Amida (Mesopotamia)
37°58′55″N 40°12′38″E / 37.98194°N 40.21056°E
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Amida (Greek: Ἄμιδα, Syriac: ܐܡܝܕ, Kurdish: Amed[1][2][3]) was an ancient city in Mesopotamia located where modern Diyarbakır, Turkey now stands.
The city was located on the right bank of the Tigris. The walls are lofty and substantial, and constructed of the recycled stones from older buildings.
History
The oldest artefact from Amida is the famous stele of king Naram-Sin also believed to be from third millennia BC. The name Amida first appears in the writings of Assyrian King Adad-nirari I (C. 1310 -1281 BC) who ruled the city as a part of the Assyrian homeland. Amida remained an important region of the Assyrian homeland throughout the reign of king Tiglath-Pileser I (1114–1076 BC) and the name Amida appeared in the annals of Assyrian rulers until 705 BC, and also appears in the archives of Armenian king Tiridates II in 305 AD, and the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus (325–391 AD).
It was enlarged and strengthened by
Amida was besieged by the Sassanid king
The Sassanids captured the city for a third time in 602 and held it for more than twenty years. In 628 the Roman emperor Heraclius recovered Amida.
Finally, in 639 the city was captured by the
In 1085, the
Amida is a diocese of several Christian denominations; for the ecclesiastical history of Amida and Diyarbakir, see the Diyarbakır article.
See also
- Diyarbakır
- Siege of Amida
- Ephraim of Antioch, Church Father born in Amida
Notes
- Gunter, Michael M. (2010). Historical Dictionary of the Kurds. Scarecrow Press. p. 86.
Diyarbakir is often called the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan. Its Kurdish name is Amed.
- ^ King, Diane E. (2013). Kurdistan on the Global Stage: Kinship, Land, and Community in Iraq. Rutgers University Press. p. 233.
Diyarbakir's Kurdish name is "Amed."
- ^ Akyol, Mustafa (2007). "Pro-Kurdish DTP sweeps Diyarbakir". Hürriyet.
Amed is the ancient name given to Diyarbakir in the Kurdish language.
- ^ Ammianus Marcellinus, xix. 1, seq.
- ^ Greatrex-Lieu (2002), 63
- ^ Procopius, Bellum Persicum i. 7, seq.
- ^ Greatrex-Lieu (2002), 69-71
- ^ Procopius, De aedificcis, ii. 3. 27.
References
- George Long, "Amida", in William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, Volume 1, Walton & Maberly, 1854, p. 122.
- Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). "Justinian's First Persian War and the Eternal Peace". The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars. Routledge. pp. 82–97. ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
- Matthew Bennett, "Amida", The Hutchinson dictionary of ancient & medieval warfare, Taylor & Francis, 1998, ISBN 1-57958-116-1, p. 13.