Modern Urfa, Syriac Urhay, and ancient Adme, on the Balikh river, to the
northwest of [
Ḥarran
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Harran) in southeastern Turkey. In ancient times Edessa was a
caravan city on a trade route mentioned in Old Assyrian and Babylonian
itineraries as Adme, Admi, and Admum, located beside Ḥarran. [
Ephrem
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Ephrem) associates Edessa with biblical Erech (the ancient Sumerian
Uruk) ruled by the legendary Nimrod. Another source associates its name with
its mythical first ruler ʾRHY BR ḤWYʾ, whereas Jewish and Islamic traditions
conveniently turned the city into the dwelling place of Abraham. In 304 BC,
Seleucus I Nicator rebuilt the ancient settlement into a Hellenistic
polis
polis
,
naming it after the Macedonian city of Edessa, possibly because both
localities enjoyed plentiful water. The Syriac name Urhay (Arabic al-Rahhāʾ) may derive from
the name Antiochia Kallirhoe ‘Antioch by the Kallirhoe’ inscribed on coins
struck there by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–64 BC). The city became part of
the small province of Osrhoene created after the defeat of Antiochus Sidetes
in 130–129 BC at the hands of the Parthians. From this time the province
enjoyed independence, being ruled by local kings (most of whom were named
Abgar or Maʿnu) until AD 213 when it turned into a Roman colony (see [Abgarids](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Abgarids-of-Edessa)). Christianity spread out in Mesopotamia
probably through Edessa, and in any case, its [Aramaic](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Aramaic) dialect
attested in inscriptions, deeds of sales, and coins, became the language of
Syriac Christianity. Edessa is the scene of Addai’s missionary activities
according to the [Teaching of
Addai](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Addai-Teaching-of), and it had a church destroyed in 201 by the flooding of the
Daiṣan, the river that passed through the city. This is reported by the [Chronicle of Edessa](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Chronicle-of-Edessa), which drew on the royal archives of the
city. During the 3rd and 4th cent. Edessa witnessed a diversity of Christian
traditions including followers of [
Bardaiṣan
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Bardaisan), [
Marcion
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Marcion), and [
Mani
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Mani), all contending
with Roman ecclesiastical orthodoxy championed by Ephrem (d. 373). During
most of the 5th cent. Edessa was the scene of struggles between ‘Nestorians’
and Miaphysites, opposing Bp.
[
Rabbula
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Rabbula-of-Edessa) (d. 435), an
archenemy of Nestorianism, and [
Hiba
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Hiba) (d. 457) who,
while teaching at the [School of
Edessa](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Edessa-School-of), assisted in the translation of the works of [
Theodore
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Theodore-of-Mopsuestia) and other Antiochene theologians from Greek
into Syriac. After succeeding Rabbula as bp. of Edessa, Hiba eventually
anathematized both [
Nestorius
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Nestorius) and
[
Eutyches
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Eutyches), but the suppression of Nestorianism in the city
occurred during the time of
bp.
Bp.
Qiyore (d. 498), under whose instigation the
‘School of the Persians’ was shut in 489 by Zeno on account of its
‘Nestorian’ tendencies. During the 6th cent. Edessa suffered the
consequences of warfare between Byzantines and Sasanians some of which are
vividly recorded in the so-called Chronicle of [
Yeshuʿ the
Stylite
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yeshu-the-Stylite). In about 542 the city had a bishop named [
Yaʿqub
Burdʿoyo
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Yaqub-Burdoyo) (d. 578), who, with the support of the Empress [
Theodora
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Theodora-Empress), undertook the reorganization of the
Miaphysite community in Syria into the Syr. Orth. Church that survives to
this day. In 641 Edessa was conquered by the Arabs and in 1098 it became a
Crusader principality to be crushed by Zengi of [
Mosul
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Mosul) in 1144. The
Chronicle of [
Michael Rabo
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Michael-I-Rabo) contains a dramatic report
of the massacres that accompanied the fall of the city and a lamentation
over it was composed by [
Dionysios
Bar Ṣalibi
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Dionysios-bar-Salibi)
bp. of [
Amid
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Amid). From 1517 Edessa
became part of the Ottoman empire, and during World War I some of its Syriac
and Armenian inhabitants were massacred, a fact that led the remnants to
leave the city once
and
for all in 1924, heading to [
Aleppo
](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Aleppo) where they
still live in Hay al-Suryān ‘Quarter of the Syriacs’. Edessa was a Syr.
Orth. Metropolitan seat probably from the early 6th cent. and as late as
1924.
See [Fig. 1](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/fig/1) and [47](https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/fig/47).