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107-572: The formation of the kingdom is obscure. The first instance of a recorded Adiabenian ruler is in 69 BCE, when an unnamed king of Adiabene participated in the battle of Tigranocerta as an ally of the Armenian king Tigranes the Great ( r.  95–55 BC E). However, coinage implies the establishment of a kingdom in Adiabene around 164 BCE, following the disintegration of Greek Seleucid rule in

214-504: A Jewish jewelry merchant in Adiabene by the name of Hananiah ( Ananias ) or Eliezer, who told her about the people of Israel and persuaded her to join them. All historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene ended around 115 CE, but these stories made huge impact on rabbinic literature and Talmud. Nominally Zoroastrian, the people of Adiabene were tolerant toward Judaism, and permitted the establishment of Jewish communities there, The Jews of Edessa, Nisibis, and Adiabene repaid them by being among

321-411: A closer grammatical relationship by the addition of a pronominal suffix. Thus, the phrase can be written as ܫܩ̈ܠܝܗ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ , šeqlêh d-malkuṯā . In this case, both nouns continue to be in the emphatic state, but the first has the suffix that makes it literally read "her taxes" ("kingdom" is feminine), and thus is "her taxes, [those] of the kingdom". Adjectives always agree in gender and number with

428-489: A common synonym for Aramaic language in general, while other (conventional and narrower) designating only the Edessan Aramaic, also referred to more specifically as the " Classical Syriac ". Noting the problem, scholars have tried to resolve the issue by being more consistent in their use of the term " Classical Syriac " as a strict and clear scientific designation for the old literary and liturgical language, but

535-420: A diversionary attack with his Gallic and Thracian cavalry against the cataphracts. With the cataphracts' attention fixed elsewhere, Lucullus formed two cohorts into maniples and then ordered them to ford the river. His objective was to outflank Tigranes' cataphracts by circling counterclockwise around the hill and attacking them from the rear. Lucullus personally led the charge on foot and upon reaching

642-646: A fundamental cultural and literary influence on the development of Arabic , which largely replaced it during the later medieval period. Syriac remains the sacred language of Syriac Christianity to this day. It is used as liturgical language of several denominations, like those who follow the East Syriac Rite , including the Assyrian Church of the East , the Ancient Church of the East ,

749-533: A multitude of peoples, including Arabs , Greeks , and Jews , to populate it. The city soon became the king's headquarters in Syria and flourished as a great centre for Hellenistic culture, complete with theatres, parks and hunting grounds. This period of Armenian hegemony in the region, however, was coming close to an end with a series of Roman victories in the Roman–Mithridatic Wars . Friction between

856-412: A prolonged siege. The Roman siege engines that were employed at Tigranocerta were effectively repelled by the defenders by the use of naphtha , making Tigranocerta, according to one scholar, the site of "perhaps the world's first use of chemical warfare ." However, since Tigranes had forcibly removed many of its inhabitants from their native lands and brought them to Tigranocerta, their allegiance to

963-608: A series of native rulers nominally vassal to the Macedonian , Seleucid and later Armenian (under Tigranes the Great ) empires. It later became one of the client kingdoms of the Parthian empire. During the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, it gained a certain prominence under a series of kings descended from Monobaz I and his son Izates I . Monobaz I is known to have been allied with king Abennerig of Characene , in whose court his son Izates II bar Monobaz lived for

1070-521: A specific variant of the Aramaic language in relation to its regional origin in northeastern parts of Ancient Syria , around Edessa , which lay outside of the provincial borders of Roman Syria . Since Aramaic was used by various Middle Eastern peoples, having several variants ( dialects ), this specific dialect that originated in northeastern Syria became known under its regional (Syrian/Syriac) designation ( Suryaya ). In English scholarly literature ,

1177-624: A time and whose daughter Symacho Izates married, as well as the rulers of other small kingdoms on the periphery of the Parthian sphere of influence . The chief opponent of Trajan in Mesopotamia during the year 115 was the last king of independent Adiabene, Meharaspes . He had made common cause with Ma'nu (Mannus) of Singar (Singara). Trajan invaded Adiabene, and made it part of the Roman province of Assyria ; under Hadrian in 117. In

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1284-566: A total of 225,000 soldiers and 35,000 non-combatants. Eutropius went further, claiming 600,000 Armenian cataphracts and 100,000 infantry. Memnon of Heraclea gave a more modest 80,000 infantry and cavalry. Phlegon of Tralles says Tigranes had 70,000 men, including 30,000 cavalry and 40,000 infantry. Many scholars, however, doubt these figures accurately reflect the true number of Tigranes' army and believe they are highly inflated. Some historians, most notably Plutarch, wrote that Tigranes considered Lucullus' army far too small, and upon seeing it,

1391-405: A variant designation for the ancient Eblaite language from the third millennium BC, that is unrelated to the much later Edessan Aramaic, and its early phases, that were commonly labeled as Old/Proto- or even Paleo/Palaeo-Syrian/Syriac in scholarly literature. Newest addition to the terminological mosaic occurred c. 2014, when it was proposed, also by a scholar, that one of regional dialects of

1498-650: Is also taught in some public schools in Iraq , Syria , Palestine , Israel , Sweden , Augsburg (Germany) and Kerala (India). In 2014, an Assyrian nursery school could finally be opened in Yeşilköy , Istanbul after waging a lawsuit against the Ministry of National Education which had denied it permission, but was required to respect non-Muslim minority rights as specified in the Treaty of Lausanne . In August 2016,

