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Edessa
EntityQ1190403· pop 43· linked from 1,954 articles

Also known as Antiochia on the Callirhoe, Callirrhoe, Justinopolis

thumb|400px|Upper Mesopotamia and surrounding regions during the [[Early Christian period, with Edessa in the upper left quadrant]] Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (polis) in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital. The Greek name (Édessa) means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of Osroene. In Lat

Wikidata facts

Instance of
polis
Named after
Edessa
Official name
Ուռհա
Country
Turkey
Located in
Osroene
Population
55000
Capital of
Osroene
Image
Urfa Castle 01.jpg
Show 8 more facts
topic's main category
Category:Edessa
Commons category
Edessa, Mesopotamia
category of associated people
Category:People from Edessa
replaced by
Şanlıurfa
inception
0302-00-00
time period
Roman Empire
native label
Εδεσσα
located in/on physical feature
Southeastern Anatolia Region
Sources (2)

via Wikidata · CC0

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Encyclopedic overview

14 sections
Contents
  • Names
  • Geography
  • History
  • Antiquity
  • Late Antiquity
  • Early Christian centre
  • Islamic rule
  • Middle Ages
  • Subsequent history
  • Syriac literature
  • See also
  • References
  • Sources
  • External links

thumb|400px|Upper Mesopotamia and surrounding regions during the [[Early Christian period, with Edessa in the upper left quadrant]] Edessa (; ) was an ancient city (polis) in Upper Mesopotamia, in what is now Urfa or Şanlıurfa, Turkey. It was founded during the Hellenistic period by Macedonian general and self proclaimed king Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. He named it after an ancient Macedonian capital. The Greek name (Édessa) means "tower in the water". It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene, and continued as capital of the Roman province of Osroene. In Late Antiquity, it became a prominent center of Christian learning and seat of the Catechetical School of Edessa. During the Crusades, it was the capital of the County of Edessa.

The city was situated on the banks of the Daysan River (; ; ), a tributary of the Khabur, and was defended by Şanlıurfa Castle, the high central citadel.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Edessa” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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