. vol. i. p. 516.) Hierapolis was the ecclesiastical metropolis
of the province Euphratensis. (Neale, Hist. of East. Church, vol. i. p. 134.)
Eckhel (vol. iii. p. 261) has noticed the fact, that the coins of
Hierapolis copy the type of those of Antioch: they are Seleucid, autonomous, and
imperial, ranging from Trajan to the elder and younger Philip.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SURA (Ancient city) SYRIA
Sura (ta Soura: Eth. Sourenos), a city of Syria, situated on the Euphrates,
in the district of Palmyrene, long. 72° 40', lat. 35° 40' of Ptolemy, who places
it between Alalis and Alamata (v. 15. § 25); apparently the Sure of the Peutinger
Table, according to which it was 105 M.P. distant from Palmyra. It is called in
the Notitiae Imperil ( § 24) Flavia Turina Sura (ap. Mannert, p. 408). It is probably
identical with the Ura of Pliny, where, according to him, the Euphrates turns
to the east from the deserts of Palmyra (v. 24. s. 87). lie, however, mentions
Sura (26. s. 89) as the nearest town to Philiscum, a town of the Parthians on
the Euphrates. It was 126 stadia distant from Heliopolis, which was situated in
what was called Barbaricus campus. It was a Roman garrison of some importance
in the Persian campaigns of Belisarius; and a full account is given of the circumstances
under which it was taken and burned by Chosroes I. (A.D. 532), who, having marched
three long days' journey from Circesium to Zenobia, along the course of the Euphrates,
thence proceeded an equal distance up the river to Sura. Incidental mention of
the bishop proves that it was then an episcopal see. (Procop. Bell. Pers. i. 18,
ii. 5.) Its walls were so weak that it did not hold out more than half an hour;
but it was afterwards more substantially fortified, by order of the emperor Justinian.
(Id. de Aedificiis Justiniani, ii. 9.) About 36 miles below Balls (the Alalis
of Ptolemy), following the course of the river, are the ruins of Sura; and about
6 miles lower is the ford of El-Hammam, which Col. Chesney identifies with the
Zeugma of Thapsacus, where, according to local tradition, the army of Alexander
crossed the Euphrates (Expedition for Survey, &c. vol. i. p. 416). In the Chart
(iii.) it is called Sooreah, and marked as brick ruins, and it is probable that
the extensive brick ruins a little below this site, between it and Phunsa (Thapsacus),
may be the remains of Alamata, mentioned in connection with Sura by Ptolemy. Ainsworth
is certainly wrong in identifying the modern Suriyeh with the ancient Thapsacus
(p. 72).
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AMPHIPOLIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Old Test. Thipsach. An Aramean word, signified "a ford";
now Dibsi. A city of Syria, in the province of Chalybonitis, on the left bank
of the Euphrates, 2000 stadia south of Zeugma, and fifteen parasangs from the
mouth of the river Chaboras, the Araxes of Xenophon.
BEROEA (Ancient city) SYRIA
A town of Syria, now Aleppo or Haleb, near Antioch, and enlarged by Seleucus Nicator, who named it Beroea after the town in Macedon. In the Old Testament it is called Chelbon.
CHALKIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
A city of Syria, in a fruitful plain, near the termination of the river Chalus; the chief city of the district of Chalcidice, which lay to the east of the Orontes.
IERAPOLIS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Formerly Bambyce (Bambuke), a city in the northeast of Syria, one of the chief seats of the worship of Astarte.
KYRROS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Cyrrhus. A titular see of Syria. The city of the same name was the capital of
the extensive district of Cyrrhestica, between the plain of Antioch and Commagene.
The origin of the city is unknown; according to a false tradition, it was said
in the sixth century to have been founded by Cyrus, King of Persia; this, however,
was only a play upon the name. It became at an early date a suffragan of Hierapolis
in Provincia Euphratensis. Eight bishops are known before 536 (Lequien, II, 929;
E.W. Brooks, The Sixth Book of the Select Letters of Severus, II, 341). The first
was present at Nicaea in 325. The most celebrated is Theodoret (423-58), a prolific
writer, well known for his role in the history of Nestorianism and Eutychianism.