1605-570: Is highly improbable that he would have undertaken the invasion of Armenia with such a small army. Plutarch gave 16,000 heavy infantry and 1,000 cavalry, slingers and archers for the Romans at Tigranocerta. Of these, 6,000 heavy infantry did not participate in the battle. Eutropius put the Roman army at 18,000 men. Historian Adrian Sherwin-White places the size of Lucullus' force at 12,000 veteran legionaries (three understrength legions), and 4,000 provincial cavalry and light infantry. The Roman army

1712-428: Is quoted as saying "If they come as ambassadors, they are too many; if they are soldiers, too few," although some consider this line apocryphal. In 1985, Ruben Manaserian estimated Tigranes' army at 80,000–100,000 men. Tigranes also possessed several thousand cataphracts , formidable heavily armoured cavalry that were clad in mail armour and armed with lances , spears or bows . The two armies converged toward

1819-449: Is said to have responded, "Verily, I will make this day, too, a lucky one for the Romans." Cowan and Hook suggest that Lucullus would have deployed the Romans in a simplex acies , that is to say a single line, so making the frontage of the army as wide as possible as a counter to the cavalry. He took several of his troops downriver, where the river was the easiest to ford, and at one point, Tigranes believed that this move meant Lucullus

1926-421: Is the head-noun which is marked by the construct state. Thus, ܫܩ̈ܠܝ ܡܠܟܘܬܐ , šeqlay malkuṯā , means "the taxes of the kingdom". Quickly, the construct relationship was abandoned and replaced by the use of the relative particle ܕ , d-, da- . Thus, the same noun phrase becomes ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܕܡܠܟܘܬܐ , šeqlē d-malkuṯā , where both nouns are in the emphatic state. Very closely related nouns can be drawn into

2033-501: Is written in the Syriac alphabet , a derivation of the Aramaic alphabet . The language is preserved in a large body of Syriac literature , that comprises roughly 90% of the extant Aramaic literature. Along with Greek and Latin , Syriac became one of the three most important languages of Early Christianity . Already from the first and second centuries AD, the inhabitants of the region of Osroene began to embrace Christianity , and by

2140-751: The Black Sea after the Battle of Cunaxa . According to Jewish tradition, Helena, the Queen of Adiabene converted to Judaism from paganism in the 1st century. Queen Helena of Adiabene (known in Jewish sources as Heleni HaMalka ) moved to Jerusalem where she built palaces for herself and her sons, Izates bar Monobaz and Monobaz II at the northern part of the city of David, south of the Temple Mount, and aided Jews in their war with Rome. Queen Helena's sarcophagus

2247-1122: The Chaldean Catholic Church , the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church , and the Assyrian Pentecostal Church , and also those who follow the West Syriac Rite , including: Syriac Orthodox Church , the Syriac Catholic Church , the Maronite Catholic Church , the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church , the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church . Classical Syriac was originally

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2354-654: The Church of the East in central and northeastern Mesopotamia. Religious divisions were also reflected in linguistic differences between the Western Syriac Rite and the Eastern Syriac Rite . During the 5th and the 6th century, Syriac reached its height as the lingua franca of Mesopotamia and surrounding regions. It existed in literary (liturgical) form, as well as in vernacular forms, as the native language of Syriac-speaking populations. Following

2461-517: The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church , the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church and some Parishes in the Syro-Malabar Knanaya Archeparchy of Kottayam . Eastern Syriac is the liturgical language of the East Syriac Rite , practised in modern times by the ethnic Assyrian followers of the Assyrian Church of the East , the Assyrian Pentecostal Church , the Ancient Church of the East , the Chaldean Catholic Church , as well as

2568-476: The Mesopotamian language ( Nahrāyā ) and Aramaic ( Aramāyā ), is an Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is the academic term used to refer to the dialect's literary usage and standardization, distinguishing it from other Aramaic dialects also known as 'Syriac' or 'Syrian'. In its West-Syriac tradition, Classical Syriac is often known as leššōnō kṯoḇonōyō ( lit.   '

2675-915: The Middle East , Central Asia and the Malabar Coast in India , and remains so among the Syriac Christians to this day. It has been found as far afield as Hadrian's Wall in Great Britain , with inscriptions written by Aramaic-speaking soldiers of the Roman Empire . History of Syriac language is divided into several successive periods, defined primarily by linguistic, and also by cultural criteria. Some terminological and chronological distinctions exist between different classifications, that were proposed among scholars. During

2782-658: The Near East (2003), those issues have acquired additional complexity, related to legal recognition of the language and its name. In the Constitution of Iraq (Article 4), adopted in 2005, and also in subsequent legislation, term " Syriac " ( Arabic : السريانية / al-suriania ) is used as official designation for the language of Neo-Aramaic -speaking communities, thus opening additional questions related to linguistic and cultural identity of those communities. Legal and other practical (educational and informational) aspects of

2889-432: The Near East . Adiabene was conquered by the Parthian king Mithridates I ( r.  171–132 BC E) in c. 145–141 BCE, and by at least from the reign of Mithridates II ( r.  124–91 BC E) served as an integral part of the Parthian realm. Adiabenian rulers converted to Judaism from paganism in the 1st century CE. Queen Helena of Adiabene (known in Jewish sources as Heleni HaMalka , meaning Helene

