Nisibis
Nisibis, known today as Nusaybin, is a historical town located in southeastern Turkey, at the foothills of the Tur Abdin mountain range, near the river Mygdonius. The area has been significant since the first millennium BC, originally serving as the capital of the Aramaic state of Hanigalbat. Over the centuries, Nisibis has changed hands among various empires, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, and later the Romans and Parthians. It gained a reputation as a fortified stronghold and a critical point of contention during conflicts between the Romans and the Sassanian Persians.
In the early 4th century, Nisibis became an important center for early Christianity, establishing itself as a seat of learning and culture with the appointment of its first Christian bishop. The city also played a notable role during military campaigns, enduring sieges and fluctuating alliances, particularly in relation to its strategic location for trade routes. Despite its historical significance and cultural contributions, including the migration of influential figures like St. Ephraim, Nisibis ultimately fell under Persian control following a treaty in 363 and never returned to Roman rule. Today, its rich history provides insight into the dynamics of ancient empires in the region.
Nisibis
(Nusaybin)
The chief town of Mygdonia (northeastern Mesopotamia, now southeastern Turkey), at the foot of a range (Tur Abdin) on the bank of the river Mygdonius (Çaǧaǧa Suyu), a tributary of the Chaboras (Khabur), which is itself a northern tributary of the Euphrates. Situated in a fertile plain at a point where important roads meet, Nisibis, at the beginning of the first millennium BC, was the capital of an Aramaic state (Hanigalbat) which after 900 fell successively into Assyrian and Babylonian hands. Seleucus I Nicator (d. 281) settled Macedonian colonists on the site, and under a later Seleucid, Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–163), the city coined briefly under the name of Antioch in Mygdonia.
In 129, like the rest of Mesopotamia, it was annexed to the Parthian empire, but was captured c 80 by Tigranes I of Armenia and then in 68 by the Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus. After Crassus' defeat by the Parthians at Carrhae (Haran) in 53, Nisibis was lost to the Romans, and was presented by the Parthian king Artabanus III (AD 12–c 38) to a client prince, Izates of Adiabene. Trajan's occupation of the place—together with the rest of northern Mesopotamia—proved short-lived (114–16), but Roman control was reasserted as a result of the campaigns of Marcus Aurelius' colleague Lucius Verus (162). As a reward for its support of Septimius Severus during his civil war with Pescennius Niger (193/4), Nisibis obtained colonial rank, with the title of Septimia, and became the capital of Rome's Mesopotamian province. During the subsequent wars between the Romans and Sassanian Persians, it proved to be a continuous bone of contention.
Its local coinage was apparently resumed under Elagabalus (218–22). A siege by the Sassanian (Persian) monarch Artaxerxes (Ardashir) I was relieved by Severus Alexander (234)—who bestowed on the city the title of metropolis—but in the reign of Maximinus I (235–38), according to Zonaras, it fell into the hands of the Persians, who were driven out, however, by Gordian III (238–44). It adopted the title Julia in honor of his successor Philip the Arab (244–49), whose full name was Marcus Julius Philippus. A further period of Persian occupation by Shapur (Sapor) I (241–72) was terminated in 262 after an eleven-year seige by Odenathus of Palmyra, Gallienus' (virtually independent) representative in the east. According to Diocletian's treaty with Narses in 298, all trade between Rome and Persia was to be directed through Nisibis, which became a powerfully fortified frontier strong point. Its first Christian bishop, Babu, was appointed c 300.
When war was resumed during the reign of Constantius II, Shapur II three times failed to capture the fortress (c 338, 346 and 350). But the unfavorable treaty of Jovian (363) handed Nisibis over to the Persians. Many of its inhabitants were now expelled or departed; among them was St. Ephraim, who had inaugurated a historic school of Syriac literature in the city, but now migrated to Edessa (Urfa). Nisibis never belonged to the Romans again.