(His works are in Migne, P.G., LXXX-LXXXIV). He tells us that his small diocese
(about forty miles square) contained 800 churches, which supposes a very dense
population.
At Cyrrhus a magnificent basilica held the relics of SS. Cosmas and
Damian, who had suffered martyrdom in the vicinity about 283, and whose bodies
had been transported to the city, whence it was also called Hagioupolis. Many
holy personages, moreover, chiefly hermits, had been or were then living in this
territory, among them SS. Acepsimas, Zeumatius, Zebinas, Polychronius, Maron (the
famous patron of the Maronite Church), Eusebius, Thalassius, Maris, James the
Wonder-worker, and others. Theodoret devoted an entire work to the illustration
of their virtues and miracles. The city was embellished and fortified by Justinian.
At the same time it became an independent metropolis, subject directly to Antioch.
The patriarch, Michael the Syrian, names thirteen Jacobite bishops of Cyrrhus
from the ninth to the eleventh century (Revue de l'Orient chretien, 1901, p. 194).
Only two Latin titulars are quoted by Lequien (III, 1195). The site of the city
is marked by the ruins at Khoros, nine miles northwest of Kilis, in the vilayet
of Aleppo; these ruins stand near the river Afrin Marsyas, a tributary of the
Orontes, which had been banked up by the aforesaid Theodoret.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Anthony J. Stokes
This text is cited Sep 2005 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
BEROEA (Ancient city) SYRIA
A leading city of N Syria, on the caravan route between the Euphrates
and the Mediterranean, Beroea was made a Macedonian city by Seleucus Nicator between
301 and 281 B.C. It was sacked by Chosroes in A.D. 540.
The plan of the Macedonian colony survives in the modern city. Traces
of the original grid plan can be seen on the 25 ha area E of the tell: a series
of streets, parallel or at right angles to each other, are oriented to the cardinal
points and laid out with uniform space between them. An avenue 20-25 m wide, now
occupied by souks, cut across the city from W to E, from the W gate to the foot
of the citadel, and a monumental three-bay arch ornamented with military emblems
marked the W exit. Colonnaded porticos were added to the arch probably in the
2d or 3d c. A.D. The agora was precisely in the center of the city, where the
great mosque stands today, at the end of the aqueduct that pipes water from a
spring 13 km to the N.
The wall that ringed the ancient city forms a more or less regular
rectangle, 1000 by 950 m. On the W the rampart, flanked by wide rectangular towers,
ran parallel to the streets; its E face took advantage of the hill of the citadel,
which bears no traces of either the Hellenistic or the Roman periods. The mediaeval
gates are probably where the ancient gates stood.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
KYRROS (Ancient city) SYRIA
Kyrrhos. Town founded by the Macedonians, 70 km N-NW of Aleppo, an important
strategic position at the beginning of the Hellenistic period and later under
Roman rule. It was sacked by the Sasanians in A.D. 256. In the 5th c. it experienced
a brief renascence as a center of pilgrimage under its bishop Theodoretus. In
the 6th c. Justinian fortified and adorned the town, and in A.D. 637 it yielded
to the Moslems.
It is at a bend of a tributary to the Afrin, not far from their confluence.
It forms a rough triangle, from the acropolis to the W to the high cliff above
the river to the E. Bridges, ramparts, a great avenue, Christian sanctuaries,
a theater, and a mausoleum are the principal ancient remains.
The Byzantine bridges are still in use S of the town: they cross first
the Afrin, then its tributary. To the N the bridge over the river is in ruins,
but the ancient road is visible beyond it.
The ramparts have square or semicircular towers and date from the
Byzantine period. An inscription on a gate of the citadel gives the names of Justinian,
Theodora, Belisarius, and the domestikos Eustathius. The vast enclosure is of
Hellenistic date, as are the polygonal blocks preserved in various sectors. The
acropolis was roughly rectangular, with a gate to the outside and a gate to the
lower town. The lower town itself had three gates, to the N, S, and E.