2996-464: The Neo-Aramaic languages. Such differences in classification, both terminological and substantial, within systems and between systems (ISO and MARC), led to the creation of several additional problems, that remain unresolved. Within linguistics, mosaic of terminological ambiguities related to Syrian/Syriac labels was additionally enriched by introduction of the term " Palaeo-Syrian language " as

3103-467: The Old Aramaic language from the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC should be called " Central Syrian Aramaic ", thus introducing another ambiguous term, that can be used, in its generic meaning, to any local variant of Aramaic that occurred in central regions of Syria during any period in history. After more than five centuries of Syriac studies , which were founded by western scholars at

3210-523: The Sasanian Empire in 224, who by the time of Shapur I ( r.  240–270 ) had established their rule in Adiabene. Ardashir II is the last figure to be recorded as king of Adiabene, which implies that the kingdom was after his tenure in c.  379 transformed into a province ( shahr ), governed by a non-royal delegate ( marzban or shahrab ) of the Sasanian king. The name of

3317-458: The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church in India. Syriac literature is by far the most prodigious of the various Aramaic languages. Its corpus covers poetry, prose, theology, liturgy, hymnody, history, philosophy, science, medicine and natural history. Much of this wealth remains unavailable in critical editions or modern translation. From the 7th century onwards, Syriac gradually gave way to Arabic as

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3424-629: The Targum Jonathan on Jeremiah li. 27, Ararat , Minni , and Ashkenaz are paraphrased by Kordu , Harmini , and Hadayab , i.e., Corduene , Armenia , and Adiabene; while in Ezekiel xxvii. 23 Harran , Caneh, and Eden are interpreted by the Jewish Babylonian Aramaic translator as "Harwan, Nisibis, and Adiabene." Adiabene had a mixed population of Assyrians , Arabs , Arameans , Greeks , and Iranians . Adiabene

3531-576: The West Syriac Rite under the Byzantine rule. As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity , Classical Syriac spread throughout Asia as far as the South Indian Malabar Coast , and Eastern China , and became the medium of communication and cultural dissemination for the later Arabs , and (to a lesser extent) the other peoples of Parthian and Sasanian empires. Primarily a Christian medium of expression, Syriac had

3638-461: The infinitive and the active and passive participles . Syriac has only two true morphological tenses: perfect and imperfect. Whereas these tenses were originally aspectual in Aramaic, they have become a truly temporal past and future tenses respectively. The present tense is usually marked with the participle followed by the subject pronoun . Such pronouns are usually omitted in

3745-617: The linguistic homeland of the language in the region of Osroene, was never part of contemporary (Roman) Syria . In the 3rd century, churches in Edessa began to use local Aramaic dialect as the language of worship. Early literary efforts were focused on creation of an authoritative Aramaic translation of the Bible, the Peshitta ( ܦܫܝܛܬܐ Pšīṭtā ). At the same time, Ephrem the Syrian

3852-468: The 1,600 cavalry led by Sextilius, one of the legates serving under Lucullus. Learning of Mithrobarzanes' defeat, Tigranes entrusted the defence of his namesake city to Mancaeus and left to recruit a fighting force in the Taurus Mountains . Lucullus' legates were able to disrupt two separate detachments coming to the aid of Tigranes, and even located and engaged the king's forces in a canyon in

3959-520: The 5th and the 14th centuries Adiabene was a metropolitan province of the Assyrian Church of the East . The Chronicle of Erbil , a purported history of Christianity in Adiabene under the Parthians and Sasanians, lists a number of early bishops of Erbil. The authenticity of the Chronicle of Erbil has been questioned, and scholars remain divided on how much credence to place in its evidence. Some of

4066-595: The 5th century. In the same time, a growing body of later sources showed that both in Greek, and in native literature, those labels were most commonly used as designations for Aramaic language in general, including its various dialects (both eastern and western), thus challenging the conventional scholarly reduction of the term "Syriac language" to a specific designation for Edessan Aramaic. Such use, that excludes non-Edessan dialects, and particularly those of Western Aramaic provenience, persist as an accepted convention, but in

4173-508: The Arab conquest in the 7th century, vernacular forms of Syriac were gradually replaced during the next centuries by the advancing Arabic language . Having an Aramaic (Syriac) substratum , the regional Arabic dialect ( Mesopotamian Arabic ) developed under the strong influence of local Aramaic (Syriac) dialects, sharing significant similarities in language structure, as well as having evident and stark influences from previous (ancient) languages of

4280-517: The Armenian province of Tsop'k' , where Tigranocerta was located. Tigranes, who was residing at Tigranocerta in the summer of 69, was not only astonished by the speed of Lucullus' rapid advance into Armenia but by the fact that he had even launched such an operation in the first place. Unable to reconcile with this reality for a certain period of time, he belatedly sent a general named Mithrobarzanes with 2,000–3,000 cavalrymen to slow down Lucullus' advance, but his forces were cut to pieces and routed by

4387-494: The Batman-Su river slightly to the south-west of Tigranocerta. Tigranes' army was positioned on the east bank of the river while Lucullus, who had left a rear guard of 6,000 heavy infantry under Murena to continue the siege of the city, met the Armenian army on the river's west bank. The Armenian army was formed of three sections. Two of Tigranes' vassal kings led the left and right flanks, while Tigranes led his cataphracts in

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4494-546: The Kingdom of Armenia. Having laid siege to Tigranocerta, the Roman forces fell back behind a nearby river when the large Armenian army approached. Feigning retreat, the Romans crossed at a ford and fell on the right flank of the Armenian army. After the Romans defeated the Armenian cataphracts , the balance of Tigranes' army, which was mostly made up of raw levies and peasant troops from his extensive empire, panicked and fled, and

4601-924: The Ourhi Centre was founded by the Assyrian community in the city of Qamishli, to educate teachers in order to make Syriac an additional language to be taught in public schools in the Jazira Region of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria , which then started with the 2016/17 academic year. In April 2023, a team of AI researchers completed the first AI translation model and website for classical Syriac. Many Syriac words, like those in other Semitic languages , belong to triconsonantal roots , collations of three Syriac consonants. New words are built from these three consonants with variable vowel and consonant sets. For example,

4708-502: The Phoenicians all speak Syriac, but with many differences in pronunciation ". Theodoret's regional (provincial) differentiation of Aramaic dialects included an explicit distinction between the "Syrians" (as Aramaic speakers of Syria proper, western of Euphrates ), and the "Osroenians" as Aramaic speakers of Osroene (eastern region, centered in Edessa ), thus showing that dialect of the "Syrians" (Aramaic speakers of proper Syria)

4815-666: The Queen ) moved to Jerusalem , where she built palaces for herself and her sons, Izates bar Monobaz and Monobaz II at the northern part of the city of David , south of the Temple Mount , and aided the Jews in their war with Rome . According to the Talmud , both Helena and Monobaz donated large funds for the Temple of Jerusalem . After 115 CE, there are no historic traces of Jewish royalty in Adiabene. The Parthians were overthrown by

4922-577: The Republic. Lucullus was astonished upon hearing this in the year 70, and he began to prepare for an immediate invasion of Armenia. Although he had no mandate from the Senate to authorize such a move, he attempted to justify his invasion by distinguishing as his enemy king Tigranes and not his subjects. In the summer of 69, he marched his troops across Cappodocia and the Euphrates river and entered

5029-598: The Romans remained in charge of the field. Tigranes' expansion into the Near East led to the creation of an Armenian empire that stretched almost across the entire region. With his father-in-law and ally securing the empire's western flank, Tigranes was able to conquer territories in Parthia and Mesopotamia and annex the lands of the Levant . In Syria , he began the construction of the city of Tigranocerta (also written Tigranakert), which he named after himself, and imported

5136-525: The Sasanians in 224 CE, the feudatory dynasties remained loyal to the Parthians, and resisted Sasanian advance into Adiabene and Atropatene . Due to this, and religious differences, Adiabene was never regarded as an integral part of Iran, even though the Sasanians controlled it for several centuries. After the Roman Empire gradually made Christianity its official religion during the fourth century,

5243-627: The Syriac-speaking world. As a result, Syriac developed distinctive western and eastern varieties. Although remaining a single language with a high level of comprehension between the varieties, the two employ distinctive variations in pronunciation and writing system, and, to a lesser degree, in vocabulary. The Syriac language later split into a western variety, used mainly by the Syriac Orthodox Church in upper Mesopotamia and Syria proper, and an eastern variety used mainly by

5350-472: The Taurus. Lucullus chose not to pursue Tigranes while he had an unimpeded path towards Tigranocerta; he advanced and began to lay siege to it. Tigranocerta was still an unfinished city when Lucullus laid siege to it in the late summer of 69. The city was heavily fortified and according to the Greek historian Appian , had thick and towering walls that stood 25 meters high, providing a formidable defence against

5457-525: The area between the lakes Urmia and Van . Adiabene was a district in Mesopotamia between upper and lower Zab and was a part of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and inhabited by Assyrians even after the fall of Nineveh. It was an integral part of Asoristan ( Achaemenid and Sasanian Assyria). The region was later made a part of the Roman province of Assyria after the invasion by Trajan in 116. According to Patricia Crone and Michael Cook , when

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5564-656: The army of the Kingdom of Armenia led by King Tigranes the Great . The Roman force, led by Consul Lucius Licinius Lucullus , defeated Tigranes, and as a result, captured Tigranes' capital city of Tigranocerta . The battle arose from the Third Mithridatic War being fought between the Roman Republic and Mithridates VI of Pontus , whose daughter Cleopatra was married to Tigranes. Mithridates fled to seek shelter with his son-in-law, and Rome invaded

5671-475: The bishops in the following list are attested in other sources, but the early bishops are probably legendary. Battle of Tigranocerta 11,000–40,000 men 70,000–100,000 men Unknown, estimates given from 10,000 to 100,000 The Battle of Tigranocerta ( Armenian : Տիգրանակերտի ճակատամարտ , Tigranakerti tchakatamart ) was fought on 6 October 69 BC between the forces of the Roman Republic and

5778-447: The case of the third person. This use of the participle to mark the present tense is the most common of a number of compound tenses that can be used to express varying senses of tense and aspect. Syriac also employs derived verb stems such as are present in other Semitic languages. These are regular modifications of the verb's root to express other changes in meaning. The first stem is the ground state, or Pəʿal (this name models