The orthogonal street plan dates from Hellenistic times; the main
axis is a wide street from the S to the N gate, bordered by porticos. A spacious
rectangular enclosure has the ramparts to the W, and on its S and E sides two
monumental gates flanked by rectangular towers; two other towers stand at the
corners of the E side, parallel to the great avenue. Inside this space (once mistaken
for an agora) was a church with three naves and a narthex to the W; it has ancient
fluted columns and is built of materials of many colors. To the NE of this sanctuary
and E of the colonnade are the remains of a large Christian basilica with several
apses.
The theater is ca. 60 m from the avenue; it backs against the hill
of the acropolis and faces E. Only the 24 rows of the lower tier of seats survive;
the upper tier has disappeared. There are seats with backs in front of the diazoma,
and those next to the radial staircases have elbow rests in the form of dolphins.
The scaenae frons had five doors, opening onto alternately rectangular and semicircular
exedras. The theater reveals the influence of Antioch and Daphne and may date
to the middle of the 2d c. A.D.
The best-preserved necropolis is to the NW. A large hexagonal mausoleum,
reused as a Moslem sanctuary, has pilasters at the corners of the ground floor.
It is crowned with an entablature, decorated with lions' heads, that supports
a skylight with windows which have archivolts and Corinthian pilasters. The skylight
is capped by a slender pyramid, with a capital adorned with acanthus leaves at
the top. The capital is big enough to carry a statue.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SERGILLA (Ancient city) SYRIA
In the villes mortes region of N Syria between Hama and Aleppo, a
prosperous agricultural center during the Late Empire and Early Byzantine times.
The village consisted of two built-up areas separated by a ravine. A church of
the 4th c. A.D. and houses, built of polygonal blocks and inhabited by peasants,
are on the E side, the larger villas and a necropolis of monumental sarcophagi
lie to the W. The andron and public baths (built by a notable at the end of the
5th c. A.D.) are between the two, at the crossroads in the bottom of the gully.
The baths are the best preserved in Syria, and have harmonious arrangements
of architectural masses. The careful masonry of the exterior has an austere appearance:
the only decorations are the moldings which underline the triangular pediments
and the semicircular windows. The inside walls, however, were plastered and painted.
The main chamber, two stories high, has a rostrum at the W end, supported by four
Corinthian columns, and a mosaic pavement of A.D. 473. A stable with feeding troughs
cut into the rock can be seen near the entrance. In front of the S facade is a
huge cistern covered with large slabs supported by stone arches.
The andron, a graceful building with two gables, was both an inn and
a meeting hall. Its S facade has two superimposed colonnades with Doric or Tuscan
capitals of a type peculiar to N Syria. On the ground floor is a chamber separated
by rock-cut feeding troughs from a stable, and on the upper story a large room
opens on the portico.
At least a dozen villas still stand, excellent examples of domestic
architecture arranged for comfort, pleasure, and security. Loggias and porticos
open to S or E onto courtyards or closed gardens, which are reached from the street
by porches that serve as vestibules. Dominating the site from the SE, the largest
villa consists of two buildings joined together. A portico of Corinthian columns
runs in front of the W house, which has a spacious room with a ceiling supported
by three stone arches. The N building has two stories of colonnades on its S facade,
and loggias and towers with staircases at each end.
The church is a basilica with three naves, built on the hillside during
the second half of the 4th c. and remodeled and enlarged in the 5th and 6th c.
The columns between the naves are topped by arches, and the apsidal choir flanked
by chapels which widen into transepts. On the exterior a gallery with porticos
runs the length of the side naves. The W facade dominates a courtyard built farther
down the slope. Agricultural buildings are attached to the church to the W, where
the upper story of the house is on the level of the court in front of the church,
and to the S, where an irregular group of elegant buildings, with porticos, towers,
and a large square chamber supported by four columns, surrounds a courtyard. In
the vicinity is a cistern and presses are cut into the rock.
J. P. Rey-Coquais, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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