5885-488: The centre. The rest of his army stood in front of a hill, a position Lucullus soon exploited. Roman troops at first attempted to dissuade Lucullus from engaging in battle, since October 6 marked the day of the disastrous battle of Arausio , where the general Quintus Servilius Caepio and his Roman army were defeated by the Germanic Cimbri and Teuton tribes. Ignoring his troops' superstitious beliefs, Lucullus

5992-504: The city of Edessa ( Urhay ). Among similar endonymic names with regional connotations, term Nahraya was also used. It was derived from choronym (regional name) Bet-Nahrain , an Aramaic name for Mesopotamia in general. Original endonymic (native) designations, for Aramaic in general ( Aramaya ), and Edessan Aramaic in particular ( Urhaya ), were later (starting from the 5th century) accompanied by another term, exonymic (foreign) in origin: Suryaya (Syrian/Syriac), adopted under

6099-475: The city of Edessa . During the Early Christian period, it became the main literary language of various Aramaic-speaking Christian communities in the historical region of Ancient Syria and throughout the Near East . As a liturgical language of Syriac Christianity , it gained a prominent role among Eastern Christian communities that used both Eastern Syriac and Western Syriac rites. Following

6206-440: The consistency of such use was never achieved within the field. Inconsistent use of "Syrian/Syriac" labels in scholarly literature has led some researchers to raise additional questions, related not only to terminological issues but also to some more fundamental (methodological) problems, that were undermining the integrity of the field. Attempts to resolve those issues were unsuccessful, and in many scholarly works, related to

6313-462: The creation of a specific field of Syriac studies , within Aramaic studies . Preference of early scholars towards the use of the Syrian/Syriac label was also relied upon its notable use as an alternative designation for Aramaic language in the " Cave of Treasures ", long held to be the 4th century work of an authoritative writer and revered Christian saint Ephrem of Edessa (d. 373), who

6420-587: The creation of newspapers in written Syriac ( ܟܬܒܢܝܐ Kṯāḇānāyā ) similar to the use of Modern Standard Arabic has been employed since the early decades of the 20th century. Modern forms of literary Syriac have also been used not only in religious literature but also in secular genres, often with Assyrian nationalistic themes. Syriac is spoken as the liturgical language of the Syriac Orthodox Church , as well as by some of its adherents . Syriac has been recognised as an official minority language in Iraq. It

6527-405: The development of Classical Syriac, the emphatic state became the ordinary form of the noun, and the absolute and construct states were relegated to certain stock phrases (for example, ܒܪ ܐܢܫܐ/ܒܪܢܫܐ , bar nāšā , "man, person", literally "son of man"). In Old and early Classical Syriac, most genitive noun relationships are built using the construct state, but contrary to the genitive case, it

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6634-439: The end of the 15th century, main terminological issues related to the name and classification of the language known as Edessan Aramaic, and also referred to by several other names combined of Syrian/Syriac labels, remain opened and unsolved. Some of those issues have special sociolinguistic and ethnolinguistic significance for the remaining Neo-Aramaic speaking communities. Since the occurrence of major political changes in

6741-608: The entire cavalry force wiped out save for a handful. Plutarch says that on the Roman side, "only a hundred were wounded, and only five killed," although such low figures are highly unrealistic. Cowan and Hook, while considering these losses ridiculous, think it is clear that the battle was won with disproportionate losses. Syriac language The Syriac language ( / ˈ s ɪr i æ k / SIH -ree-ak ; Classical Syriac : ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ , romanized:  Leššānā Suryāyā ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan ( Urhāyā ),

6848-458: The first three centuries of the Common Era , a local Aramaic dialect spoken in the Kingdom of Osroene , centered in Edessa , eastern of Euphrates , started to gain prominence and regional significance. There are about eighty extant early inscriptions, written in Old-Edessan Aramaic, dated to the first three centuries AD, with the earliest inscription being dated to the 6th year AD, and the earliest parchment to 243 AD. All of these early examples of

6955-457: The following words belong to the root ܫܩܠ ( ŠQL ), to which a basic meaning of taking can be assigned: Most Syriac nouns are built from triliteral roots. Nouns carry grammatical gender (masculine or feminine), they can be either singular or plural in number (a very few can be dual) and can exist in one of three grammatical states. These states should not be confused with grammatical cases in other languages. However, very quickly in

7062-401: The gates to the Romans, Lucullus' army began the wholesale looting and plunder of the city. The city was burned. The king's treasury, estimated to be worth 8,000 talents , was looted and each soldier in the army was awarded 800 drachma . The battle also resulted in severe territorial losses: most of the lands in Tigranes' empire to the south of the Taurus fell under the sway of Rome. Despite

7169-434: The heartland of Assyria was back into focus in early Christianity (during the Parthian era and about six centuries after the fall of the Assyrian Empire), "it was with an Assyrian, not a Persian let alone Greek, self-identification: the temple of Ashur was restored, the city was rebuilt, and an Assyrian successor state that returned in the shape of the client kingdom of Adiabene." The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus states that

7276-433: The heavy losses Tigranes suffered, the battle did not end the war. In retreating northwards, Tigranes and Mithridates were able to elude Lucullus' forces, though losing again against the Romans during the Battle of Artashat . In 68, Lucullus' forces began to mutiny, longing to return home, and he withdrew them from Armenia the following year. The battle is highlighted by many historians specifically because Lucullus overcame

7383-566: The influence of a long-standing Greek custom of referring to speakers of Aramaic as Syrians . Among ancient Greeks, term "Syrian language" was used as a common designation for Aramaic language in general, and such usage was also reflected in Aramaic, by subsequent (acquired) use of the term "Suryaya" as the most preferred synonym for "Aramaya" (Aramaic). Practice of interchangeable naming (Aramaya, Urhaya, Nahraya, and Suryaya) persisted for centuries, in common use and also in works of various prominent writers. One of those who used various terms

7490-457: The inhabitants of Adiabene were Assyrians. Under the Achaemenid Persian kings, Adiabene seems for a time to have been a vassal state of the Persian Empire . At times the throne of Adiabene was held by a member of the Achaemenid house; Artaxerxes III (king from 358 to 338 BC), before he came to the throne of Persia, had the title "King of Hadyab". The Ten Thousand , an army of Greek mercenaries , retreated through Adiabene on their march to

7597-476: The inhabitants of Adiabene, who were primarily Assyrian Christians , sided with Christian Rome rather than the Zoroastrian Sasanians. The Byzantine Empire sent armies to the region during the Byzantine–Sasanian wars , but this did nothing to change the territorial boundaries. Adiabene remained a province of the Sasanians Empire until the Muslim conquest of Persia . The region was recorded as Nod-Ardadkhshiragan or Nod-Ardashiragan in Sasanian period. Between

7704-745: The king was cast into doubt. They soon proved their unreliability: when Tigranes and his army appeared on a hill overlooking the city, the inhabitants "greeted his [Lucullus] appearance with shouts and din, and standing on the walls, threateningly pointed out the Armenians to the Romans." Appian claims that Lucullus had embarked from Rome with only a single legion ; upon entering Anatolia to make war against Mithridates, he added four more legions to his army. The overall size of this force consisted of 30,000 infantry and 1,600 cavalry. Following Mithridates' retreat to Armenia, Appian estimates Lucullus' invading force to be only two legions and 500 horsemen, although it

7811-420: The language and its Syrian/Syriac regional origin. Early native speakers and writers used several endonymic terms as designations for their language. In addition to common endonym (native name) for the Aramaic language in general ( Aramaya ), another endonymic term was also used, designating more specifically the local Edessan dialect, known as Urhaya , a term derived directly from the native Aramaic name for

7918-427: The language are non-Christian. As a language of public life and administration in the region of Osroene, Edessan Aramaic was gradually given a relatively coherent form, style and grammar that is lacking in other Aramaic dialects of the same period. Since Old-Edessan Aramaic later developed into Classical Syriac, it was retroactively labeled by western scholars as "Old Syrian/Syriac" or "Proto-Syrian/Syriac", although

8025-608: The late 1st century CE, its borders extended as far as Nisibis . In the Talmudic writings the name occurs as חדייב ,חדייף and הדייב . Its chief city was Arbela ( Arba-ilu ), where Mar Uqba had a school, or the neighboring Hazzah, by which name the later Arabs also called Arbela. In Kiddushin 72a the Biblical Habor is identified with Adiabene, but in Jerusalem Talmud , Megillah i. 71b with Riphath . In

8132-486: The linguistic self-identification also arose throughout Syriac-speaking diaspora , particularly in European countries (Germany, Sweden, Netherlands). Syriac was the local dialect of Aramaic in Edessa , and evolved under the influence of the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church into its current form. Before Arabic became the dominant language, Syriac was a major language among Christian communities in

8239-686: The liturgical language of the Syriac Melkites within the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch in Antioch and parts of ancient Syria . The Syriac Melkites changed their church's West Syriac Rite to that of Constantinople in the 9th-11th centuries, necessitating new translations of all their Syriac liturgical books. In the English language , the term "Syriac" is used as a linguonym (language name) designating

8346-420: The most vigorous opponents of Trajan. In late second century Christianity rapidly spread among Zoroastrians and those formerly professing Judaism. When Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire under Constantine, the position of Adiabenian Christians was naturally exacerbated, since they were seen as potentially disaffected by the zealously Zoroastrian Sasanians. The little kingdom may have had

8453-527: The name " Syriac ", while the existing general code syr, that was until then named " Syriac ", was renamed to " Syriac, Modern ". Within ISO 639 system, large body of unspecific references related to various linguistic uses of the term " Syriac " remained related to the original ISO 639-2 code syr ( Syriac ), but its scope is defined within the ISO 639-3 standard as a macrolanguage that currently includes only some of

8560-481: The nouns they modify. Adjectives are in the absolute state if they are predicative , but agree with the state of their noun if attributive . Thus, ܒܝܫܝ̈ܢ ܫܩ̈ܠܐ , bišin šeqlē , means "the taxes are evil", whereas ܫܩ̈ܠܐ ܒܝ̈ܫܐ , šeqlē ḇišē , means "evil taxes". Most Syriac verbs are built on triliteral roots as well. Finite verbs carry person , gender (except in the first person) and number, as well as tense and conjugation . The non-finite verb forms are

8667-471: The numerical odds facing his army. The Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli remarked upon the battle in his book, The Art of War , where he criticised Tigranes' heavy reliance on his cavalry over his infantry. The casualties reported for Tigranes' army are immense, with estimates given from 10,000 to as many as 100,000 men. Phlegon counted 5,000 dead and 5,000 captured. Orosius gave 30,000 losses, while Plutarch upped them to 100,000 infantry slain and

8774-411: The old literary and liturgical language, reduction of the term " Classical Syriac " to " Syriac " (only) remained a manner of convenience, even in titles of works, including encyclopedic entries, thus creating a large body of unspecific references, that became a base for the emergence of several new classes of terminological problems at the advent of the informational era . Those problems culminated during

8881-494: The process of international standardization of the terms " Syriac " and " Classical Syriac " within the ISO 639 and MARC systems. The term " Classical Syriac " was accepted in 2007 and codified (ISO code: syc ) as a designation for the old literary and liturgical language, thus confirming the proper use of the term. In the same time, within the MARC standard, code syc was accepted as designation for Classical Syriac , but under

8988-414: The ranks of their own men as the lines began to collapse. The infantry, which was also made up of many non-Armenians, began to break ranks and confusion spread to the rest of the body of Tigranes' army. While the great king himself took to flight with his baggage train northwards, the entire line of his army gave way. With no army left to defend Tigranocerta, and a foreign populace that gleefully opened

9095-504: The region. Syriac-influenced Arabic dialects developed among Iraqi Muslims , as well as Iraqi Christians , most of whom descend from native Syriac speakers. Western Syriac is the official language of the West Syriac Rite , practiced by the Syriac Orthodox Church , the Syriac Catholic Church , the Maronite Catholic Church , the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church , the Malabar Independent Syrian Church ,

9202-402: The same preference was adopted by later scholars, with one important distinction: in western scholarly use, Syrian/Syriac label was subsequently reduced from the original Greek designation for Aramaic language in general to a more specific (narrower) designation for Edessan Aramaic language, that in its literary and liturgical form came to be known as Classical Syriac . That reduction resulted in

9309-440: The same time stands in contradiction both with original Greek, and later native (acquired) uses of Syrian/Syriac labels as common designations for Aramaic language in general. Those problems were addressed by prominent scholars, including Theodor Nöldeke (d. 1930) who noted on several occasions that term " Syriac language " has come to have two distinctive meanings, wider and narrower, with first (historical and wider) serving as

9416-550: The seat of the metropolitan at Arbela. Based on names of the Adiabenian rulers, Ernst Herzfeld suggested a Sakan or Scythian origin for the royal house of the kingdom; however, later progress in Iranian linguistic studies showed that these names were common west middle Iranian names. It has been suggested that the royal house of Adiabene, after fleeing Trajan's invasion, established the later Amatuni dynasty which ruled

9523-482: The shape of the root) form of the verb, which carries the usual meaning of the word. The next is the intensive stem, or Paʿʿel , form of the verb, which usually carries an intensified meaning . The third is the extensive stem, or ʾAp̄ʿel , form of the verb, which is often causative in meaning. Each of these stems has its parallel passive conjugation: the ʾEṯpəʿel , ʾEṯpaʿʿal and ʾEttap̄ʿal respectively. To these six cardinal stems are added

9630-460: The spoken language of much of the region, excepting northern Iraq and Mount Lebanon. The Mongol invasions and conquests of the 13th century, and the religiously motivated massacres of Syriac Christians by Timur further contributed to the rapid decline of the language. In many places outside of Upper Mesopotamia and Mount Lebanon , even in liturgy, it was replaced by Arabic. Revivals of literary Syriac in recent times have led to some success with

9737-537: The spread of Syriac Christianity, it also became a liturgical language of eastern Christian communities as far as India and China . It flourished from the 4th to the 8th century, and continued to have an important role during the next centuries, but by the end of the Middle Ages it was gradually reduced to liturgical use, since the role of vernacular language among its native speakers was overtaken by several emerging Neo-Aramaic languages . Classical Syriac

9844-985: The state entered English from the Ancient Greek Ἀδιαβηνή , which was derived from ܚܕܝܐܒ , Ḥaḏy’aḇ or Ḥḏay’aḇ , in Syriac. The state was also known as Nōdšīragān or Nōd-Ardaxšīragān in Middle Persian , Նոր Շիրական, Nor Shirakan , in Armenian , and חַדְיָב , Ḥaḏyāḇ , in Hebrew. Adiabene occupied a district in Median Empire between the Upper Zab (Lycus) and the Lower Zab (Caprus), though Ammianus Marcellinus speaks of Nineveh , Ecbatana , and Gaugamela as also belonging to it. By

9951-454: The summer of 195 Septimius Severus was again warring in Mesopotamia, and in 196 three divisions of the Roman army fell upon Adiabene. According to Dio Cassius , Caracalla took Arbela in the year 216, and searched all the graves there, wishing to ascertain whether the Arsacid kings were buried there. Many of the ancient royal tombs were destroyed. Despite the overthrow of the Parthians by

10058-456: The term "Syriac" is preferred over the alternative form "Syrian", since the latter is much more polysemic and commonly relates to Syria in general. That distinction is used in English as a convention and does not exist on the ancient endonymic level. Several compound terms like "Syriac Aramaic", "Syrian Aramaic" or "Syro-Aramaic" are also used, thus emphasizing both the Aramaic nature of

10165-526: The third and fourth centuries, local Edessan Aramaic language became the vehicle of the specific Christian culture that came to be known as the Syriac Christianity . Because of theological differences, Syriac-speaking Christians diverged during the 5th century into the Church of the East that followed the East Syriac Rite under the Persian rule, and the Syriac Orthodox Church that followed

10272-513: The top of the hill, he yelled to his soldiers in an effort to buoy their morale: "The day is ours, the day is ours, my fellow soldiers!" With this, he gave special instructions to the cohorts to attack the horses' legs and thighs, since these were the only areas of the cataphracts which were not armoured. Lucullus charged downhill with his cohorts and his orders soon proved decisive: the lumbering cataphracts were caught by surprise and, in their attempts to break free from their attackers, careered into

10379-548: The two had existed for several decades, although it was during the Third Mithridatic War that the Roman armies under Lucullus made significant progress against Mithridates, forcing him to take refuge with Tigranes. Lucullus sent an ambassador named Appius Claudius to Antioch to demand that Tigranes surrender his father-in-law; should he refuse, Armenia would face war with Rome. Tigranes refused Appius Claudius' demands, stating that he would prepare for war against

10486-634: The wider historical region of Syria should not be overlooked by improper and unspecific use of Syrian/Syriac labels. Diversity of Aramaic dialects was recorded by Theodoret of Cyrus (d. c. 466), who accepted Syrian/Syriac labels as common Greek designations for the Aramaic language in general, stating that " the Osroënians, the Syrians, the people of the Euphrates, the Palestinians, and

10593-419: The written language or the book language ' ) or simply kṯoḇonōyō , or kṯowonōyō , while in its East-Syriac tradition, it is known as leššānā ʔatīqā ( lit.   ' the old language ' ) or saprāyā ( lit.   ' scribal or literary ' ). It emerged during the first century AD from a local Eastern Aramaic dialect that was spoken in the ancient region of Osroene , centered in

10700-493: Was a major-speaking Syriac language kingdom. According to Pliny , four tribes inhabited the region of Adiabene: Orontes , Alani , Azones and Silices . The account of Josephus ' Antiquities of the Jews shows that there was a substantial Jewish population in the kingdom. The difficult mixing of cultures can be seen in the story of the martyrdom of Mahanuš, a prominent Iranian Zoroastrian who converted to Christianity. In later times Adiabene became an archbishopric , with

10807-461: Was discovered in 1863. A pair of inscriptions on the sarcophagus, "tzaddan malka" and "tzadda malkata," is believed to be a reference to the provisions (tzeda in Hebrew) that Helena supplied to Jerusalem's poor and to the Jewish kingdom in general. According to Josephus, the queen converted to Judaism together with her son Monobaz II, under the influence of two Jews. Another tradition has it that she met

10914-519: Was further bolstered by several thousand allied Galatian , Thracian , and Bithynian infantry and cavalry, giving it a possible strength of 40,000. Tigranes' army clearly held a numerical superiority over that of Lucullus'. According to Appian, it numbered 250,000 infantry and 50,000 cavalry. According to Plutarch , Lucullus stated in a letter to the senate to have fought 20,000 slingers and archers, 55,000 cavalry, including 17,000 armoured with mail, 150,000 heavy infantry and 35,000 non-combatants for

11021-653: Was known to be different from that of the "Osroenians" (speakers of Edessan Aramaic). Native ( endonymic ) use of the term Aramaic language (Aramaya/Oromoyo) among its speakers has continued throughout the medieval period, as attested by the works of prominent writers, including the Oriental Orthodox Patriarch Michael of Antioch (d. 1199). Since the proper dating of the Cave of Treasures , modern scholars were left with no indications of native Aramaic adoption of Syrian/Syriac labels before

11128-548: Was producing the most treasured collection of poetry and theology in the Edessan Aramaic language, that later became known as Syriac. In 489, many Syriac-speaking Christians living in the eastern reaches of the Roman Empire fled to the Sasanian Empire to escape persecution and growing animosity with Greek-speaking Christians. The Christological differences with the Church of the East led to the bitter Nestorian Schism in

11235-471: Was theologian Jacob of Edessa (d. 708), who was referring to the language as " Syrian or Aramaic " (Suryāyā awkēt Ārāmāyā), and also as Urhāyā , when referring to Edessan Aramaic, or Naḥrāyā when pointing to the region of Bet-Nahrain (Aramaic term for Mesopotamia in general). Plurality of terms among native speakers (ārāmāyā, urhāyā, naḥrāyā, and suryāyā) was not reflected in Greek and Latin terminology, that preferred Syrian/Syriac designation, and

11342-435: Was thus believed to be proponent of various linguistic notions and tendencies expressed in the mentioned work. Since modern scholarly analyses have shown that the work in question was written much later ( c. 600) by an unknown author, several questions had to be reexamined. In regard to the scope and usage of Syrian/Syriac labels in linguistic terminology, some modern scholars have noted that diversity of Aramaic dialects in

11449-421: Was withdrawing from the battlefield. Lucullus had initially decided to make a running charge with his infantry, a Roman military tactic that minimized the amount of time an enemy could utilize its archers and sling infantry prior to close combat engagement. However, he decided against this at the last moment when he realized that the Armenian cataphracts posed the greatest threat to his men, ordering instead

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